Digital Commons Network^™

Who Are We?: Exploring American Identities, Nolan Weil

World Languages and Cultures Faculty Publications

Framed as a question—Who Are We?—the book focuses on telling the stories of a handful of ethnic/national/racial groups that contributed significantly to the formation of the United States. In particular, the book revolves around the social, economic, legal, and historical contradictions that have confronted and continue to confront the American attempt to construct a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial democracy, including a consideration of the forces arrayed against the American experiment. While the book does not tackle head-on the immediate cultural and political rifts currently on display in the United States today, it does take a hard look at many …

Changes In Adult Well-Being And Economic Inequalities: An Exploratory Observational Longitudinal Study (2002–2010) Of Micro-Level Trends Among Tsimane’, A Small-Scale Rural Society Of Indigenous People In The Bolivian Amazon, Ricardo Godoy, Jonathan Bauchet, Jere R. Behrman, Tomás Huanca, William R. Leonard, Victoria Reyes-García, Asher Rosinger, Susan Tanner, Eduardo A. Undurraga, Ariela Zycherman

Department of Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

Knowing what happens over time to the lifeways of people in contemporary small-scale non-industrial societies of the rural Global South matters because it helps assess changes in the quality of life of underrepresented groups. It has been hard to answer the question because longitudinal information is rarely collected in such settings. A longitudinal dataset of nine years (2002–2010) from a horticultural-foraging society of Indigenous People in the Bolivian Amazon (Tsimane’) is used for an exploratory analysis of micro-level trends in indicators of well-being and economic inequalities. We selected 13 Tsimane’ villages (from ∼ 100) that varied in proximity to town …

Pulmonary Crohn's Disease Masquerading As Lymphoma, William Beaty, Anila Katragadda, Rany Condos, Bari Dane, Suparna Sarkar, Emily Shaffer, Shannon Chang

Student Publications

Although extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are common, pulmonary IBD is extremely rare. Owing to its nonspecific clinical, radiologic, and pathologic features, pulmonary IBD is difficult to diagnose and may mimic more concerning disease processes. We present a rare case of a patient with known Crohn's disease whose initial presentation was highly suspicious for malignancy before further investigation revealed pulmonary IBD.

Sarm1 Knockout Prevents Type 1 Diabetic Bone Disease In Females Independent Of Neuropathy, Jennifer M. Brazill, Ivana R. Shen, Clarissa S. Craft, Kristann L. Magee, Jay S. Park, Madelyn Lorenz, Amy Strickland, Natalie K. Wee, Xiao Zhang, Alec T. Beeve, Gretchen A. Meyer, Jeffrey Milbrandt, Aaron Diantonio, Erica L. Scheller

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Patients with diabetes have a high risk of developing skeletal diseases accompanied by diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). In this study, we isolated the role of DPN in skeletal disease with global and conditional knockout models of sterile-α and TIR-motif-containing protein-1 (Sarm1). SARM1, an NADase highly expressed in the nervous system, regulates axon degeneration upon a range of insults, including DPN. Global knockout of Sarm1 prevented DPN, but not skeletal disease, in male mice with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Female wild-type mice also developed diabetic bone disease but without DPN. Unexpectedly, global Sarm1 knockout completely protected female mice from T1D-associated bone …

A Syndromic Neurodevelopmental Disorder Caused By Rare Variants In Ppfia3, Maimuna S Paul, Sydney L Michener, Hongling Pan, Hiuling Chan, Jessica M Pfliger, Jill A Rosenfeld, Vanesa C Lerma, Alyssa Tran, Megan A Longley, Richard A Lewis, Monika Weisz-Hubshman, Mir Reza Bekheirnia, Nasim Bekheirnia, Lauren Massingham, Michael Zech, Matias Wagner, Hartmut Engels, Kirsten Cremer, Elisabeth Mangold, Sophia Peters, Jessica Trautmann, Jessica L Mester, Maria J Guillen Sacoto, Richard Person, Pamela P Mcdonnell, Stacey R Cohen, Laina Lusk, Ana S A Cohen, Jean-Baptiste Le Pichon, Tomi Pastinen, Dihong Zhou, Kendra Engleman, Caroline Racine, Laurence Faivre, Sébastien Moutton, Anne-Sophie Denommé-Pichon, Hyun Yong Koh, Annapurna Poduri, Jeffrey Bolton, Cordula Knopp, Dong Sun Julia Suh, Andrea Maier, Mehran Beiraghi Toosi, Ehsan Ghayoor Karimiani, Reza Maroofian, Gerald Bradley Schaefer, Vijayalakshmi Ramakumaran, Pradeep Vasudevan, Chitra Prasad, Matthew Osmond, Sarah Schuhmann, Georgia Vasileiou, Sophie Russ-Hall, Ingrid E Scheffer, Gemma L Carvill, Heather Mefford, Undiagnosed Diseases Network, Carlos A Bacino, Brendan H Lee, Hsiao-Tuan Chao

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PPFIA3 encodes the protein-tyrosine phosphatase, receptor-type, F-polypeptide-interacting-protein-alpha-3 (PPFIA3), which is a member of the LAR-protein-tyrosine phosphatase-interacting-protein (liprin) family involved in synapse formation and function, synaptic vesicle transport, and presynaptic active zone assembly. The protein structure and function are evolutionarily well conserved, but human diseases related to PPFIA3 dysfunction are not yet reported in OMIM. Here, we report 20 individuals with rare PPFIA3 variants (19 heterozygous and 1 compound heterozygous) presenting with developmental delay, intellectual disability, hypotonia, dysmorphisms, microcephaly or macrocephaly, autistic features, and epilepsy with reduced penetrance. Seventeen unique PPFIA3 variants were detected in 18 families. To determine the pathogenicity …

Inhibiting Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 After Stroke Restores Brain Function And Connectivity, Jakob Hakon, Miriana J Quattromani, Carin Sjölund, Daniela Talhada, Byungchan Kim, Slavianka Moyanova, Federica Mastroiacovo, Luisa Di Menna, Roger Olsson, Elisabet Englund, Ferdinando Nicoletti, Karsten Ruscher, Adam Q Bauer, Tadeusz Wieloch

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Stroke results in local neural disconnection and brain-wide neuronal network dysfunction leading to neurological deficits. Beyond the hyper-acute phase of ischaemic stroke, there is no clinically-approved pharmacological treatment that alleviates sensorimotor impairments. Functional recovery after stroke involves the formation of new or alternative neuronal circuits including existing neural connections. The type-5 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5) has been shown to modulate brain plasticity and function and is a therapeutic target in neurological diseases outside of stroke. We investigated whether mGluR5 influences functional recovery and network reorganization rodent models of focal ischaemia. Using multiple behavioural tests, we observed that treatment with negative …

Heterozygous Mutations In The C-Terminal Domain Of Copa Underlie A Complex Autoinflammatory Syndrome, Selket Delafontaine, Tarin M. Bigley, Megan A. Cooper, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Mutations in the N-terminal WD40 domain of coatomer protein complex subunit α (COPA) cause a type I interferonopathy, typically characterized by alveolar hemorrhage, arthritis, and nephritis. We described 3 heterozygous mutations in the C-terminal domain (CTD) of COPA (p.C1013S, p.R1058C, and p.R1142X) in 6 children from 3 unrelated families with a similar syndrome of autoinflammation and autoimmunity. We showed that these CTD COPA mutations disrupt the integrity and the function of coat protein complex I (COPI). In COPAR1142X and COPAR1058C fibroblasts, we demonstrated that COPI dysfunction causes both an anterograde ER-to-Golgi and a retrograde Golgi-to-ER trafficking defect. The disturbed intracellular …

Doxycycline For Transgene Control Disrupts Gut Microbiome Diversity Without Compromising Acute Neuroinflammatory Response, Emily J Koller, Caleb A Wood, Zoe Lai, Ella Borgenheimer, Kristi L Hoffman, Joanna L Jankowsky

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The tetracycline transactivator (tTA) system provides controllable transgene expression through oral administration of the broad-spectrum antibiotic doxycycline. Antibiotic treatment for transgene control in mouse models of disease might have undesirable systemic effects resulting from changes in the gut microbiome. Here we assessed the impact of doxycycline on gut microbiome diversity in a tTA-controlled model of Alzheimer's disease and then examined neuroimmune effects of these microbiome alterations following acute LPS challenge. We show that doxycycline decreased microbiome diversity in both transgenic and wild-type mice and that these changes persisted long after drug withdrawal. Despite the change in microbiome composition, doxycycline treatment …

What Is A Lesbian Document? Platforming Archival Description, Documents, And History In Sweden, Rachel Pierce

Proceedings from the Document Academy

As Joanna Drucker (2014) convincingly argues, “Most information visualizations are acts of interpretation masquerading as presentation" (p. 10). This article investigates the visuality and built-in argumentations of the Alvin interface for digitized Swedish cultural heritage, focusing on how the platform defines a document and the effects this definition has on the accessibility and interconnectedness of documents related to lesbian and feminist histories. This paper addresses how (failed) systematization and an emphasis on large quantities of documents and metadata breathes new life into outdated historiographies and renders documents and information related to feminist and lesbian histories and connections between these histories …

Integrating External Controls By Regression Calibration For Genome-Wide Association Study, Lirong Zhu, Shijia Yan, Xuewei Cao, Shuanglin Zhang, Qiuying Sha

Michigan Tech Publications

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully revealed many disease-associated genetic variants. For a case-control study, the adequate power of an association test can be achieved with a large sample size, although genotyping large samples is expensive. A cost-effective strategy to boost power is to integrate external control samples with publicly available genotyped data. However, the naive integration of external controls may inflate the type I error rates if ignoring the systematic differences (batch effect) between studies, such as the differences in sequencing platforms, genotype-calling procedures, population stratification, and so forth. To account for the batch effect, we propose an approach …

Targeting Dna Repair And Survival Signaling In Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas To Prevent Tumor Recurrence, Monika Sharma, Ivana Barravecchia, Robert Teis, Jeanette Cruz, Rachel Mumby, Elizabeth K Ziemke, Carlos E Espinoza, Varunkumar Krishnamoorthy, Brian Magnuson, Mats Ljungman, Carl Koschmann, Joya Chandra, Christopher E Whitehead, Judith S Sebolt-Leopold, Stefanie Galban

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Therapeutic resistance remains a major obstacle to successful clinical management of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a high-grade pediatric tumor of the brain stem. In nearly all patients, available therapies fail to prevent progression. Innovative combinatorial therapies that penetrate the blood-brain barrier and lead to long-term control of tumor growth are desperately needed. We identified mechanisms of resistance to radiotherapy, the standard of care for DIPG. On the basis of these findings, we rationally designed a brain-penetrant small molecule, MTX-241F, that is a highly selective inhibitor of EGFR and PI3 kinase family members, including the DNA repair protein DNA-PK. Preliminary …

Enrichment Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Metabolizing Microorganisms On The Oral Mucosa Of Tobacco Users, James V. Defrancesco, Lin Tao, M Paul Chiarelli, Sylvia Pavlova, Antonia Kolokythas, Joel Schwartz, Benjamin Salameh, Stefan J. Green, Guy Adami

Chemistry: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Certain soil microbes resist and metabolize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The same is true for a subset of skin microbes. In the human mouth, oral microbes have the potential to oxidize tobacco PAHs, thereby increasing these chemicals' ability to cause cancer of adjacent epithelium. We hypothesized that we could identify, in smokers, the oral mucosal microbes that can metabolize PAH. We isolated bacteria and fungi that survived long-term in minimal media with PAHs as the sole carbon source, under aerobic conditions, from the oral mucosa in 17 of 26 smokers and two of 14 nonsmokers. Of bacteria genera that survived …

An Evolutionary Perspective On Complex Neuropsychiatric Disease, Jon M Mcclellan, Anthony W Zoghbi, Joseph D Buxbaum, Carolina Cappi, James J Crowley, Jonathan Flint, Dorothy E Grice, Suleyman Gulsuner, Conrad Iyegbe, Sanjeev Jain, Po-Hsiu Kuo, Maria Claudia Lattig, Maria Rita Passos-Bueno, Meera Purushottam, Dan J Stein, Anna B Sunshine, Ezra S Susser, Christopher A Walsh, Olivia Wootton, Mary-Claire King

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The forces of evolution-mutation, selection, migration, and genetic drift-shape the genetic architecture of human traits, including the genetic architecture of complex neuropsychiatric illnesses. Studying these illnesses in populations that are diverse in genetic ancestry, historical demography, and cultural history can reveal how evolutionary forces have guided adaptation over time and place. A fundamental truth of shared human biology is that an allele responsible for a disease in anyone, anywhere, reveals a gene critical to the normal biology underlying that condition in everyone, everywhere. Understanding the genetic causes of neuropsychiatric disease in the widest possible range of human populations thus yields …

A New Look At The Marian Dogmas In Sacred Scripture Through The Lens Of The Fathers Of The Church, Ryan Janelle A. Salvacion

Landas

This article examines the writings of the Church Fathers on the four Marian dogmas: the Divine Maternity, Perpetual Virginity, Immaculate Conception, and Bodily Assumption of Mary. It shows how patristic teachings on these doctrines emerge primarily from their commentaries on Sacred Scripture, where Mary is interpreted within the broader economy of salvation. The study explores how the Fathers read the figure of Mary in the biblical text, highlighting their distinctive exegetical approaches—typological, allegorical, and theological. The article further analyzes the hermeneutical principles underlying patristic interpretation and considers their relevance for contemporary biblical studies. In particular, it argues that historical-critical exegesis …

Genome-Wide Association And Genomic Prediction For Iron And Zinc Concentration And Iron Bioavailability In A Collection Of Yellow Dry Beans, Paulo Izquierdo, Rie Sadohara, Jason Wiesinger, Raymond Glahn, Carlos Urrea, Karen Cichy

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Dry bean is a nutrient-dense food targeted in biofortification programs to increase seed iron and zinc levels. The underlying assumption of breeding for higher mineral content is that enhanced iron and zinc levels will deliver health benefits to the consumers of these biofortified foods. This study characterized a diversity panel of 275 genotypes comprising the Yellow Bean Collection (YBC) for seed Fe and Zn concentration, Fe bioavailability (FeBio), and seed yield across 2 years in two field locations. The genetic architecture of each trait was elucidated via genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and the efficacy of genomic prediction (GP) was assessed. …

Heat Shock Factor 1 Directly Regulates Transsulfuration Pathway To Promote Prostate Cancer Proliferation And Survival, J Spencer Hauck, David Moon, Xue Jiang, Mu-En Wang, Yue Zhao, Lingfan Xu, Holly Quang, William Butler, Ming Chen, Everardo Macias, Xia Gao, Yiping He, Jiaoti Huang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

There are limited therapeutic options for patients with advanced prostate cancer (PCa). We previously found that heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) expression is increased in PCa and is an actionable target. In this manuscript, we identify that HSF1 regulates the conversion of homocysteine to cystathionine in the transsulfuration pathway by altering levels of cystathionine-β-synthase (CBS). We find that HSF1 directly binds the CBS gene and upregulates CBS mRNA levels. Targeting CBS decreases PCa growth and induces tumor cell death while benign prostate cells are largely unaffected. Combined inhibition of HSF1 and CBS results in more pronounced inhibition of PCa cell …

Parametersestimation Of A Proposed Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process And Estimation Of The Reliability Function Using The Gompertz Process: A Comparative Analysis Of Artificially Intelligent And Traditional Methods, Adel Sufyan Hussain, Yaseen Adel Oraibi, Muthanna Subhi Sulaiman, Ahmed Sami Abdulghafour

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

This work presents a novel approach to enhancing the rate of occurrence of non-homogeneous Poisson processes (NHPP) by utilizing the Gompertz distribution as the rate of occurrence. The primary objective of this study is to determine the parametersof the new process using both traditional methods andintelligent technology, specifically particleswarm optimization (PSO). Additionally, the study aims to estimate the reliability function ofthe process. The suggested model is simulatedto achieve these goals, and theresults are compared among various estimation techniques to identify the most accurate estimator. The study demonstrates that when predicting the time rate of occurrence oftheproposed Gompertz process and its …

Mystical Experience As Situated In Rulla’S Three Dimensions Of Self-Transcendent Consistency Theory, Michael C. Porcia

Landas

Mystical experience does not happen in a vacuum. It is a mediated experience taking into consideration the nature and context of the human person. This is God’s respect for human freedom. However, spiritual transcendence is premised by the psychological constitution of the person, conscious and unconscious. Hence, there are degrees of freedom. L. Rulla’s self-consistency theory situates freedom for self-transcendence according to three dimensions within a continuum. With this framework, mystical experience is evaluated according to the dialectical dynamic between needs and values in each dimension. And the Ignatian discernment of spirits becomes the lens by which to sift through …

Safeguarding And Homosexuality, James Mctavish,

Landas

The Church is actively working to promote and build up a culture of safeguarding. Those most vulnerable to abuse need care and protection. Sexual orientation is an important element to consider in safeguarding, as there are specific risks for homosexual persons, and persons with same-sex attraction (SSA) frequently experience abuse. In a sensitive and respectful way, this article examines the background elements regarding homosexuality and abuse and gives specific details that can help in formulating a vision of safeguarding that takes into account the specific reality of persons with SSA.

Full Issue, Volume 36, Issue 1

Landas

No abstract provided.

Fish Assemblage Structure In Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Over Ten Years, Matthew S. Silverhart

Masters Theses

Coastal wetlands in the Laurentian Great Lakes are important habitats for many fish species. The geographic scale of the watershed and the diversity of land uses in the region result in substantial environmental variation among coastal wetlands. During 2011-2020, annual surveys were conducted as part of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Monitoring Program (GLCWMP) to better understand the status and trends of coastal wetlands. Fish sampling consisted of fyke netting in monodominant vegetation zones. During this time, 1225 unique monodominant plant zones in coastal wetlands were sampled, resulting in 584,125 fishes captured that consisted of 113 different species. Yellow Perch …

Postoperative Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome Predicts Increased Mortality In Patients After Elective Craniotomy, Liyuan Peng, Qi Gan, Yangchun Xiao, Jialing He, Xin Cheng, Peng Wang, Lvlin Chen, Tiangui Li, Yan He, Weelic Chong, Yang Hai, Chao You, Fang Fang, Yu Zhang

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Introduction: Patients undergoing craniotomy are at high risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality due to excessive inflammatory responses. The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the prognostic utility of postoperative systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in patients undergoing craniotomy.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent craniotomy between January 2011 and March 2021. SIRS was diagnosed based on two or more criteria (hypo-/hyperthermia, tachypnea, leukopenia/leukocytosis, tachycardia). We used univariate and multivariate analysis for the development of SIRS with postoperative 30-day mortality.

Results: Of 12,887 patients who underwent craniotomy, more than half of the patients …

Description Of Gastrophryne Elegans (Boulenger, 1882) Tadpole From The Rainforest Of Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico, Víctor H. Jiménez-Arcos, Rafael Alejandro Calzada-Arciniega, Bruno Cortés-Ortiz, Christopher Blair

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Experimental Research On Contests, Subhashish M. Chowdhury, Dan Kovenock, Anwesha Mukherjee

ESI Working Papers

Contests are situations in which agents compete by irreversibly expending costly resources in an attempt to win a prize. Due to their applications in conflict, rent-seeking, organizational incentives, sports, litigation, and political campaigns, contests are widely applied in the social sciences. In this survey we summarize some main results and recent developments of experimental studies in contest theory. We also point out their broader applications in the social sciences.

Mir126-Targeted-Nanoparticles Combined With Pi3k/Akt Inhibitor As A New Strategy To Overcome Melanoma Resistance, Maria Beatrice Arasi, Gabriele De Luca, Laura Chronopoulou, Francesca Pedini, Eleonora Petrucci, Michela Flego, Annarita Stringaro, Marisa Colone, Luca Pasquini, Massimo Spada, Valentina Lulli, Maria Chiara Perrotta, George Adrian Calin, Cleofe Palocci, Mauro Biffoni, Federica Felicetti, Nadia Felli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metastatic melanoma poses significant challenges as a highly lethal disease. Despite the success of molecular targeting using BRAFV600E inhibitors (BRAFis) and immunotherapy, the emergence of early recurrence remains an issue and there is the need for novel therapeutic approaches. This study aimed at creating a targeted delivery system for the oncosuppressor microRNA 126 (miR126) and testing its effectiveness in combination with a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (AKT) inhibitor for treating metastatic melanoma resistant to BRAFis. To achieve this, we synthesized chitosan nanoparticles containing a chemically modified miR126 sequence. These nanoparticles were further functionalized with an antibody specific to …

Preclinical Repurposing Of Sitagliptin As A Drug Candidate For Colorectal Cancer By Targeting Cd24/Ctnnb1/Sox4-Centered Signaling Hub, Jing-Wen Shih, Alexander T H Wu, Ntlotlang Mokgautsi, Po-Li Wei, Yan-Jiun Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite significant advances in treatment modalities, colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a poorly understood and highly lethal malignancy worldwide. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) and the tumor microenvironment (TME) have been shown to play critical roles in initiating and promoting CRC progression, metastasis, and treatment resistance. Therefore, a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to the generation and maintenance of CSCs is crucial to developing CSC-specific therapeutics and improving the current standard of care for CRC patients. To this end, we used a bioinformatics approach to identify increased CD24/SOX4 expression in CRC samples associated with poor prognosis. We also …

Biallelic Variants In Rbm42 Cause A Multisystem Disorder With Neurological, Facial, Cardiac, And Musculoskeletal Involvement, Yiyao Chen, Bingxin Yang, Xiaoyu Merlin Zhang, Songchang Chen, Minhui Wang, Liya Hu, Nina Pan, Shuyuan Li, Weihui Shi, Zhenhua Yang, Li Wang, Yajing Tan, Jian Wang, Yanlin Wang, Qinghe Xing, Zhonghua Ma, Jinsong Li, He-Feng Huang, Jinglan Zhang, Chenming Xu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Here, we report a previously unrecognized syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder associated with biallelic loss-of-function variants in the RBM42 gene. The patient is a 2-year-old female with severe central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities, hypotonia, hearing loss, congenital heart defects, and dysmorphic facial features. Familial whole-exome sequencing (WES) reveals that the patient has two compound heterozygous variants, c.304C>T (p.R102*) and c.1312G>A (p.A438T), in the RBM42 gene which encodes an integral component of splicing complex in the RNA-binding motif protein family. The p.A438T variant is in the RRM domain which impairs RBM42 protein stability in vivo. Additionally, p.A438T disrupts the interaction of …

Clinical Validation Of A Cell-Free Dna Fragmentome Assay For Augmentation Of Lung Cancer Early Detection, Manmeet Ahluwalia

All Publications

Lung cancer screening via annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has poor adoption. We conducted a prospective case-control study among 958 individuals eligible for lung cancer screening to develop a blood-based lung cancer detection test that when positive is followed by an LDCT. Changes in genome-wide cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation profiles (fragmentomes) in peripheral blood reflected genomic and chromatin characteristics of lung cancer. We applied machine learning to fragmentome features to identify individuals who were more or less likely to have lung cancer. We trained the classifier using 576 cases and controls from study samples, and then validated it in a …

Infant Growth And Body Composition From Birth To 24 Months: Are Infants Developing The Same?, Shane A. Norris, Lukhanyo H. Nyati, Alexia Murphy Alford, Nishani Lucas, Ina S. Santos, Caroline S. Costa, Rebecca Kuriyan, V Pujitha Wickranasinghe, Shabina Ariff, Andrew P. Hills

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Given the importance of infancy for establishing growth trajectories, with later-life health consequences, we investigated longitudinal body composition among infants from six economically and ethnically diverse countries.
Methods: We recruited mother-infant dyads using the WHO Multicenter Growth Reference Study criteria. We measured fat-free mass (FFM) in 1393 (49% female) infants from birth to 6 months of age (Australia, India, and South Africa; n = 468), 3-24 months of age (Brazil, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka; n = 925), and derived fat mass (FM), fat mass index (FMI), and fat-free mass index (FFMI). Height-for-age (HAZ), weight-for-age (WAZ), and weight-for-length …

Pathways To Care For Psychosis In Rural Uganda: Mixed-Methods Study Of Individuals With Psychosis, Family Members, And Local Leaders, Yang Jae Lee, Sophie Waimon, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear a disproportionate burden of mental illness, with limited access to biomedical care. This study examined pathways to care for psychosis in rural Uganda, exploring factors influencing treatment choices.

METHODS: We conducted a mixed-methods study in Buyende District, Uganda, involving 67 in-depth interviews and 4 focus group discussions (data collection continued until thematic saturation was reached) with individuals with psychotic disorders, family members, and local leaders. Structured questionnaires were administered to 41 individuals with psychotic disorders.

RESULTS: Three main themes emerged: (1) Positive attitudes towards biomedical providers, (2) Barriers to accessing biomedical care (3) …