Digital Commons Network^™

Radiomics In Abdominopelvic Solid-Organ Oncologic Imaging: Current Status, Xiaoyang Liu, Mohamed G Elbanan, Antonio Luna, Masoom A Haider, Andrew D Smith, Carl F Sabottke, Bradley M Spieler, Baris Turkbey, David Fuentes, Ahmed Moawad, Serageldin Kamel, Natally Horvat, Khaled M Elsayes

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Radiomics is the process of extraction of high-throughput quantitative imaging features from medical images. These features represent noninvasive quantitative biomarkers that go beyond the traditional imaging features visible to the human eye. This article first reviews the steps of the radiomics pipeline, including image acquisition, ROI selection and image segmentation, image preprocessing, feature extraction, feature selection, and model development and application. Current evidence for the application of radiomics in abdominopelvic solid-organ cancers is then reviewed. Applications including diagnosis, subtype determination, treatment response assessment, and outcome prediction are explored within the context of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate …

Implications Of Ras Mutational Status In Subsets Of Patients With Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia Across Therapy Subtypes, Daniel Rivera, Kunhwa Kim, Rashmi Kanagal-Shamanna, Gautam Borthakur, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Naval Daver, Courtney Dinardo, Nicholas J Short, Musa Yilmaz, Naveen Pemmaraju, Koichi Takahashi, Elias J Jabbour, Sherry Pierce, Marina Konopleva, Kapil Bhalla, Guillermo Garcia-Manero, Farhad Ravandi, Hagop Kantarjian, Tapan M Kadia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Activating mutations in RAS have been reported in about 10-15% of patients with AML; previous studies have not identified a prognostic significance. However, RAS mutations have emerged as a potential resistance mechanism to treatment with inhibitors of FLT3, IDH, and BCL2. We aimed to determine the characteristics and outcomes of patients with RAS-mutated (RAS-mut) AML across therapy subsets of 1410 patients newly diagnosed (ND AML). RAS-mut was observed in 273 (20%) patients. Overall, patients with RAS-mut AML had an estimated 3-year survival rate of 38% vs. 28% in those with RAS wild type (RAS-wt), p = .01. Among patients with …

Association Of Hematologic Response And Assay Sensitivity On The Prognostic Impact Of Measurable Residual Disease In Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Nicholas J Short, Chenqi Fu, Donald A Berry, Roland B Walter, Sylvie D Freeman, Christopher S Hourigan, Xuelin Huang, Graciela Nogueras Gonzalez, Hyunsoo Hwang, Xinyue Qi, Hagop Kantarjian, Shouhao Zhou, Farhad Ravandi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Measurable residual disease (MRD) is associated with relapse and survival in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We aimed to quantify the impact of MRD on outcomes across clinical contexts, including its association with hematologic response and MRD assay sensitivity. We performed systematic literature review and meta-analysis of 48 studies that reported the association between MRD and overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) in AML and provided information on the MRD threshold used and the hematologic response of the study population. Among studies limited to patients in complete remission (CR), the estimated 5-year OS for the MRD-negative and MRD-positive groups was …

Study Protocol Cover-All: Clinical Impact Of A Volumetric Image Method For Confirming Tumour Coverage With Ablation On Patients With Malignant Liver Lesions, Yuan-Mao Lin, Iwan Paolucci, Brian M Anderson, Caleb S O'Connor, Bastien Rigaud, Maria Briones-Dimayuga, Kyle A Jones, Kristy K Brock, Bryan M Fellman, Bruno C Odisio

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the intra-procedural use of a novel ablation confirmation (AC) method, consisting of biomechanical deformable image registration incorporating AI-based auto-segmentation, and its impact on tumor coverage by quantitative three-dimensional minimal ablative margin (MAM) CT-generated assessment.

Materials and methods: This single-center, randomized, phase II, intent-to-treat trial is enrolling 100 subjects with primary and secondary liver tumors (≤ 3 tumors, 1-5 cm in diameter) undergoing microwave or radiofrequency ablation with a goal of achieving ≥ 5 mm MAM. For the experimental arm, the proposed novel AC method is utilized for ablation applicator(s) placement verification and MAM assessment. …

Biobehavioral Factors Predict An Exosome Biomarker Of Ovarian Carcinoma Disease Progression, Susan K Lutgendorf, Premal H Thaker, Michael J Goodheart, Jesusa M G Arevalo, Mamur A Chowdhury, Alyssa E Noble, Laila Dahmoush, George M Slavich, Frank J Penedo, Anil K Sood, Steven W Cole

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Biobehavioral factors such as social isolation and depression have been associated with disease progression in ovarian and other cancers. Here, the authors developed a noninvasive, exosomal RNA profile for predicting ovarian cancer disease progression and subsequently tested whether it increased in association with biobehavioral risk factors.

METHODS: Exosomes were isolated from plasma samples from 100 women taken before primary surgical resection or neoadjuvant (NACT) treatment of ovarian carcinoma and 6 and 12 months later. Biobehavioral measures were sampled at all time points. Plasma from 76 patients was allocated to discovery analyses in which morning presurgical/NACT exosomal RNA profiles were …

Physician-Reported Perspectives On Myasthenia Gravis In The United States: A Real-World Survey, Milada Mahic, Ali M Bozorg, Jonathan J Decourcy, Keisha J Golden, Gregor A Gibson, Christian F Taylor, Angela Ting, Tyler J Story, Anna Scowcroft

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare, debilitating, chronic disorder caused by the production of pathogenic immunoglobulin G autoantibodies against the neuromuscular junction. A lack of real-world studies in rare diseases reflects a relatively limited understanding of the significant unmet needs and burden of disease for patients. We aimed to provide comprehensive real-world insights into the management and burden of MG from treating physicians in the United States (US).

METHODS: Data were collected using the Adelphi Real World MG Disease Specific Programme™, a point-in-time survey of physicians and their patients with MG, in the US between March and July 2020. …

Direct Cd32 T-Cell Cytotoxicity: Implications For Breast Cancer Prognosis And Treatment, Giuseppe Sconocchia, Giulia Lanzilli, Valeriana Cesarini, Domenico A Silvestris, Katayoun Rezvani, Roberto Arriga, Sara Caratelli, Ken Chen, Jinzhuang Dou, Carlo Cenciarelli, Gabriele Toietta, Silvia Baldari, Tommaso Sconocchia, Francesca De Paolis, Anna Aureli, Giandomenica Iezzi, Maria Irno Consalvo, Francesco Buccisano, Maria I Del Principe, Luca Maurillo, Adriano Venditti, Alessio Ottaviani, Giulio C Spagnoli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The FcγRII (CD32) ligands are IgFc fragments and pentraxins. The existence of additional ligands is unknown. We engineered T cells with human chimeric receptors resulting from the fusion between CD32 extracellular portion and transmembrane CD8α linked to CD28/ζ chain intracellular moiety (CD32-CR). Transduced T cells recognized three breast cancer (BC) and one colon cancer cell line among 15 tested in the absence of targeting antibodies. Sensitive BC cell conjugation with CD32-CR T cells induced CD32 polarization and down-regulation, CD107a release, mutual elimination, and proinflammatory cytokine production unaffected by human IgGs but enhanced by cetuximab. CD32-CR T cells protected immunodeficient mice …

Statistical Process Control To Monitor Use Of A Web-Based Autoplanning Tool, Hunter Mehrens, Raphael Douglas, Mary Gronberg, Kelly Nealon, Joy Zhang, Laurence Court

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To investigate the use of statistical process control (SPC) for quality assurance of an integrated web-based autoplanning tool, Radiation Planning Assistant (RPA).

METHODS: Automatically generated plans were downloaded and imported into two treatment planning systems (TPSs), RayStation and Eclipse, in which they were recalculated using fixed monitor units. The recalculated plans were then uploaded back to the RPA, and the mean dose differences for each contour between the original RPA and the TPSs plans were calculated. SPC was used to characterize the RPA plans in terms of two comparisons: RayStation TPS versus RPA and Eclipse TPS versus RPA for …

Adjuvant Therapy In Women With Early Stage Uterine Serous Carcinoma: A Multi-Institutional Study, Katherine C Kurnit, Silvana Pedra Nobre, Bryan M Fellman, David A Iglesias, Kristina Lindemann, Anuja Jhingran, Ane Gerda Z Eriksson, Beyhan Ataseven, Gretchen E Glaser, Jennifer J Mueller, Shannon N Westin, Pamela T Soliman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: Uterine serous carcinoma is a rare but aggressive subtype of endometrial adenocarcinoma. Our objective was to compare adjuvant treatment strategies for patients with early stage uterine serous carcinoma.

METHODS: This multi-institutional, retrospective cohort study evaluated patients with early stage uterine serous carcinoma. Patients with FIGO Stage IA-II disease after surgery, whose tumors had serous or any mixed serous/non-serous histology were included. Patients with carcinosarcoma were excluded. Clinical data were abstracted from local medical records. Summary statistics, Fisher's exact, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to analyze demographic and clinical characteristics. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed for recurrence-free and overall …

Targeting The Pi3k Pathway In Gynecologic Malignancies, Monica Avila, Michaela Onstad Grinsfelder, Melissa Pham, Shannon N Westin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose of review: This review explores the PI3K pathway aberrations common in gynecologic malignancies, the relevant therapeutic targets that have been explored to date particularly given their success in endometrial cancers, and predictive biomarkers of response to therapy.

Recent findings: Landmark trials have been noted involving this pathway, particularly in endometrial cancers. One phase II trial of the potent orally bioavailable mTOR inhibitor, everolimus, in combination with letrozole demonstrated an unprecedented clinical benefit rate (CBR) of 40% and high objective response rate (RR) of 32% in hormone agnostic endometrial cancers. This was followed by GOG 3007 that compared everolimus and …

A Randomized, Phase Iii Trial To Evaluate Rucaparib Monotherapy As Maintenance Treatment In Patients With Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancer (Athena-Mono/Gog-3020/Engot-Ov45), Bradley J Monk, Christine Parkinson, Myong Cheol Lim, David M O'Malley, Ana Oaknin, Michelle K Wilson, Robert L Coleman, Domenica Lorusso, Paul Bessette, Sharad Ghamande, Athina Christopoulou, Diane Provencher, Emily Prendergast, Fuat Demirkiran, Olga Mikheeva, Oladapo Yeku, Anita Chudecka-Glaz, Michael Schenker, Ramey D Littell, Tamar Safra, Hung-Hsueh Chou, Mark A Morgan, Vít Drochýtek, Joyce N Barlin, Toon Van Gorp, Fred Ueland, Gabriel Lindahl, Charles Anderson, Dearbhaile C Collins, Kathleen Moore, Frederik Marme, Shannon N Westin, Iain A Mcneish, Danny Shih, Kevin K Lin, Sandra Goble, Stephanie Hume, Keiichi Fujiwara, Rebecca S Kristeleit

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: ATHENA (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03522246) was designed to evaluate rucaparib first-line maintenance treatment in a broad patient population, including those without BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BRCA) mutations or other evidence of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), or high-risk clinical characteristics such as residual disease. We report the results from the ATHENA–MONO comparison of rucaparib versus placebo.

METHODS: Patients with stage III-IV high-grade ovarian cancer undergoing surgical cytoreduction (R0/complete resection permitted) and responding to first-line platinum-doublet chemotherapy were randomly assigned 4:1 to oral rucaparib 600 mg twice a day or placebo. Stratification factors were HRD test status, residual disease after chemotherapy, and …

Hpv-Associated Anal Cancer Knowledge, Attitudes, And Health Communication Behaviors Among Non-Clinical Providers At Hiv/Aids Service Organizations In Southern United States Region, Olufunto A Olusanya, Aditi Tomar, Jonathan Thomas, Praisy Johnson, Lisa T Wigfall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Co-infection with HIV/HPV and bio-behavioral risk factors (e.g., immunodeficiency, un-protected sex) increase likelihood for developing anal and other HPV-associated cancers among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). We explored knowledge, attitudes, and health communication regarding HPV-associated anal cancers among HIV/AIDS service organization (ASO) employees/volunteers delivering non-clinical services to PLWHA. Participants (n=59) were recruited from six ASOs located in the South United States Census region and completed a 118-item self-administered survey. For current analyses, outcome measures were knowledge, attitudes, and health communication regarding anal cancer. Descriptive statistics assessed outcome measures which were subsequently dichotomized into binary variables (i.e., high/favorable or low/unfavorable). Fisher's …

Chronic Kidney Disease In Public Renal Practices In Queensland, Australia, 2011–2018, Wendy E Hoy, Zaimin Wang, Jianzhen Zhang, Vishal Diwan, Anne Cameron, Sree K Venuthurupalli, Robert G Fassett, Samuel Chan, Helen G Healy, Ken-Soon Tan, Richard Baer, Andrew J Mallett, Nicholas Gray, Murty Mantha, Roy Cherian, Clyson Mutatiri, Krishan Madhan, George Kan, Geoffrey Mitchell, Shahadat Hossain, Danielle Wu, Thin Han, Adrian Kark, Thomas Titus, Dwarakanatan Ranganathan, Ann Bonner, Sridevi Govindarajulu, Nhmrc Ckd.Cre And The Ckd.Qld Collaborative

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

AIM: To describe adults with (non-dialysis) chronic kidney disease (CKD) in nine public renal practice sites in the Australian state of Queensland.

METHODS: 7,060 persons were recruited to a CKD Registry in May 2011 and until start of kidney replacement therapy (KRT), death without KRT or June 2018, for a median period of 3.4 years.

RESULTS: The cohort comprised 7,060 persons, 52% males, with a median age of 68 yr; 85% had CKD stages 3A to 5, 45.4% were diabetic, 24.6% had diabetic nephropathy, and 51.7% were obese. Younger persons mostly had glomerulonephritis or genetic renal disease, while older persons …

Characterization Of Colletotrichum Nymphaeae Isolates From Apple With Reduced Sensitivity To Fluazinam And Tebuconazole, Rulyu Meng

All Theses

Apple bitter rot is caused by Colletotrichum nymphaeae and other Colletotrichum species and management relies primarily on synthetic pesticides. Very few fungicides are effective against the disease and resistance has further limited their usefulness. A recent study indicated relatively low EC₅₀ values (the concentration required to inhibit 50% of mycelial growth in vitro) of C. nymphaeae isolates from Brazilian apples to fluazinam and tebuconazole, two fungicides that are not routinely used for bitter rot control. Isolates on opposite sides of the sensitivity range were designated either sensitive (lowest EC₅₀ values) and reduced-sensitive (highest EC₅₀ values). The objective …

Designing The House Of The Future: Social Commentary On Retrofuturism, Alyssa Woodruff

All Theses

This project explores the aesthetics of retrofuturism and the historical context of the house of the future. Retrofuturism captures how people perceived the future during previous eras in history. Conceptions of the future reflect the time period in which they are created. I designed and implemented a 3D model of a house of the future to express the aesthetics of mid-century modernism. I created the models in ZBrush and Maya. I took inspiration from The Jetsons cartoon, the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65, and Disneyland’s original Tomorrowland theme park. This project also incorporates contemporary features to reflect modern concerns. …

When Advocacy Becomes (In)Voluntary: A Thematic Analysis Of Disability Focused Organizations, Michelle Brazeau

All Theses

Only 19.1% of people with disabilities are currently employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022b). Stigma associated with disability often forces people with disabilities to have limited options in terms of employment. This has caused organizations like Bitty & Beaus Coffee and The Prospector Theater to make it their mission to hire people with disabilities. To better understand how these organizations are communicating about disability online a thematic analysis of the Instagram pages of Bitty & Beaus Coffee and The Prospector Theater was conducted. The findings suggest that these organizations use the image and likeness of the employees with disabilities to …

Serious Leisure, Job Task Load, & Satisfaction, Carson Matsick

All Theses

The study examined the relationship between degree of leisure seriousness and leisure, job, and life satisfaction, as moderated by perceived job mental workload. Serious leisure has largely been studied in reference to general life satisfaction and health outcomes, and less research exists to examine whether serious leisure participation may influence work. This study tested the following hypothesis: the relationship between serious leisure participation and employee well-being is moderated by mental workload on the job, such that a) as mental workload increases, then serious leisure participation and satisfaction will be less strongly positively correlated, and b) as mental workload decreases, then …

Venomic Characterization Of A Medically Relevant Rear-Fanged Snake, Conophis Lineatus (Dipsadidae: Xenodontinae), From Middle America, Tristan Schramer

All Theses

Most traditional research on snake venoms has focused on front-fanged snake families (Viperidae, Elapidae, and Atractaspididae). However, venom is now generally accepted as being a much more broadly possessed trait within snakes, including species traditionally considered harmless. Unfortunately, due to historical inertia and methodological challenges, the toxin repertoires of non-front-fanged snake families (e.g., Colubridae, Dipsadidae, and Natricidae) have been heavily neglected despite the knowledge of numerous species capable of inflicting medically relevant envenomations. Integrating proteomic data for validation, we perform a de novo assembly and analysis of the Duvernoy’s venom gland transcriptome of the Central American Road Guarder (Dipsadidae: Xenodontinae: …

Impact Of Housing And Management On Production, Behavior, And Welfare Of Dairy Cows In Automatic Milking Systems, Lindsey Eve Davis

All Theses

The overall objective of this research was to determine the impact of Automatic Milking System (AMS) housing and management practices on cow production, behavior, and welfare of Holstein dairy cows. The first objective was to identify factors at the farm and cow level associated with lameness on AMS farms through decision tree analysis to allocate probabilities to each input. Results indicated this novel multifactorial approach of data analysis enabled us to highlight critical points that can be focused on to lessen cow-level complications or enhance farm-level housing and management practices to reduce the incidence and severity of lameness in AMS …

Understanding The Influence Of Excessive Fertilization And Water Relations On Peach (Prunus Persica (L.) Batsch) Skin Bronzing, Sydney Lykins

All Theses

This project evaluated possible causes of peach skin bronzing, a brown-blotchy skin discoloration on mid to late-season peaches that causes drastic decreases to grower incomes in the Southeastern U.S. It is known that there is no bacterial, insectile, viral, or fungal cause of bronzing; thus, these studies focused on potential nutrient imbalances within the peach. On the ‘PF23’ variety, factors of irrigation, potassium fertilization, and transpiration-inhibiting sprays were tested to see the various effects on the incidence and severity of bronzing. The hypothesis was that excessive irrigation and excessive soil potassium concentrations would induce a higher incidence and severity of …

Investigating Attention Modeling Differences Between Older And Younger Drivers, Kathryn Baringer

All Theses

As in-vehicle technologies (IVTs) grow in both popularity and complexity, the question of whether these IVTs improve, or hinder, driver performance has gained more attention. The ability to predict when a driver will be looking at the road or a display on the car’s dashboard or center console is crucial to understanding the impact of the recent tech-heavy trend in car designs on safety and the extent to which IVTs compete with the primary driving task for visual resources. The SEEV model of visual attention has been shown to be able to predict the probability of attending an area if …

Addressing Meloidogyne Enterolobii Spread In The Sweetpotato Industry: Development Of A High Throughput Survey Detection Method For Root-Knot Nematodes And Quantification Of M. Enterolobii Damage On Storage Roots In Long-Term Assays, Julianna Culbreath

All Theses

Meloidogyne enterolobii is an aggressive root-knot nematode (RKN) species that has emerged as a significant pathogen of sweetpotato in the Southeastern US. Meloidogyne enterolobii is spread through the movement of infected ‘seed’ sweetpotatoes used for propagation, and the RKN resistance in commercial sweetpotato cultivars has proven ineffective against this nematode. This has prompted regulatory agencies to impose quarantines on regions infected with M. enterolobii. Sweetpotato storage roots can be rendered unmarketable due to M. enterolobii infection, resulting in potential overall yield loss. Visual detection of RKN in sweetpotato can be unreliable, and further distinguishing M. enterolobii from other RKN species …

In Vitro Rooting Techniques In Prunus Spp. For Propagation And Disease Screening For Armillaria Root Rot (Arr) Resistance, John Lawson

All Theses

Prunus is a genus widely cultivated to produce edible fruit including almond (P. amygdalus), peach (P. persica (L.) Batsch), cherries (P. avium and P. cerasus), among others. The cultivation of Prunus is economically important for several regions of the United States and relies on appropriate cultivars and rootstocks that are adapted to a growing region. Encroaching plant pathogens are forcing breeders to use sexually compatible germplasm from related species for introgression of novel alleles that confer tolerance or resistance. This is especially true in the rootstock breeding where interspecific hybridization is often used …

Cover Cropping And Organic Amendments To Improve Sandy Soils Under Organic Vegetable Production, Charles Williamson

All Theses

Coastal Plain soils in the Southeastern USA are typically sandy with poor soil structure, low soil organic carbon (SOC) content, and meager soil fertility that pose challenges to organic agriculture. Adding organic inputs is a strategy to improve these soils' physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Here, we aim to investigate the impacts of Cover Cropping (CC) and manure inclusions on sandy soils under organic vegetable production. The experiment design was a randomized complete block with two treatments of manure application (with and without) and four CC treatments of cereal rye (Secale cereale), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), …

Effect Of Metal Ions And Temperature On Stability Of Thiamine Determined By Hplc, Jhong Huei Huang

All Theses

Thiamine degradation occurs during storage and transportation for short and long periods due to the exposure to several factors, such as heat, oxidation-reduction reactions, and alkali. In this study, the effects of four metal ions (i.e., Cu⁺, Cu²⁺, Fe²⁺, and Fe³⁺) on thiamine stability in aqueous solutions at three temperatures (i.e., 25, 40, and 55°C) for the storage time of 7 days were discussed. Thiamine degradation was found to follow the first-order kinetic reaction, and the degradation rate could also be estimated. The factors in influencing thiamine stability included pH values, temperatures, …

If You Give A Beetle A Maple: Anoplophora Glabripennis Habitat Selection Patterns On An Island In South Carolina, Meredith Bean

All Theses

At the epicenter of the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky) quarantine zone in South Carolina, a small island containing an actively growing subpopulation of A. glabripennis had not completely killed its 37 host trees in 2020. Before these trees were removed and destroyed according to the USDA Eradication Program protocols, I performed an observational study to examine the microhabitat selection tendencies of the invasive A. glabripennis within this satellite infestation. After cataloging >14,000 oviposition sites and >1,600 exit holes created by A. glabripennis, I found dispersal trends according to a host’s stem status (single or multi-stemmed), vertical …

The Serbian Orthodox Church As A Transnational Political Actor: A Case Study Of Regime Change In Montenegro, Dunja Arandjelovic

All Theses

Although many scholars have considered how religious institutions can affect democratic change, little attention has been given to the contemporary transnational potential of a church with a distinctively national identity. This study will explore the capacity of national churches to act transnationally by analyzing the Serbian Orthodox Church’s (SOC) recent political intervention in Montenegro, during which the church mobilized almost half of the Montenegrin population during the COVID pandemic in a movement that led to the defeat of Montenegro’s president in parliamentary elections for the first time in 30 years. My project is based on in-depth elite interviews with ten …

An Evaluation Of Bovine Reproductive Function From The Microrna Expression In The Female To Performance Testing In The Male, Erin Amiss

All Theses

Reproductive function is crucial to the success of a beef or dairy herd. Both the female and male play significant roles in the outcome of bovine reproduction. The bull contributes to reproductive success in many ways, such as genetics. The initial role that the bull has in reproductive success is fertilization, whether natural or by artificial insemination. One method of assessing bull performance are central bull test stations, which are traditionally administered by a university, extension center, or are privately owned. Central bull tests assess the performance of bulls from various management systems, breeds, and ages. Some measurements taken during …

The Effects Of Tubulin Post-Translational Modifications On The Flagellar Motility Of Trypanosoma Brucei, Katherine Wentworth

All Theses

Trypanosoma brucei is a parasitic kinetoplastid that causes African trypanosomiasis and is transmitted to a mammalian host by the tsetse fly (Glossina spp.). T. brucei relies on its flagellar motility to carry out its morphological changes from the procyclic form (predominant in the fly vector) to the bloodstream form (infectious form in mammals) and navigate the bloodstream of its host. The driving structure within the flagellum is the axoneme, which is composed of microtubules and dynein motor proteins. The tubulin code hypothesis suggests that cells regulate microtubule motor protein activity through post-translational modifications (PTMs) of alpha and beta …

Barriers And Facilitators In Implementing Multiplatform Remote Patient Monitoring Of Heart Failure Patients In Clinical Settings, Zachary Andrew Reilly

All Theses

Remote patient monitoring (RPM), which provides continuous monitoring of vital signs, has become increasingly utilized in patients with heart failure (HF). As this condition impacts more than 26 million Americans each year, it is important to determine the barriers and facilitators of RPM to both improve patient care and help medical professionals make more informed medical decisions. To determine these barriers and facilitators, our research team partnered with Prisma Health-Upstate to interview healthcare professionals working at Carolina Cardiology Consultants--Greenville, which uses multiple RPM systems to monitor heart failure patients.

The twelve interviews conducted support that healthcare professionals would benefit from …