Digital Commons Network^™

Acceptability Of Anal Human Papillomavirus Home Self-Sampling And Clinician Sampling Among Sexual And Gender Minority Individuals In Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Prevent Anal Cancer Self-Swab Study, Jenna Nitkowski, Anna R Giuliano, Tim Ridolfi, Elizabeth Chiao, Maria E Fernandez, Vanessa Schick, Michael D Swartz, Jennifer S Smith, Alan G Nyitray

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Anal cancer has disproportionately high incidence among sexual minority men. We compared acceptability of home versus clinic human papillomavirus (HPV) anal swabbing.

Methods: The Prevent Anal Cancer Self-Swab Study recruited sexual and gender minority individuals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eligible participants were randomized to a home or clinic arm. Home participants received a mailed anal HPV self-sampling kit. Clinic participants attended a clinic appointment where a clinician collected an anal HPV swab. We examined acceptability (overall thoughts, comfort with method, pain, and future willingness to swab) of home versus clinic swabbing using postswab survey responses.

Results: A total of 191 …

Human Papillomavirus (Hpv) Vaccination In Males: Associations Of Hpv-Related Knowledge And Perceptions With Hpv Vaccination Intention Among Korean Mothers Of Boys, Jihye Choi, Paula Cuccaro, Christine Markham, Sooyoun Kim, Irene Tamí-Maury

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates among males are suboptimal worldwide. In South Korea, little is known about parents' intention to vaccinate boys against HPV. Therefore, we examined the associations of HPV-related knowledge and perceptions with vaccination intention among Korean mothers of boys.

METHODS: From August to December 2021, eligible mothers were surveyed about HPV-related knowledge, perceptions, and intention to vaccinate their sons against HPV. Mothers were categorized into no intention, contemplating, and intention to vaccinate groups. Using analysis of variance, we compared the groups' scores on the scales measuring HPV-related knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. We conducted a multinomial logistic …

A Randomized Controlled Study Of Auricular Point Acupressure To Manage Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathy: Study Protocol, Nada Lukkahatai, Michael V Nguyen, Jingyu Zhang, Yu-Min Cho, Chitchanok Benjasirisan, Heijingzi Monica Jia, Claudia M Campbell, Jennifer Kawi, Hulin Wu, Hongyu Wang, Rupsikha Bora, Johannes Thrul, Constance M Johnson, Thomas J Smith

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy (CIN) significantly impacts cancer patients, leading to functional disability, diminished quality of life, and increased healthcare costs amid the ongoing opioid crisis. Auricular point acupressure (APA), a non-invasive and non-pharmacological alternative, has shown potential for alleviating the pain, numbness, and tingling associated with CIN. This study aims to assess the efficacy of APA for CIN symptoms and physical function and to examine the mechanisms underlying APA's effects on CIN.

Methods: This is a three-arm randomized controlled clinical trial protocol. Patients aged 18 and older who are experiencing CIN are randomly assigned to one of the three groups: …

Beside Marriage Equality: Conversations On Supriyo, Danish Sheikh, Rupali Samuel

Socio-Legal Review

This case comment takes the form of an epistolary exchange between the authors as they reflect on the Indian Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment in Supriyo @ Supriya Chakraborty & Anr v Union of India, which denied the existence of a constitutional right to marriage and deferred the responsibility of legalising same-sex marriage to the legislature. Through a staged conversation, the comment explores personal subject positions, legal frameworks, and the intricate entanglements of intimacy and state recognition. The authors consider how the law leaves imprints on our bodies and, in turn, how our embodied lives reshape the law through acts …

Cultivating Attentiveness To Law In India Through Legal Anthropology, Deepa Das Acevedo, Jahnavi Chamarthi

Socio-Legal Review

This Article reviews and analyses scholarship at the intersection of anthropology and law. The first half of the Article provides context for understanding the boundaries, animating concerns, and tensions that have characterised the anthropology of law as an area of interdisciplinary inquiry. We focus especially on the subdiscipline’s Anglo-American history and show how a promising early period of engagement dissipated as both anthropologists and legal scholars lost enthusiasm for each others’ insights and methods. Then, we expand our analysis outward. Because legal anthropology belongs within, and is increasingly attentive to, the broader field of law and society scholarship, we explore …

Neurodevelopmental Vulnerability To Gestational Ozone Exposure, Vishnupriya Alavala, Sarah E. Brent, Christopher G. Canal, Joseph Wang, Russell P. Hunter, Matthew J. Campen, Andrew K. Ottens

UROP Posters

Ambient air pollution accounts for about 4.2 million premature deaths annually per the World Health Organization. Ozone (O3) is a highly reactive air pollutant found in smog and is implicated in cellular damage leading to organ dysfunction. Ambient air pollution is associated with neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and cognitive disorders though ozone’s role is unknown. Studies here look at ozone exposure shortly after implantation vs. shortly before term to evaluate differences in neurodevelopmental susceptibility over time.

To inquire on the effects of ozone on the fetal brain, pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed once to 0.3 ppm of O3 or filtered air (FA) …

"Who The Hell Am I? What Am I Bringing In Here?": A Phenomenographic Exploration Of Antiracist Mentor Development, Kelly Lynn Mack

Dissertations

Teacher attitudes toward racial diversity profoundly impact students, especially when compounded by teacher and student demographic disparities. Despite the purported goal of addressing biases and deficit thinking that limit teachers' ability to support all learners, antiracist pedagogy in teacher credentialing is poorly understood. Also included in the credentialing process, newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in California engage in a two-year induction program, collaborating closely with an induction mentor to attain their clear credential. Employing a qualitative, phenomenographic approach, this study explored how mentors within a longstanding induction program understood and implemented antiracist pedagogy. The research uncovered significant insights into (a) dimensions …

Heart Rate Variability Is Reduced In Covid-19 Survivors And Associated With Physical Activity And Fatigue, Michael H. Haischer, Lauren E. Opielinski, Lindsey M. Mirkes, Toni D. Uhrich, Rachel E. Bollaert, Michael E. Danduran, Marie K. Hoeger Bement, Linda B. Piacentine, Paula E. Papanek, Sandra K. Hunter

Exercise Science Faculty Research and Publications

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) and fatigue are common after COVID-19 infection and both are potentially influenced by physical activity (PA). We compared resting HRV, PA from accelerometers and questionnaires, and self-reported fatigue in 41 COVID-19 survivors (~8 months postinfection, 38 ± 17 years) with 41 matched controls. Differences in HRV were observed on acceleration capacity (p = 0.041), deceleration capacity (p = 0.032), high-frequency peak frequency (p = 0.019), absolute low-frequency power (p = 0.042), relative very low-frequency power (p = 0.012), SD2 (from Poincare plot; p = 0.047), and DFA2 (slope of long-term …

Middle-Range Scores From The Patient Determined Disease Steps Scale Reflect Varying Levels Of Walking Dysfunction In Multiple Sclerosis, Robert W. Motl, Whitney Neal, Deborah Backus, Jeffrey Hebert, Kevin K. Mccully, Francois Bethoux, Prudence Plummer, Alexander V. Ng, John Lowman, Hollie Schmidt, Robert Mcburney, Gary R. Cutter

Exercise Science Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults worldwide, and disability is measured using a variety of approaches, including patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) such as the Patient Determined Disease Steps (PDDS) scale. There is limited evidence for the validity of inferences from the middle-range of scores on the PDDS (i.e., 3 “gait disability” – 6 “bilateral support”), but that range of scores seemingly represents moderate disability characterized by varying levels of walking dysfunction.

Purpose

The current study examined whether the middle-range of scores from the PDDS reflect varying levels of walking …

A Quantitative Method To Guide The Integration Of Textile Inductive Electrodes In Automotive Applications For Respiratory Monitoring, James Elber Duverger, Victor Bellemin, Patricia Forcier, Justine Decaens, Ghyslain Gagnon, Alireza Saidi

Études primaires

Induction-based breathing sensors in automobiles enable unobtrusive respiratory rate monitoring as an indicator of a driver’s alertness and health. This paper introduces a quantitative method based on signal quality to guide the integration of textile inductive electrodes in automotive applications. A case study with a simplified setup illustrated the ability of the method to successfully provide basic design rules about where and how to integrate the electrodes on seat belts and seat backs to gather good quality respiratory signals in an automobile. The best signals came from the subject’s waist, then from the chest, then from the upper back, and …

Robust Testing For Explosive Behavior With Strongly Dependent Errors, Yui Lim Lui, Peter C. B. Phillips, Jun Yu

Research Collection School Of Economics

A heteroskedasticity-autocorrelation robust (HAR) test statistic is proposed to test for the presence of explosive roots in financial or real asset prices when the equation errors are strongly dependent. Limit theory for the test statistic is developed and extended to heteroskedastic models. The new test has stable size properties unlike conventional test statistics that typically lead to size distortion and inconsistency in the presence of strongly dependent equation errors. The new procedure can be used to consistently time-stamp the origination and termination of an explosive episode under similar conditions of long memory errors. Simulations are conducted to assess the finite …

High-Dimensional Iv Cointegration Estimation And Inference, Peter C. B. Phillips, Igor L. Kheifets

Research Collection School Of Economics

A semiparametric triangular systems approach shows how multicointegrating linkages occur naturally in an I(1) cointegrated regression model when the long run error variance matrix in the system is singular. Under such singularity, cointegrated I(1) systems embody a multicointegrated structure that makes them useful in many empirical settings. Earlier work shows that such systems may be analyzed and estimated without appealing to the associated I(2) system but with suboptimal convergence rates and potential asymptotic bias. The present paper develops a robust approach to estimation and inference of such systems using high dimensional IV methods that have appealing asymptotic properties like those …

Board 438: Year Two Of Developing A New Dataset For Analyzing Engineering Curricula, David Reeping, Kenneth Reid, Matthew Ohland, Nahal Rashedi

School of Engineering Education Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the developments during Year 2 for a project concerned with analyzing the curricula of engineering programs in the United States to understand the structural barriers embedded in degree requirements that could push out diverse groups of students. We are using an emerging method for quantifying the complexity of these programs called Curricular Analytics. This method involves treating the prerequisite relationships between courses as a network and applying graph theoretic measures to calculate a curriculum’s structure complexity. In Year 1, we collected 497 plans of study representing five engineering disciplines (i.e., Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, Chemical, and Industrial) across …

Digitizing Historical Resources On The Ohio & Erie Canal, S. Victor Fleischer

University Research

Louis Baus, photographer, shot numerous scenes along the Ohio & Erie, Miami & Erie, and the connecting feeder canals. This collection of over 400 photo negatives portrays a sense of canal life during the late 1800s to early 1900s. Found in this collection are images of canal boats, crew and passengers, as well as various locks, businesses and homes along the canal ways.

The Challenges And Rewards Of Carrying Out Qualitative Research On The Police In The African American Community, Daniel K. Pryce, Ingrid Phillips Witaker

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In this paper, we discuss the challenges and rewards of carrying out qualitative research on the police in the African American1 community. Using data drawn from interviews with seventy-seven African American adults in Durham, NC, we found that community member hostility toward research(ers) and fear of both neighbors and the police lowered African Americans’ willingness to be interviewed about their perceptions of and experiences with U.S. police. These findings were observed primarily in public housing and middle-income communities. On a positive note, we found that greater awareness of policing issues increased African Americans’ willingness to participate in research about the …

The Freshman Life And Student Health (Flash) Study: Using Social Network Analysis To Understand How Obesity And Stigma Impact Emerging Adult Health, Alena C. Borgatti

All ETDs from UAB

Both racial discrimination and weight stigma have been identified as risk factors for poorer mental, physical, and social health. College students are vulnerable to the effects of stigma, as they greatly value peer acceptance and friendships during a pivotal time of emotional and health behavior development. The present study was the first to use social network analysis to examine the impact of weight and racial discrimination on the development of college social relationships and how these experiences influence students’ physical and mental health. 1330 participants (69% of on-campus freshmen) completed a brief survey on social networks, physical health, mental health, …

The Role Of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptors In Inflammatory Airway Diseases, Molly Easter

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic inflammation plays a role in the development and progression of airway diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF). COPD is caused primarily by chronic cigarette smoke exposure. Conversely, CF is a single gene disorder caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR). Although the causes of COPD and CF are different, there are common pathological features. Studies show that chronic inflammation plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of both COPD and CF. Moreover, chronic inflammation induces ageing-associated pathomechanisms like cellular senescence, which exacerbates chronic inflammation. Previous work demonstrates that …

Non-Catalytic Regulators Of The Secretory Pathway, Peyton Vanwinkle

All ETDs from UAB

This thesis focuses on two key questions: 1) how are bone development and regeneration regulated by the CREB3L1 transcription factor; and 2) what is the mechanism of action of the endoplasmic reticulum resident protein JAGN1, which when dysregulated, causes severe congenital neutropenia (SCN)? CREB3L1 regulates bone development and regeneration in mammalian models by facilitating the expression of COL1A1 and components of the secretory pathway required for collagen secretion. We generated two zebrafish models of Creb3l1 dysfunction (creb3l1ΔbZIP/ΔbZIP and creb3l1TA+/TA+). Both models showed that Creb3l1 functions in regulating col1a1a transcription and overall regenerate size are conserved in zebrafish. However, we also …

Utilization Of Romosozumab During Covid-19 Pandemic Among U.S. Medicare Beneficiaries, Ye Liu

All ETDs from UAB

Osteoporosis is increasingly recognized as a major public health issue in the aging U.S. population. Shortly after the licensure of romosozumab, an injectable medication indi-cated for women with postmenopausal osteoporosis at high risk of fracture administered by health care provider monthly, the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, which caused ma-jor disruptions to the delivery of health care across the nation. The pandemic dispropor-tionately affected minority and economically disadvantaged communities, exacerbating many pre-existing health disparities. Romosozumab has the highest dosing frequency among common injectable osteoporosis medications in the U.S. that require an office visit for injection, making romosozumab adherence more susceptible to …

Diagnostic Imaging Approaches: Pet Imaging In Monitoring Immune Responses In Oncology And Tuberculosis, Chanelle Hunter

All ETDs from UAB

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agents play a transformative role in personalized medicine through their application in disease diagnosis and immunotherapy monitoring, focusing on chemokine receptors, TH1-activated immune cells, and tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics. In immuno-oncology, accurately assessing TH1-activated immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is vital for evaluating cancer immunotherapy efficacy. Chemokine receptors, crucial in cellular signaling and inflammatory reactions, play a significant role in TH1 responses, thus serving as a potential area of interest in elucidating these anti-tumor responses. Through our work a novel CXCR3-targeting immunoPET probe, [89Zr]DFO-αCXCR3, was developed to detect and quantify these cells. This probe …

Education Attainment And Health: Outside The Gender Binary, Brianna Patterson

All ETDs from UAB

Transgender and gender nonbinary individuals, hereafter referred to as trans, report worse health outcomes than trans individuals whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth, hereafter referred to as cisgender (Bauer, Hammond, Travers et al. 2009, Cicero, Reisner, Merwin et al. 2020). Past research has indicated that social determinants of health, such as education attainment, may be responsible for these inequities (Low 2006, The Lancet Public 2020). Education’s influence on health is well known from previous research, but the association is not distributed equally. In the United States (US) educational system, state and local governments have control, not the …

Crown Fatigue Resistance And Enamel Wear Of 3d Printed Resin Compared To Lithium Disilicate, Pranit Vasant Bora

All ETDs from UAB

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the wear characteristics and fatigue resistance of two dental crown materials: SprintRay Ceramic Crown, a 3D-printed resin material, and IPS™ e.Max CAD, a lithium disilicate material. Methods: This study evaluates wear and fatigue characteristics of dental crowns made from Ceramic Crown (SprintRay) and IPS e.max CAD LT (Ivoclar). For fatigue testing, custom fatigue devices were utilized to subject the crowns to cyclic loading, simulating occlusal forces. The specimens underwent 100,000 cycle intervals until 1.5 million cycles at a load of 40N of fatigue loading, with inspections conducted for signs of debonding, …

Predictive Modeling Using Clinical Data And Compositional Microbiome Data, Li Zhang

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation focuses on developing predictive modeling using data from two areas: clinical data and microbiome data. Compositional data in real life are mainly represented by relative proportions. With the advancement of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, researchers can now collect a large volume of metagenomic sequencing data, which is valuable for investigating associations between the microbiome and host diseases. Current methods for dealing with such data are either constrained by generalization or limited by application. In the first part, to address this, we propose Bayesian compositional generalized linear models for analyzing microbiome data (BCGLM). This model incorporates a structured regularized …

“Then Let Them Use Us Well”: How The Folger Edition Of Shakespeare’S Othello Limits Sexuality And Character Agency, Ann Elizabeth Mulherin

All ETDs from UAB

Since Shakespeare’s first folio and quartos were initially published directly after his death in the early seventeenth century, various editors have altered his plays for their desired goals. With this in mind, the primary focus of my thesis centers around the Updated Folger edition of The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine, which was published in 2017. The Folger edition repeatedly points out that they have tailored their rendition of Othello to allow modern audiences to understand Shakespeare’s language; they present the intention to accurately and helpfully gloss confusing, antiquated, or significant …

Exploring The Associations Between Cognitive Training, Social Determinants Of Health, And Driving Behaviors: A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Active Study, Katie Wheeler

All ETDs from UAB

As the average lifespan increases, older adults are remaining independent into older ages than before. The ability to drive a vehicle is an essential part of daily living that helps older adults maintain independence. Cognitive training, specifically speed of processing training (SOPT), is an intervention that has consistently shown to benefit older adult’s driving abilities and driving behaviors. This dissertation examined the longitudinal association between cognitive training and primary driving location on crash risk across 20 years (Paper 1), investigated the effects of cognitive training and dosage on driving mobility across 10 years (Paper 2), and explored social determinants of …

Unmasking Molecular Mechanisms Of Multiple Maladies Through Multiomic Methodologies, Luke Potter

All ETDs from UAB

Much modern biomedical research is invested in determining causative molecular mechanisms and identifying potential therapeutics within human disease or injury. Traditional experiments such as over-expressing or “knocking out” the level of a gene’s abundance can determine the specific contribution of a single gene to a pathology and are a vital component of scientific research. However, taking a big picture approach through the application of ‘omics technologies can lead to a broader overall understanding of a pathology and can potentially generate numerous specific hypotheses to be tested using the more traditional molecular approaches. In this dissertation, transcriptomic and epigenomic technologies, measuring …

Fundamentals Of Vehicle Modeling For Mobility And Maneuver, Jordan Whitson

All ETDs from UAB

The direction of research for off-road ground vehicles is an ever-growing interdisciplinary field. The strategies and modeling methods range from simple terramechanics mathematical models to complex terramechanics that involve the use of high-performance computing (HPC) systems with varying vehicle metric and performance analysis and information extraction. Current advanced methods based on terrain properties and dynamic models utilize conventional performance metrics that have been supported through decades of research. As automated driving systems (ADS) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) research and development progress, more complexities are unraveled and present the need for novel directions of research. Whereas on-road vehicles have the …

[Mis]Representing “India” And Other Colonial Territories In Donne’S Poetry: An Insight Into Colonialism’S Multifaceted Aspects, Urnisha Dutta

All ETDs from UAB

Colonial objects in Donne’s poems embrace multifaceted attributes, offering diverse reading perspectives. Considering their multifaceted aspects, it becomes impossible for a reader to ignore his poems’ interdisciplinary qualities. They often embrace philosophical, religious, political, and historical connotations. The colonial objects, appearing as “black” characters, silent women, or colonized territories in his poems, generate East-West binaries, Western subject consciousness, Eastern [mis]representations, world polarizations, and color contrasts. His female bodies’ misogynistic/sexual portrayal frequently ends in pulling up colonial references, associating their bodies with colonial landmasses. They often associate with his spiritual consciousness, complicating reading and textual interpretations. Critics thus cannot take a …

A Thematic Analysis Of Health Literacy And Education Disparities Regarding Medical Needs For Transgender Individuals, Rachel Mcmullen

All ETDs from UAB

Transgender individuals experience many challenges within the healthcare system including discrimination, socioeconomic struggles, financial strains, a lack of educated healthcare providers, and a health system framework that makes it even more challenging for them to receive their medical needs (Korpaisarn and Safer). One contributing factor to this lack of education is that on average medical schools in the United States only spend approximately five hours total on the health needs related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals (Miller et al.). Another contributing factor is the stigma around LGBTQ individuals within the medical community. The stigma is concerning …

Multi-Enclave Blockchain Architecture Integrating Useful Work For Member Selection In Committee-Based Consensus, Shawn C. Adams

All ETDs from UAB

Blockchains offer an alternative approach to centralized systems for data and record storage by using independently operated nodes in a distributed and decentralized network. Within a blockchain network, each node maintains an identical version of all data, without being directly controlled or managed by any centralized entity. Nodes maintain the synchronization of data through the network's consensus mechanism, a protocol built into the nodes to determine which node is given the right to append data to the network. Once chosen, the data added by the node is propagated to other nodes which update their local records to maintain synchronization. Common …