Digital Commons Network^™

An Open Natural Language Processing (Nlp) Framework For Ehr-Based Clinical Research: A Case Demonstration Using The National Covid Cohort Collaborative (N3c), Sijia Liu, Andrew Wen, Liwei Wang, Huan He, Sunyang Fu, Robert Miller, Andrew Williams, Daniel Harris, Ramakanth Kavuluru, Mei Liu, Noor Abu-El-Rub, Dalton Schutte, Rui Zhang, Masoud Rouhizadeh, John D Osborne, Yongqun He, Umit Topaloglu, Stephanie S Hong, Joel H Saltz, Thomas Schaffter, Emily Pfaff, Christopher G Chute, Tim Duong, Melissa A Haendel, Rafael Fuentes, Peter Szolovits, Hua Xu, Hongfang Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite recent methodology advancements in clinical natural language processing (NLP), the adoption of clinical NLP models within the translational research community remains hindered by process heterogeneity and human factor variations. Concurrently, these factors also dramatically increase the difficulty in developing NLP models in multi-site settings, which is necessary for algorithm robustness and generalizability. Here, we reported on our experience developing an NLP solution for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) signs and symptom extraction in an open NLP framework from a subset of sites participating in the National COVID Cohort (N3C). We then empirically highlight the benefits of multi-site data for both …

Cortisol And Epinephrine Alter The Adipose Functions And The Mobilization Of Pcbs In Adipose Tissue Slices From Elephant Seal, Laura Pirard, Jane I. Khudyakov, Daniel E. Crocker, Liesbeth Van Hassel, Georges Scholl, Gauthier Eppe, Melissa M. Page, Jean-François Rees, Donald R. Smith, Cathy Debier

Pacific Faculty Work

Marine mammals are exposed to increasing intensities of anthropogenic stressors such as acoustic disturbance and contaminants. Correlative studies have suggested concerning shifts in behavioral and physiological status of stress-exposed individuals, which could alter the health and survival of marine mammal populations. However, functional studies of the effects of multiple stressors on marine mammals are lacking. To fill in this gap, we recently developed an ex vivo approach of precision-cut adipose tissue slices (PCATS) to study the impact of stressors on the function of an essential endocrine organ: the adipose tissue. In the present study, we investigated the impact of hormones …

The Waiting Period Of Death Row Inmates, Ashlee Patino

Masters Theses

The death penalty is the highest form of capital sentencing and punishment in the United States. Since 1973, a little less than half of U.S. states are responsible for passing death sentences and executions. Nevertheless, the growing number of death row inmates is at an all-time high since the late 70s (DPIC, 2022). Although academia and scholarly research has advanced the general understanding of death penalty sentencing, racial disparities resulting in a death sentence and execution has not been studied as comprehensively. Despite the strides in progress made by academia and scholarly research on the death penalty, there are areas …

2023-November-17-Semester Recap, Bill Gatton College Of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

Greetings!

I want to share with you a quick recap of our semester achievements and noteworthy headlines within our college. 

August had lots of milestones, including welcoming our Class of 2027 during Gatton Ready and our White Coat Ceremony. 

We celebrated the accomplishments of Dr. Jessica Burchette, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, who was honored with the prestigious Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching at our university's Faculty Convocation. Dr. Burchette's dedication and commitment to excellence in teaching have significantly contributed to our academic success.  

In addition, Drs. Burchette and Katelyn Alexander, Director of Experiential Education, were both named new …

2023-November-17-Etsu Board Approves Employee Pay Raises, New Contract For President.Pdf, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

During its quarterly meeting held earlier today, East Tennessee State University’s Board of Trustees approved the largest pay increase for employees in the university’s modern history. This includes raising the university’s starting hourly wage for full-time, benefits-eligible employees to at least $13.65, a 19.3 percent increase over the current starting rate of $11.44.

The starting wages for employees of ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine and Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy will be at least $15 per hour. Additionally, full-time, benefits-eligible employees will receive a 4.5 percent increase, capped at $7,500 per person. The $7,500 maximum does not apply to employees …

Search For Boosted Dark Matter In Cosine-100, G Adhikari, N Carlin, J J Choi, S Choi, A C Ezeribe, L E França, C Ha, I S Hahn, S J Hollick, E J Jeon, J H Jo, H W Joo, W G Kang, M Kauer, B H Kim, H J Kim, J Kim, K W Kim, S H Kim, S K Kim, W K Kim, Y D Kim, Y H Kim, Y J Ko, D H Lee, E K Lee, H Lee, H S Lee, H Y Lee, I S Lee, J Lee, J Y Lee, M H Lee, S H Lee, S M Lee, Y J Lee, D S Leonard, N T Luan, B B Manzato, R H Maruyama, R J Neal, J A Nikkel, S L Olsen, B J Park, H K Park, H S Park, K S Park, S D Park, R L C Pitta, H Prihtiadi, S J Ra, C Rott, K A Shin, D F F S Cavalcante, A Scarff, N J C Spooner, W G Thompson, L Yang, G H Yu, Cosine-100 Collaboration

Faculty and Staff Publications

We search for energetic electron recoil signals induced by boosted dark matter (BDM) from the galactic center using the COSINE-100 array of NaI(Tl) crystal detectors at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory. The signal would be an excess of events with energies above 4 MeV over the well-understood background. Because no excess of events are observed in a 97.7 kg·yr exposure, we set limits on BDM interactions under a variety of hypotheses. Notably, we explored the dark photon parameter space, leading to competitive limits compared to direct dark photon search experiments, particularly for dark photon masses below 4 MeV and considering the …

Accessibility Or Environmental Conservation? Evaluating The Relationship Between Environmental Protection And Hiking Trails Accessibility Via Lidar & Remote Sensing, Zhanchao Yang

GIS Day

Binghamton University Nature Preserve spans 190 acres of land, with a notable 20-acre wetland serving a multifaceted purpose. It is dedicated to preserving the ecological integrity of this landscape, fostering biodiversity, and facilitating research and environmental education. Furthermore, it serves as a recreational space for students, enhancing the bonds between the campus and the neighboring community. This research focuses on Binghamton University's nature preserve as a case study to explore the intricate balance between two vital objectives: ensuring equal access for all user demographics while safeguarding its ecosystem services. To achieve these objectives, the study employs diverse public engagement methods, …

The Roe Repeal Behind Bars: Prison Pregnancies In A Post-Dobbs World, Hani Fish-Bieler

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

165,000 women are estimated to be incarcerated in the United States. These are disproportionately women of color, as Black women are incarcerated at a rate two times higher than that of white women. Around 58,000 pregnant individuals are processed into jails, prisons, and other detention facilities in the United States every year. Approximately 6 to 10 percent of women are pregnant when they enter prison or jail, and about 1400 newborns are born to women in custody. This population has been and will continue to face the challenging effects of the Supreme Court’s 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade in …

Efficient Thorax Disease Classification And Localization Using Dcnn And Chest X-Ray Images, Zeeshan Ahmad, Ahmad Kamran Malik, Nafees Qamar, Saif Ul Islam

Psychology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Thorax disease is a life-threatening disease caused by bacterial infections that occur in the lungs. It could be deadly if not treated at the right time, so early diagnosis of thoracic diseases is vital. The suggested study can assist radiologists in more swiftly diagnosing thorax disorders and in the rapid airport screening of patients with a thorax disease, such as pneumonia. This paper focuses on automatically detecting and localizing thorax disease using chest X-ray images. It provides accurate detection and localization using DenseNet-121 which is foundation of our proposed framework, called Z-Net. The proposed framework utilizes the weighted cross-entropy loss …

Moving From Symptom Management To Upstream Plastics Prevention: The Fallacy Of Plastic Cleanup Technology, Melanie Bergmann, Hans Peter H. Arp, Bethanie Carney Almroth, Win Cowger, Marcus Eriksen, Tridibesh Dey, Sedat Gündoğdu, Rebecca R. Helm, Anja Krieger, Kristian Syberg, Mine B. Tekman, Richard C. Thompson, Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, Anish Kumar Warrier, Trisia Farrelly

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Plastic removal technologies can temporarily mitigate plastic accumulation at local scales, but evidence-based criteria are needed in policies to ensure that they are feasible and that ecological benefits outweigh the costs. To reduce plastic pollution efficiently and economically, policy should prioritize regulating and reducing upstream production rather than downstream pollution cleanup.

A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study Of Atherosclerosis And Dementia, Qiaoyun Zhang, Guangheng Wu, Xiaoyu Zhang, Sheng Wang, Youxin Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The causality between atherosclerosis and dementia remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the causal effect of atherosclerosis related indicators on dementia risk based on two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) using summary statistics of genome-wide association studies (GWASs). The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was performed as the main analysis, supplemented by different sensitivity analyses. Suggestive evidence indicated that peripheral arterial disease (PAD) (odds ratio (OR): 0.864, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.797–0.937), coronary atherosclerosis (CoAS) (OR: 0.927, 95% CI: 0.860–0.998) and atherosclerosis, excluding cerebral, coronary, and PAD (ATHSCLE) (OR: 0.812, 95% CI: 0.725–0.909) were inversely associated with the risk of AD. …

Biden Ahead In Nh Primary Despite Tepid Support, Not Appearing On Ballot 11/17/2023, Unh Survey Center

All UNH Survey Center Polls

Despite the fact he will not appear on the January 23rd ballot, nearly two-thirds of likely Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire say they plan to write-in President Joe Biden. Only a quarter of likely Democratic primary voters say they would be enthusiastic if Biden is the nominee, but Biden's rivals currently present little threat as author Marianne Williamson is unpopular and few know much about Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips or expect him to become a serious contender. Granite Staters largely view Biden unfavorably and disapprove of his performance as president, but former President Trump is even more unpopular and …

Agenda (11-17-2023), Associated Students, Incorporated

Associated Students, Incorporated records

No abstract provided.

Minutes (11-17-2023), Associated Students, Incorporated

Associated Students, Incorporated records

No abstract provided.

Draft Final 2023 Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) Whitehall Borrow Submittal, Pioneer Technical Services, Inc.

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

The Aging Population And Masking Requirements: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study, Tiffany M. Mioduszewski

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study is to understand the lived-experiences of individuals over 60 years old. This study was done to specifically understand psychological effects of adhering to protective measure put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. A pandemic can be described as a global epidemic that has the ability to spread to other continents. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted thousands of people worldwide. There have been multiple preventative measures put in place for individuals to follow to reduce the spread of the virus. The mandates vary depending on the country and state in which an individual lives …

Program Evaluation On 4kids On Foster Parent Retention, Brittany Morton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The number of children coming to the foster care system is increasing while the individuals willing to be foster parents and take these children in their care is rapidly decreasing. There are some aspects that play a crucial part in foster parents’ choice to foster children, including available resources and motivation. Research has studied why foster parents elect to foster and what leads foster parents to close their doors. For the foster care programs that provide services to foster parents, there is minimal research on foster care program evaluation regarding foster parent retention. The program evaluation aims to assess 4Kids …

Latina Christian Women Describe Their Religious Experience Overcoming Child Abuse Trauma In The Western United States, Norma Rosales

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Abstract This phenomenological study aimed to understand and discover the childhood abuse experienced by Christian Latinas in the Western United States. The theory guiding this study was Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory, as it focused on the adaptation to stress as a process of interaction between individuals and stressful stimuli. This study explored issues concerning religious coping and how participants adapted and managed child abuse. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview process, whereby the discussion was recorded to ensure that all pertinent information was collected with participant consent. The interviews lasted 1–1.5 hours each, depending on the …

Cohen, Ruthie, Sophia Maier Garcia

Bronx Jewish History Project

Ruthie Cohen is a second generation American, with her paternal grandparents immigrating from Poland. When she was born, her family lived at 2805 Sedgwick Avenue, but moved nearby to another two-family home at 2805 Webb Avenue. She remembers how her immediate neighborhood and school was predominantly Jewish, but Italians and Irish also lived nearby and attended parochial schools. Cohen felt very little antisemitism from them. She was the youngest of four children in a relatively observant family.

Cohen’s father was a teacher who was very involved in the larger community, and education and tolerance were important values in her family. …

An Analysis Of Racially Disparate Impacts On Housing For The City Of Tukwila, Washington, Neil Tabor

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

The housing crisis within the Pacific Northwest of the United States has prompted action from Washington legislators, resulting in Governor Inslee identifying housing as a key priority and the legislature passing a number of forward-thinking bills in the last half decade, requiring the allocation of more resources, and asking more of jurisdictions to address current housing needs and anticipated future growth. Layered within the planning efforts for future growth are concerns and considerations for the potential of new housing development to perpetuate and exacerbate societal inequities built on discriminatory housing policies and practices of generations past and present. In an …

2023 November 17 - Board Of Trustees Agenda And Minutes, Board Of Trustees, East Tennessee State University

Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Sustainability And Circular Economy Horizon Scan And Needs Analysis, Sadaf Dalirazar, Mark Kelly, Derek Sinnott, James O'Donnell

Reports

The construction industry plays a crucial role in addressing the climate crisis as it is the largest global consumer of raw materials and contributes significantly to global energy consumption and emissions. Considering the world’s continuous population growth and the imperative to address infrastructure and housing demands the construction sector needs to adopt further sustainable strategies in its activities to reduce the pressure on natural resources. In addition, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector is responsible for generating substantial amount of waste known as Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), which is projected to increase due to the future construction developments. …

Sustainability Determinants Of An Intervention To Identify Clinical Deterioration And Improve Childhood Cancer Survival In Latin American Hospitals: The Inspire Study Protocol, Virginia Mckay, Bobbi Carothers, Dylan Graetz, Sara Malone, Maria Puerto-Torres, Kim Prewitt, Adolfo Cardenas, Yichen Chen, Meenakshi Devidas, Douglas A Luke, Asya Agulnik

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: More than 90% of children with cancer live in low-resourced settings, where survival is only 20%. Sustainable evidence-based (EB) interventions yielding ongoing beneficial patient outcomes are critical to improve childhood cancer survival. A better understanding of factors promoting intervention sustainability in these settings is urgently needed. The aim of this study is to provide an empirical understanding of how clinical capacity for sustainability, or the resources needed to sustain an intervention, impacts the sustainment of Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS), an EB intervention that improves pediatric oncology outcomes in low-resource hospitals by detecting clinical deterioration and preventing the need …

Mycoplasma Genitalium In The Us (Mygenius): Surveillance Data From Sexual Health Clinics In 4 Us Regions, Lisa E Manhart, Gina Leipertz, Olusegun O Soge, Stephen J Jordan, Candice Mcneil, Preeti Pathela, Hilary Reno, Karen Wendel, Anika Parker, William M Geisler, Damon Getman, Matthew R Golden, Mygenius Study Team

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) is on the CDC Watch List of Antimicrobial Resistance Threats, yet there is no systematic surveillance to monitor change.

METHODS: We initiated surveillance in sexual health clinics in 6 cities, selecting a quota sample of urogenital specimens tested for gonorrhea and/or chlamydia. We abstracted patient data from medical records and detected MG and macrolide-resistance mutations (MRMs) by nucleic acid amplification testing. We used Poisson regression to estimate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) and 95% CIs, adjusting for sampling criteria (site, birth sex, symptom status).

RESULTS: From October-December 2020 we tested 1743 urogenital specimens: 57.0% from males, 46.1% …

Effects Of Hepatic Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier Deficiency On De Novo Lipogenesis And Gluconeogenesis In Mice, Nicole K H Yiew, Stanislaw Deja, Daniel Ferguson, Kevin Cho, Chaowapong Jarasvaraparn, Miriam Jacome-Sosa, Andrew J Lutkewitte, Sandip Mukherjee, Xiaorong Fu, Jason M Singer, Gary J Patti, Shawn C Burgess, Brian N Finck

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The liver coordinates the systemic response to nutrient deprivation and availability by producing glucose from gluconeogenesis during fasting and synthesizing lipids via

Simulation Study Of A Novel Small Animal Flash Irradiator (Safi) With Integrated Inverse-Geometry Ct Based On Circularly Distributed Kv X-Ray Sources, Yuewen Tan, Shuang Zhou, Jonathan Haefner, Qinghao Chen, Thomas R Mazur, Arash Darafsheh, Tiezhi Zhang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) radiotherapy (RT) or FLASH-RT can potentially reduce normal tissue toxicity. A small animal irradiator that can deliver FLASH-RT treatments similar to clinical RT treatments is needed for pre-clinical studies of FLASH-RT. We designed and simulated a novel small animal FLASH irradiator (SAFI) based on distributed x-ray source technology. The SAFI system comprises a distributed x-ray source with 51 focal spots equally distributed on a 20 cm diameter ring, which are used for both FLASH-RT and onboard micro-CT imaging. Monte Carlo simulation was performed to estimate the dosimetric characteristics of the SAFI treatment beams. The maximum dose …

Mutation Of Key Signaling Regulators Of Cerebrovascular Development In Vein Of Galen Malformations, Shujuan Zhao, Po-Ying Fu, Yung-Chun Wang, Sheng Chih Jin, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

To elucidate the pathogenesis of vein of Galen malformations (VOGMs), the most common and most severe of congenital brain arteriovenous malformations, we performed an integrated analysis of 310 VOGM proband-family exomes and 336,326 human cerebrovasculature single-cell transcriptomes. We found the Ras suppressor p120 RasGAP (RASA1) harbored a genome-wide significant burden of loss-of-function de novo variants (2042.5-fold, p = 4.79 x 10

Behavioral Mechanisms That Mediate Mental And Physical Health Improvements In People With Chronic Pain Who Receive A Digital Health Intervention: Prospective Cohort Pilot Study, Abby L Cheng, Mansi Agarwal, Melissa A Armbrecht, Joanna Abraham, Ryan P Calfee, Charles W Goss

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Preliminary evidence suggests that digital mental health intervention (Wysa for Chronic Pain) can improve mental and physical health in people with chronic musculoskeletal pain and coexisting symptoms of depression or anxiety. However, the behavioral mechanisms through which this intervention acts are not fully understood.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify behavioral mechanisms that may mediate changes in mental and physical health associated with use of Wysa for Chronic Pain during orthopedic management of chronic musculoskeletal pain. We hypothesized that improved behavioral activation, pain acceptance, and sleep quality mediate improvements in self-reported mental and physical health.

METHODS: …

Mechanisms Of Endothelial Cell Membrane Repair: Progress And Perspectives., Duoduo Zha, Shizhen Wang, Paula Monaghan-Nichols, Yisong Qian, Venkatesh Sampath, Mingui Fu

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Endothelial cells are the crucial inner lining of blood vessels, which are pivotal in vascular homeostasis and integrity. However, these cells are perpetually subjected to a myriad of mechanical, chemical, and biological stresses that can compromise their plasma membranes. A sophisticated repair system involving key molecules, such as calcium, annexins, dysferlin, and MG53, is essential for maintaining endothelial viability. These components orchestrate complex mechanisms, including exocytosis and endocytosis, to repair membrane disruptions. Dysfunctions in this repair machinery, often exacerbated by aging, are linked to endothelial cell death, subsequently contributing to the onset of atherosclerosis and the progression of cardiovascular diseases …

2023-November-17-Etsu Athletic Equipment Staff Help Players, Coaches In Myriad Ways.Pdf, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

While most of the glory in athletics is reserved for on-the-field heroics, there are droves of dedicated staffers who labor long hours.

Such is the case at East Tennessee State University.

And while Sam Rice and Roger Hammons work in relative obscurity, both perform critical work, finding their profession of athletic equipment management exciting and rewarding.

They call it a “customer service” job. “You have to take care of the players every day – coaches as well – making sure everybody has the equipment they need for practice and games,” said Rice, athletic equipment manager in ETSU’s Department of Intercollegiate …