Digital Commons Network^™

Low Risk For Developing Diabetes Among The Offspring Of Individuals With Exceptional Longevity And Their Spouses, Iva Miljkovic, Ryan Cvejkus, Ping An, Bharat Thyagarajan, Kaare Christensen, Mary Wojczynski, Nicole Schupf, Joseph M Zmuda

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Little is known about the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) among the offspring of individuals with exceptional longevity. We determined the incidence of and potential risk and protective factors for T2D among the offspring of probands and offspring's spouses (mean age=60 years, range 32-88 years) in the Long Life Family Study (LLFS), a multicenter cohort study of 583 two-generation families with a clustering of healthy aging and exceptional longevity. Incident T2D was defined as fasting serum glucose ≥126 mg/dl, or HbA1c of ≥6.5%, or self-reported with doctor diagnosis of T2D, or the use of anti-diabetic medication during a mean …

Protocol For A Proof-Of-Concept Study Evaluating Systematic Quality Improvement With Realtime Event Support (Squires), Arianna Montes De Oca, Thaddeus P. Budelier, Rachel C. Wolfe, Teresa M. Murray-Torres, Melissa Milbrandt, Ryan Guffey, Alex Kronzer, Mara L. Bollini, Brian A. Torres, Bernadette Henrichs, Arbi Ben Abdallah, Sherry L. Mckinnon, Ivan Kangrga, Andrea Reidy, Paul W. Kerby, Michael S. Avidan, Troy S. Wildes

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Protocol For The Perioperative Outcome Risk Assessment With Computer Learning Enhancement (Periop Oracle) Randomized Study, Bradley Fritz, Christopher King, Yixin Chen, Alex Kronzer, Joanna Abraham, Arbi Ben Abdallah, Thomas Kannampallil, Thaddeus Budelier, Arianna Montes De Oca, Sherry Mckinnon, Bethany Tellor Pennington, Troy Wildes, Michael Avidan

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Protocol For The Ketamine For Postoperative Avoidance Of Depressive Symptoms (K-Pass) Feasibility Study: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Bradley A Fritz, Bethany R Tellor Pennington, Ben J A Palanca, Julie A Schweiger, Jon T Willie, Nuri B Farber

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Automated Detection Of Vaping-Related Tweets On Twitter During The 2019 Evali Outbreak Using Machine Learning Classification, Yang Ren, Dezhi Wu, Avineet Singh, Erin Kasson, Ming Huang, Patricia Cavazos-Rehg

2020-Current year OA Pubs

There are increasingly strict regulations surrounding the purchase and use of combustible tobacco products (i.e., cigarettes); simultaneously, the use of other tobacco products, including e-cigarettes (i.e., vaping products), has dramatically increased. However, public attitudes toward vaping vary widely, and the health effects of vaping are still largely unknown. As a popular social media, Twitter contains rich information shared by users about their behaviors and experiences, including opinions on vaping. It is very challenging to identify vaping-related tweets to source useful information manually. In the current study, we proposed to develop a detection model to accurately identify vaping-related tweets using machine …

Modulation Of Mirisc-Mediated Gene Silencing In Eukaryotes, Courtney F Jungers, Sergej Djuranovic

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Gene expression is regulated at multiple levels in eukaryotic cells. Regulation at the post-transcriptional level is modulated by various

Responding To Sexual Abuse In Health Care: Development Of A Guide For Patients, Tristan Mcintosh, Heidi Walsh, Meredith Parsons, Erin D Solomon, Jessica Mozersky, James M Dubois

2020-Current year OA Pubs

This report details the development of a stakeholder- and evidence-informed online resource guide for patients that provides information to raise awareness about sexual abuse in health care, the value of chaperones, and options for responding to sexual abuse. The guide was developed to reflect lessons learned from 10 years of researching physician wrongdoing (ie, sexual violations, improper prescribing, and unnecessary invasive procedures), a 5-year National Institutes of Health-funded mixed-methods study of 280 cases of egregious wrongdoing in medicine, and an expert working group. Focus groups were conducted with 22 patients from diverse backgrounds to obtain feedback on the acceptability of …

Nivolumab Plus Docetaxel In Patients With Chemotherapy-Naïve Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Results From The Phase Ii Checkmate 9kd Trial, Karim Fizazi, Russell K Pachynski, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Docetaxel has immunostimulatory effects that may promote an immunoresponsive prostate tumour microenvironment, providing a rationale for combination with nivolumab (programmed death-1 inhibitor) for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

METHODS: In the non-randomised, multicohort, global phase II CheckMate 9KD trial, 84 patients with chemotherapy-naive mCRPC, ongoing androgen deprivation therapy and ≤2 prior novel hormonal therapies (NHTs) received nivolumab 360 mg and docetaxel 75 mg/m

RESULTS: The confirmed ORR (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 40.0% (25.7-55.7), and the confirmed PSA

CONCLUSIONS: Nivolumab plus docetaxel has clinical activity in patients with chemotherapy-naïve mCRPC. Safety was consistent with the individual components. These results …

Antibodies In Healthcare Personnel Following Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Virus 2 (Sars-Cov-2) Infection, Rachel E Bosserman, Christopher W Farnsworth, Caroline A O'Neil, Candice Cass, Daniel Park, Claire Ballman, Meghan A Wallace, Emily Struttmann, Henry Stewart, Olivia Arter, Kate Peacock, Victoria J Fraser, Philip J Budge, Margaret A Olsen, Carey-Ann D Burnham, Hilary M Babcock, Jennie H Kwon, Cdc Prevention Epicenters

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In a prospective cohort of healthcare personnel (HCP), we measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid IgG antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among 79 HCP, 68 (86%) were seropositive 14-28 days after their positive PCR test, and 54 (77%) of 70 were seropositive at the 70-180-day follow-up. Many seropositive HCP (95%) experienced an antibody decline by the second visit.

Campus Climate For Lgbtqia+/Two Spirits At A Midwestern Tribal College, Bridget G. Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

Very little is known regarding campus climate for LGBTQIA+/Two Spirits at Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). The first aim of this dissertation research study was to ascertain if there was a population of LGBTQIA+/Two Spirits at one Midwestern Tribal and Community College. The second aim was to uncover if the campus climate for LGBTQIA+/Two Spirits was warm or chilly. Once the campus climate was discovered, the third and final aim of the study was to determine if there was a significant difference between individual perceptions of campus climate for LGBTQIA+/Two Spirits verses the perceptions of heterosexuals.An online survey was sent …

Factors Associated With New Hospital Nurses' Self-Efficacy In Providing Palliative End-Of-Life Care, Penny Marie Brriese

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Self-efficacy is defined as confidence in one’s competence; the ability to successfully accomplish tasks and achieve favorable outcomes (Bandura, 1997). Many nurses today say they feel their undergraduate education was inadequate for them to feel competent to provide palliative and EOL patient care. (Chiplaskey, 2016; Scherlin & Quinn, 2016; Zheng et al., 2018).). Inadequate EOL preparation also results in nurses experiencing distress, death anxiety, burnout, feeling overwhelmed and leaving practice within just a few years (Friedman et al., 2011; Gaw, 2012; Kovner et al., 2006; Parry, 2008; Silverstein, 2017, November 28; Suzuki et al., 2008; Wilson & Kirshbaum, 2013). …

Meta-Analysis For Comparing Effect Between Game-Based Learning Versus Gamification Utilized In Nutrition Education, Chia-Lin Chang

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of obesity tripled from 1975 to 2016 and was declared as a global epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1997 (Haththotuwa et al., 2020; "Controlling the global obesity epidemic," 2022). Nutrition education that involves knowledge and behavioral change is one major component addressing the problem ("Controlling the global obesity epidemic," 2022). Therefore, the effectiveness of each learning session is essential (Sharifirad et al., 2013). Thus, many nutrition educators have used gamified nutrition education to improve teaching effectiveness to increase healthy behavior or knowledge (Chow et al., 2020.; Munguba et al., 2008; Azevedo et al., 2019). Two …

Evaluating Virtual Reality And Artificial Intelligence As Solutions For Delayed Flight Progress In Aviation Pilot Training, Ryan Paul Guthridge

Theses and Dissertations

Three studies in this dissertation examined a topic centered around delayed flight progress in aviation pilot training. Study one explored the impact of nonconcurrent flight laboratory training on the academic outcomes of collegiate aviation students, while studies two and three explored virtual reality and artificial intelligence as potential solutions to help alleviate the strain of delayed flight progress on the flight training organization. In the first study (n = 144), it was found that concurrent enrollment in an aviation classroom ground course and flight training laboratory positively impacts the mean academic block exam scores of students. In study two (n …

Impact Of Eyewitness Gender On Juror Perceptions Of Credibility, Shannon Hardy

Theses and Dissertations

While the influence of expert witness gender on juror perceptions of credibility has been widely researched, the effect of eyewitness gender has only begun to be investigated. Expert witness gender has been shown to have an impact on the perception of the credibility of testimony given, such that male expert witnesses are typically seen as more credible than female eyewitness. However, in some situations, such as a case that is considered feminine domain like child welfare, women may be seen as more credible. The purpose of the current study is to expand upon the existing literature on the impact of …

Instructional Coach Professional Learning: Developing Reflective Practices, Cultural Competence, And Self-Efficacy In An Asynchronous Course, Mena Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Effective instructional coaching programs have the potential to promote the development of reflective practices, cultural competence, and self-efficacy of educators, but require intentional professional development for coaches. This research inquiry examines instructional coach participants’ reflective practices, cultural competence, and self-efficacy after participating in an eight-week asynchronous Coach-Teacher Partnership Toolkit (CTPT) professional development course and the effects of the CTPT course on their coaching practices (Hill, 2021c). This study also examines teacher perceptions of cultural competence and reflective practice development as related to organizational and instructional coaching supports.

Results of the study indicate instructional coaches desire ongoing and purposeful professional development …

The History Of Queer Resistance And Student Activism At The University Of North Dakota, Jeff Maliskey

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the queer history of the University of North Dakota from 1980 to present day and demonstrates how LGBTQ+ student activism lead to the development of LGBTQ+ programs and services at the University. Situated in a socially and politically conservative state, the University of North Dakota provides an understanding of how LGBTQ+ students organized in the 1980s out of necessity to combat social opposition and discriminatory state legislation. LGBTQ+ students were burdened with the responsibility to create their own support services and resources as there is no historical evidence of the university administration taking steps to improve the …

Effects Of Temperature And Feedstock Composition On Product Distribution Of Mixed Plastic Waste Pyrolysis, Zachary William Meduna

Theses and Dissertations

Plastic is one of the most widely used packaging materials; however, there are limited processes in place for recycling at the end of its life, especially for plastics 3-7 including: PVC, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS). Pyrolysis, or chemical recycling, has shown to be promising to break plastics down to fuels, monomers, or other chemicals. This has been shown to also make use of mixed plastic. This work studies the interactions during fast pyrolysis between commonly unrecyclable plastics. Chapter II investigates the interaction of PS and PP in fast pyrolysis at temperatures of 450, 500, and 550 …

Higher Education Professional Staff Engagement: Looking In And Beyond The Great Resignation, Sarah Owens

Theses and Dissertations

In 2021, there were 68.9 million job separations. Of those, 47.4 million people willingly left their jobs (Romans, 2022). As the “Great Resignation” in the COVID-19 era continues, many professional staff in higher education are re-examining their relationship with work (McClure, 2021). Higher education professional staff, often feeling undervalued and unappreciated, are less likely to engage and more likely to intend to turnover; leaving institutions to bear the costs of lost productivity and staff replacement. This study examines the relationship between university professional staff members’ self-reported levels of psychological engagement (meaningfulness, safety, and availability), employee engagement (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), …

Characterization Of Vertical Growth Of Fractures In Layered Formations, Vibhas Jagdish Pandey

Theses and Dissertations

Hydraulic fracturing treatments are routinely pumped in oil and gas wells worldwide to enhance production and manage the economic recovery of hydrocarbon reserves. The uplift in the production after a fracture stimulation job depends on several parameters, of which optimal coverage of the payzone by the treatment is one of the more important ones. The vertical growth of hydraulic fractures thus is a topic of great interest amongst researchers because of its ability to influence the outcome of a stimulation treatment.

The modeling and prediction of fracture height, especially in layered formations, is a challenging task given the associated complexities …

Road To Recovery: Social Acknowledgement, Disclosure And Self-Labeling Of Victims/Survivors Of Sexual Violence, Madison Waldron

Theses and Dissertations

Object: Sexual violence affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effects of social acknowledgement, self-labeling, and disclosure on active coping after experiencing sexual violence. Method: A sample of 174 young adults completed an online study which included questionnaires about past unwanted sexual experiences, social acknowledgment, disclosure, self-label, a timeline follow-back, and coping. Results: The results indicated that there was a significant main effect for social acknowledgement scores based upon label (p = .009). Participants who chose the “both” label felt more socially acknowledged compared to those who …

Development Of Silicon-Based Anodes With Coal-Derived Materials For High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries, Shuai Xu

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing demands on high energy density and long cycling life in electronics and energy storage systems require lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with higher capacity anodes to replace the present commercial anode, graphite, which has a limited capacity of only 372 mAh g-1. Silicon-based materials (silicon and silicon suboxides) are among the most attractive alternative because of their high theoretical capacity but can hardly reach commercialization due to numerous technical and engineering barriers. The effort in this dissertation focuses on improving the electrochemical performance of SiO and Si anode materials, trying to pave a way to a greener and cleaner energy …

Preliminary Report On The 2021 Season Of Excavations At As-Khirbat Safra, Paul Gregor, Paul Ray, Talmadge Gerald, Trisha Broy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

It Is Time To Define An Organizational Model For The Prevention And Management Of Infections Along The Surgical Pathway: A Worldwide Cross-Sectional Survey, Massimo Sartellli, John E. Mazuski, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Text Reply Latencies For Mental Illness Screening, Ml Tlachac, Samuel S. Ogden

Information Systems and Analytics Department Faculty Conference Proceedings

Campus research presentation poster presented at Celebrating Academic Excellence at Bryant University.

Stereotype Threat Impact On Mobile Depression Screening, Ml Tlachac

Information Systems and Analytics Department Faculty Conference Proceedings

Campus research presentation poster presented at Celebrating Academic Excellence at Bryant University.

A Mixed-Methods Protocol To Develop And Validate A Stewardship Maturity Matrix For Human Genomic Data In The Cloud, Vasiliki Rahimzadeh, Ge Peng, Mildred Cho

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

This article describes a mixed-methods protocol to develop and test the implementation of a stewardship maturity matrix (SMM) for repositories which govern access to human genomic data in the cloud. It is anticipated that the cloud will host most human genomic and related health datasets generated as part of publicly funded research in the coming years. However, repository managers lack practical tools for identifying what stewardship outcomes matter most to key stakeholders as well as how to track progress on their stewardship goals over time. In this article we describe a protocol that combines Delphi survey methods with SMM modeling …

Prefrontal Glutamate Neurotransmission In Ptsd: A Novel Approach To Estimate Synaptic Strength In Vivo In Humans, Lynnette A Averill, Lihong Jiang, Prerana Purohit, Anastasia Coppoli, Christopher L Averill, Jeremy Roscoe, Benjamin Kelmendi, Henk M De Feyter, Robin A De Graaf, Ralitza Gueorguieva, Gerard Sanacora, John H Krystal, Douglas L Rothman, Graeme F Mason, Chadi G Abdallah

Staff and Researcher Publications

Background: Trauma and chronic stress are believed to induce and exacerbate psychopathology by disrupting glutamate synaptic strength. However, in vivo in human methods to estimate synaptic strength are limited. In this study, we established a novel putative biomarker of glutamatergic synaptic strength, termed energy-per-cycle (EPC). Then, we used EPC to investigate the role of prefrontal neurotransmission in trauma-related psychopathology.

Methods: Healthy controls (n = 18) and patients with posttraumatic stress (PTSD; n = 16) completed 13C-acetate magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) scans to estimate prefrontal EPC, which is the ratio of neuronal energetic needs per glutamate neurotransmission cycle (VTCA/VCycle).

Results: Patients …

Defining Patient-Level Molecular Heterogeneity In Psoriasis Vulgaris Based On Single-Cell Transcriptomics, Yale Liu, Hao Wang, Christopher Cook, Mark A Taylor, Jeffrey P North, Ashley Hailer, Yanhong Shou, Arsil Sadik, Esther Kim, Elizabeth Purdom, Jeffrey B Cheng, Raymond J Cho

Staff and Researcher Publications

Identifying genetic variation underlying human diseases establishes targets for therapeutic development and helps tailor treatments to individual patients. Large-scale transcriptomic profiling has extended the study of such molecular heterogeneity between patients to somatic tissues. However, the lower resolution of bulk RNA profiling, especially in a complex, composite tissue such as the skin, has limited its success. Here we demonstrate approaches to interrogate patient-level molecular variance in a chronic skin inflammatory disease, psoriasis vulgaris, leveraging single-cell RNA-sequencing of CD45+ cells isolated from active lesions. Highly psoriasis-specific transcriptional abnormalities display greater than average inter-individual variance, nominating them as potential sources of clinical …

Decreased Brain Ventricular Volume In Psychiatric Inpatients With Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Treatment, P K Bolin, S N Gosnell, K Brandel-Ankrapp, N Srinivasan, A Castellanos, R Salas

Staff and Researcher Publications

Background: Brain ventricles have been reported to be enlarged in several neuropsychiatric disorders and in aging. Whether human cerebral ventricular volume can decrease over time with psychiatric treatment is not well-studied. The aim of this study was to examine whether inpatients taking serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRI) exhibited reductions in cerebral ventricular volume.

Methods: Psychiatric inpatients, diagnosed mainly with depression, substance use, anxiety, and personality disorders, underwent two imaging sessions (Time 1 and Time 2, approximately 4 weeks apart). FreeSurfer was used to quantify volumetric features of the brain, and ANOVA was used to analyze ventricular volume differences between Time 1 …

Turning Data Into Better Mental Health: Past, Present, And Future, Nidal Moukaddam, Akane Sano, Ramiro Salas, Zakia Hammal, Ashutosh Sabharwal

Staff and Researcher Publications

In this mini-review, we discuss the fundamentals of using technology in mental health diagnosis and tracking. We highlight those principles using two clinical concepts: (1) cravings and relapse in the context of addictive disorders and (2) anhedonia in the context of depression. This manuscript is useful for both clinicians wanting to understand the scope of technology use in psychiatry and for computer scientists and engineers wishing to assess psychiatric frameworks useful for diagnosis and treatment. The increase in smartphone ownership and internet connectivity, as well as the accelerated development of wearable devices, have made the observation and analysis of human …