Digital Commons Network^™

Rare Eif4a2 Variants Are Associated With A Neurodevelopmental Disorder Characterized By Intellectual Disability, Hypotonia, And Epilepsy, Maimuna S Paul, Anna R Duncan, Casie A Genetti, Hongling Pan, Adam Jackson, Patricia E Grant, Jiahai Shi, Michele Pinelli, Nicola Brunetti-Pierri, Alexandra Garza-Flores, Dave Shahani, Russell P Saneto, Giuseppe Zampino, Chiara Leoni, Emanuele Agolini, Antonio Novelli, Ulrike Blümlein, Tobias B Haack, Wolfram Heinritz, Eva Matzker, Bader Alhaddad, Rami Abou Jamra, Tobias Bartolomaeus, Saber Alhamdan, Raphael Carapito, Bertrand Isidor, Seiamak Bahram, Alyssa Ritter, Kosuke Izumi, Ben Pode Shakked, Ortal Barel, Bruria Ben Zeev, Amber Begtrup, Deanna Alexis Carere, Sureni V Mullegama, Timothy Blake Palculict, Daniel G Calame, Katharina Schwan, Alicia R P Aycinena, Rasa Traberg, Genomics England Research Consortium, Sofia Douzgou, Harrison Pirt, Naila Ismayilova, Siddharth Banka, Hsiao-Tuan Chao, Pankaj B Agrawal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Eukaryotic initiation factor-4A2 (EIF4A2) is an ATP-dependent RNA helicase and a member of the DEAD-box protein family that recognizes the 5' cap structure of mRNAs, allows mRNA to bind to the ribosome, and plays an important role in microRNA-regulated gene repression. Here, we report on 15 individuals from 14 families presenting with global developmental delay, intellectual disability, hypotonia, epilepsy, and structural brain anomalies, all of whom have extremely rare de novo mono-allelic or inherited bi-allelic variants in EIF4A2. Neurodegeneration was predominantly reported in individuals with bi-allelic variants. Molecular modeling predicts these variants would perturb structural interactions in key protein domains. …

Support For Working Students: Understanding The Impacts Of Employment On Students' Lives, Rebecca Summer, Megan Mccoy, Isabelle Trujillo, Esperanza Rodriguez

University Honors College Faculty Publication and Presentations

The majority of college students work, and there are well-documented findings about the impacts of student work on academic performance. However, there is little research on the impacts of this work on other aspects of students’ lives. In this study we ask: What are the impacts of student employment beyond academic performance? Using our methodological approach of student-driven research and a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis, we find that work has four main impacts on students’ lives: it limits flexibility in students’ schedules, leaving them vulnerable in emergencies; it requires students to make difficult financial calculations; it can cause …

Ecological Complexity And Avoiding Pest Resurgence: Intuitions From Mathematical Ecology, Theresa Ong, John H. Vandermeer

Dartmouth Scholarship

Pest resurgence is defined by a predictable increase in pests following declines resulting from the implementation of pest management practices. This phenomenon is notorious; familiar in biblical references to cyclical plagues of locust and discussions of pesticide treadmills, where pests resurge following the evolution of pesticide resistance. Targeted “silver-bullet” approaches, whether chemical, mechanical, biological, or genetic in nature, apply a reductionist lens toward the removal of a specific target pest, often ignoring ecological context, by application of said silver-bullet. In this review article, we cover how past and recent developments in theoretical ecology and complex systems dynamics provide a general …

Alcohol Consumption And Epigenetic Age Acceleration In Young Adults, Drew R Nannini, Lei Liu, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Alcohol is a widely consumed substance in the United States, however its effect on aging remains understudied. In this study of young adults, we examined whether cumulative alcohol consumption, i.e., alcohol years of beer, liquor, wine, and total alcohol, and recent binge drinking, were associated with four measures of age-related epigenetic changes via blood DNA methylation. A random subset of study participants in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study underwent DNA methylation profiling using the Illumina MethylationEPIC Beadchip. Participants with alcohol consumption and methylation data at examination years 15 (

Vulnerability And Resilience In A Tourism Destination, Sergio Alvarez, Alan Fyall

Rosen Research Review

In an industry that is critically vulnerable to hazards, some destinations are hit harder than others by the same or similar events. UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management researchers, Dr. Sergio Alvarez and Dr. Alan Fyall, have developed a conceptual model that sees the destination's vulnerability as the sum of its physical, social-cultural, economic, ecological/environmental, and institutional vulnerabilities, nestled within its level of exposure to different hazards. Their framework offers to better equip destination management organizations (DMOs) by identifying vulnerabilities and facilitating more effective planning and decision making.

Peer Deviance As A Predictor Of E-Cigarette Use Pre And Post Pandemic, Jenna Dunham, Heather Kissel, Ty Brumback

Posters-at-the-Capitol

There is growing concern regarding the use of e-cigarettes among younger demographics. Also known as vaping, e-cigarettes have been posited as a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes and have increased in popularity due to marketing, added flavors, and discreet delivery methods (Durkin et al., 2021; Hart et al., 2017). Research has shown dangerous and adverse outcomes of using e-cigarettes, including mood disorders, attention deficit, addiction, and lung injury (Durkin et al., 2021; Krishnasamy et al., 2020).

Peer group deviance is associated with risky external behaviors in young adults and youth (Durkin et al., 2021; Kendler et al., 2016). This research …

"Alcohol Is Not Fun Anymore!": A Study Of Alcohol Expectancies During Covid-19, Sara Mcfarland, Katie Ison, Heather Kissel Phd, Ty Brumback Phd

Posters-at-the-Capitol

College parties normalize alcohol use and students develop expectations about drinking due to peer influence and previous experience with alcohol. Our study investigated changes in alcohol expectancies by collecting cross-sectional data on predictors of alcohol use in young adults before and after the start of the pandemic. Data for 46 participants (mean age=20.74, 72% female) were collected prior to March 2020, while data for an additional 26 participants (mean age=19.27, 80.8% female) were collected starting in 2021. During the laboratory session, participants completed surveys and a structured clinical interview. We examined responses from the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ). This self-report …

Home Visitation To Prevent And Reduce Postpartum Depression, Anna Bauer, Madison Polley, Laura Boesken Dnp, Msn, Rn

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Postpartum depression (PPD) occurs in 13-19% of women worldwide, and is a stigmatized medical condition affecting maternal and infantile long term outcomes. The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to determine if women at high risk for PPD are affected by home visitation programs from discharge up to three years postpartum. CINHAL Ultimate, Google Scholar, and Medline databases were used. Current evidence supports the use of home-visitation programs for postpartum women to decrease the prevalence and the symptoms of PPD by allowing nurses access into homes to provide early intervention for PPD. In addition to providing care for prevention …

Strategies For Identifying Important Residues In The Trna Modification Protein Trm732, Alex K. Mullins, Natalie N. Creech, Holly Funk, Michael Guy

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Post-transcriptional tRNA modifications are required for efficient protein translation. In yeast, the Trm7 methyltransferase forms a complex with Trm732 to modify tRNA at position 32. In humans, lack of the human homolog for Trm7, FTSJ1, causes intellectual disability. Little is known about the function of Trm732, although we have shown that one conserved motif in Trm732 is important for tRNA modification. We have identified other residues important for function using two strategies. First, we compared Trm732 proteins of different organisms using protein alignments to determine conserved regions to mutate for testing. We have generated four new Trm732 variants and have …

Innovate Ag Tech, Not Ag Tort: Why Legislative And Judicial Policies Favoring Tech Innovation And Big Ag's Ip Rights In Gmos Will Benefit Agricultural Production And Food Security, Gage Patton

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Genetically modified organisms ("GMOs") play a critical role in technological advances in agriculture. GMOs contribute to generating higher crop yields, reduce the need for pesticide application, and even reduce food waste. Virtually all GMO technologies are developed by a small number of very large agricultural corporations. These corporations are responsible for the vast majority of research and development efforts for agricultural technologies. Agricultural research and development yields technological innovation, which produces better methods of food production. Therefore, the research and development efforts that big ag corporations engage in benefit everyone by providing better methods of food production. However, some critics …

Inventing The Right Drug: Artificial Intelligence May Just Be The Cure For An Antiquated Patent System, Matthew Hashemi

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

The transformation of the inventive process through the application of Artificial Intelligence, or “AI”, technology has radically enhanced the way pharmaceutical companies research and develop new drugs. While AI technology has led to improved accessibility to essential drugs and significant reductions in the time and cost required for drug research and development, it has also left the pharmaceutical industry with the puzzling question regarding how to encourage innovation with AI technology if AI machines cannot obtain patent protection under the current United States patent system. Granting patent protection ensures inventors can profit off their inventions, since patented inventions cannot be …

Adapting A Narrative Curriculum To A Remote Format In The Context Of Socially Distanced Middle School Education Resulting From Covid-19, Jeremiah Pina, Rebecca Mazur, Glenn Ellis, Al Rudnitsky, Beth Mcginnis-Cavanaugh, Sonia Ellis, Isabel Huff, Crystal Ford

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

This paper describes the development of two versions of an NGSS-aligned principles of engineering design unit for use in middle schools. By employing a narrative framework that can help students to connect more deeply with the human contexts and consequences of the engineering design process, our goal was to enhance students’ cognitive and emotional engagement in the learning of engineering design concepts. We first detail the design of an initial version of the unit, titled The Survivorama, which used narrative to enrich a primarily traditional, in-person teaching approach. We then describe the adapted version of the unit, titled the Molasses …

Interprofessional Poverty Simulation Affects Student Attitudes Toward Poverty And Interprofessional Relationships, Barbara Wise, Katti Sneed, Ruth Eby, Rhonda Oldham

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: Poverty simulations in health professions education involving multiple disciplines have been studied, but the impact of poverty simulations on interprofessional attitudes has been surprisingly neglected. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the Cost of Poverty Experience simulation on attitudes toward interprofessional communication, learning, and collaboration, while still positively impacting attitudes toward poverty. Methods: Poverty simulations were held annually at a private midwestern university involving students from multiple disciplines inside and outside healthcare. Debriefing questions related to professional roles and teamwork were used to promote discussions between students from different professions about caring for clients …

A Stylistic Analysis Of Adrienne Rich's "Planetarium" And "Power", Malek Zuraikat, Ekab Al-Shawashreh, Shrooq Awamleh

Association of Arab Universities Journal for Arts مجلة اتحاد الجامعات العربية للآداب

Adrienne Rich utilizes free verse to surprise her readers by covering the intertwined relationship between politics and society, which results in encapsulating everyday practices in most of her poems. She tries to articulate the depressed voice of women, thus making this group noticeable by people. The study discusses Rich's poems "Planetarium" and "Power", focusing on pronouns, spacing, enjambment, and diction. It explains how the change in pronouns, for instnace, serves the theme of uniting women's experience of oppression and resistance and how the enjambment and the choice of diction are used to add emphasis on women's suffering and their consequent …

We Are ... Marshall, January 4, 2023, Office Of Marshall University Communications

We Are ... Marshall: the Newsletter for Marshall University 1999-2023

No abstract provided.

Progress Towards The Total Synthesis Of Frondosin D Lab Report, Admirabilis Kalolella

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.

Rapid Evolution Of The Fine-Scale Recombination Landscape In Wild House Mouse (Mus Musculus) Populations., Lydia K Wooldridge, Beth L Dumont

Faculty Research 2023

Meiotic recombination is an important evolutionary force and an essential meiotic process. In many species, recombination events concentrate into hotspots defined by the site-specific binding of PRMD9. Rapid evolution of Prdm9's zinc finger DNA-binding array leads to remarkably abrupt shifts in the genomic distribution of hotspots between species, but the question of how Prdm9 allelic variation shapes the landscape of recombination between populations remains less well understood. Wild house mice (Mus musculus) harbor exceptional Prdm9 diversity, with >150 alleles identified to date, and pose a particularly powerful system for addressing this open question. We employed a coalescent-based approach to construct …

Faculty Senate Agenda, January 9, 2023, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• Call to Order
• Approval of Minutes - November 28, 2022
• University Business
• Information
• Educational Policies Committee - December 1, 2022
• Reports
• Council on Teacher Education Annual Report
• Scholarship Advisory Board Annual Report
• USUSA Annual Report
• Old Business
• Athletic Spending
• New Business
• Divestment Proposal

Editorial: Genetic Validation And Its Role In Crop Improvement, Ahmed Sallam, Ahmad M. Alqudah, P. Stephen Baenziger, Awais Rasheed

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Gene discovery for economically important traits has remained a challenging Frontier in crop genomics and breeding. The recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies and genetic analysis approaches paved the way for discovering many genes and hotspot genomic regions controlling target traits. The detection of novel genomic regions or candidate genes is very useful for plant breeders and geneticists to improve crops, dissect the genetics of complex traits, and understand the biological mechanisms of genes underpinning traits of interest. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) dominated recent crop gene discovery research. These studies are becoming routine activities …

Avian Community Response To Oak Savanna Management In West Michigan, Abigail Elaine Fischer, Paul W. Keenlance, Alexandra B. Locher, Joseph J. Jacquot

Masters Theses

In the midwestern United States, oak savanna ecosystems have experienced steep declines over the past century due to loss of disturbances and changes in land use. This loss coincides with the decline in avian communities across North American and has negatively impacted taxa that associate with open vegetation cover types. Expanding efforts to restore and manage oak savanna ecosystems has resulted in increased open habitat which has positively impacted these avian communities, resulting in increased species diversity. While numerous studies within the Midwest have observed similar results, there have been no studies in Michigan that have formally assessed the impact …

Degradation Assessment Of Archaeological Oak (Quercus Spp.) Buried Under Oxygen-Limited Condition, Amir Ghavidel, Amin Jorbandian, Miklos Bak, Jana Gelbrich, Jeffrey J. Morrell, Ion Sandu, Reza Hosseinpourpia

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The biological deterioration of archaeological wood under oxygen-limited conditions varies due to the limited activities of microorganisms. It is essential to expand the knowledge of the degradation types and the status of archaeological monuments for selecting the proper consolidates. The physical, chemical, and anatomical properties of approximately 600-650 year old archaeological oak collected from an archaeological site in Iasi-Romania were analysed to assess the quality and to identify the degradation types. The results were compared with similar tests on recently-cut oak. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the presence of more lignin-related peaks in the archaeological oak, which likely reflected the …

The Intertwining Of Zn-Finger Motifs And Abiotic Stress Tolerance In Plants: Current Status And Future Prospects, Debojyoti Moulick, Karma Landup Bhutia, Sukamal Sarkar, Anirban Roy, Udit Nandan Mishra, Biswajit Pramanick, Sagar Maitra, Tanmoy Shankar, Swati Hazra, Milan Skalicky, Marian Brestic, Viliam Barek, Akbar Hossain

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Environmental stresses such as drought, high salinity, and low temperature can adversely modulate the field crop’s ability by altering the morphological, physiological, and biochemical processes of the plants. It is estimated that about 50% + of the productivity of several crops is limited due to various types of abiotic stresses either presence alone or in combination (s). However, there are two ways plants can survive against these abiotic stresses; a) through management practices and b) through adaptive mechanisms to tolerate plants. These adaptive mechanisms of tolerant plants are mostly linked to their signalling transduction pathway, triggering the action of plant …

Phase I Dose Escalation Study Of Topical Bexarotene In Women At High Risk For Breast Cancer, Parijatham S Thomas, Anisha B Patel, J Jack Lee, Diane D Liu, Mike Hernandez, Miguel Muzzio, Alejandro Contreras, Valerie Sepeda, Carrie Mays, Diane Weber, Lana A Vornik, Seema A Khan, Eileen Dimond, Brandy M Heckman-Stoddard, Marjorie Perloff, Powel H Brown

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Bexarotene is a rexinoid that has been shown to prevent mammary tumors in mouse models but oral dosing has toxicities. This phase I study evaluates topical bexarotene, as a potential chemoprevention agent, for safety and toxicity in high-risk women for breast cancer.

Inter-Seasonal Comparison Of Acoustic Propagation In A Thalassia Testudinum Seagrass Meadow In A Shallow Sub-Tropical Lagoon, Kevin M. Lee, Megan S. Ballard, Andrew R. Mcneese, Preston S. Wilson, Gabriel R. Venegas, Mathew C. Zeh, Abdullah Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Acoustic propagation measurements were collected in a seagrass meadow in a shallow lagoon for periods of over 65 h in winter and 93 h in summer. A bottom-deployed sound source transmitted chirps (0.1–100 kHz) every 10 min that were received on a four-receiver horizontal hydrophone array. Oceanographic probes measured various environmental parameters. Daytime broadband acoustic attenuation was 2.4 dB greater in summer than winter, and the median received acoustic energy levels were 8.4 dB lower in summer compared to winter. These differences were attributed in part to seasonal changes in photosynthesis bubble production and above-ground seagrass biomass.

Eamsa 512: New 512 Bits Encryption Algorithm Based On Modified Salsa20, Nashwan Dheyaa Zaki, Jolan Rokan Naif, Israa S. Ahmed, Haider K. Hoomod

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

This paper presents the 512-bit encryption algorithm based on modified SALSA20 using an 11-dimensional chaoticsystem used for generating the keys for the proposed encryptionalgorithm. Chaotic keys are derived from a combination of two systems, one with six dimensions and the other with five. These keys are used in different operations like shifting, Xoring, and encryption steps in the new proposed algorithm. The proposedalgorithm consists of a combination of two parallel parts: Salsa20 and S boxes with chaos keys. The proposed system takes 512 bits of the plaintext, which will be split into two 256-bit parts, the left part encrypted with …

Kernel Semi-Parametric Model Improvement Based On Quasi-Oppositional Learning Pelican Optimization Algorithm, Firas Ahmed Yonis Al-Taie, Omar Saber Qasim, Zakariya Yahya Algamal

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

Statistical modeling plays a critical role in various scientific fields as it offers an understanding of how the response variable of interest is linked to a range of explanatory variables. However, selecting the best model beforehand is not easy. To address this issue, we conducted a study to explore the selection of an appropriate hyper-parameter for kernel semi-parametric regression. We used a quasi-oppositional learning pelican optimization algorithm technique to choose the smoothness parameter. Our simulation results showed that our proposed methodology outperformed its competitors in terms of mean squared error (MSE). Moreover, our suggested quasi-oppositional learning pelican optimization technique demonstrated …

Role Of Social Network On Technology Adoption: Application To Nebraska Producers In The Face Of Undesirable Vegetation Transitions, Sabrina Gulab, Holly K. Nesbitt, Simanti Banerjee, Theresa Floyd, Karina A. Schoengold

Cornhusker Economics

Conclusion

Producers need to have access to information regarding new conservation practices and technologies to ensure land management in the face of ecological threats in general and vegetation transitions (VTs) in the context of our study. This study investigates the role of an individual producer's social network on the willingness to seek information about technologies and management practices and the likelihood of new technology adoption with special attention to risk attitudes and producer spillover effects. Our results provide evidence that network composition and information obtained through a producer's social network don't influence an individual's willingness to seek information about new …

An Articulate Heart Attack Detection System Using Mine Blast Optimization (Mbo) Based Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (Mlpnn) Model, N Rajesh Pandian, D Shanth, N Selvaganesh

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

The creation of an automated system for heart disease detection was once one of the more common undertakings in the healthcare industries. For this purpose, the different types of bigdata analytics technologies are developed inthe conventional works to predict the heart disease. Still, it limits with the problems associated to the elements of high complexity, time consumption, over fitting, and mis-prediction results.Because the previous methods did not optimizethe best features, they did not give accurate results in heart attackdetection, so the system is needed to control thedeath ratio.Therefore, the proposed work objects to implement a novel Mine Blast Optimization (MBO) …

Differentiating Pc12 Cells To Evaluate Neurite Densities Through Live-Cell Imaging, Jordyn Karliner, Diane E Merry

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Although PC12 cells are a valuable tool in neuroscience research, previously published PC12 cell differentiation techniques fail to consider the variability in differentiation rates between different PC12 cell strains and clonal variants. Here, we present a comprehensive protocol to differentiate PC12 cells into equivalent neurite densities through live-cell imaging for morphological, immunocytochemical, and biochemical analyses. We detail steps on optimized substrate coating, plating techniques, culture media, validation steps, and quantification techniques.

Cissus Quadrangularis (Hadjod) Inhibits Rankl-Induced Osteoclastogenesis And Augments Bone Health In An Estrogen-Deficient Preclinical Model Of Osteoporosis Via Modulating The Host Osteoimmune System, Zaffar Azam, Leena Sapra, Kalpana Baghel, Niharika Sinha, Rajesh K Gupta, Vandana Soni, Chaman Saini, Pradyumna K Mishra, Rupesh K Srivastava

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease characterised by low bone mineral density (BMD), degeneration of bone micro-architecture, and impaired bone strength. Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), popularly known as Hadjod (bone setter) in Hindi, is a traditional medicinal herb exhibiting osteoprotective potential in various bone diseases, especially osteoporosis and fractures. However, the cellular mechanisms underpinning its direct effect on bone health through altering the host immune system have never been elucidated. In the present study, we interrogated the osteoprotective and immunoporotic (the osteoprotective potential of CQ via modulating the host immune system) potential of CQ in preventing inflammatory bone loss under oestrogen-deficient …