Digital Commons Network^™

Correlation Between Concentrations Of Four Heavy Metals In Cord Blood And Childhood Blood Of Jamaican Children, Mohammad H Rahbar, Maureen Samms-Vaughan, Manouchehr Hessabi, Jan Bressler, Shezeen Gillani, Megan L Grove, Sydonnie Shakspeare-Pellington, Katherine A Loveland

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This study investigated whether the concentrations of four metals [lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn), and aluminum (Al)] are correlated in cord blood and childhood blood samples from Jamaican children. Cord blood samples were obtained from 21 pregnant women enrolled in the second Jamaican Birth Cohort Study from July 1, 2011 to September 30, 2011, and blood samples were drawn from their children who participated in a follow up study when the children were 4–8 years old. Correlations were assessed by the Pearson or the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The mean ages of children at the childhood visit and their …

Endmt Regulation By Small Rnas In Diabetes-Associated Fibrotic Conditions: Potential Link With Oxidative Stress, Roberta Giordo, Yusra M A Ahmed, Hilda Allam, Salah Abusnana, Lucia Pappalardo, Gheyath K Nasrallah, Arduino Aleksander Mangoni, Gianfranco Pintus

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Diabetes-associated complications, such as retinopathy, nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, and atherosclerosis, the main consequences of long-term hyperglycemia, often lead to organ dysfunction, disability, and increased mortality. A common denominator of these complications is the myofibroblast-driven excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins. Although fibroblast appears to be the primary source of myofibroblasts, other cells, including endothelial cells, can generate myofibroblasts through a process known as endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT). During EndMT, endothelial cells lose their typical phenotype to acquire mesenchymal features, characterized by the development of invasive and migratory abilities as well as the expression of typical mesenchymal products such as α-smooth …

Improving Patient-Specific Assessments Of Regional Aortic Mechanics Via Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging With Early Applications In Patients At Elevated Risk For Thoracic Aortopathy, Patrick A. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Unstable aortic aneurysms and dissections are serious cardiovascular conditions associated with high mortality. The current gold standards for assessment of stability, however, rely on simple geometric measurements, like cross-sectional area or increased diameter between follow-up scans, and fail to incorporate information about underlying aortic mechanics. Displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used previously to determine heterogeneous circumferential strain patterns in the aortas of healthy volunteers. Here, I introduce technical improvements to DENSE aortic analysis and early pilot application in patients at higher risk for the development of aortopathies. Modifications to the DENSE aortic postprocessing …

Flourish: Combating Food Insecurity & Promoting Wellness On A College Campus, Jocelyn Zavala

Theses and Dissertations

MOTIVATION In the past, it has been assumed that students enrolled in college are fairly privileged individuals unlikely to face challenges associated with poverty (Haskett et al., 2020). That assumption has been challenged in the past few decades and a survey released last year by the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice indicated that 45% of today’s higher education students face food insecurity (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2019). According to VCU’s Dean of Students Office, it is a situation in which a student lacks access to enough nutritious food in order to live a healthy, active life. Food insecurity can …

Summit Avenue Studios: A Creative Hub In Scott's Addition, Elizabeth Berry

Theses and Dissertations

In this fast-paced life that seems to be moving at an even more rapid speed, we rely upon online retailers and the ability to purchase anything we need with a few taps on the phone or clicks on the computer. It can be wonderful to have this kind of exposure, but it comes at a price. We are trading convenience for craft, and risk overlooking talent in our own community. Most of these purchases are made from big box stores and online retailers selling cheap, international goods. We continue to lose the connection to our neighbors and communities, and local …

Movement, Home Ranges, And Population Estimates Of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys Guttata) During A Rainy Breeding Season In Virginia, Lauren J. Jurczak

Theses and Dissertations

Spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) use a complex of wetland and terrestrial habitats for survival and reproduction. Precipitation expands and creates larger and more numerous ephemeral pools available to spotted turtles on the landscape. In this study, I investigated the effects of precipitation on movement patterns and ephemeral pool usage by spotted turtles in southeastern Virginia. I conducted a 4-month capture-mark-recapture study alongside a telemetry study to estimate population size and to quantify movement of spotted turtles across the landscape during the breading season. A change point analysis was used to detect discrete changes in turtle behavior and whether …

Drowning In Our Tears, Kelley-Ann A. Lindo

Theses and Dissertations

Drowning in our Tears is a series of works – installation, print media, and sculpture that explores themes of precarity, ephemerality, collective memory, and vulnerability. The need to create and preserve an archive has been the of the driving forces behind the works. I am interested in this notion of creating new language and perspectives from past trauma and hardships. The archive presents us with a site where excavation of meaning can occur, identities preserved, and new identities formed. In my work, I try to bridge the gaps, using the fragments of memory, the past and present experiences to create …

Reanimator/Reflection: 
Creating Mirrors Through Time 
With Ai, Sound, Video And Live-Generated Art In The Dark Age Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Eric Millikin

Theses and Dissertations

For my MFA thesis exhibition entitled Reanimator/Reflection, I used artificial intelligence to create three new works of sound and live-generated video art, each based on mirror reflections and 100-year-old racist post-pandemic horror literature by early 20th century American author H. P. Lovecraft. The themes of these writings mirror the issues of our current time. The primary works of Lovecraft that I referenced in the exhibition are “Herbert West: Reanimator,” (1922) a serialized tale about graduate school experiments which attempted to return the dead to life during a plague, and “Nyarlathotep,” (1920) a prose poem that suggests even our dreams …

Sweet Fruit, Daa Guy-Vasson

Theses and Dissertations

The writing and images in Sweet Fruit are an exploration of my creative works. In the first section, memory, making, and poetics come together to help the reader feel the nuances of my experience. In the exhibition works section, images allow an extended look at the work. Accompanying text describes the relevance of my childhood and my parent's Caribbean upbringing to my creative practice.

Human Organic Anion Transporters 1 And 3: Structural Elements Impacting Transporter-Substrate Binding Interactions, Julie Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Organic anion transporters (OATs) are known to interact with a wide variety of negatively charged drugs and can impact their clinical safety and efficacy profiles. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) have recognized and highlighted the importance of evaluating the potential interactions with transporters, specifically hOAT1 and hOAT3, during the development of new drug entities. Little is known about OAT-drug interactions as they are difficult to discern on a molecular level in the absence of any solved crystal structures for OATs. Therefore, in a previous study, in silico homology models of hOAT1 and hOAT3 …

Equations Of State For Warm Dense Carbon From Quantum Espresso, Derek J. Schauss

Theses and Dissertations

Warm dense plasma is the matter that exists, roughly, in the range of 10,000 to 10,000,000 Kelvin and has solid-like densities, typically between 0.1 and 10 grams per centimeter. Warm dense fluids like hydrogen, helium, and carbon are believed to make up the interiors of many planets, white dwarfs, and other stars in our universe. The existence of warm dense matter (WDM) on Earth, however, is very rare, as it can only be created with high-energy sources like a nuclear explosion. In such an event, theoretical and computational models that accurately predict the response of certain materials are thus very …

Modeling Vegetation Effects On Barrier Island Evolution, Eric W. Schoen

Theses and Dissertations

Barrier islands play a significant role in protecting coastlines and harboring coastal habitats. In an effort to study and better understand the evolution of barrier island systems, a cellular model capturing various meteorological and environmental processes is proposed. Erosion due to wind, gravity, and marine processes are coupled with plant population effects. We demonstrate the inhibition of plant cover on sediment mobility, island migration, and erosion in the presence of sea level rise.

The Birth Of Exceptionalism: American Newspaper Coverage In The Revolutionary Era, Benjamin R. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores American exceptionalism through the lens of American newspapers during the Revolutionary era. As American newspapers covered the revolutions in France, Haiti, and Latin America, unique narratives developed around controversial leaders like Thomas Paine, Toussaint Louverture, and Simón Bolívar. Although at first newspapers covered the events in France and Latin America with glee, their coverage gradually began to change over time, increasingly finding flaws large and small in revolutions other than their own—chaos and violence in France and Haiti, and failures in the realization of republicanism in Latin America. If Americans initially believed their revolution was responsible for …

Cloaca Palace, Connor Marie Stankard

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I trace the compulsive fear of holes, known as trypophobia, from an uncontrollable obsession to a pleasurable preoccupation. The body’s physical porousness makes us receptive to our surroundings, allowing external matter in and destabilizing the boundaries of self and other. Matter invades us, encoding itself into our DNA and transforming humans into chimeric creatures.

Through paintings and multi-media installations, I encourage viewers to reflect on their own bodies as a series of holes, vulnerable receptors to the world. I use the figure of a woman to personify a human hole which has been infected by the outside, …

"Savage And Bloody Footsteps Through The Valley" : The Wyoming Massacre In The American Imagination, William R. Tharp

Theses and Dissertations

Along the banks of the Susquehanna River in early July 1778, a force of about 600 Loyalist and Native American raiders won a lopsided victory against 400 overwhelmed Patriot militiamen and regulars in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. While not well-known today, this battle—the Battle of Wyoming—had profound effects on the Revolutionary War and American culture and politics. Quite familiar to early Americans, this battle’s remembrance influenced the formation of national identity and informed Americans’ perceptions of their past and present over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

From the beginning, however, Americans’ understanding of what occurred in …

Effects Of Buprenorphine Treatment On Myelin Following Traumatic Brain Injury In A Rat Model, Jane Ryu

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common phenomenon, accounting for significant cost and adverse health effects. While there is information about focal pathologies following TBI, knowledge of more diffuse processes is lacking, particularly regarding how analgesics affect this pathology. As Buprenorphine (Bup) is the most commonly used analgesic in experimental TBI models, the current study investigated the effects of the opioid analgesic Buprenorphine-sustained release-Lab (Bup-SR-Lab) on physiology and myelin alterations at 1d and 4w following central fluid percussion injury (cFPI) in adult male rats. Microscopic assessments were performed at 1 day and 4w post-injury. Myelin pathology was assessed by evaluating …

Shape Shifting: Bodies, Sound, And Queerness, Cordylia B. Vann

Theses and Dissertations

Writings in support of my visual and sonic thesis, Performing Ourselves. The paper examines the relationship between the labor of creating a queer body in how it moves and feels to the creation of choreography, sound, and graphic scores

Heavy Hold: A Physical Score, Alexandra Velozo

Theses and Dissertations

This document is a collection of essays, stories, and fictional interviews that are in conversation with my performance, teaching, and sculpture practice. My research and work considers chronic illness, disability, the historic cultural connection between swamplands and illness, the medical industrial complex, medical theater, the medical gaze, disabled performers, metatactile space, sensory learning, and access.

Mechanistic Insights Of Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species In Alzheimer's Disease Models, Jakob C. Green

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that results in impaired cognition, disorientation, confusion, poor judgement, and behavioral changes. The mitochondrial cascade hypothesis (MCH), which postulates that accumulating oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction plays an integral role in the development of the disease, potentially upstream, in conjunction with or independent of Aβ and tau. The literature supports the critical role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the progression and development of AD, but is inconclusive about what precise role, as initiator or delegate, it performs. Regardless, the impact that oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction have on AD deserves further study and investigation. …

A Psychometric Evaluation Of The Best In Class Adherence And Competence Scale, Katrina A. Markowicz

Theses and Dissertations

It is critical to utilize treatment integrity instruments to support the evaluation of evidence-based programs in early classroom contexts. However, in the early childhood field, guidelines for collecting treatment integrity data are underdeveloped. Consequently, most treatment integrity instruments employed in the field solely assess adherence, vary in design features and have little psychometric evidence supporting their use. As such, this represents a gap in the field that might slow efforts to implement evidence-based programs. The current study examines the score reliability and validity of an observational treatment integrity instrument (The BEST in CLASS Adherence and Competence Scale [BiCACS]; Sutherland et …

Influence Of Immigration Status On The 10-Year Trajectories Of Psychosocial Functioning In Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury, Chimdindu Ohayagha

Theses and Dissertations

The population of racially/ethnically diverse groups within the U.S. is growing at an exponential rate. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the number of foreign-born individuals in the U.S. to be nearly 40 million or 13% of the total population (Grieco et al., 2012). Racially/ethnically diverse groups in the U.S. have a higher incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI; Gary et al., 2009). Although racial/ethnic disparities have been documented in numerous outcomes, research has yet to thoroughly explore differences in rehabilitation outcomes for immigrants relative to U.S.-born individuals. The purpose of this study was to compare the functional and mental health …

Evaluating Patient And Health Care Provider Acceptance Of A Personal Health Record In An Integrated Health Care System In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Consuela C. Yousef

Theses and Dissertations

With the shift to patient- and person-centered care, personal health records (PHRs) have been touted as a strategy to empower patients, improve patient-provider communication, and support self-management. Health care organizations around the world have implemented PHRs in a global push to meet three aims of health care—improve access to care, reduce costs, and increase the quality of care. The capabilities that PHRs support vary by organizations, yet basic functions include allowing patients to view their laboratory results, refill prescription medications, and request appointments. More advanced PHRs enable patient-centered communication through secure messaging.

As the burden of chronic disease grows, PHRs …

Successional Changes In Carbon Storage Are Sustained In A Temperate Forest Across Different Initiating Disturbances, Cameron Clay

Theses and Dissertations

Managing forests for carbon (C) sequestration requires an understanding of how disturbance history shapes C pools and fluxes over successional time. At the University of Michigan Biological Station, we examined how two stand establishing disturbances influenced C pools and fluxes over 100+ years of succession, comparing these secondary forests with “legacy” late-successional stands encompassing ages and compositions that would be present in the absence of region-wide stand-replacing disturbance. Our work utilized measurements taken between 2014 and 2020 from separate experimental forest chronosequences initiated following clear-cut harvesting only or clear-cut harvesting and fire, along with three >130-yr-old late successional stands comprising …

The Role Of Insurance Coverage In Outpatient Substance Use Disorder Treatment Referral, Utilization, And Outcomes, Huyen Pham

Theses and Dissertations

Opioid-related overdoses increased dramatically in recent years. Medicaid plays a predominant role in paying for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment. However, there is a critical gap in understanding the role of Medicaid coverage in referrals to treatment, treatment utilization, and treatment retention. The three studies used observational and quasi-experimental (i.e., natural experiment) designs leveraging state and year variation in Medicaid expansion to characterize the role of Medicaid coverage in OUD treatment. We found that individuals with OUD with Medicaid insurance were more likely to use outpatient treatment, whereas those who were uninsured were more likely to use self-help groups only. …

Using Deep Learning-Based Framework For Child Speech Emotion Recognition, Gerald N. Onwujekwe

Theses and Dissertations

Biological languages of the body through which human emotion can be detected abound including heart rate, facial expressions, movement of the eyelids and dilation of the eyes, body postures, skin conductance, and even the speech we make. Speech emotion recognition research started some three decades ago, and the popular Interspeech Emotion Challenge has helped to propagate this research area. However, most speech recognition research is focused on adults and there is very little research on child speech. This dissertation is a description of the development and evaluation of a child speech emotion recognition framework. The higher-level components of the framework …

Local Delivery Of Tumor Associated Macrophage Immunotherapy For The Treatment Of Metastases To The Lungs, Sulaiman Alhudaithi

Theses and Dissertations

Metastases are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and the lungs are one of the primary sites of metastases from several malignancies. Existing therapies fail to entirely eradicate tumors that disseminate and reside in lungs; therefore, patient prognosis significantly worsens. Conventional therapies utilized to treat lung tumors such as chemotherapy are administered systemically and typically exhibit poor lung biodistribution profiles, leading to many undesirable off target effects and suboptimal drug concentration in the tumor, which may promote resistance, further compromising the quality of life of secondary lung cancer patients. Immune cells that infiltrate the tumor microenvironment (TME) play a central …

Are The Tickets For Everyone? Heterogeneity Of Economic Rewards For Associate’S Degree Completion, Kathleen E. Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Associate’s degree completion has been billed as the quickest way to upskill the workforce and a ticket to the middle class (Carnevale et al., 2018; Gittell et al., 2017). Yet, over 35 million Americans have left college without a degree (Wheatle et al., 2017). Black and Hispanic students are more likely than White and Asian students to leave college before completing a degree (Shapiro et al., 2017). This study examined if economic benefits differ between those whose highest level of educational attainment is “some college, no degree (SCND)” and an associate’s degree, specifically by analyzing heterogeneity and interaction effects between …

A Novel Sulfated Trimer Of Quercetin For Pulmonary Delivery To Treat The Emphysematous Lung, Abhinav Mohan

Theses and Dissertations

Emphysema, a major manifestation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), affects millions of patients in the United States; yet, no present treatment is able to directly modify the disease process. In the recent past, a pathobiologic hypothesis surrounding the deficiency of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), has surfaced as a cause of the alveolar structural destruction and loss in emphysema. Additionally, sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a regulator of anti-oxidative proteins and cellular homeostasis, has been found to be reduced in the lungs of emphysematous patients. Given these disturbances, this research hypothesized that such pathobiologic deficiencies can be inhibited with a sulfated …

The Mechanisms And Consequences Of Shrub Encroachment On The Virginia Barrier Islands, Lauren K. Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Shrub encroachment is a global phenomenon driven by direct and indirect anthropogenic influence which alters plant communities and ecosystem function. Many studies have investigated drivers and consequences of woody plant establishment, but mesic landscapes are underrepresented in the literature. My objective was to assess the mechanisms of Morella cerifera encroachment into coastal mesic grassland, the potential for self-reinforcement, and consequences on community composition, nutrients, and landscape productivity. I studied temperature and water microclimate modification by Morella cerifera presence and removal to understand ecosystem engineering and community composition changes. Additionally, I examined the influence of shrubs on surrounding grassland species traits …

E-Cigarette Use And Perceptions Among Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: The Role Of Parental Messages About Tobacco, Mayra S. Ramos

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk of using e-cigarettes compared to their neurotypical peers. Parent-adolescent communication about tobacco use and number of ADHD symptoms can influence adolescents’ perceptions of e-cigarettes and their e-cigarette use. Adolescents with ADHD (n = 80) completed questionnaires assessing parental messages about tobacco use; e-cigarette harm perceptions; susceptibility to use e-cigarettes; and e-cigarette use. Parents reported on messages about tobacco use, adolescent’s ADHD symptomatology, and completed demographic questionnaires. Twenty-percent of adolescents reported e-cigarette ever use. Adolescent girls were significantly more likely to report higher e-cigarette harm perceptions than boys. Parents reported providing messages …