Digital Commons Network^™

The Practice Of Dry Needling In Physical Therapy, Sarah A. Robertson

University Honors Theses

This thesis is a systematic review that discusses the current state of the treatment modality of "Dry Needling" in the field of physical therapy. To do this, current studies of the patient outcomes associated with Dry Needling are analyzed and discussed, as well as legislation at both the state and national levels.

Beyond The Numbers: A Deeper Dive Into The Dearth Of Girls And Women In Stem, Jennifer John Buck

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite decades of research attempting to better understand the dearth of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), gender imbalances persist in many STEM fields. This is particularly the case in math-intensive STEM fields. The current program of research used mixed-methods research to better understand these inequities. The first paper identified gender and ethnic variation in how undergraduates reason about STEM inequities. The second paper found that how emerging adults narrate “turning points” in their relationship with math was associated with their current math outcomes and future plans to pursue math. The final paper demonstrated that how …

Calcite Spherulite Formations And Their Controls In Halophilic Bacterial Cultures, Zakaria Jibrin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study arose from an accidental discovery of calcite spherulites forming on colonies of various halophilic bacteria grown on solid Luria-Bertani medium made containing water from a brine pool in Death Valley, their natural habitat. Further studies with a large spherulite forming bacteria, Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis, showed that calcite precipitation conditions were the consequence of bacteria using amino acids as a source of carbon and energy, a metabolism that produces NH3 and CO2 waste products. NH3 raises the pH of the medium, turning CO2 into CO32-. Calcium in the natural brine combines with CO32-. The resulting spherulitic calcite precipitation is nano-acicular …

The Metabolic Change Of Lipid Species In Stam Mice With Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Devin J. Peart

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Primary liver cancer hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In the US, primary liver cancer is the most rapidly increasing type of cancer due to increases in hepatitis B and C and the continued trend of greater and greater percentages of the population suffering from obesity, diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. The prognosis for this disease is poor, with a 5-year survival rate of 26% as compared to only 2% when the cancer is metastatic. Unfortunately, current strategies for early detection of HCC, including routine CT imaging or alpha-fetoprotein biomarker, are suboptimal and tend …

Hunter-Gatherers In Context: Hadzabe People And Early Nutrition Transition, Trevor Pollom

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study utilizes a mixed-methods approach to investigate the processes that influence landcover change and nutrition transitions in the Lake Eyasi Basin area of Northern Tanzania. In doing so, it provides unique insights into the behavior and biology of Hadzabe foragers living in the Yaeda Valley during the early stages of nutrition transition and provides much needed context for scientific literature that has been derived from this region. The current study answers the following questions: 1) How can historical and ethnographic maps, combined with present-day landcover classifications, inform our understanding of the people(s), spaces, and places of Lake Eyasi? …

Npgreat: Assembly Of The Human Subtelomere Regions With The Use Of Ultralong Nanopore Reads And Linked Reads, Eleni Adam, Desh Ranjan, Harold Riethman

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Background: Human subtelomeric DNA regulates the length and stability of adjacent telomeres that are critical for cellular function, and contains many gene/pseudogene families. Large evolutionarily recent segmental duplications and associated structural variation in human subtelomeres has made complete sequencing and assembly of these regions difficult to impossible for many loci, complicating or precluding a wide range of genetic analyses to investigate their function.

Results: We present a hybrid assembly method, NanoPore Guided REgional Assembly Tool (NPGREAT), which combines Linked-Read data with mapped ultralong nanopore reads spanning subtelomeric segmental duplications to potentially overcome these difficulties. Linked-Read sets of DNA sequences identified …

X-Linked Hypophosphatemia Caused By The Prevailing North American Phex Variant C.*231a>G; Exon 13–15 Duplication Is Often Misdiagnosed As Ankylosing Spondylitis And Manifests In Both Men And Women, Kathryn Mccrystal Dahir, Margo Black, Gary S Gottesman, Erik A Imel, Steven Mumm, Cindy M Nichols, Michael P Whyte

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Inactivating mutations of the gene coding for phosphate-regulating endopeptidase homolog X-linked (PHEX) cause X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH). A novel

Vascular Endothelial-Cadherin As A Marker Of Endothelial Injury In Preclinical Alzheimer Disease, Rawan Tarawneh, Rachel S Kasper, Jessie Sanford, Chia-Ling Phuah, Jason Hassenstab, Carlos Cruchaga

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Endothelial dysfunction is an early and prevalent pathology in Alzheimer disease (AD). We here investigate the value of vascular endothelial-cadherin (VEC) as a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) marker of endothelial injury in preclinical AD.

METHODS: Cognitively normal participants (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR] 0) from the Knight Washington University-ADRC were included in this study (n = 700). Preclinical Alzheimer's Cognitive Composite (PACC) scores, CSF VEC, tau, p-tau181, Aβ42/Aβ40, neurofilament light-chain (NFL) levels, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments of white matter injury (WMI) were obtained from all participants. A subset of participants underwent brain amyloid imaging using positron emission tomography (amyloid-PET) …

The Clinical Landscape Of Cell-Free Dna Alterations In 1671 Patients With Advanced Biliary Tract Cancer, J E Berchuck, B Tan, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Targeted therapies have transformed clinical management of advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC). Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis is an attractive approach for cancer genomic profiling that overcomes many limitations of traditional tissue-based analysis. We examined cfDNA as a tool to inform clinical management of patients with advanced BTC and generate novel insights into BTC tumor biology.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed next-generation sequencing data of 2068 cfDNA samples from 1671 patients with advanced BTC generated with Guardant360. We carried out clinical annotation on a multi-institutional subset (n = 225) to assess intra-patient cfDNA-tumor concordance and the association of cfDNA variant …

Listeria Motility Increases The Efficiency Of Epithelial Invasion During Intestinal Infection, Inge M. N. Wortel, Seonyoung Kim, Annie Y. Liu, Enid C. Ibarra, Mark J. Miller

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a food-borne pathogen that causes severe bacterial gastroenteritis, with high rates of hospitalization and mortality. Lm is ubiquitous in soil, water and livestock, and can survive and proliferate at low temperatures. Following oral ingestion of contaminated food, Lm crosses the epithelium through intestinal goblet cells in a mechanism mediated by Lm InlA binding host E-cadherin. Importantly, human infections typically occur with Lm growing at or below room temperature, which is flagellated and motile. Even though many important human bacterial pathogens are flagellated, little is known regarding the effect of Lm motility on invasion and immune evasion. …

Mouse Tissue Harvest-Induced Hypoxia Rapidly Alters The In Vivo Metabolome, Between-Genotype Metabolite Level Differences, And 13c-Tracing Enrichments, Adam J Rauckhorst, Nicholas Borcherding, Daniel J Pape, Alora S Kraus, Diego A Scerbo, Eric B Taylor

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Metabolomics as an approach to solve biological problems is exponentially increasing in use. Thus, this a pivotal time for the adoption of best practices. It is well known that disrupted tissue oxygen supply rapidly alters cellular energy charge. However, the speed and extent to which delayed mouse tissue freezing after dissection alters the broad metabolome is not well described. Furthermore, how tissue genotype may modulate such metabolomic drift and the degree to which traced

METHODS: By combined liquid chromatography (LC)- and gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS), we measured how levels of 255 mouse liver metabolites changed following 30-second, 1-minute, …

G Protein Gamma Subunit, A Hidden Master Regulator Of Gpcr Signaling, Dinesh Kankanamge, Mithila Tennakoon, Ajith Karunarathne, N Gautam

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Heterotrimeric G proteins (αβγ subunits) that are activated by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate the biological responses of eukaryotic cells to extracellular signals. The α subunits and the tightly bound βγ subunit complex of G proteins have been extensively studied and shown to control the activity of effector molecules. In contrast, the potential roles of the large family of γ subunits have been less studied. In this review, we focus on present knowledge about these proteins. Induced loss of individual γ subunit types in animal and plant models result in strikingly distinct phenotypes indicating that γ subtypes play important and …

Identification Of Patients With Ovarian Cancer Experiencing The Highest Benefit From Bevacizumab In The First-Line Setting On The Basis Of Their Tumor-Intrinsic Chemosensitivity (Kelim): The Gog-0218 Validation Study, Benoit You, David Mutch, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: In patients with high-grade ovarian cancer, predictors of bevacizumab efficacy in first-line setting are needed. In the ICON-7 trial, a poor tumor intrinsic chemosensitivity (defined by unfavorable modeled cancer antigen-125 [CA-125] ELIMination rate constant K [KELIM] score) was a predictive biomarker. Only the patients with high-risk disease (suboptimally resected stage III, or stage IV) exhibiting unfavorable KELIM score < 1.0 had overall survival (OS) benefit from bevacizumab (median: 29.7

METHODS: In GOG-0218, 1,873 patients were treated with carboplatin-paclitaxel ± concurrent-maintenance bevacizumab/placebo. Patient KELIM values were calculated with CA-125 kinetics during the first 100 chemotherapy days by the Lyon University team. The association between KELIM score (favorable ≥ 1.0, or unfavorable …

Cognition And The Single Neuron: How Cell Types Construct The Dynamic Computations Of Frontal Cortex, Amelia J Christensen, Torben Ott, Adam Kepecs

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Frontal cortex is thought to underlie many advanced cognitive capacities, from self-control to long term planning. Reflecting these diverse demands, frontal neural activity is notoriously idiosyncratic, with tuning properties that are correlated with endless numbers of behavioral and task features. This menagerie of tuning has made it difficult to extract organizing principles that govern frontal neural activity. Here, we contrast two successful yet seemingly incompatible approaches that have begun to address this challenge. Inspired by the indecipherability of single-neuron tuning, the first approach casts frontal computations as dynamical trajectories traversed by arbitrary mixtures of neurons. The second approach, by contrast, …

A Novel, Likely Pathogenic Variant In Ubtf-Related Neurodegeneration With Brain Atrophy Is Associated With A Severe Divergent Neurodevelopmental Phenotype, Rory J Tinker, Tiffany Guess, David C Rinker, Jonathan H Sheehan, Daniel Lubarsky, Binu Porath, Mackenzie Mosera, Ping Mayo, Emily Solem, Laura A Lee, Asha Sharam, Jennifer Brault

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: A de novo, pathogenic, missense variant in UBTF, c.628G>A p.Glu210Lys, has been described as the cause of an emerging neurodegenerative disorder, Childhood-Onset Neurodegeneration with Brain Atrophy (CONDBA). The p.Glu210Lys alteration yields a positively charged stretch of three lysine residues. Functional studies confirmed this change results in a stronger interaction with negatively charged DNA and gain-of-function activity when compared to the wild-type sequence. The CONDBA phenotype reported in association with p.Glu210Lys consists of normal early-neurodevelopment followed by progressive motor, cognitive, and behavioral regression in early-to-middle childhood.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The current proband presented at 9 months of age with …

Targeting The Autophagy-Lysosome Pathway In A Pathophysiologically Relevant Murine Model Of Reversible Heart Failure, Sarah Evans, Xiucui Ma, Xiqiang Wang, Yana Chen, Chen Zhao, Carla J Weinheimer, Attila Kovacs, Brian Finck, Abhinav Diwan, Douglas L Mann

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The key biological "drivers" that are responsible for reverse left ventricle (LV) remodeling are not well understood. To gain an understanding of the role of the autophagy-lysosome pathway in reverse LV remodeling, we used a pathophysiologically relevant murine model of reversible heart failure, wherein pressure overload by transaortic constriction superimposed on acute coronary artery (myocardial infarction) ligation leads to a heart failure phenotype that is reversible by hemodynamic unloading. Here we show transaortic constriction + myocardial infarction leads to decreased flux through the autophagy-lysosome pathway with the accumulation of damaged proteins and organelles in cardiac myocytes, whereas hemodynamic unloading is …

A Sarm1-Mitochondrial Feedback Loop Drives Neuropathogenesis In A Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 2a Rat Model, Yurie Sato-Yamada, Amy Strickland, Yo Sasaki, Joseph Bloom, Aaron Diantonio, Jeffrey Milbrandt

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2A (CMT2A) is an axonal neuropathy caused by mutations in the mitofusin 2 (MFN2) gene. MFN2 mutations result in profound mitochondrial abnormalities, but the mechanism underlying the axonal pathology is unknown. Sterile α and Toll/IL-1 receptor motif-containing 1 (SARM1), the central executioner of axon degeneration, can induce neuropathy and is activated by dysfunctional mitochondria. We tested the role of SARM1 in a rat model carrying a dominant CMT2A mutation (Mfn2H361Y) that exhibits progressive dying-back axonal degeneration, neuromuscular junction (NMJ) abnormalities, muscle atrophy, and mitochondrial abnormalities - all hallmarks of the human disease. We generated Sarm1-KO (Sarm1-/-) and …

Macrophage Depletion Blocks Congenital Sarm1-Dependent Neuropathy, Caitlin B Dingwall, Amy Strickland, Sabrina W Yum, Aldrin Ky Yim, Jian Zhu, Peter L. Wang, Yurie Yamada, Robert E. Schmidt, Yo Sasaki, A. Joseph Bloom, Aaron Diantonio, Jeffrey Milbrandt

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Axon loss contributes to many common neurodegenerative disorders. In healthy axons, the axon survival factor NMNAT2 inhibits SARM1, the central executioner of programmed axon degeneration. We identified 2 rare NMNAT2 missense variants in 2 brothers afflicted with a progressive neuropathy syndrome. The polymorphisms resulted in amino acid substitutions V98M and R232Q, which reduced NMNAT2 NAD+-synthetase activity. We generated a mouse model to mirror the human syndrome and found that Nmnat2V98M/R232Q compound-heterozygous CRISPR mice survived to adulthood but developed progressive motor dysfunction, peripheral axon loss, and macrophage infiltration. These disease phenotypes were all SARM1-dependent. Remarkably, macrophage depletion therapy blocked and reversed …

Mild Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy (Hie): Timing And Pattern Of Mri Brain Injury, Yi Li, Jessica L Wisnowski, Lina Chalak, Amit M Mathur, Robert C Mckinstry, Genesis Licona, Dennis E Mayock, Taeun Chang, Krisa P Van Meurs, Tai-Wei Wu, Kaashif A Ahmad, Marie-Coralie Cornet, Rakesh Rao, Aaron Scheffler, Yvonne W Wu

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Mild hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for neonatal brain injury. We examined the timing and pattern of brain injury in mild HIE.

METHODS: This retrospective cohort study includes infants with mild HIE treated at 9 hospitals. Neonatal brain MRIs were scored by 2 reviewers using a validated classification system, with discrepancies resolved by consensus. Severity and timing of MRI brain injury (i.e., acute, subacute, chronic) was scored on the subset of MRIs that were performed at or before 8 days of age.

RESULTS: Of 142 infants with mild HIE, 87 (61%) had injury on …

Comparing Antigenaemia- And Microfilaraemia As Criteria For Stopping Decisions In Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Programmes In Africa, Wilma A. Stolk, Luc E. Coffeng, Fatorma K. Bolay, Obiora A. Eneanya, Peter U. Fischer, T. Déirdre Hollingsworth, Benjamin G. Koudou, Aboulaye Méité, Edwin Michael, Joaquin M. Prada, Rocio M. Caja Rivera, Swarnali Sharma, Panayiota Touloupou, Gary J. Weil, Sake J. De Vlas

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Mass drug administration (MDA) is the main strategy towards lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination. Progress is monitored by assessing microfilaraemia (Mf) or circulating filarial antigenaemia (CFA) prevalence, the latter being more practical for field surveys. The current criterion for stopping MDA requires <2% CFA prevalence in 6- to 7-year olds, but this criterion is not evidence-based. We used mathematical modelling to investigate the validity of different thresholds regarding testing method and age group for African MDA programmes using ivermectin plus albendazole.

METHODOLGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We verified that our model captures observed patterns in Mf and CFA prevalence during annual MDA, assuming that CFA tests are positive if at least one adult worm is present. We then assessed how well elimination can be predicted from CFA prevalence in 6-7-year-old children or from Mf or CFA prevalence in the 5+ or 15+ …

Nutrient Recovery From Wastewater By A Consortium Of Algae Species For Biofuel Production, Edgardo Ayala

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Current energy sources are predominantly petroleum-based and their use increases greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As the global population grows, and along with it the demand for energy, there is a need to further develop renewable energy sources to avoid the effects of increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations on the climate. Biofuels, a renewable energy source, have gained significant interest as a replacement for petroleum-based fuels due to their environmental benefits and carbon neutrality. Biofuels are expected to make up 9.0% of the total fuel consumption in the U.S. by 2040, up from 7.3% in 2019 [1]. Currently, terrestrial crop-based biofuels …

Associations Between The School Physical Environment And Climate In Rural Schools, Tate Castleton

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2021), more than half of all public-school districts and nearly one-third of all public-school students attend rural schools in the U.S. This study identifies characteristics of the physical environment of rural schools, considers how the physical environment of rural schools compares to urban and suburban schools, and describes the associations of a school’s physical environment with perceptions of school climate among students, staff, and parents.

Using the School Assessment for Environmental Typology (SAfETy; Bradshaw et al., 2015), this study objectively assessed the physical environment of 40 rural schools in Idaho. Those characteristics …

Understanding And Mitigating The Effects Of Artificial Light On Bats And Nocturnal Arthropods In Grand Teton National Park, Hunter Cole

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Bat and insect populations are at risk globally, and identifying factors that may influence bat and insect populations alongside mitigation techniques for anthropogenic factors that may negatively influence these taxa will be crucial for their conservation. To identify landscape characteristics that influence bats throughout Grand Teton National Park, we placed passive acoustic monitors throughout the park in areas with different microhabitat characteristics to identify factors that influence activity. Additionally, we developed a R package, `EcoCountHelper`, to assist wildlife managers in analyzing ecological count data similar to our bat monitoring data. As a demonstration of the package, we conducted a GLMM-based …

Deep Learning Of Microstructures, Amir Abbas Kazemzadeh Farizhandi

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The internal structure of materials also called the microstructure plays a critical role in the properties and performance of materials. The chemical element composition is one of the most critical factors in changing the structure of materials. However, the chemical composition alone is not the determining factor, and a change in the production process can also significantly alter the materials' structure. Therefore, many efforts have been made to discover and improve production methods to optimize the functional properties of materials. The most critical challenge in finding materials with enhanced properties is to understand and define the salient features of the …

The Influence Of Visitors, Habitat, And Methodology On Mexican Spotted Owl (Strik Occidentalis Lucida) Occupancy And Detection In A Remote Canyon Environment, Kirsten Fuller

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

National Parks across America play an important role in protecting natural resources and providing access to recreation for visitors. However, these goals may come into conflict as visitation rates rise. Grand Canyon National Park in Northern Arizona is one of the most highly visited parks in the United States, with over 6 million visitors a year. Backcountry hiking and camping are popular activities in the park, and many highly visited hiking trails and campgrounds overlap with known breeding areas of a threatened species, Mexican Spotted Owl. In this thesis, I explore the intersection of recreation and wildlife conservation at this …

Sexually Selected Preferences For Human Altruism Across Sexual Orientation, Gender, Age, And Reproductive Status, Katherine Valinske Kappelman

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Prior studies have attempted to establish how human altruism has evolved, including theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and costly signaling. Recent investigations have explored the evolution of altruism as the result of sexual selection, where individuals may exhibit altruistic behavior because it is preferred by potential mates. In this study, I examine how altruistic behavior toward different people (family, friends, strangers, or general altruistic acts) is preferred when considering potential short-term and long-term mates. While previous research has examined this question using college-aged heterosexual participants, this study uses a more diverse sample, including individuals who identify as LGBTQ, those …

Dna Origami Scaffold Development For Digital Nucleic Acid Memory, Sarah Elizabeth Kobernat

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Recently, DNA nanotechnology has emerged as a promising and rapidly expanding method to utilize nucleic acids as a nanoscale building material. DNA origami is a major structural application of DNA nanotechnology, using DNA to construct two- and three-dimensional shapes. These structures have been employed for a variety of uses including DNA data storage. DNA is a promising material to address the impending shortage of silicon-based storage as data demands increase. There are many sequence-based methods of data storage, but digit Nucleic Acid Memory (dNAM) uses DNA origami as a breadboard and is read by super-resolution microscopy instead. dNAM uses DNA …

Meshfree Methods For Pdes On Surfaces, Andrew Michael Jones

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on meshfree methods for solving surface partial differential equations (PDEs). These PDEs arise in many areas of science and engineering where they are used to model phenomena ranging from atmospheric dynamics on earth to chemical signaling on cell membranes. Meshfree methods have been shown to be effective for solving surface PDEs and are attractive alternatives to mesh-based methods such as finite differences/elements since they do not require a mesh and can be used for surfaces represented only by a point cloud. The dissertation is subdivided into two papers and software.

In the first paper, we examine the …

Hate Speech Detection Using Textual And User Features, Rohan Raut

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Social media platforms provide users with a powerful platform to share their ideas. Using one’s right to expression to incite hatred toward a particular group of people is inappropriate. However, hate speech is pervasive in our society. Spreading hate through online social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram is commonplace in today’s milieu. One such case is the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which engendered anti-Asian hate.

In current literature, there is limited study on using user features in conjunction with textual features to detect hate. This thesis aims to combine textual features with user features to improve the state-of-the-art hate …

Structure, Function, And Immunogenic Applications Of Ab5-Type Adp-Ribosylating Bacterial Toxins, Elise Marie Overgaard

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Bacterial mono-ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTs) catalyze the singular transfer of an ADP-ribose moiety from an NAD+ molecule onto a target molecule. ARTs contain an ancient and highly conserved tertiary structure and have a wide variety of intracellular targets and effects. Some, but not all, bacterial ARTs have an AB₅-type multimeric structure consisting of an enzymatically active subunit non-covalently situated atop of a non-toxic pentamer. The active, or A, subunit of AB₅-type toxins has a catalytic action that contributes to bacterial pathogenicity, and it is sometimes, but not always, an ART. ArtAB is an ART with AB₅-type …