Digital Commons Network^™

Chimes: September 18, 2023, Calvin University

Chimes

Calvin's total student body grows for the first time in a decade by Savannah Shustack

Compass College closing sends many new students to Calvin by Maya Oeverman & Savannah Shustack

Tech Week Grand Rapids offers unique experience for STEM students by Jacob Westra

Scooters offer transportation, but parking issues have caused challenges during rollout by Grace Buller

New sports facilities provide new opportunities for student athletes by Dillion Baumchen

Calvin students can now keep waste out of the landfill by Ethan Meyers

Equilibrium And Active Self-Assembly And Collective Properties Of Network-Based Biomaterials, Lauren Melcher

Theses

Biological systems have the unique ability to self-organize, respond to environmental stimuli, and generate autonomous motion and work. The fields of biomaterials and synthetic biology seek to recapitulate these remarkable properties of biological systems in in-vitro reconstitutions of biological systems, and in abiotic or biotic-abiotic hybrid materials to better understand the underlying rules of life and to predict the design principles of biomimetic smart materials. Motivated by this, we create bottom-up mathematical models, rooted in experiments, of network-based synthetic and biological materials. These encompass two-dimensional colloidal networks connected by rhythmic crosslinkers, and three-dimensional biopolymer networks assembled via depletion interactions, physical …

Conference Program - Bio-Char Iii: Production, Characterization And Applications, Franco Berruti, David Chiaramonti, Silvia Fiore, Manuel Garcia-Pérez, Ondrej Masek

Bio-Char III: Production, Characterization and Applications

No abstract provided.

A Bibliometric Analysis Of The Rise Of Chatgpt In Medical Research, Nikki M. Barrington, Nithin Gupta, Basel Musmar, David Doyle, Nicholas Panico, Nikhil Godbole, Taylor K. Reardon, Randy S. D'Amico

Neurology Articles

The rapid emergence of publicly accessible artificial intelligence platforms such as large language models (LLMs) has led to an equally rapid increase in articles exploring their potential benefits and risks. We performed a bibliometric analysis of ChatGPT literature in medicine and science to better understand publication trends and knowledge gaps. Following title, abstract, and keyword searches of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases for ChatGPT articles published in the medical field, articles were screened for inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted from included articles, with citation counts obtained from PubMed and journal metrics obtained from Clarivate Journal …

Structural Features Of Thyroglobulin Linked To Protein Trafficking, Cintia E. Citterio, Kookjoo Kim, Bhavana Rajesh, Kevin Pena, Oliver Biggs Clark, Peter Arvan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Thyroglobulin must pass endoplasmic reticulum (ER) quality control to become secreted for thyroid hormone synthesis. Defective thyroglobulin, blocked in trafficking, can cause hypothyroidism. Thyroglobulin is a large protein (~2750 residues) spanning regions I–II–III plus a C-terminal cholinesterase-like domain. The cholinesterase-like domain functions as an intramolecular chaperone for regions I–II–III, but the folding pathway leading to successful thyroglobulin trafficking remains largely unknown. Here, informed by the recent three-dimensional structure of thyroglobulin as determined by cryo-electron microscopy, we have bioengineered three novel classes of mutants yielding three entirely distinct quality control phenotypes. Specifically, upon expressing recombinant thyroglobulin, we find that first, mutations …

Single-Cell Transcriptomics Of Mtb/Hiv Co-Infection, Smita Kulkarni, Janice J. Endsley, Zhao Lai, Todd Bradley, Riti Sharan

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Tuberculosis (TB) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) co-infection continues to pose a significant healthcare burden. HIV co-infection during TB predisposes the host to the reactivation of latent TB infection (LTBI), worsening disease conditions and mortality. There is a lack of biomarkers of LTBI reactivation and/or immune-related transcriptional signatures to distinguish active TB from LTBI and predict TB reactivation upon HIV co-infection. Characterizing individual cells using next-generation sequencing-based technologies has facilitated novel biological discoveries about infectious diseases, including TB and HIV pathogenesis. Compared to the more conventional sequencing techniques that provide a bulk assessment, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) can reveal complex …

Neuroimmune Support Of Neuronal Regeneration And Neuroplasticity Following Cerebral Ischemia In Juvenile Mice, Ricaurte A Marquez-Ortiz, Vesna Tesic, Daniel R Hernandez, Bilkis Akhter, Nibedita Aich, Porter M Boudreaux, Garrett A Clemons, Celeste Yin-Chieh Wu, Hung Wen Lin, Krista M Rodgers

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Ischemic damage to the brain and loss of neurons contribute to functional disabilities in many stroke survivors. Recovery of neuroplasticity is critical to restoration of function and improved quality of life. Stroke and neurological deficits occur in both adults and children, and yet it is well documented that the developing brain has remarkable plasticity which promotes increased post-ischemic functional recovery compared with adults. However, the mechanisms underlying post-stroke recovery in the young brain have not been fully explored. We observed opposing responses to experimental cerebral ischemia in juvenile and adult mice, with substantial neural regeneration and enhanced neuroplasticity detected in …

A Study On Morphometric Analysis Of Mitral Valve In Embalmed Human Hearts: An Insight Into Its Clinical Implications, Pallavi .

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

Pattern Of Antibiotic Sensitivity In Ear Isolates: A Retrospective Study Of Ear Infection In National Ear Care Centre, Kaduna, Astaharam Ardo Jabbo, Isaac Agyigra, Maryam Ibrahim Rimi, Zainab Yakubu Abbas, Maryam Usman Fari, Muhammad Kabir, Kelechi Ncheta Nkwazema

Bulletin of Faculty of Pharmacy Cairo University

Background: Ear infection is a health problem amongst all ages globally. The high rate of antibiotic-resistance has thus worsened this problem along-side paucity of data on ear infection in northern Nigeria. The aim of this study is to determine the bacterial isolates and their drug susceptibility patterns from patients who had ear infection. Method: A retrospective study of a reviewed of records of ear swab samples collected at the Medical Laboratory Department of National Ear Care Centre (NECC) from the period of January 2014 to December 2016. Sample were cultured on MacConkey, blood and chocolate agars and subsequent biochemical analyses. …

Design And Development Of Clinical Decision Support System For Breast Cancer Diagnosis Using Artificial Intelligence, Karthiga R

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of breast cancer in women worldwide is far higher than that of cancers of the lungs, brain, or liver. Increasing ageing populations and poor lifestyle habits among the general public, primarily in industrialized nations, are significant factors contributing to the rise in cancer-related mortality rates worldwide. Approximately one woman in every three will develop breast cancer. This research proposes several advanced computer methods for analyzing breast cancer images. This work analyses breast cancer in four imaging modalities: mammography, thermography, ultrasonography and histopathology.

Each modality has some limitations in diagnosing tumors in the breast region. Heavy dose in mammogram …

A Review Of The Role Of Tendon Stem Cells In Tendon-Bone Regeneration, Junjie Chen, Chuanfeng Jiang, Lu Yin, Yingqi Liu, Yue He, Sen Li, Huarui Shen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tendon-bone injuries are a prevalent health concern associated with sports and other physically demanding activities. These injuries have a limited innate healing ability, often leading to the formation of scar tissue rather than the regeneration of healthy tendon tissue. This scar tissue results from excessive fibrosis during the early healing process and often leads to reduced tendon function and an increased risk of reinjury. Traditionally, surgical reconstruction has been the primary treatment for tendon-bone injuries. However, restoring the natural structure and mechanical properties of tendons after surgical reconstruction presents a considerable challenge. Recently, the potential of stem cell therapy has …

Enhancements In Cloud Condensation Nuclei Activity From Turbulent Fluctuations In Supersaturation, Jesse C. Anderson, Payton Beeler, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Will Cantrell, Steven Krueger, Raymond A. Shaw, Fan Yang, Laura Fierce, Alfred T. Anderson Jr.

Michigan Tech Publications

The effect of aerosols on the properties of clouds is a large source of uncertainty in predictions of weather and climate. These aerosol-cloud interactions depend critically on the ability of aerosol particles to form cloud droplets. A challenge in modeling aerosol-cloud interactions is the representation of interactions between turbulence and cloud microphysics. Turbulent mixing leads to small-scale fluctuations in water vapor and temperature that are unresolved in large-scale atmospheric models. To quantify the impact of turbulent fluctuations on cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation, we used a high-resolution Large Eddy Simulation of a convective cloud chamber to drive particle-based cloud microphysics …

Characterization Of An Mtbp Hypomorphic Allele In A Diethylnitrosamine-Induced Liver Carcinogenesis Model, Atul Ranjan, Elizabeth A. Thoenen, Atsushi Kaida, Stephanie Wood, Terry Van Dyke, Tomoo Iwakuma

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

MTBP is implicated in cell cycle progression, DNA replication, and cancer metastasis. However, the function of MTBP remains enigmatic and is dependent on cellular contexts and its cellular localization. To understand the in vivo physiological role of MTBP, it is important to generate Mtbp knockout mice. However, complete deletion of the Mtbp gene in mice results in early embryonic lethality, while its heterozygous deletion shows modest biological phenotypes, including enhanced cancer metastasis. To overcome this and better characterize the in vivo physiological function of MTBP, we, for the first time, generated mice that carry an Mtbp hypomorphic allele (MtbpH …

First-In-Human Prospective Trial Of Sonobiopsy In High-Grade Glioma Patients Using Neuronavigation-Guided Focused Ultrasound, Jinyun Yuan, Lu Xu, Chih-Yen Chien, Yaoheng Yang, Yimei Yue, Siaka Fadera, Andrew H Stark, Katherine E Schwetye, Arash Nazeri, Rupen Desai, Umeshkumar Athiraman, Aadel A Chaudhuri, Hong Chen, Eric C Leuthardt

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Sonobiopsy is an emerging technology that combines focused ultrasound (FUS) with microbubbles to enrich circulating brain disease-specific biomarkers for noninvasive molecular diagnosis of brain diseases. Here, we report the first-in-human prospective trial of sonobiopsy in high-grade glioma patients to evaluate its feasibility and safety in enriching plasma circulating tumor biomarkers. A nimble FUS device integrated with a clinical neuronavigation system was used to perform sonobiopsy following an established clinical workflow for neuronavigation. Analysis of blood samples collected before and after FUS sonication showed that sonobiopsy enriched plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), including a maximum increase of 1.6-fold for the mononucleosome …

Classification Of Missense Variants In The N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Grin Gene Family As Gain- Or Loss-Of-Function, Scott J Myers, Hongjie Yuan, Riley E Perszyk, Jing Zhang, Sukhan Kim, Kelsey A Nocilla, James P Allen, Jennifer M Bain, Johannes R Lemke, Dennis Lal, Timothy A Benke, Stephen F Traynelis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Advances in sequencing technology have generated a large amount of genetic data from patients with neurological conditions. These data have provided diagnosis of many rare diseases, including a number of pathogenic de novo missense variants in GRIN genes encoding N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). To understand the ramifications for neurons and brain circuits affected by rare patient variants, functional analysis of the variant receptor is necessary in model systems. For NMDARs, this functional analysis needs to assess multiple properties in order to understand how variants could impact receptor function in neurons. One can then use these data to determine whether the …

Histological Study Of Oesophagus And Its Developmental Aspects, Syed Zohair Husain Rizvi, Chandni Gupta

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

Using Chatgpt And Other Llms In Professional Environments, S. Alaswad, T. Kalganova, W. S. Awad

Information Sciences Letters

Large language models like ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, and Microsoft’s new Bing, to name a few, are developing rapidly in recent years, becoming very popular in different environments, and supporting a wide range of tasks. A deep look into their outcomes reveals several limitations and challenges that can be further improved. The main challenge of these models is the possibility of generating biased or inaccurate results, since these models rely on large amounts of data with no access to unpublic information. Moreover, these language models need to be properly monitored and trained to prevent generating inappropriate or offensive content and to …

Mathematical Analysis Of Hiv/Htlv-I Co-Infection Model With Saturated Incidence Rate, A. A. Abdellatif, E. Dahy, A. M. Zahran

Information Sciences Letters

Direct contact with specific contaminated body fluids is how both the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) are transmitted from one person to another. Therefore, the two viruses can co-infect same person. In the literature all the HIV/HTLV-I co-infection models assume that the infection rate is given by bilinear incidence. However, for high concentration of pathogens, the bilinear incidence is not suitable. Therefore, this study will focus on the dynamical behavior of an HIV/HTLV-I co-infection model with saturated incidence. The model includes the effect of Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) immune response. Through the non-negativity …

Association Of Homocysteine Level With Brain Atrophy Changes In Alzheimer’S Disease Patients - Case Series, Ram Prakash Sah, Vidya Cs, Pratibha Pereira, Subha Jayaram

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Morphological And Morphometric Analysis Of Palatine Rugae Patterns, G Thrisha, Shivapriya ., Seema Sr

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

Phenotypic Characterization And Multilineage Differentiation Of Articular Cartilage Derived Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells From Osteoarthritis And Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients, Akshay Bairapura Manjappa, Siddharth Shetty, Reshma Shetty, Shantharam Shetty M, Ananthram Shetty A, Pretty Rathnakar, Mohana Kumar Basavarajappaa

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

“Fascinating World Of Human Anatomy” - The Usefulness Of Conducting A Hands-On Workshop In Human Anatomy For Biology School Teachers, Sushma Prabhath, Lydia Andrade, Anne D Souza, Prasanna L C

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Maternal Vitamin D Levels On The Cognitive Functions Of Their Progeny – An Experimental Study, Ashwija Shetty, Sudarshan S, Shivakumar K Reddy, Pugazhandhi Bakthavatchalam, Poornima Adhikari, Dinesh Upadhyay

KCACON 2023

No abstract provided.

Books And Media

Appalachia

Reviews of: White Mountain Guide: AMC's Comprehensive Guide to Hiking Trails in the White Mountain National Forest, 31st edition, compiled and edited by Ken MacGray and Steven D. Smith; The World Atlas of Trees and Forests: Exploring Earth's Forest Ecosystems, by Herman Shugart, Peter White, Sassan Saatchi, and Jérôme Chave; Conversations with Birds, by Priyanka Kumar; Hidden Mountains: Survival and Reckoning After a Climb Gone Wrong, by Michael Wejchert; Lost in the Valley of Death: A Story of Obsession and Danger in the Himalayas, by Harley Rustad; Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We …

Exploring Water Quality On The Reclaimed Surface Mines Lands In Eastern Kentucky, Whitney Tara Maynard, Buddhi Gyawali, George Antonious

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Hiking Trails On Salamanders, Emily M. Macdonald

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

Over half of the World’s salamanders are facing extinction. It is important to understand the impact Humans have on them in all parts of their ranges so we can better understand what they need and how we can prevent further extinctions. I conducted this study to try to determine if the human activity on the official hiking trails in the Arcata Community Forest in Arcata California; as designated by the official map of the Forest; is negatively impacting the salamanders that live in the Forest. I thought there would be an increase in the number of species and the overall …

Approaches To Assessing Nutrient Coupling In Open Ocean Datasets, James M. Moore, Claire P. Till

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

Nutrient coupling describes a process where the biogeochemical cycles of two elements are linked by being incorporated similarly into biomass. This paper uses data from the GEOTRACES GP16 cruise (Eastern Pacific Zonal Transect) to investigate the relationship between certain macronutrients generally coupled to trace elements in terms of their oceanic distributions with the notable exception of in an oxygen minimum zone: cadmium-phosphate and zinc-silicate. There are many methods applied to oceanographic data to correlate analyte concentrations; while they are often presented independently in literature, here we attempt to use them in conjunction for a more thorough interpretation. By compiling 1) …

Methane Dynamics Of Kentucky Bottomland Hardwood Forested Systems, Marissa Miles, Jessica B. Moon, Skylar Ross, Jarred Asselta, Niklas Klauss, Rosie Carey, Kabi Raj Khatiwada, Bassil El Masri, Gary Stinchcomb, Benjamin R. K. Runkle

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Floating Vegetation As A Driver Of Ch4 Emissions In Small Ponds Across Louisville, Ky, Mark Tierney, C. Jalink, J. H. Loughrin, S. W. Antle, Andrew S. Mehring

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Contribution Of Bald Cypress “Knees” To Greenhouse Gas Emissions During Climate Extremes, Skylar Ross, Jessica B. Moon, Niklas Klauss, Marissa Miles, Kabi Raj Khatiwada4, Bassil El Masri, Gary Stinchcomb, Benjamin R. K. Runkle

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

No abstract provided.