Digital Commons Network^™

Epigenetic Dysregulations In Arsenic-Induced Carcinogenesis, Ranakul Islam, Lei Zhao, Yifang Wang, Grace Lu-Yao, Ling-Zhi Liu

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Arsenic is a crucial environmental metalloid whose high toxicity levels negatively impact human health. It poses significant health concerns to millions of people in developed and developing countries such as the USA, Canada, Bangladesh, India, China, and Mexico by enhancing sensitivity to various types of diseases, including cancers. However, how arsenic causes changes in gene expression that results in heinous conditions remains elusive. One of the proposed essential mechanisms that still has seen limited research with regard to causing disease upon arsenic exposure is the dysregulation of epigenetic components. In this review, we have extensively summarized current discoveries in arsenic-induced …

Targeting Ras Mutant Colorectal Cancer With Dual Inhibition Of Mek And Cdk4/6, Alexey V Sorokin, Preeti Kanikarla Marie, Lea Bitner, Muddassir Syed, Melanie Woods, Ganiraju Manyam, Lawrence N Kwong, Benny Johnson, Van K Morris, Philip Jones, David G Menter, Michael S Lee, Scott Kopetz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

UNLABELLED: KRAS and NRAS mutations occur in 45% of colorectal cancers, with combined MAPK pathway and CDK4/6 inhibition identified as a potential therapeutic strategy. In the current study, this combinatorial treatment approach was evaluated in a co-clinical trial in patient-derived xenografts (PDX), and safety was established in a clinical trial of binimetinib and palbociclib in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer with RAS mutations. Across 18 PDX models undergoing dual inhibition of MEK and CDK4/6, 60% of tumors regressed, meeting the co-clinical trial primary endpoint. Prolonged duration of response occurred predominantly in TP53 wild-type models. Clinical evaluation of binimetinib and palbociclib …

Assessing Companion Animal Attachment Among Future Latino Human Services Professionals, Yuleinys A. Castillo, Roy K. Chen

School of Rehabilitation Services & Counseling Faculty Publications

As the population of individuals from minoritized ethnic background continues to grow in the United States, the relationship between humans and their companion animals can provide valuable information for human services professionals. Attachment to companion animals can play a significant part in clients’ emotional wellbeing, family dynamics, and quality of life. This study aimed to examine the associations between human attachment with companion animals and their educational training and attitudes about animals. Analysis revealed that relational attachment was significant among Latino students in the study, and participants’ positive attitudes and beliefs about animals significantly predicted their level of attachment to …

Mri-Based Digital Models Forecast Patient-Specific Treatment Responses To Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Chengyue Wu, Angela M Jarrett, Zijian Zhou, Nabil Elshafeey, Beatriz E Adrada, Rosalind P Candelaria, Rania M M Mohamed, Medine Boge, Lei Huo, Jason B White, Debu Tripathy, Vicente Valero, Jennifer K Litton, Clinton Yam, Jong Bum Son, Jingfei Ma, Gaiane M Rauch, Thomas E Yankeelov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is persistently refractory to therapy, and methods to improve targeting and evaluation of responses to therapy in this disease are needed. Here, we integrate quantitative MRI data with biologically based mathematical modeling to accurately predict the response of TNBC to neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NAST) on an individual basis. Specifically, 56 patients with TNBC enrolled in the ARTEMIS trial (NCT02276443) underwent standard-of-care doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide (A/C) and then paclitaxel for NAST, where dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and diffusion-weighted MRI were acquired before treatment and after two and four cycles of A/C. A biologically based model was established to …

Protocol For Establishing A Protein-Protein Interaction Network Using Tandem Affinity Purification Followed By Mass Spectrometry In Mammalian Cells, Weixiang Bian, Hua Jiang, Shan Feng, Junjie Chen, Wenqi Wang, Xu Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Identification of protein interactors is fundamental to understanding their functions. Here, we describe a modified protocol for tandem affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (TAP/MS), which includes two-step purification. We detail the S-, 2×FLAG-, and Streptavidin-Binding Peptide (SBP)- tandem tags (SFB-tag) system for protein purification. This protocol can be used to identify protein interactors and establish a high-confidence protein-protein interaction network based on computational models. This is particularly useful for identifying

Boys Don’T Cry: Trauma, Trauma Narrative And Masculine Practice Among Young Male Who Engaged In Harmful Sexual Behaviour, B Zaniewski, R Dallos, J Stedmon, P Welbourne

School of Health Professions

Compelling evidence suggests that majority of young men who engaged in harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) were subjected to various forms of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. This research explores lived experience of a group of young men who engaged in HSB, what sense they made of it and how their positioned themselves towards these events including HSB, so they are able to maintain their self-integrity. It also explores impact of lived experience with consideration for broader family and cultural discourses. Transition to Adulthood Attachment Interview and Semi-structured interview were employed and Dynamic- Maturation Model of attachment were utilised for this …

Causes Of Death Among Patients With Initially Inoperable Pancreas Cancer After Induction Chemotherapy And Ablative 5-Fraction Stereotactic Magnetic Resonance Image Guided Adaptive Radiation Therapy, Michael Chuong, Roberto Herrera, Antonio Ucar, Santiago Aparo, Fernando De Zarraga, Domenech Asbun, Javier Jimenez, Horacio Asbun, Govindarajan Narayanan, Sarah Joseph, Rupesh Kotecha, Matthew Hall, Kathryn Mittauer, Diane Alvarez, James Mcculloch, Tino Romaguera, Alonso Gutierrez, Adeel Kaiser

All Publications

Purpose: Nearly all patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) eventually die of progressive cancer after exhausting treatment options. Although distant metastases (DMs) are a common cause of death, autopsy studies have shown that locoregional progression may be directly responsible for up to one-third of PDAC-related deaths. Ablative stereotactic magnetic resonance-guided adaptive radiation therapy (A-SMART) is a novel treatment strategy that appears to improve locoregional control compared with nonablative radiation therapy, potentially leading to improved overall survival.

Methods and materials: A single-institution retrospective analysis was performed of patients with nonmetastatic inoperable PDAC treated between 2018 to 2020 using the MRIdian Linac …

Assessing Companion Animal Attachment Among Future Latino Human Services Professionals, Yuleinys A. Castillo, Roy K. Chen

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

As the population of individuals from minoritized ethnic background continues to grow in the United States, the relationship between humans and their companion animals can provide valuable information for human services professionals. Attachment to companion animals can play a significant part in clients’ emotional well-being, family dynamics, and quality of life. This study aimed to examine the associations between human attachment with companion animals and their educational training and attitudes about animals. Analysis revealed that relational attachment was significant among Latino students in the study, and particpants’ positive attitudes and beliefs about animals significantly predicted their level of attachment to …

Sars-Cov-2 Variants, Current Vaccines And Therapeutic Implications For Covid-19, Hong-Yu Liang, Yuyuan Wu, Vicky Yau, Scott Lowe, Rachel Bentley, Mubashir Ayaz Ahmed, Wenjing Zhao, Chenyu Sun

Student Publications

Over the past two years, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused hundreds of millions of infections, resulting in an unprecedented pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). As the virus spreads through the population, ongoing mutations and adaptations are being discovered. There is now substantial clinical evidence that demonstrates the SARS-CoV-2 variants have stronger transmissibility and higher virulence compared to the wild-type strain of SARS-CoV-2. Hence, development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants to boost individual immunity has become essential. However, current treatment options are limited for COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 variants. In this review, we describe …

The Upper Ocean Silicon Cycle Of The Subarctic Pacific During The Exports Field Campaign, Mark A. Brzezinski, Diana E. Varela, Bethany D. Jenkins, Kristen N. Buck, Sile M. Kafrissen, Janice L. Jones

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Diatoms are major contributors to marine primary productivity and carbon export due to their rapid growth in high-nutrient environments and their heavy silica ballast. Their contributions are highly modified in high-nutrient low-chlorophyll regions due to the decoupling of upper-ocean silicon and carbon cycling caused by low iron (Fe). The Si cycle and the role of diatoms in the biological carbon pump was examined at Ocean Station Papa (OSP) in the HNLC region of the northeastern subarctic Pacific during the NASA EXport Processes in the Ocean from RemoTe Sensing (EXPORTS) field study. Sampling occurred during the annual minimum in surface silicic …

Antidepressant Effect Of Ketamine On Inflammation-Mediated Cytokine Dysregulation In Adults With Treatment-Resistant Depression: Rapid Systematic Review, Shiryn D. Sukhram, Grozdena Yilmaz, Jianying Gu

Publications and Research

Background. Major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD) represent a global source of societal and health burden. To advise proper management of inflammation-related depression among TRD patients, it is important to identify therapeutic clinical treatments. A key factor is related to proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin- (IL-) 1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of depressive symptoms in MDD patients. Ketamine may provide an anti-inflammatory therapeutic strategy by targeting proinflammatory pathways associated with depressive disorders, which may be exacerbated in the ageing population with TRD.

Objective. Despite a burgeoning body of …

Taiwan And The Pacific Islands: Exploring The Green/Blue Possibilities, Fabrizio Bozzato

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] The Pacific Island nations face unique developmental challenges and vulnerability issues that, in some cases, threaten their very existence. The Islands’ political and civil society leaders have recently embraced a vision of inclusive and sustainable development for remodeling their countries’ ‘brown economies’ into people-centered green/blue economies fostering poverty eradication. However, moving to a new socio-economic paradigm is a goal that the Pacific Island countries cannot achieve alone. They need reliable partners with green-tech capability and innovative aid policies. Taiwan is potentially the ideal partner for building a new framework for Pacific islanders and enabling them to reach for …

Vagabond: The Trans-Species Ecologies Of Plant/Human Encounters, Hubert Alain

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[First paragraph] The opening scene of the acclaimed documentary King Corn (2007) shows Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis, main protagonists, learning that corn constitutes one of the main carbon molecules of their hair. Segue to introduce the crop’s omnipresence in North American processed foods, principally used as sweetener, starch and animal feeds, the almost banal scientific fact presented in this scene is mesmerizing, providing a somewhat embodied support to the popular environmentalist saying “you are what you eat,” or to Donna Haraway’s poetic understanding of bodies and species as “full of their own others, full of messmates, of companions” (Haraway …

Language And Power In Social Movements: Hearing All The Voices In Food System Advocacy Narratives, Dianna Winslow

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[From first paragraph] Everyone must eat. It is this immediate and personal connection to food which drives public and scholarly interest in the complex narratives emerging in what is becoming known as the “food movement”—activism on a global scale that is challenging how the industrialized production, distribution and consumption of food is affecting environmental conditions, food sovereignty and security, human health and wellness, and cultural identities. As the number of food advocacy groups promoting different, yet overlapping, public concerns continues to increase, so does the flow of language used by these groups to shape collective identities and political stances, which …

Is Trash Hybrid?, Todd Levasseur

Green Humanities: A Journal of Ecological Thought in Literature, Philosophy & the Arts

[From first paragraph] The scholarship focusing on globalization over the last thirty years has achieved impressive gains in nuance and understanding. Some of the more prominent approaches to study globalization that have developed in this period include network, feminist, gender, economic, political, media, religious, diaspora, and migratory lenses. All of these lenses are adroitly utilized by scholars to help us better understand globalization and their use helps to shape the field of global studies. This article argues that environmental humanities scholars must build upon insights from these disciplines, while bringing scholarly tools from the environmental sciences into their research projects, …

Research

Appalachia

Climate change is causing complex impacts to ecosystems worldwide. Plants and animals face the necessity of migrating north. Kevin Berend reports on some of the species that seem destined to move and asks whether researchers and conservation agencies should take an active role in helping species move.

India’S New Ip Policy: A Bare Act?, Shamnad Basheer, Pankhuri Agarwal

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Amidst much fanfare, the Indian government unleashed an Intellectual Property Rights (“IPR”) policy around two years ago. This paper aims at the first ever comprehensive assessment of this policy, its purported rationale and implications. It argues that the policy is a shoddily drafted and poorly conceptualised document, which is resting on empirically unproven intellectual property (“IP”) assumptions. It is more faith-based than fact-based and endorses a fairly formalistic view of IP, taking it to be an end in itself

Overcoming India’S Food Security Challenges: The Role Of Intellectual Property Management And Technology Transfer Capacity Building, Stanley P. Kowalski, Aarushi Gupta, Ifica Mehra

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The growth of the Indian economy after Independence has had little impact on the food security of the country. The paper analyses the development of advanced crop varieties through the use of agricultural technologies (hereinafter "agbiotech") within the technology transfer system, a framework which comprises of the interactions of intellectual property rights law and agricultural research and development in India. Through this, the author argues that agricultural innovation in India is failing due to the absence of connections within the technology transfer system and advocates for the creation of a national program aimed at advancing IP and tech-transfer capacity in …

Plant Breeders’ Rights, Farmers’ Rights And Food Security: Africa’S Failure Of Resolve And India’S Wobbly Leadership, Chidi Oguamanam

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Since 2000s, Africa and India severally rejected the notion that UPOV’s 1991 standard of Plant Breeders Rights (PBRs) is the only route to fulfil their obligations under Article 27 of the TRIPs Agreement. Objecting to the exclusive focus of the UPOV regime on formal plant breeders, African countries insisted on a holistic approach to plant breeders’ rights to include protection for rights of communities, farmers and their indigenous knowledge, innovation and practices. Consequently, under the African Union’s (AU) auspices, Africa proposed the Model Law for the Protection of the Rights of Local Communities and Breeders, and for Regulations of Access …

It’S All About Principle: How Patent Trolling, Over Broad Patents, Evergreening, And Patent Shelving Represent A Departure From The Patent Clause And How To Return To The Principle Of The Patent Clause, Morgan L. Stringer

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

This article explores differing patent abuses that reflect how current patent law has swung drastically away from the Patent Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The purpose of the Patent Clause is to ensure that inventors are given a limited monopoly in order to encourage innovation, or to “progress the useful arts and sciences.” There are many forms of patent abuse, but this article will explore patent trolls, overbroad patents, evergreening, and patent shelving as forms of patent abuse that reflect a departure from the Constitutional principle of progress in patent law. Each of these patent abuses hinders progress, so according …

Sui Generis Protection For Plant Varieties And Traditional Knowledge In Biodiversity And Agriculture: The International Framework And National Approaches In The Philippines And India, Christoph Antons

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The so-called ‘biotechnology clause’ of Article 27.3(b) of the WTO-TRIPS Agreement requires from member states protection for plant varieties either via the patent system or via an ‘effective sui generis system’ or by a combination of the two. Many developing countries prefer forms of sui generis protection, which allow them to include exceptions and protection measures for traditional agricultural practices and the traditional knowledge of farmers and local communities. However, ‘traditional knowledge’ remains a vaguely defined term. Its extension to biodiversity has brought a diffusion of the previously clearer link between protected subject matter, intellectual property and potential beneficiaries. The …

Data Exclusivity With Regard To Clinical Data, Animesh Sharma

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Intellectual property rights have evolved over the years with the intention of protecting novelty and innovation of ideas while creating a competitive market, at both a local and global level. The strongest tools to achieve this end have arguably been patents – protecting inventions that are novel, non-obvious and demonstrate utility. Most countries give a protection term of twenty years from the date of filing a valid submission. In the field of pharmaceuticals, foods and agrochemicals, marketing of products requires statutory clearances from the appropriate national regulatory bodies, in order to ensure that the products satisfy certain minimum criteria of …

Intellectual Property Rights And The Public Domain In The New World Order, John Frow

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The proprietary system of intellectual property rights introduced by the TRIPS regime is premised on Western, neo-liberal notions of the nature of property. This article first highlights a number of recent changes in the global organisation of intellectual property rights. These changes indicate the international convergence of intellectual property law. The repercussions of the TRIPS regime on pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and genetic research are then examined. Finally, it stresses the importance of the idea of “common heritage” as a better way of thinking about the public domain.

Intellectual Property And India’S Development Policy, Sudhir Krishnaswamy

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

As India wades into the 21st century, we are faced with a strategic choice about how we imagine and institutionalise new modes of regulation of access, control and production of information, knowledge and cultural resources. The rapid legislative activity on intellectual property, most recently the Patent (3rd Amendment) Act, 2005, has so radically shifted the goalposts of the debate that we are still to catch our breath! This essay is an exercise in deep breathing and careful reasoning to relieve us from our present breathless state.

India’S Tryst With Trips: The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005, Shamnad Basheer

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005 introduces pharmaceutical product patents in India for the first time. This Act attempts to balance out competing interests of a variety of stakeholders, including domestic generic medicine producers, foreign multinational pharmaceutical companies and civil society groups concerned with access to medicines. Although this dexterous manoeuvring around competing interests deserves praise, the net result of such a compromise has been a lack of clarity in the law. While highlighting the key aspects of the 2005 amendments and this lack of clarity, this article also focuses on the vexed issue of the likely impact of the new …

Technology, Law, Freedom And Development, Yochai Benkler

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Technology interacts with social, economic and legal frameworks to set the basic ‘affordances’ and constraints of human action over time. While biotechnology and nanotechnology may portend significant upheavals in the future, the most significant present transformation revolves around computers and the emergence of the networked information economy. These new technological and economic conditions are creating new forms of production and new forms of social behaviour that are fundamentally altering the way we know the world, how we learn about how the world is and how we can make it become. It is important that we study this transformation and understand …

Awdry V. British Rail: The Politicization Of Thomas The Tank Engine, Matthew J. Bea

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

Associations Between Cannabis, Psychosis, And Schizophrenia In Adolescents, Lauren Moment

Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research

The effects of cannabis use on the brain, mind, and body have been studied for decades. The developing brain, particularly the adolescent and young adult brain, undergoes critical development that makes it especially susceptible to the effects of cannabis use. Among the adverse effects of cannabis use in adolescence and young adulthood, psychosis and psychotic disorders (e.g., schizophrenia) have been examined. The association of cannabis use with schizophrenia was first elucidated in a Swedish study of army conscripts. Specifically, conscripts reported their cannabis use exposure and were followed longitudinally to assess the emergence of schizophrenia. The authors found that those …

From Paternalism To Superiority: Colonial Ideologies Of The New Norcia Mission, 1847-1974, Evie Levin

The Forum: Journal of History

No abstract provided.

The Chanticleer, 2022-09-15, Coastal Carolina University

The Chanticleer Student Newspaper

The editorially independent student produced weekly newspaper of Coastal Carolina University.