Digital Commons Network^™

Ctla4 Blockade Abrogates Keap1/Stk11-Related Resistance To Pd-(L)1 Inhibitors, Ferdinandos Skoulidis, Haniel A Araujo, Minh Truong Do, Yu Qian, Xin Sun, Ana Galan Cobo, John T Le, Meagan Montesion, Rachael Palmer, Nadine Jahchan, Joseph M Juan, Chengyin Min, Yi Yu, Xuewen Pan, Kathryn C Arbour, Natalie Vokes, Stephanie T Schmidt, David Molkentine, Dwight H Owen, Regan Memmott, Pradnya D Patil, Melina E Marmarelis, Mark M Awad, Joseph C Murray, Jessica A Hellyer, Justin F Gainor, Anastasios Dimou, Christine M Bestvina, Catherine A Shu, Jonathan W Riess, Collin M Blakely, Chad V Pecot, Laura Mezquita, Fabrizio Tabbó, Matthias Scheffler, Subba Digumarthy, Meghan J Mooradian, Adrian G Sacher, Sally C M Lau, Andreas N Saltos, Julia Rotow, Rocio Perez Johnson, Corinne Liu, Tyler Stewart, Sarah B Goldberg, Jonathan Killam, Zenta Walther, Kurt Schalper, Kurtis D Davies, Mark G Woodcock, Valsamo Anagnostou, Kristen A Marrone, Patrick M Forde, Biagio Ricciuti, Deepti Venkatraman, Eliezer M Van Allen, Amy L Cummings, Jonathan W Goldman, Hiram Shaish, Melanie Kier, Sharyn Katz, Charu Aggarwal, Ying Ni, Joseph T Azok, Jeremy Segal, Lauren Ritterhouse, Joel W Neal, Ludovic Lacroix, Yasir Y Elamin, Marcelo V Negrao, Xiuning Le, Vincent K Lam, Whitney E Lewis, Haley N Kemp, Brett Carter, Jack A Roth, Stephen Swisher, Richard Lee, Teng Zhou, Alissa Poteete, Yifan Kong, Tomohiro Takehara, Alvaro Guimaraes Paula, Edwin R Parra Cuentas, Carmen Behrens, Ignacio I Wistuba, Jianjun Zhang, George R Blumenschein, Carl Gay, Lauren A Byers, Don L Gibbons, Anne Tsao, J Jack Lee, Trever G Bivona, D Ross Camidge, Jhannelle E Gray, Natasha B Leighl, Benjamin Levy, Julie R Brahmer, Marina C Garassino, David R Gandara, Edward B Garon, Naiyer A Rizvi, Giorgio Vittorio Scagliotti, Jürgen Wolf, David Planchard, Benjamin Besse, Roy S Herbst, Heather A Wakelee, Nathan A Pennell, Alice T Shaw, Pasi A Jänne, David P Carbone, Matthew D Hellmann, Charles M Rudin, Lee Albacker, Helen Mann, Zhou Zhu, Zhongwu Lai, Ross Stewart, Solange Peters, Melissa L Johnson, Kwok K Wong, Alan Huang, Monte M Winslow, Michael J Rosen, Ian P Winters, Vassiliki A Papadimitrakopoulou, Tina Cascone, Philip Jewsbury, John V Heymach

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

For patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), dual immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) with CTLA4 inhibitors and PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitors (hereafter, PD-(L)1 inhibitors) is associated with higher rates of anti-tumour activity and immune-related toxicities, when compared with treatment with PD-(L)1 inhibitors alone. However, there are currently no validated biomarkers to identify which patients will benefit from dual ICB1,2. Here we show that patients with NSCLC who have mutations in the STK11 and/or KEAP1 tumour suppressor genes derived clinical benefit from dual ICB with the PD-L1 inhibitor durvalumab and the CTLA4 inhibitor tremelimumab, but not from durvalumab alone, when added …

Mechanisms Of Response And Tolerance To Active Ras Inhibition In Kras-Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Haniel A Araujo, Ximo Pechuan-Jorge, Teng Zhou, Minh Truong Do, Xin Hu, Frank R Rojas Alvarez, Maria E Salvatierra, Heladio P Ibarguen, Richard Lee, Rashi Raghulan, Harshit Shah, Mariela A Moreno Ayala, Kevin Chen, Nataliya Tovbis Shifrin, Shuhong Wu, Luisa M Solis Soto, Marcelo V Negrao, Don L Gibbons, David S Hong, Jack A Roth, John V Heymach, Jianjun Zhang, Jingjing Jiang, Mallika Singh, Jacqueline A M Smith, Elsa Quintana, Ferdinandos Skoulidis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Resistance to inactive state-selective RASG12C inhibitors frequently entails accumulation of RASGTP, rendering effective inhibition of active RAS potentially desirable. Here, we evaluated the antitumor activity of the RAS(ON) multiselective tricomplex inhibitor RMC-7977 and dissected mechanisms of response and tolerance in KRASG12C-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Broad-spectrum reversible RASGTP inhibition with or without concurrent covalent targeting of active RASG12C yielded superior and differentiated antitumor activity across diverse comutational KRASG12C-mutant NSCLC mouse models of primary or acquired RASG12C(ON) or RASG12C(OFF) inhibitor resistance. Interrogation of time-resolved single-cell transcriptional responses established an in vivo atlas of multimodal acute and chronic RAS pathway inhibition …

Fractionated Photoimmunotherapy Stimulates An Anti-Tumour Immune Response: An Integrated Mathematical And In Vitro Study, Mohammad U Zahid, Matthew Waguespack, Rebecca C Harman, Eric M Kercher, Shubhankar Nath, Tayyaba Hasan, Imran Rizvi, Bryan Q Spring, Heiko Enderling

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has high recurrence rates due to disseminated initial disease presentation. Cytotoxic phototherapies, such as photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photoimmunotherapy (PIT, cell-targeted PDT), have the potential to treat disseminated malignancies due to safe intraperitoneal delivery.

Methods: We use in vitro measurements of EOC tumour cell and T cell responses to chemotherapy, PDT, and epidermal growth factor receptor targeted PIT as inputs to a mathematical model of non-linear tumour and immune effector cell interaction. The model outputs were used to calculate how photoimmunotherapy could be utilised for tumour control.

Results: In vitro measurements of PIT dose …

Apoptotic Extracellular Vesicles Carrying Mif Regulate Macrophage Recruitment And Compensatory Proliferation In Neighboring Epithelial Stem Cells During Tissue Maintenance, Safia A Essien, Ivanshi Ahuja, George T Eisenhoffer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Apoptotic cells can signal to neighboring cells to stimulate proliferation and compensate for cell loss to maintain tissue homeostasis. While apoptotic cell-derived extracellular vesicles (AEVs) can transmit instructional cues to mediate communication with neighboring cells, the molecular mechanisms that induce cell division are not well understood. Here, we show that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (Mif)-containing AEVs regulate compensatory proliferation via ERK signaling in epithelial stem cells of larval zebrafish. Time-lapse imaging showed efferocytosis of AEVs from dying epithelial stem cells by healthy neighboring stem cells. Proteomic and ultrastructure analysis of purified AEVs identified Mif localization on the AEV surface. Pharmacological …

Enriched G4 Forming Repeats In The Human Genome Are Associated With Robust Well-Coordinated Transcription And Reduced Cancer Transcriptome Variation, Ruth B De-Paula, Albino Bacolla, Aleem Syed, John A Tainer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Non-B DNA G-quadruplex (G4) structures with guanine (G) runs of 2 to 4 repeats can trigger opposing experimental transcriptional impacts. Here, we used bioinformatic algorithms to comprehensively assess correlations of steady-state RNA transcript levels with all putative G4 sequence (pG4) locations genome-wide in three mammalian genomes and in normal and tumor human tissues. The human pG4-containing gene set displays higher expression levels than the set without pG4, supporting and extending some prior observations. pG4 enrichment at transcription start sites (TSSs) in human, but not chimpanzee and mouse genomes, suggests possible positive selection pressure for pG4 at human TSS, potentially driving …

Mature Microrna-Binding Protein Qki Suppresses Extracellular Microrna Let-7b Release, Kyung-Won Min, Kyoung-Min Choi, Hyejin Mun, Seungbeom Ko, Ji Won Lee, Cari A Sagum, Mark T Bedford, Young-Kook Kim, Joe R Delaney, Jung-Hyun Cho, Ted M Dawson, Valina L Dawson, Waleed Twal, Dong-Chan Kim, Clarisse H Panganiban, Hainan Lang, Xin Zhou, Seula Shin, Jian Hu, Tilman Heise, Sang-Ho Kwon, Dongsan Kim, Young Hwa Kim, Sung-Ung Kang, Kyungmin Kim, Sydney Lewis, Ahmet Eroglu, Seonghyun Ryu, Dongin Kim, Jeong Ho Chang, Junyang Jung, Je-Hyun Yoon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Argonaute (AGO), a component of RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs), is a representative RNA-binding protein (RBP) known to bind with mature microRNAs (miRNAs) and is directly involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing. However, despite the biological significance of miRNAs, the roles of other miRNA-binding proteins (miRBPs) remain unclear in the regulation of miRNA loading, dissociation from RISCs and extracellular release. In this study, we performed protein arrays to profile miRBPs and identify 118 RBPs that directly bind to miRNAs. Among those proteins, the RBP quaking (QKI) inhibits extracellular release of the mature microRNA let-7b by controlling the loading of let-7b into extracellular …

Mechanisms Of Resistance To Oncogenic Kras Inhibition In Pancreatic Cancer, Julien Dilly, Megan T Hoffman, Laleh Abbassi, Ziyue Li, Francesca Paradiso, Brendan D Parent, Connor J Hennessey, Alexander C Jordan, Micaela Morgado, Shatavisha Dasgupta, Giselle A Uribe, Annan Yang, Kevin S Kapner, Felix P Hambitzer, Li Qiang, Hanrong Feng, Jacob Geisberg, Junning Wang, Kyle E Evans, Hengyu Lyu, Aislyn Schalck, Ningping Feng, Anastasia M Lopez, Christopher A Bristow, Michael P Kim, Kimal I Rajapakshe, Vahid Bahrambeigi, Jennifer A Roth, Kavita Garg, Paola A Guerrero, Ben Z Stanger, Simona Cristea, Scott W Lowe, Timour Baslan, Eliezer M Van Allen, Joseph D Mancias, Emily Chan, Abraham Anderson, Yuliya V Katlinskaya, Alex K Shalek, David S Hong, Shubham Pant, Jill Hallin, Kenna Anderes, Peter Olson, Timothy P Heffernan, Seema Chugh, James G Christensen, Anirban Maitra, Brian M Wolpin, Srivatsan Raghavan, Jonathan A Nowak, Peter S Winter, Stephanie K Dougan, Andrew J Aguirre

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

KRAS inhibitors demonstrate clinical efficacy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC); however, resistance is common. Among patients with KRASG12C-mutant PDAC treated with adagrasib or sotorasib, mutations in PIK3CA and KRAS, and amplifications of KRASG12C, MYC, MET, EGFR, and CDK6 emerged at acquired resistance. In PDAC cell lines and organoid models treated with the KRASG12D inhibitor MRTX1133, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling associate with resistance to therapy. MRTX1133 treatment of the KrasLSL-G12D/+; Trp53LSL-R172H/+; p48-Cre (KPC) mouse model yielded deep tumor regressions, but drug resistance ultimately emerged, accompanied by amplifications of Kras, Yap1, Myc, Cdk6, and Abcb1a/b, and co-evolution of drug-resistant transcriptional programs. …

State Of The Fisheries: Status Reports Of The Fisheries And Aquatic Resources Of Western Australia 2023/24, Stephen J. Newman, Jenny Moore, Daniel J. Gaughan

Status Reports of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources

This edition of the “State of the fisheries” continues the tradition of annually reporting on the status of exploited fish and their habitats in Western Australia. Critically, the reports provide overviews of the science outcomes that underpin management of fishing across the state.

Scientifically assessing the status of fish resources and potential impacts on ecosystems is inherently challenging; I acknowledge and thank the dedicated fisheries science teams and various support staff for again producing outstanding, robust scientific results that are summarised herein. I similarly acknowledge (i) the fisheries management team who use the science outcomes in policy development and to …

Black Widow Spider Envenomation And Cardiovascular Complications, Parmjot Khakh, William Q Lavercombe, Juan M Farina, Meera Kapadia, Gabriel M Aisenberg, Adrian Baranchuk

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Envenomation (latrodectism) with black widow spider (BWS) venom can cause dysfunction in the cardiovascular system. The pathophysiology and consequences of cardiovascular effects have not been fully elucidated. This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Of 364 initial results, 22 articles (20 case reports and two case series) were used with 25 patients in total. Seventeen (68%) patients had hypertension, and 16 (64%) had tachycardia. High troponin levels were found in 16 (64%) patients. Electrocardiographic changes consisted of nine (36%) patients with ST-T segment abnormalities and three (12%) patients with supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. Wall motion …

Preparation And Characterization Of Nanocomposite Textile Filter For Separation Of The Oil/Water Mixture Using Pa-Pva Blends Reinforced With Carbon Nanoparticles, Rusul Mohamed Darweesh, Balqees Mohamed Al-Dabbag, Hanaa Jawad Kadhim

Baghdad Science Journal

The electrospinning technique used to prepare a nano fibre filter under limited conditions involves (20 kV applied voltage, 15 cm gap distance, 1 ml/h: flow rate, and 0.4 mm needle diameter). Several tests for prepared materials were conducted including [scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), contact angle, and particle size analysis]. As well as, the characterization of the water/oil mixture was tested before the filtration process and after it. According to the SEM data, smooth and homogeneous nanofibers with an approximate diameter of 350 nm and open porosity morphology were produced using the electrospinning approach. The liquid particles …

Yeast Diversity In Honey Produced By Wild Honeybees At Different Elevations, Medhina Magdalena, Candra Rahmani Priyambada, Donny Widianto, Sri Wedhastri, Irfan Dwidya Prijambada

Baghdad Science Journal

Yeasts inhabit diverse natural environments, including the honeycombs of wild honeybee colonies residing at different elevations. This study investigates yeast populations in honeycombs located at two sampling sites, Bligo and Sukomulyo, Central Java Province, Indonesia, situated in a montane region at elevations of 131.1 and 676 meters above sea level, respectively. Out of the 40 yeast isolates collected, 12 distinct fingerprints were identified, representing ten strains across four species. Debaryomyces hansenii emerged as the predominant species, accounting for seven of the total strains, and being found at both sampling sites. The remaining species included Priceomyces melissophilus, Cystobasidium minutum, and Meyerozyma …

A Proposed Image Scaling Technique By Using Bezier Curve, Rafal Ali Sameer

Baghdad Science Journal

The process of resizing a digital image using geometrical transformation without changing the quality of image is known as image scaling or image resizing. Image processing such as digital image scaling has a wide range of applications on computer, mobile, and other digital devices. This paper proposes a digital image resizing (scaling) approach and explaining how the algorithms have been modified to meet accuracy and performance. Bezier curve have been used in previous works for processing in various fields while in this paper Bezier curve equations used to resize the digital image (scaling-up or scaling-down). The idea of using Bezier …

Utilization Of Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Of Silver Nanoparticles For ‎The Spectrophotometric Estimation Of Amlodipine And Hydrochlorothiazide, Rasul Jameel Ali, Lazeeza Sattar Omer, Nagham Nadhim Habeeb, Asmaa Ghanim Dawood

Baghdad Science Journal

A potent long-acting calcium channel blockers is amlodipine. Patient with high blood pressure can take it to treat high blood pressure, angina pectoris, and reduce the risk of stroke. Hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic, is used to treat edema and hypertension. Additionally, it is used to treat certain types of diabetes, hyperglycemia and hypokalemia. These drugs are widely available in the market and are commonly used orally. Therefore, a rapid, accurate, and inexpensive method for the determination of amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide was developed and validated. This method is based on the ability of these drugs to reduce Ag +1 to Ag 0 …

Effect Of Graphene And Fe3o4 On The Protection Efficiency Of Polyeugenol Conducted Coating For Stainless Steel 316l In Nacl Solution, Ayat Monther Alqudsi, Khulood Abid Saleh

Baghdad Science Journal

Corrosion is the term for the surface disintegration of metals and alloys in a specific environment. Corrosion processes change a metal alloy's chemical properties as well as its mechanical behaviors. To stop rusting, a novel strategy based on an original material has been applied. By electrochemically synthesizing polyEugenol(PE)/nanocomposite (Grapgene,Fe3O4) on stainless steel 316L (SS316L), which serves as the working electrode, using the electropolymerization approach, conducting polymer-composites are material types that show promise for anticorrosion. The atomic force microscopy images (AFM) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy analyses were used to evaluate the produced coated polymer. The results showed that, in comparison to …

Spectrophotometric Determination Of Some Adrenergic Drugs Using H2o2 And Dichlorophenolindophenol, Mohamed Y. Dhamra, Mohammed Salim Al-Enizzi, Reem A. Al-Luhaiby

Baghdad Science Journal

Based on the catalytic response between hydrogen peroxide and dichlorophenolindophenol, a spectrophotometric method was developed to estimate adrenaline hydrochloride (ADR), Salbutamol sulfate (sal), and dopamine hydrochloride (DOPA) in pharmaceutical preparations. A calculated value of the oxidizing agent (hydrogen peroxide) was added to the basic medium in the presence of dichlorophenolindophenol to form a blue color, which suffers from a bleaching process due to the oxidation process of the drugs mentioned above by the oxidizing agent at λmax 552 nm. The estimated amounts of adrenaline hydrochloride and Salbutamol sulfate were between 0.25 - 5 μg/ml and 0.5 - 5 μg/ml, respectively. …

Eeg Eye Blink Artifacts Removal With Wavelet Denoising And Bandpass Filtering, Ebtesam N. Alshemmary, Bushra K. Hilal, Azmi Sh. Abdulbaqi, Mohammed A. Ahmed, Zhentai Lu

Baghdad Science Journal

Many data sources can be analyzed using Wavelet Transforms (WT), a mathematical technique frequently used for extracting information from them. Although WT was effective at Blind Source Separation (BSS), it had some limitations, such as signal loss. The problem has been addressed with the introduction of a joint algorithm that combines WT with Frequency Domain Filtering (BPF). Wavelet Denoising Technique (WDT) and Band-Pass Filtering (BPF) are employed in this research to propose an innovative algorithm for combining advanced wavelet transform methods. Combining these two techniques helps reduce eye flutter in electroencephalograms (EEGs).FP1 signals produced by eye movement are filtered out …

Synthesis And Identification Of Triorganotin (Iv)-Tyrosine Complexes And Study Their Applications As Antioxidant By Dpph And Cuprac Methods., Rafid Ryyis Arraq, Angham G. Hadi

Baghdad Science Journal

Abstract Through condensation reactions between tyrosine (ligand) and triorganotin (IV) chloride salts in the presence of sodium hydroxide, three triorganotin (IV)-tyrosine complexes were successfully synthesized. All the components were dissolved in methanol and refluxed for five hours. The produced complexes were characterized by elemental analysis (CHN), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H, 13C and 119Sn-NMR). Based on spectrum measurements, trigonal bipyramidal geometries for the complexes produced in yields of 85–97% were assigned. Using the DPPH and CUPRAC methods, this study examined the antioxidant activity of tri organotin (IV)-tyrosine complexes. Due to the metal moiety, organotin (IV) …

Deep Learning Based Models For Drug-Target Interactions, Ali K. Abdul Raheem, Ban N. Dhannoon

Baghdad Science Journal

The typical drug development approach is slow, costly, and fraught with failure - scientists examine millions of compounds, but only a few make it to preclinical or clinical testing. Machine learning (ML), a subset of AI, is a fast-expanding subject many pharmaceutical businesses increasingly utilize. Incorporating machine learning technologies into the drug development process can aid in automating repetitive data processing and analysis processes. ML techniques may be used at several stages of drug development, including drug property prediction, drug-target interaction (DTI) prediction, and De Novo drug design. DTIs are a critical component of the drug development process. When a …

Phytochemical Analysis Of The Ethanol Extract Of Binahong (Anredera Cordifolia (Ten.) Steenis) Leaves By Uv-Vis Spectroscopy, Rusdiana Rusdiana, Tri Widyawati, Dina Keumala Sari, Sry Suryani Widjaja

Baghdad Science Journal

Binahong (Anredera cordifolia) leaves contain chemical compounds that can be used to promote anti-obesity. This study aimed to examine the phytochemical and anti-obesity properties of the ethanol extract of binahong leaves. The binahong extract was obtained by maceration of the leaves, followed by ethanol extraction. Phytochemical analysis was performed by UV-Vis spectroscopy to identify and determine the levels of flavonoids, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, and tannins in the extract, using quercetin as a standard for calibration. Absorbance was measured at a wavelength of 430 nm. The flavonoid, glycoside, tannin, saponin, and steroid/terpenoid contents were determined, but alkaloid compounds were not found. …

Estimation Of Copula Density Using The Wavelet Transform, Fatimah Hashim Falhi, Munaf Yousif Hmood

Baghdad Science Journal

This paper proposes a new method to estimate the copula density function using wavelet decomposition as a nonparametric method, to obtain more accurate results and address the issue of boundary effects that nonparametric estimation methods suffer from. The wavelet method is an automatic method for dealing with boundary effects because it does not take into Consideration whether the time series is stationary or nonstationary. To estimate the copula density function, simulation was used to generate data using five different copula functions, such as Gaussian, Frank, Tawn, Rotation Tawn, and Joe copulas. With five different sample sizes at three positive correlation …

Coupled Of Semi Analytic Approach Associated With Laplace Transform First Step For Solving Matrix Differential Equations Quadratic Form When The Time-Delay In Noise Term, Khalid Hammood Al-Jizani

Baghdad Science Journal

A novel technique and an efficient modification based on Adomian decomposition method and homotopy approach for finding accurately analytic solutions to non-linear (noise term) quadratic matrix retarded delay equations connected with the method of steps to make the problem more easily is discussed. These approaches more efficiently, effectively and accurately. Wholly integration for homotopy analysis method use in state the wholly integration for Adomian approach. Main advantage of this technique is to get more an accurate and efficient results with more extended of the convergence region of iterative approximate solutions obtained with bigger and whole time interval and to know …

Synthesis Catalyst Of Loading Nano Platinum On Graphene Nanosheets And Photodegradation Of Bromophenol Blue In Ultra-Violet Light., Sanaa Tareq, Souad A Mousa, Eman A Muhammed

Baghdad Science Journal

Nano Platinum was used as a new photocatalyst, which was loaded onto graphene for an effective photocatalyst under UV light used in dye photodegradation applications of dye as a common pollutant for water. Thus, platinum loaded on graphene (Pt/ GNS) catalyst was prepared by the sol immobilization method. The morphology of the synthetic photocatalyst has been characterized and investigated using a High-resolution Transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) attached to FESEM. By measuring the adsorption/adsorption N2 using a Micrometrics surface analyzer, the Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET) surface areas of the photocatalysts were determined. The photocatalyst's crystalline structure was …

Evaluation Of The Minimum Transportation Cost Of Asymmetric/Symmetric Triangular Fuzzy Numbers With -Cut By The Row-Column Minima Method, P. Indira, M. Jayalakshmi

Baghdad Science Journal

In this article, the main idea is to obtain the minimum transportation total fuzzy cost of the triangular transportation problem using the row-column minima (RCM) method. Here, the capacity of supply, the destination of demand, and transportation cost are all fully triangular fuzzy numbers with asymmetric or symmetric but not with the negative triangular fuzzy number (TFN). Vagueness plays an active role in many fields, such as science, engineering, medicine, management, etc. In this idea, the TFN problem is decomposed into two interval integer transportation problems (IITP) using the -cut method, by putting α=0.5 and α=0 to get the upper …

A Systematic Review Of Privacy Policy Literature, Yousra Javed, Ayesha Sajid

Faculty Publications - Information Technology

An organization’s privacy policy states how it collects, stores, processes, and shares its users’ personal information. The growing number of data protection laws and regulations, as well as the numerous sectors where the organizations are collecting user information, has led to the investigation of privacy policies with regards to their accessibility, readability, completeness, comparison with organization’s actual data practices, use of machine learning/natural language processing for automated analysis, and comprehension/perception/concerns of end-users via summarization/visualization tools and user studies. However, there is limited work on systematically reviewing the existing research on this topic. We address this gap by conducting a systematic …

Effects Of Tranexamic Acid On Human Osteoblasts As Proxy For Fracture Healing, Alexander Abraham, D Nicole Meyers, William D Rieger, Ryan Anthony, Humberto Aparicio, Adam Y Park, James F Kellam, Catherine G Ambrose

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: To investigate the effect of tranexamic acid (TXA) through in vitro culture of primary human osteoblasts (HOB) and in vivo using an operative rat femur fracture model. It was hypothesized that there would not be any effect on fracture healing in both studies.

Methods: Primary HOBs were exposed to varying concentrations of TXA over different time periods. Cells were assessed for viability, metabolism, and mineralization. For the in vivo model, fractures were created in the femora of adult rats, exposed to either TXA or saline, and then assessed for healing at different time points. A modified radiographic union score …

Translation Of Monosynaptic Circuits Underlying Amygdala Fmri Neurofeedback Training, Lucas Trambaiolli, Chiara Maffei, Evan Dann, Claudinei Biazoli, Gleb Bezgin, Anastasia Yendiki, Suzanne Haber

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

fMRI neurofeedback using autobiographical memory recall to upregulate the amygdala is associated with resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) changes between the amygdala and the salience and default mode networks (SN and DMN, respectively). We hypothesize the existence of anatomical circuits underlying these rsFC changes. Using a cross-species brain parcellation, we identified in non-human primates locations homologous to the regions of interest (ROIs) from studies showing pre-to-post-neurofeedback changes in rsFC with the left amygdala. We injected bidirectional tracers in the basolateral, lateral, and central amygdala nuclei of adult macaques and used bright- and dark-field microscopy to identify cells and axon terminals in …

Cross-Species Striatal Hubs: Linking Anatomy To Resting-State Connectivity, Xiaolong Peng, Lucas R Trambaiolli, Eun Young Choi, Julia F Lehman, Gary Linn, Brian E Russ, Charles E Schroeder, Suzanne N Haber, Hesheng Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Corticostriatal connections are essential for motivation, cognition, and behavioral flexibility. There is broad interest in using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to link circuit dysfunction in these connections with neuropsychiatric disorders. In this paper, we used tract-tracing data from non-human primates (NHPs) to assess the likelihood of monosynaptic connections being represented in rs-fMRI data of NHPs and humans. We also demonstrated that existing hub locations in the anatomical data can be identified in the rs-fMRI data from both species. To characterize this in detail, we mapped the complete striatal projection zones from 27 tract-tracer injections located in the orbitofrontal …

Increased Gremlin1 Expression In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Promotes A Fibrogenic Stromal Microenvironment, Rachel R Tindall, Erika Y Faraoni, Jiajing Li, Yinjie Zhang, Shun-Ming Ting, Beanna Okeugo, Xiurong Zhao, Yuying Liu, Mamoun Younes, Qiang Shen, Jennifer M Bailey-Lundberg, Yanna Cao, Tien C Ko

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) microenvironment is primarily composed of cancer-associated fibroblasts and immune cells. Gremlin1 (Grem1) is a profibrogenic factor that promotes tumorigenesis in several cancers. However, the role of Grem1 in the PDAC microenvironment is not defined.

Materials and methods: We correlated Grem1 levels with activated stroma and immune cells in human PDAC using The Cancer Genome Atlas RNA-sequencing data and characterized expression of Grem1 transcripts and isoforms in pancreatic cell lines and PDAC tissues. We assessed the role of Grem1 in the microenvironment by in vitro studies.

Results: Grem1 expression is associated with an activated stroma and …

White Matter And Latency Of Visual Evoked Potentials During Maturation: A Miniature Pig Model Of Adolescent Development, Peter Kochunov, L Elliot Hong, Ann Summerfelt, Si Gao, P Leon Brown, Matthew Terzi, Ashley Acheson, Marty G Woldorff, Els Fieremans, Ali Abdollahzadeh, Korrapati V Sathyasaikumar, Sarah M Clark, Robert Schwarcz, Paul D Shepard, Greg I Elmer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Continuous myelination of cerebral white matter (WM) during adolescence overlaps with the formation of higher cognitive skills and the onset of many neuropsychiatric disorders. We developed a miniature-pig model of adolescent brain development for neuroimaging and neurophysiological assessment during this critical period. Minipigs have gyroencephalic brains with a large cerebral WM compartment and a well-defined adolescence period.

Methods: Eight Sinclair™ minipigs (Sus scrofa domestica) were evaluated four times during weeks 14-28 (40, 28 and 28 days apart) of adolescence using monocular visual stimulation (1 Hz)-evoked potentials and diffusion MRI (dMRI) of WM. The latency for the pre-positive 30 ms …

The Evolving Pathophysiology Of Tbi And The Advantages Of Temporally-Guided Combination Therapies, Laura Zima, Anthony N Moore, Paul Smolen, Nobuhide Kobori, Brian Noble, Dustin Robinson, Kimberly N Hood, Ryota Homma, Amar Al Mamun, John B Redell, Pramod K Dash

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Several clinical and experimental studies have demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) activates cascades of biochemical, molecular, structural, and pathological changes in the brain. These changes combine to contribute to the various outcomes observed after TBI. Given the breadth and complexity of changes, combination treatments may be an effective approach for targeting multiple detrimental pathways to yield meaningful improvements. In order to identify targets for therapy development, the temporally evolving pathophysiology of TBI needs to be elucidated in detail at both the cellular and molecular levels, as it has been shown that the mechanisms contributing to cognitive dysfunction change over …