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Environments Of War: The Pacific Northwest And The Waging Of World War Ii, Katherine L. Macica

Dissertations

The Pacific Northwest served an essential role in America’s “Arsenal of Democracy.” Weapons and material produced in the Northwest proved essential to the Allied victory in World War II. These weapons served as agents of destruction abroad, but became agents of transformation for the places in which they were produced. This dissertation examines four of the most important resources and industries in Oregon and Washington to emerge or expand as a result of the war: hydroelectric power, forest products, shipbuilding, and aircraft manufacture. The wartime development of these industries profoundly reshaped the physical and economic landscape of the Pacific Northwest, …

Parenting And Psychosocial Functioning In Youth With Spina Bifida: Making Connections With Other Cns-Related Chronic Health Conditions, Adrien M. Winning

Dissertations

Parenting practices have been linked to psychosocial outcomes in children who have chronic health conditions that affect the central nervous system (CNS), such as spina bifida (SB). However, there remains a need for (1) more evidence-based assessments that capture parenting in SB, (2) additional research focused on parenting in early childhood in SB, as this is a critical developmental period that has been understudied, and (3) systematic reviews that synthesize parenting research across CNS-related conditions to guide future work. This dissertation includes three papers that aim to address each of these gaps in the current literature. Specifically, the first study …

“But You Don't Look Sick…:” Shedding Light On The Socially Constructed Problems Of Invisible Chronic Illness And The Benefits Of Shifting To A Dynamic Illness Framework, Samantha Susan Ropski

Master's Theses

Invisible chronic illness is a common, complex phenomenon that applies to any illness, disease, or collection of symptoms that is not always or ever outwardly apparent or discernable to onlookers, even in biomedical contexts. Interestingly, despite 96% of those with chronic illness fitting under the “invisible” umbrella, patients are frequently misdiagnosed, invalidated, dismissed and marginalized because they do not “look sick” enough within the context of the disease-focused medical model. This thesis aims to argue that many of the most significant and damaging problems associated with chronic illness are not due to the actual illnesses themselves but rather, are socially …

Sptan1/Numb Axis Senses Cell Density To Restrain Cell Growth And Oncogenesis Through Hippo Signaling, Dongxue Su, Yuxi Li, Weiji Zhang, Huan Gao, Yao Cheng, Yongqiang Hou, Junhong Li, Yi Ye, Zhangjian Lai, Zhe Li, Haitao Huang, Jiaxin Li, Jinhuan Li, Mengyu Cheng, Cheng Nian, Na Wu, Zhien Zhou, Yunzhi Xing, Yu Zhao, He Liu, Jiayu Tang, Qinghua Chen, Lixin Hong, Wengang Li, Zhihai Peng, Bin Zhao, Randy L Johnson, Pingguo Liu, Wanjin Hong, Lanfen Chen, Dawang Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The loss of contact inhibition is a key step during carcinogenesis. The Hippo-Yes-associated protein (Hippo/YAP) pathway is an important regulator of cell growth in a cell density-dependent manner. However, how Hippo signaling senses cell density in this context remains elusive. Here, we report that high cell density induced the phosphorylation of spectrin α chain, nonerythrocytic 1 (SPTAN1), a plasma membrane-stabilizing protein, to recruit NUMB endocytic adaptor protein isoforms 1 and 2 (NUMB1/2), which further sequestered microtubule affinity-regulating kinases (MARKs) in the plasma membrane and rendered them inaccessible for phosphorylation and inhibition of the Hippo kinases sterile 20-like kinases MST1 and …

Genome-Wide Analysis Of The Interplay Between Chromatin-Associated Rna And 3d Genome Organization In Human Cells, Riccardo Calandrelli, Xingzhao Wen, John Lalith Charles Richard, Zhifei Luo, Tri C Nguyen, Chien-Ju Chen, Zhijie Qi, Shuanghong Xue, Weizhong Chen, Zhangming Yan, Weixin Wu, Kathia Zaleta-Rivera, Rong Hu, Miao Yu, Yuchuan Wang, Wenbo Li, Jian Ma, Bing Ren, Sheng Zhong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The interphase genome is dynamically organized in the nucleus and decorated with chromatin-associated RNA (caRNA). It remains unclear whether the genome architecture modulates the spatial distribution of caRNA and vice versa. Here, we generate a resource of genome-wide RNA-DNA and DNA-DNA contact maps in human cells. These maps reveal the chromosomal domains demarcated by locally transcribed RNA, hereafter termed RNA-defined chromosomal domains. Further, the spreading of caRNA is constrained by the boundaries of topologically associating domains (TADs), demonstrating the role of the 3D genome structure in modulating the spatial distribution of RNA. Conversely, stopping transcription or acute depletion of RNA …

Development And Objective Task-Based Evaluation Of Computational Methods For Clinical Spect, Md Ashequr Rahman

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is widely used for imaging radiotracer distribution in vivo. In several SPECT applications, patients are administered a significant amount of radiation dose and thus, it is desirable to reduce the dose level. However, reducing the dose level results in low-count data, which leads to a decrease in image quality in terms of the performance on clinical tasks. Moreover, SPECT in applications such as alpha-particle radiopharmaceutical therapies (α-RPT) is inherently count limited. Methods to improve the image quality in low-dose/low-count settings for SPECT images are thus much needed. The goal of this dissertation is to develop …

Mesophotic Coral Bleaching Associated With Changes In Thermocline Depth, Clara Diaz, Nicola L. Foster, Martin J. Attrill, Adam Bolton, Peter Ganderton, Kerry L. Howell, Edward Robinson, Phil Hosegood

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

As global temperatures continue to rise, shallow coral reef bleaching has become more intense and widespread. Mesophotic coral ecosystems (30–150 m) reside in deeper, cooler, water and were thought to offer a refuge to shallow-water reefs. Data now show that mesophotic coral ecosystems instead have limited connectivity with shallow corals but host diverse endemic communities. Given their extensive distribution and high biodiversity, understanding their susceptibility to warming oceans is imperative. In this multidisciplinary study we show evidence of coral bleaching at 90 m in the Indian Ocean, despite the absence of shallow-water bleaching. The bleaching was associated with sustained thermocline …

Impact Of Thermal Maturation Of The Upper Cretaceous Bituminous Limestone Of Attarat Um Ghudran Central Jordan On Calcareous Nannofossil Preservation, Mohammad Alqudah, Mohammad Al Alaween, Adam Fermor, Ezaldeen Ali, Thomas Wagner, Mohammed Hail Alhakimi, Afikah Rahim

All Works

Oil shale deposits of the Late Cretaceous from three boreholes in central Jordan were examined to assess the impact of thermal maturation on the content of nannofossils. Thermal activity has been shown to have a strong effect on organic matter content and composition but its effect on calcareous nannofossil assemblages remains inconclusive. This study aims to determine the impact of thermal maturation on nannofossil assemblages and to compare this to an estimated maturity level based on bulk geochemical analysis. Micropaleontological and geochemical analyses were conducted on 31 samples from three oil shale wells drilled in Attarat Um Ghudran central Jordan. …

Blood Pressure Variability And Early Neurological Outcomes In Acute And Subacute Stroke In Southwestern Uganda, Shirley M. Moore, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Greater blood pressure variability has detrimental effects on clinical outcome after a stroke; its effects are controversial and have not been evaluated in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods: We conducted a prospective study of patients with CT head confirmed ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes admitted to a tertiary hospital within 7 days of onset of unilateral neurological deficits. Blood pressure variability indices, standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV) of systolic and diastolic blood pressure between day 0 and day 7, were calculated with a subsequent modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score on day 14 post-stroke. Linear regression was performed to …

Revisiting Asthma Obstructive Sleep Apnea Overlap: Current Knowledge And Future Needs, Damini Saxena, Ikuyo Imayama, Muhammad Adrish

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Asthma and obstructive sleep apnea are highly prevalent conditions with a high cost burden. In addition to shared risk factors, existing data suggest a bidirectional relationship between asthma and OSA, where each condition can impact the other. Patients with asthma often complain of sleep fragmentation, nocturnal asthma symptoms, daytime sleepiness, and snoring. The prevalence of OSA increases with asthma severity, as evidenced by multiple large studies. Asthma may lower the threshold for arousal in OSA, resulting in the hypopnea with arousal phenotype. Epidemiologic studies in adults have shown that OSA is associated with worse asthma severity, increased frequency of exacerbation, …

Got Pidd1? Natural Killer Cells Clear Polyploid Cells To Ensure A Balanced Genome, Alexandra N Brown-Suedel, Lisa Bouchier-Hayes

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Removal of polyploid cells is essential to preventing cancer and restricting tumor growth. A new study published in The EMBO Journal shows assembly of the NEMO-PIDDosome on extra centrioles. Activation of this protein complex leads to NF-κB activation that, in turn, induces NK cell-mediated cell clearance.

Dna2 Nuclease Inhibition Confers Synthetic Lethality In Cancers With Mutant P53 And Synergizes With Parp Inhibitors, Helena Folly-Kossi, Joshua D Graves, Lidija A Wilhelms Garan, Fang-Tsyr Lin, Weei-Chin Lin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

UNLABELLED: The tumor suppressor p53 promotes tumor-suppressive activities including cell-cycle inhibition, apoptosis, senescence, autophagy, and DNA repair. However, somatic mutations in the TP53 gene are one of the most common alterations in human cancers. We previously showed that mutant p53 (mutp53) can bind TopBP1, an ATR activator, to attenuate its ATR-activating function. A partially defective ATR function caused by mutp53 makes cancer cells more vulnerable to inhibitors of other TopBP1-independent ATR activators, such as DNA2. DNA2 plays a role in homologous recombination (HR) repair by resecting DNA ends in double-strand breaks and preparing them for invasion of homologous duplex. Here …

A Single Nanobody Neutralizes Multiple Epochally Evolving Human Noroviruses By Modulating Capsid Plasticity, Wilhelm Salmen, Liya Hu, Marina Bok, Natthawan Chaimongkol, Khalil Ettayebi, Stanislav V Sosnovtsev, Kaundal Soni, B Vijayalakshmi Ayyar, Sreejesh Shanker, Frederick H Neill, Banumathi Sankaran, Robert L Atmar, Mary K Estes, Kim Y Green, Viviana Parreño, B V Venkataram Prasad

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Acute gastroenteritis caused by human noroviruses (HuNoVs) is a significant global health and economic burden and is without licensed vaccines or antiviral drugs. The GII.4 HuNoV causes most epidemics worldwide. This virus undergoes epochal evolution with periodic emergence of variants with new antigenic profiles and altered specificity for histo-blood group antigens (HBGA), the determinants of cell attachment and susceptibility, hampering the development of immunotherapeutics. Here, we show that a llama-derived nanobody M4 neutralizes multiple GII.4 variants with high potency in human intestinal enteroids. The crystal structure of M4 complexed with the protruding domain of the GII.4 capsid protein VP1 revealed …

Excretory/Secretory Products From Trichinella Spiralis Adult Worms Ameliorate Myocardial Infarction By Inducing M2 Macrophage Polarization In A Mouse Model, Lingqin Wu, Wenhui Yin, Jutai Wen, Shuying Wang, Huihui Li, Xiaoli Wang, Weixiao Zhang, Shuyao Duan, Qiuyu Zhu, Erhe Gao, Shili Wu, Bin Zhan, Rui Zhou, Xiaodi Yang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Ischemia-induced inflammatory response is the main pathological mechanism of myocardial infarction (MI)-caused heart tissue injury. It has been known that helminths and worm-derived proteins are capable of modulating host immune response to suppress excessive inflammation as a survival strategy. Excretory/secretory products from Trichinella spiralis adult worms (Ts-AES) have been shown to ameliorate inflammation-related diseases. In this study, Ts-AES were used to treat mice with MI to determine its therapeutic effect on reducing MI-induced heart inflammation and the immunological mechanism involved in the treatment.

METHODS: The MI model was established by the ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, …

Which Way From Here? An Exploration Of Local Perspectives On Strengths, Needs And Goals In The Aurukun Community, Jack R. Menges, Marie L. Caltabiano, Alan Clough, Tim White

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Aurukun is a small Aboriginal community located in remote Cape York, Far North Queensland. This study explores local perspectives on the goals, strengths and areas of need in the community, and perceptions of the role of a man in Aurukun. Seventeen individuals from the Aurukun community were informally interviewed. The sample comprised eight community elders (four female, four male) and nine community members (six male, three female). A reference group comprising local community members and elders guided the research project. Results indicated that the communities’ main strength was their connection to culture, the areas most needing improvement were violence, alcohol …

The Parenting Education Needs Of Aboriginal Women Experiencing Incarceration, Belinda J. Lovell, Mary Steen, Angela Brown, Karen Glover, Adrian Esterman

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

The aim of this study was to listen to the voices of women experiencing incarceration and understand their parenting education needs. This paper reports on data from focus group interviews with 13 Aboriginal women in prison. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, creating five themes: (1) working towards a positive self; (2) communication (3) parenting from a distance; (4) jumping through hoops to get connected; and (5) connecting with Aboriginal cultures. The women were seeking guidance and clarity about the Child Protection system and how to regain child custody. Many women were wanting to invest in self-care and …

Experiences Of Kinship And Connection To Family For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Young Men With Histories Of Incarceration, Shelley Joy Walker, Michael Doyle, Mark Stoové Professor, Troy Combo, Mandy Wilson

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Epidemiological approaches have brought important attention to the issues surrounding the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, and the enormous health and socio-economic disparities they face. An implicit discourse often exists within the construction of this “knowledge”, however, that situates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in deficit terms.

Using narrative inquiry, a methodological approach congruent with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and ways of knowing, we aim to challenge this dominant discourse, via an examination of the narratives of eight Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander young men (aged 19-24 years) involved in the criminal justice …

Gender As Occupation: The "Doing" Of Authentic Expression And Reciprocally Affirming Care For Transgender Individuals, Annie Derolf, Johnna Belkiewitz, Sally Wasmuth

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The current predominant view of gender as binary, alongside limited training of affirmative care practices, is severely and negatively impacting transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people. This paper urges the re-conceptualization of gender as an occupation, suggesting that gender is a doing that allows for positive identity development, roles, habits, and routines. Doing gender facilitates meaning-making and the ability to engage in other occupations. However, occupational injustices rooted in discrimination, stigma, and/or implicit biases impede TGD people’s ability to engage in the doing of gender and other occupations. Articulation of conceptual guidelines and interventions to support TGD people’s ability to …

Connection To Nature: A Student Perspective, Jessica Duke, Emily Holt

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Connection to nature has been linked to increased physical and mental health and increased performance of sustainable behaviors for individuals more connected to nature. Understanding why humans, especially younger generations, are connected to nature is an important tool for both public and environmental health. Our work used a qualitative, phenomenological study design to examine university biology students' descriptions of others' connection to nature, the frequency with which students predict their own connection to nature, and students' descriptions of the discrepancies between their prediction of their own connection to nature and their score on the Environmental Identity Scale. We found that …

Examination Of The Status Of Phyciodes Tharos Distincta Bauer, 1975, Confirming It As A Valid Subspecies, Harry Pavulaan

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

The subspecific status of Phyciodes tharos distincta is reexamined. A specimen series from southern Arizona reveals that distincta shows a distinct, unique phenotype dissimilar from eastern North American nominotypical P. t. tharos. Subspecies distincta occupies a very limited range in extreme southeastern California, southern Arizona, and northwestern Mexico. A lectotype is designated.

A Single-Dose Intramuscular Immunization Of Pigs With Lipid Nanoparticle Dna Vaccines Based On The Hemagglutinin Antigen Confers Complete Protection Against Challenge Infection With The Homologous Influenza Virus Strain, The N. Nguyen, Sushmita Kumari, Sarah Vitosh-Sillman, Jayeshbhai Chaudhari, Danh C. Lai, Hiep Vu

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

The Influenza A virus of swine (IAV-S) is highly prevalent and causes significant economic losses to swine producers. Due to the highly variable and rapidly evolving nature of the virus, it is critical to develop a safe and versatile vaccine platform that allows for frequent updates of the vaccine immunogens to cope with the emergence of new viral strains. The main objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) as nanocarriers for delivering DNA plasmid encoding the viral hemagglutinin (HA) gene in pigs. The intramuscular administration of a single dose of the LNP-DNA vaccines …

Enhancement Of Er Luminescence From Bridge-Type Photonic Crystal Nanocavities With Er, O-Co-Doped Gaas, Zhidong Fang, Jun Tatebayashi, Ryohei Homi, Masayuki Ogawa, Hirotake Kajii, Masahiko Kondow, Kyoko Kitamura, Brandon Mitchell, Shuhei Ichikawa, Yasufumi Fujiwara

Physics & Engineering Faculty Publications

A bridge-type photonic crystal (PhC) nanocavity based on Er,O-codoped GaAs is employed to realize enhancement of Er luminescence. By adjusting the structural design and measurement temperature, the cavity mode's wavelength can be coupled to Er luminescence. The peak emission intensity from an Er-2O defect center was enhanced 7.3 times at 40 nW pump power and 77 K. The experimental Q-factor is estimated to be over 1.2 x 104, and the luminescence intensity shows superlinearity with excitation power, suggesting Er luminescence amplification. This result would pave the way towards the realization of highly efficient single-photon emitters based on rare-earth elements.

Garnet & Black Fall 2023, University Of South Carolina, Office Of Student Media

Garnet & Black Magazine

No abstract provided.

Conference Program - Advances In Optics For Biotechnology, Medicine And Surgery, Frederic Leblond, Mark Niedre, Summer Gibbs, David . Cuccia, Jonathan Liu

Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery XVII [2023]

No abstract provided.

Investigating Associations Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Lung Function Decline, And Airway Obstruction, Bonnie K Patchen, Pallavi Balte, Traci M Bartz, R Graham Barr, Myriam Fornage, Mariaelisa Graff, David R Jacobs, Ravi Kalhan, Rozenn N Lemaitre, George O'Connor, Bruce Psaty, Jungkyun Seo, Michael Y Tsai, Alexis C Wood, Hanfei Xu, Jingwen Zhang, Sina A Gharib, Ani Manichaikul, Kari North, Lyn M Steffen, Josée Dupuis, Elizabeth Oelsner, Dana B Hancock, Patricia A Cassano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rationale: Inflammation contributes to lung function decline and the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Omega-3 fatty acids have antiinflammatory properties and may benefit lung health.

Objectives: To investigate associations of omega-3 fatty acids with lung function decline and incident airway obstruction in a diverse sample of adults from general-population cohorts.

Methods: Complementary study designs: 1) longitudinal study of plasma phospholipid omega-3 fatty acids and repeated FEV1 and FVC measures in the NHLBI Pooled Cohorts Study and 2) two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study of genetically predicted omega-3 fatty acids and lung function parameters.

Measurements and Main Results: The …

Stroke Recovery Is A Journey: Prediction And Potentials Of Motor Recovery After A Stroke From A Practical Perspective, Sheng Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Stroke recovery is a journey. Stroke survivors can face many consequences that may last the rest of their lives. Assessment of initial impairments allows reasonable prediction of biological spontaneous recovery at 3 to 6 months for a majority of survivors. In real-world clinical practice, stroke survivors continue to improve their motor function beyond the spontaneous recovery period, but management plans for maximal recovery are not well understood. A model within the international classification of functioning (ICF) theoretical framework is proposed to systematically identify opportunities and potential barriers to maximize and realize the potentials of functional recovery from the acute to …

A Climate Perturbation At The Middle –Late Jurassic Transition? Evaluating The Isotopic Evidence From South-Central England, Gregory D. Price, Bernát Heszler, Charlton L-M Tansley, Jade Cox

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Metrics Matter: Multiple Diversity Metrics At Different Spatial Scales Are Needed To Understand Species Diversity In Urban Environments, Kathryn A. O'Shaughnessy, Antony M. Knights, Stephen J. Hawkins, Mick E. Hanley, Paul Lunt, Richard C. Thompson, Louise B. Firth

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Worldwide, natural habitats are being replaced by artificial structures due to urbanisation. Planning of such modifications should strive for environmental net gain that benefits biodiversity and ecosystems. Alpha (α) and gamma (γ) diversity are often used to assess ‘impact’ but are insensitive metrics. We test several diversity measures across two spatial scales to compare species diversity in natural and artificial habitats. We show γ-diversity indicates equivalency in biodiversity between natural and artificial habitats, but natural habitats support greater taxon (α) and functional richness. Within-site β-diversity was also greater in natural habitats, but among-site β-diversity was greater in artificial habitats, contradicting …

Deep Learning Analysis Of Uplc-Ms/Ms-Based Metabolomics Data To Predict Alzheimer's Disease, Kesheng Wang, Laurie A. Theeke, Christopher Liao, Nianyang Wang, Yongke Lu, Danqing Xiao, Chun Xu

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Objective

Metabolic biomarkers can potentially inform disease progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The purpose of this study is to identify and describe a new set of diagnostic biomarkers for developing deep learning (DL) tools to predict AD using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)-based metabolomicsdata.

Methods

A total of 177 individuals, including 78 with AD and 99 with cognitive normal (CN), were selected from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort along with 150 metabolomic biomarkers. We performed feature selection using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). The H2O DL function was used to build multilayer …

Associations Between Birth Defects And Childhood And Adolescent Germ Cell Tumors According To Sex, Histologic Subtype, And Site, Jeremy M Schraw, Pagna Sok, Tania A Desrosiers, Amanda E Janitz, Peter H Langlois, Mark A Canfield, A Lindsay Frazier, Sharon E Plon, Philip J Lupo, Jenny N Poynter

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Studies have reported increased rates of birth defects among children with germ cell tumors (GCTs). However, few studies have evaluated associations by sex, type of defect, or tumor characteristics.

METHODS: Birth defect-GCT associations were evaluated among pediatric patients (N = 552) with GCTs enrolled in the Germ Cell Tumor Epidemiology Study and population-based controls (N = 6380) without cancer from the Genetic Overlap Between Anomalies and Cancer in Kids Study. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of GCTs according to birth defects status were estimated by using unconditional logistic regression. All defects were considered collectively and …