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The Weekly Challenger, December 23, 2021, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The December 23, 2021, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Development And Validation Of A Shortened And Practical Frailty Index For People With Intellectual Disabilities, J. D. Schoufour, A. Oppewal, M. C. Van Maurik, Thessa Hilgenkamp, R. G. Elbers, D. A.M. Maes-Festen

Physical Therapy Faculty Research

Background: There is no widely used instrument to detect frailty in people with intellectual disabilities (IDs). We aimed to develop and validate a shorter and more practical version of a published frailty index for people with IDs. Method: This study was part of the longitudinal ‘Healthy Ageing and Intellectual Disability’ study. We included 982 people with IDs aged 50 years and over. The previously developed and validated ID-Frailty Index consisting of 51 deficits was used as the basis for the shortened version, the ID-FI Short Form. Content of the ID-FI Short Form was based on statistics and clinical and practical …

68 | ‘En Esur (‘Ein Asawir) Iii Excavations In The Bronze Age Cemetery, Yehuda Dagan, Shelley Sadeh

IAA Reports—Monograph Series of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This volume is the third in a series of reports documenting excavations at the large protohistoric site of ‘En Esur and its extensive burial grounds, located in the northern Sharon plain along a major ancient trade route. The four relatively intact and undisturbed Early Bronze Age burial caves presented in the current volume, excavated in the framework of the Cross Israel Highway Project, revealed over 2000 complete ceramic vessels representing an uninterrupted sequence over several hundred years. These four burial caves comprise an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of the society, trade relations and burial customs in the region during …

Influence Of Prolonged Serotonin And Ergovaline Pre-Exposure On Vasoconstriction Ex Vivo, Eriton E. L. Valente, David L. Harmon, James L. Klotz

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Ergot alkaloid mycotoxins interfere in many functions associated with serotonergic neurotransmitters. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate whether the association of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) and ergot alkaloids during a 24 h pre-incubation could affect the vascular contractile response to ergot alkaloids. To evaluate the effects of 24 h exposure to 5-HT and ergot alkaloids (ergovaline, ERV), two assays were conducted. The first assay determined the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀)following the 24 h pre-exposure period, while the second assay evaluated the effect of IC₅₀ concentrations of 5-HT and ERV either individually or in combination. There was an interaction …

The Effects Of A Behavior Analytic Social Skills Group On School-Aged Children's Social Skills In A Classroom Setting, Rebecca A. Anderson

Honors College Theses

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit skill deficits in several areas. One of those areas is social skills. Social skills are very important for development and learning. One common intervention to increase social skills in children with ASD is social skills groups. Social skills groups use the principles of the science of behavior to teach various social skills effectively and efficiently to children with ASD. A common setting where children’s social skill deficits increase is in classroom settings. The purpose of this study was to implement a social skills group intervention in a classroom setting to increase social skills …

A Modest Proposal: Leveraging Private Enforcement Mechanisms And The Bayh-Dole Act To Reduce Drug Prices In The U.S. Healthcare Industry, Brittany Day

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

The United States healthcare system is one of the most expensive in the world. Unlike other products, when drug prices skyrocket, people may die. While advocating for various solutions, both the Biden and Trump administrations have recognized the importance of halting the rise of prescription drug prices. Most of the solutions advanced are focused on government-side initiatives, such as allowing Medicare to directly negotiate with pharmaceutical companies. Yet, the "march-in rights" built into the Bayh-Dole Act create an opportunity to set up a mechanism that would invite private actors to sue pharmaceutical companies for unconscionable drug pricing. The Bayh-Dole Act …

Sentiment Analysis Of News Tweets, Haya Fathim

Theses

Sentiment Analysis is a process of extracting information from a large amount of data and classifying them into different classes called sentiments. Python is a simple yet powerful, high-level, interpreted, and dynamic programming language, which is well known for its functionality of processing natural language data by using NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit). NLTK is a library of python, which provides a base for building programs and classification of data. NLTK also provides a graphical demonstration for representing various results or trends and it also provides sample data to train and test various classifiers respectively. Sentiment classification aims to automatically predict …

Clinical Utility And Cost Effectiveness Of Long-Acting Lipoglycopeptides Used In Deep-Seated Infections Among Patients With Social And Economic Barriers To Care, Kayla Antosz, Majdi N. Al-Hasan, Z. Kevin Lu, Benjamin Tabor, Julie Ann Justo, Alexander Milgrom, Joseph Kohn, P. Brandon Bookstaver

Faculty Publications

The use of long-acting lipoglycopeptides (LaLGPs) in serious, deep-seated infections is of increasing interest. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the economic and clinical utility of LaLGPs in patients requiring protracted antibiotic courses who are not ideal candidates for oral transition or outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT). This is a retrospective, observational, matched cohort study of adult patients who received a LaLGP. Patients were matched 1:1 to those who received standard of care (SOC). Cost effectiveness was evaluated as total healthcare-related costs between groups. Clinical failure was a composite endpoint of mortality, recurrence, or need for extended antibiotics …

Affective Computing For Late-Life Mood And Cognitive Disorders, Erin Smith, Eric A. Storch, Ipsit Vahia, Stephen T.C. Wong, Helen Lavretsky, Jeffrey L. Cummings, Harris A. Eyre

Brain Health Faculty Research

Affective computing (also referred to as artificial emotion intelligence or emotion AI) is the study and development of systems and devices that can recognize, interpret, process, and simulate emotion or other affective phenomena. With the rapid growth in the aging population around the world, affective computing has immense potential to benefit the treatment and care of late-life mood and cognitive disorders. For late-life depression, affective computing ranging from vocal biomarkers to facial expressions to social media behavioral analysis can be used to address inadequacies of current screening and diagnostic approaches, mitigate loneliness and isolation, provide more personalized treatment approaches, and …

The Evolution Of Device-Assisted Enteroscopy: From Sonde Enteroscopy To Motorized Spiral Enteroscopy, Freddy Nehme, Hermant Goyal, Abhilash Perisetti Md, Ben Tharian, Neil Sharma Md, Tony C. Tham, Rajiv Chhabra

PCI Publications and Projects

THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF THE RESEARCH TOPIC: Recent Updates in Advanced Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

The introduction of capsule endoscopy in 2001 opened the last “black box” of the gastrointestinal tract enabling complete visualization of the small bowel. Since then, numerous new developments in the field of deep enteroscopy have emerged expanding the diagnostic and therapeutic armamentarium against small bowel diseases. The ability to achieve total enteroscopy and visualize the entire small bowel remains the holy grail in enteroscopy. Our journey in the small bowel started historically with sonde type enteroscopy and ropeway enteroscopy. Currently, double-balloon enteroscopy, single-balloon enteroscopy, and spiral …

Attitudes Toward Pursuing Genetic Testing Among Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Taiwan: A Qualitative Investigation, Zihan Zhang, Justin Kramer, Haocen Wang, Wei-Ju Chen, Tse-Yang Huang, Yann-Jang Chen, Tung-Sung Tseng, Lei-Shih Chen

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases is increasing in Taiwan. Genetic testing for children with ASD offers several potential benefits and is available with out-of-pocket expenses. Parents play a pivotal role in having their children with ASD tested; therefore, understanding their perceptions of, and perceived barriers to genetic testing is vital. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 parents of children with ASD in Taiwan. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo 12 software (QSR International, Doncaster, Australia) was used to facilitate an inductive coding methodology. Results: The majority of participants (74.4%) supported ASD genetic testing for …

Paving The Way For Mind-Reading: Reinterpreting "Coercion" In Article 17 Of The Third Geneva Convention, John Zarrilli

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

Mind-reading is no longer a concept confined to the world of science-fiction: "Brain reading technologies are rapidly being developed in a number of neuroscience fields." One obvious application is to the field of criminal justice: Mind-reading technology can potentially aid investigators in assessing critical legal questions such as guilt, legal insanity, and the risk of recidivism. Two current techniques have received the most scholarly attention for their potential in aiding interrogators in determining guilt: brain-based lie detection and brain-based memory detection. The growing ability to peer inside someone's mind raises significant legal issues. A number of American scholars, especially in …

Ferpa And State Open Records Laws: What The North Carolina Supreme Court Got Wrong In Dth Media Corp. V. Folt, And How Courts & Congress Can Take Measures To Reconcile Privacy And Access Interests, Danielle Siegel

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy Sidebar

Over the past few years, courts across the country have confronted a common scenario. Members of the public and media request records from a public university pertaining to its investigations of sexual assault and misconduct on campus. Then, media outlets contend they have a right to access these records under state open records laws. But the university claims that it cannot, or will not, disclose the records under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 ("FERPA").

The media outlet then files suit to compel disclosure. This Note explores the competing privacy and access interests at stake in this …

Splashing Of Large Helium Nanodroplets Upon Surface Collisions, Paul Martini, Simon Albertini, Felix Laimer, Miriam Meyer, Michael Gatchell, Olof E. Echt, Fabio Zappa, Paul Scheier

Faculty Publications

In the present work we observe that helium nanodroplets colliding with surfaces can exhibit splashing in a way that is analogous to classical liquids. We use transmission electron microscopy and mass spectrometry to demonstrate that neutral and ionic dopants embedded in the droplets are efficiently backscattered in such events. High abundances of weakly bound He-tagged ions of both polarities indicate a gentle extraction mechanism of these ions from the droplets upon collision with a solid surface. This backscattering process is observed for dopant particles with masses up to 400 kilodaltons, indicating an unexpected mechanism that effectively lowers deposition rates of …

Nutritional And Physiological Constraints Contributing To Limitations In Small Intestinal Starch Digestion And Glucose Absorption In Ruminants, Ronald J. Trotta, David L. Harmon, James C. Matthews, Kendall C. Swanson

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Increased efficiency of nutrient utilization can potentially be gained with increased starch digestion in the small intestine in ruminants. However, ruminants have quantitative limits in the extent of starch disappearance in the small intestine. The objective is to explore the nutritional and physiological constraints that contribute to limitations of carbohydrate assimilation in the ruminant small intestine. Altered digesta composition and passage rate in the small intestine, insufficient pancreatic α-amylase and/or small intestinal carbohydrase activity, and reduced glucose absorption could all be potentially limiting factors of intestinal starch assimilation. The absence of intestinal sucrase activity in ruminants may be related to …

Explaining Deep Learning Models For Tabular Data Using Layer-Wise Relevance Propagation, Ihsan Ullah, Andre Rios, Vaibhov Gala, Susan Mckeever

Articles

Trust and credibility in machine learning models are bolstered by the ability of a model to explain its decisions. While explainability of deep learning models is a well-known challenge, a further challenge is clarity of the explanation itself for relevant stakeholders of the model. Layer-wise Relevance Propagation (LRP), an established explainability technique developed for deep models in computer vision, provides intuitive human-readable heat maps of input images. We present the novel application of LRP with tabular datasets containing mixed data (categorical and numerical) using a deep neural network (1D-CNN), for Credit Card Fraud detection and Telecom Customer Churn prediction use …

Cerebral Perfusion And Sensory Testing Results Differ In Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome Patients With And Without Fibromyalgia: A Site-Specific Mapp Network Study, Georg Deutsch, Hrishikesh Deshpande, H Henry Lai, Jason J Kutch, Timothy J Ness

Open Access Publications

Purpose: Fibromyalgia is a common co-morbidity in patients with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. Quantitative sensory testing measures and regional cerebral blood flow measures have been noted to differ from healthy controls in both subjects with fibromyalgia and those with interstitial cystitis when studied independently. The present study examined such measures in subjects with the diagnosis of interstitial cystitis both with and without the co-diagnosis of fibromyalgia to determine whether differences in these measures may be associated with co-morbidity.

Patients and Methods: Female subjects with the diagnosis of interstitial cystitis with (n = 15) and without (n = 19) the co-diagnosis …

Macroscopic And Microscopic Characterization Of Droplet Breakup Regimes Using A Novel Ultrasonic Droplet Generator, Kyle Krippner

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Controllable and uniform microdroplet generation is essential for many applications in biology and chemistry including cell handling and aerosol drug delivery. This report described experimental characterization of a novel ultrasonic droplet generator that allows for dynamic control over ejection behavior. That is, the operation frequency and drive voltage can be modified in real-time to achieve a desired device operation. An improved system configuration provides high-resolution stroboscopic imaging of the microscopic ejection behavior. Fabrication of microarrays with a central active nozzle isolates a single ejection process for unobstructed imaging. In this independent study, I assisted in characterization of both full-array and …

Improved Pill Splitter: An Analysis Of 3&4-Point Bending To Split Pills, Isaac Sasser, Andrew Brown, Minju Lee

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

There is a niche in the pill splitting industry for a more efficient pill splitter. To fill this niche we explore various applications of 3-Point and 4-Point bending to pill splitting. All designs are 3D printed. Due to the elastic nature of PLA plastic, the reality that 3-Point bending may cause pills to fail in compression (as revealed by FEM analysis), and the difficulty in managing volume constraints in a 3-Point bending design, 4-Point bending is considered as a viable option for pill splitting. However, after testing and analysis, the 4-Point bending prototypes generated were able to break pills, but …

Safety And Tolerability Of Hydroxychloroquine In Health Care Workers And First Responders For The Prevention Of Covid-19: Whip Covid-19 Study, John E. Mckinnon, Dee Dee Wang, Marcus J. Zervos, Matthew A. Saval, Laurie B. Marshall-Nightengale, Paul Kilgore, Pardeep Pabla, Ed Szandzik, Kathleen Maksimowicz-Mckinnon, William W. O'Neill

Cardiology Articles

BACKGROUND: Health care workers (HCW) are among the highest risk groups for acquisition of COVID-19 because of occupational exposures. The WHIP COVID-19 Study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as chemoprophylaxis for SARS-CoV-2 infection in this population.

METHODS: HCW, first responders, and other occupationally high-risk participants were enrolled in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study of HCQ from April to October 2020. The trial compared daily versus weekly HCQ with placebo and with a prospective cohort on HCQ for autoimmune diseases. Participants were followed for 8 weeks. Serology or a positive polymerase chain reaction test was used …

A Semantically Enriched Taxonomic Revision Of Gryonoides Dodd, 1920 (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae), With A Review Of The Hosts Of Teleasinae, István Mikó, Lubomir Masner, Jonah M. Ulmer, Monique Raymond, Julia Hobbie, Sergei Tarasov, Cecilia Beatriz Margaría, Katja C. Seltmann, Elijah J. Talamas

Faculty Publications

Teleasinae are commonly collected scelionids that are the only known egg parasitoids of carabid beetles and therefore play a crucial role in shaping carabid populations in natural and agricultural ecosystems. We review the available host information of Teleasinae, report a new host record, and revise Gryonoides Dodd, 1920, a morphologically distinct teleasine genus. We review the generic concept of Gryonoides and provide diagnoses and descriptions of thirteen Gryonoides species and two varieties: G. glabriceps Dodd, 1920, G. pulchellus Dodd, 1920 (= G. doddi Ogloblin, 1967, syn. nov. and G. pulchricornis Ogloblin, 1967, syn. nov.), G. brasiliensis Masner & Mikó, sp. …

Linda Williams Collection - Accession 1751, Linda Driggers Williams, Vernon Simeon Plemion Grant, Come-See-Me Festival

Manuscript Collection

The Linda Williams Collection primarily includes memorabilia featuring the art work of Vernon Grant collected by author, educator, and school administrator Linda Driggers Williams (Winthrop Class of 1964, ‘69, ‘80). Contents of the collection includes items such as posters, Come See Me buttons, Christmas cards, magazines, books, prints, and advertisements. There are many toys featuring the illustrations of Vernon Grant as well. For example, there is a xylophone, a record player, pick-up-stix set, and paper dolls. Also included is a Hershey’s mascot doll, plate, and mug; a Rice Krispies bowl, mug, and plate; and a Rice Krispies jigsaw puzzle. There …

Exciton Delocalization And Scaffold Stability In Bridged Nucleotide-Substituted, Dna Duplex-Templated Cyanine Aggregates, Simon K. Roy, Olga A. Mass, Donald L. Kellis, Christopher K. Wilson, John A. Hall, Bernard Yurke, William B. Knowlton

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Molecular excitons play a foundational role in chromophore aggregates found in light-harvesting systems and offer potential applications in engineered excitonic systems. Controlled aggregation of chromophores to promote exciton delocalization has been achieved by covalently tethering chromophores to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) scaffolds. Although many studies have documented changes in the optical properties of chromophores upon aggregation using DNA scaffolds, more limited work has investigated how structural modifications of DNA via bridged nucleotides and chromophore covalent attachment impact scaffold stability as well as the configuration and optical behavior of attached aggregates. Here we investigated the impact of two types of bridged nucleotides, …

Using Bioinformatics And Ncbi Tools To Sequence And Structure Analysis Of Transcription Factor 7 Like 2 Gene (Tcf7l2) In Iraqi Diabetic Mellitus Type Ii Patients, Batool Queen, Abbas Mohammed

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

In this paper, the study aimed to analyze the sequence and structure of Transcription Factor 7 Like 2 gene (TCF7L2) in Iraqi Diabetic Mellitus Type II (T2DM) Patients and was compared with standard sequence form National Center of Bioinformatics Tools (NCBI) using BLAST. Ten blood samples of (T2DM) Iraqi patients, was collected from Al-Mustansiriya University National Diabetes Centre in Baghdad Province/Iraq (17-65 year). DNA was extracted from whole blood of patients’ samples using the Quick-DNA™ Blood MiniPrep kit, then it was sent to Korea at Macrogen Corporartion Company, where they used automated DNA sequencing for sequence analysis. The results of …

Las Vegas Review-Journal V. City Of Henderson, 137 Nev. Adv. Op. (Dec. 23, 2021), Kaitlin Mccormick-Huhn

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

District courts must apply the catalyst theory to determine whether a party prevails in litigation related to public records. A district court abuses its discretion when it fails to consider all five factors under Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department v. Center for Investigative Reporting, Inc., 136 Nev. 122, 460 P.3d 952 (2020) (“CIR” factors). Courts must make proper findings for each of the five factors and balance the factors to determine whether a party prevailed.

Protocol For Escitalopram And Language Intervention For Subacute Aphasia (Elisa): A Randomized, Double Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial, Melissa D. Stockbridge, Julius Fridriksson, Souvik Sen, Leonardo Bonilha

Faculty Publications

In this forthcoming multicenter, prospective, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial, we will investigate the augmentative effects of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, escitalopram, on language therapy in individuals with post-stroke aphasia. We hypothesize that, when combined with language therapy, daily escitalopram will result in greater improvement than placebo in an untrained picture naming task (Philadelphia Naming Test short form) administered one week after the end of language therapy. We also will examine whether escitalopram's effect on language is independent of its effect on depression, varies with lesion location, or is associated with increased functional connectivity within the left hemisphere. Finally, we …

Levels Of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme And Apolipoproteins Are Associated With Alzheimer’S Disease And Cardiovascular Diseases, Chun Xu, Debra Garcia, Yongke Lu, Kaysie Ozuna, Donald A. Adjeroh, Kesheng Wang

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Angiotensin-converting enzyme-1 (ACE1) and apolipoproteins (APOs) may play important roles in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This study aimed to examine the associations of AD, CVD, and endocrine-metabolic diseases (EMDs) with the levels of ACE1 and 9 APO proteins (ApoAI, ApoAII, ApoAIV, ApoB, ApoCI, ApoCIII, ApoD, ApoE, and ApoH). Non-Hispanic white individuals including 109 patients with AD, 356 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 373 CVD, 198 EMD and controls were selected from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. Multivariable general linear model (GLM) was used to examine the associations. ApoE ε4 allele was associated with …

Framework For Enhanced Applicability Of The Egyptian Public Procurement Law To International Administrative Construction Contracts, Amr Abu Helw

Theses and Dissertations

Local governments and public authorities conclude contracts for the purpose of acquisition of goods, delivery of services and construction of public facilities like bridges, infrastructures and public buildings. A public contract is an agreement to perform particular tasks financed by government funds to the benefit of the whole community. Private entities and corporations are subject to stricter standards in their dealings with the government than in private transactions. Conversely, the government must deal fairly and equitably with those who it contracted with to achieve successful implementation of the projects. On October 3, 2018, a new Egyptian public procurement law, namely, …

V.58-4, 2021 Masthead

San Diego Law Review

No abstract provided.

Systemic Racism: Patterns Of Black Disadvantage And White Advantage Linked To Slavery, Roy L. Brooks

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, I engage systemic racism in two ways. First, I discuss some of its current manifestations, Part II. In particular, I will offer powerful examples of systemic racism, Section A, and explain the link between slavery and extant systemic racism, Section B. Next, I analyze the forces in this country that sustain systemic racism well into the post-civil rights period, Part III. I will spend a fair amount of time examining socio-psychological paradigms and institutional practices or policies that perpetuate or contribute to manifestations of systemic racism. The former consists of various forms of racial bias, Section A, …