Digital Commons Network^™

The Use Of Large Language Models To Accelerate Literature Review Towards Digital Health Equity And Inclusiveness, Taylor B Harrison, Dian Hu, Sunyang Fu, Hongfang Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Digital health technologies (DHTs) have revolutionized clinical trials, offering unprecedented opportunities to streamline processes, enhance patient engagement, and improve data quality. Growing technology device and broadband access are contributing to the increasing number of DHT-enabled trials. Ideally, DHTs have the potential to make clinical research more inclusive and diverse. However, while the variety in digital technologies and implementations present a strong display of healthcare innovation, major challenges arise concerning DHT generalizability and translation into real-world medical practice. In this study, we report our efforts in accelerating the literature review process related to the use of DHTs in randomized controlled trials …

Interleukin-1beta And Inflammasome Expression In Spinal Cord Following Chronic Constriction Injury In Male And Female Rats, Suzanne M Green-Fulgham, Jayson B Ball, Andrew J Kwilasz, Michael E Harland, Matthew G Frank, Joseph M Dragavon, Peter M Grace, Linda R Watkins

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Females represent a majority of chronic pain patients and show greater inflammatory immune responses in human chronic pain patient populations as well as in animal models of neuropathic pain. Recent discoveries in chronic pain research have revealed sex differences in inflammatory signaling, a key component of sensory pathology in chronic neuropathic pain, inviting more research into the nuances of these sex differences. Here we use the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model to explore similarities and differences in expression and production of Inflammatory cytokine IL-1beta in the lumbar spinal cord, as well as its role in chronic pain. We have discovered …

Identifying Genomic Data Sources From Biomedical Literature, Xu Zuo, Ashley Gilliam, Yan Hu, Kalpana Raja, Kirk Roberts, Hua Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genomic research is becoming increasingly data-intensive, yet the proper reference of data remains a persistent challenge. Despite various efforts to establish and standardize data citation practices, scientists frequently fall short of accurately referencing data in their papers. This deficiency complicates the attribution of contributions to data providers and impedes the reproducibility of findings in genomic research. This study addresses this gap by introducing a gold standard corpus designed to identify mentions of genomic data sources and associated attributes, thereby offering insights into data source availability and accessibility. Within this corpus, we categorize entities into six classes, encompassing three primary entities …

Dissecting The Shared Genetic Architecture Between Alzheimer’S Disease And Frailty: A Cross-Trait Meta-Analyses Of Genome-Wide Association Studies, Nitesh Enduru, Brisa S Fernandes, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Frailty is the most common medical condition affecting the aging population, and its prevalence increases in the population aged 65 or more. Frailty is commonly diagnosed using the frailty index (FI) or frailty phenotype (FP) assessments. Observational studies have indicated the association of frailty with Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the shared genetic and biological mechanism of these comorbidity has not been studied.

Methods: To assess the genetic relationship between AD and frailty, we examined it at single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), gene, and pathway levels.

Results: Overall, 16 genome-wide significant loci (15 unique loci) (p meta-analysis < 5 × 10-8) and 22 genes (21 unique genes) were identified between AD and frailty using cross-trait meta-analysis. The 8 shared loci implicated 11 genes: CLRN1-AS1, CRHR1 …

Metarnn: Differentiating Rare Pathogenic And Rare Benign Missense Snvs And Indels Using Deep Learning, Fang Li, Zenan Sun, Ahmed Abdelhameed, Tiehang Duan, Laila Rasmy, Xinyue Hu, Jianping He, Yifang Dang, Jingna Feng, Jianfu Li, Yichen Wang, Tianchen Lyu, Naomi Braun, Si Pham, Michael Gharacholou, Delisa Fairweather, Degui Zhi, Jiang Bian, Cui Tao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Effective management of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) following drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation is crucial for preventing adverse events. Traditional prognostic tools, such as rule-based methods or Cox regression, despite their widespread use and ease, tend to yield moderate predictive accuracy within predetermined timeframes. This study introduces a new contrastive learning-based approach to enhance prediction efficacy over multiple time intervals.

METHODS: We utilized retrospective, real-world data from the OneFlorida + Clinical Research Consortium. Our study focused on two primary endpoints: ischemic and bleeding events, with prediction windows of 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months post-DES implantation. Our approach first …

Polaris: A Phase 2 Trial Of Encorafenib Plus Binimetinib Evaluating High-Dose And Standard-Dose Regimens In Patients With Braf V600-Mutant Melanoma With Brain Metastasis, Alexander M Menzies, Georgina V Long, Amiee Kohn, Hussein Tawbi, Jeffrey Weber, Keith Flaherty, Grant A Mcarthur, Paolo A Ascierto, Yanina Pfluger, Karl Lewis, Katy K Tsai, Omid Hamid, Hans Prenen, Luis Fein, Erjian Wang, Carolin Guenzel, Fan Zhang, Joseph F Kleha, Alessandra Di Pietro, Michael A Davies

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: POLARIS (phase 2 [ph2]; NCT03911869) evaluated encorafenib (BRAF inhibitor) in combination with binimetinib (MEK1/2 inhibitor) in BRAF/MEK inhibitor-naïve patients with BRAF V600-mutant melanoma with asymptomatic brain metastases.

Methods: The safety lead-in (SLI) assessed tolerability for high-dose encorafenib 300 mg twice daily (BID) plus binimetinib 45 mg BID. If the high dose was tolerable in ph2, patients would be randomized to receive high or standard dose (encorafenib 450 mg once daily [QD] plus binimetinib 45 mg BID). Otherwise, standard dose was evaluated as the recommended ph2 dose (RP2D). Patients who tolerated standard dosing during Cycle 1 could be dose …

Association Of Preoperative Lung Function With Complications After Lobectomy Using Race-Neutral And Race-Specific Normative Equations, Ajay Sheshadri, Ravi Rajaram, Aaron Baugh, Mario Castro, Arlene M Correa, Felipe Soto, Carrie R Daniel, Liang Li, Scott E Evans, Burton F Dickey, Ara A Vaporciyan, David E Ost

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rationale: Pulmonary function testing (PFT) is performed to aid patient selection before surgical resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The interpretation of PFT data relies on normative equations, which vary by race, but the relative strength of association of lung function using race-specific or race-neutral normative equations with postoperative pulmonary complications is unknown. Objectives: To compare the strength of association of lung function, using race-neutral or race-specific equations, with surgical complications after lobectomy for NSCLC.

Methods: We studied 3,311 patients who underwent lobectomy for NSCLC and underwent preoperative PFT from 2001 to 2021. We used Global Lung Function Initiative …

Interactions Between Non‐Native Western Mosquitofish And Native Bluegill Sunfish: Mesocosm Experiments, Jessica E. Rettig, Elizabeth P. Tristano, Anthony C. Burger, Geoffrey R. Smith

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How The Human Body Interacts With Religion: Religiously, Artistically, And Politically, Portia Brackley

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Arsenic And Accountability: A Retrospective On The Arsenic-Life Controversy, Jules Lieberman

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

From Fictional Pandemics To Potential Reality: The Realities And Myths Of 'The Last Of Us' Cordyceps Fungus, Jaedyn O'Reilly

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

Issue 40

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

Honors Research

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

Two New Incisitermes (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) Species From The Caribbean Basin, Genetic Relationships With Other Regional Incisitermes, And Synonymy Of Incisitermes Tabogae With I. Schwarzi, Allen Szalanski

Entomology and Plant Pathology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Two new species of Incisitermes are described from the soldier and imago caste: Incisitermes lisae sp. nov. (Yucatan Region) and Incisitermes mariae sp. nov. (Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago). Incisitermes tabogae (Snyder, 1924) is reduced to a junior synonymy of Incisitermes schwarzi (Banks, 1920), known from Florida, the West Indies, and the Caribbean basin mainland. The phylogenetic relationships of these three species are compared with other Incisitermes of the region.

Complex Dynamics Of Coral Gene Expression Responses To Low Ph Across Species, Veronica Z. Radice, Ana Martinez, Adina Paytan, Donald C. Potts, Daniel J. Barshis

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Coral capacity to tolerate low pH affects coral community composition and, ultimately, reef ecosystem function. Low pH submarine discharges (‘Ojo’; Yucatán, México) represent a natural laboratory to study plasticity and acclimatization to low pH in relation to ocean acidification. A previous >2‐year coral transplant experiment to ambient and low pH common garden sites revealed differential survivorship across species and sites, providing a framework to compare mechanistic responses to differential pH exposures. Here, we examined gene expression responses of transplants of three species of reef‐building corals (Porites astreoides, Porites porites and Siderastrea siderea) and their algal endosymbiont communities …

Salmonella Detection In Food Using A Hek-Htlr5 Reported Cell-Based Sensor, Esma Eser, Victoria A. Felton, Rishi Drolia, Arun K. Bhunia

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The development of a rapid, sensitive, specific method for detecting foodborne pathogens is paramount for supplying safe food to enhance public health safety. Despite the significant improvement in pathogen detection methods, key issues are still associated with rapid methods, such as distinguishing living cells from dead, the pathogenic potential or health risk of the analyte at the time of consumption, the detection limit, and the sample-to-result. Mammalian cell-based assays analyze pathogens’ interaction with host cells and are responsive only to live pathogens or active toxins. In this study, a human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cell line expressing Toll-Like Receptor 5 (TLR-5) …

Receptor-Targeted Next-Generation Probiotics Ameliorate Mammalian Colitis, Nicholas L. F. Gallina, Vignesh Nathan, Akshay Krishnakumar, Dongqi Liu, Rishi Drolia, Nicole Irrizary Tardi, Yang Fu, Manalee Samadar, Shivendra Tenguria, Alvin Cai, Ruth Eunice Centeno-Martinez, Timothy A. Johnson, Abigail Cox, Lavanya Reddivari, Bruce Applegate, Xingjian Bai, Luping Xu, Deepti Tanjore, Ramesh Vemulapalli, Rahim Rahimi, Arun K. Bhunia

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction: a loss of intestinal barrier function, inflammation, and an elevated expression of epithelial heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60) are features of an inflamed bowel. Probiotics have been used to alleviate colitis-induced pathologies, but offer poor adhesion and adaptation to the diseased gut. We hypothesize that enhancing probiotic adhesion in the inflamed bowel may ameliorate such pathologies. Listeria adhesion protein (LAP; 94-kDa acetaldehyde alcohol dehydrogenase) aids Listeria attachment to the epithelial cells by interacting with the mammalian receptor Hsp60. Bioengineered Lactobacillus casei probiotics (BLPs) expressing LAP showed strong interaction with epithelial Hsp60, a high immunomodulatory response, and sustained epithelial barrier …

Gwid: An R Package And Shiny Application For Genome-Wide Analysis Of Ibd Data, Soroush Mahmoudiandehkordi, Mehdi Maadooliat, Steven J. Schrodi

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

Summary

Genome-wide identity by descent (gwid) is an R package developed for the analysis of identity-by-descent (IBD) data pertaining to dichotomous traits. This package offers a set of tools to assess differential IBD levels for the two states of a binary trait, yielding informative and meaningful results. Furthermore, it provides convenient functions to visualize the outcomes of these analyses, enhancing the interpretability and accessibility of the results. To assess the performance of the package, we conducted an evaluation using real genotype data derived from the SNPs to investigate rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility from the Marshfield Clinic Personalized Medicine Research Project.

Availability …

The Cost Of Clarity: Closing The Floodgates On Wotus Ambiguity And The Bleak Future Of Wetlands Protections, Casey E. Lindstrom

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

The National Environmental Policy Act And Climate Change Adaptation Within Federal Natural Resource Management Agencies, Sara Sutherland

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Quiet Part Of The Fourteenth Amendment: Why Gender Identity Should Be A Protected Class Under The Equal Protection Clause, Robert F. Read Ii

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Family-Building Desires Among Adopted Adolescents With Lesbian, Gay, And Heterosexual Parents, Abbie E. Goldberg, Lea Silvert, Rachel H. Farr

Psychology

Objective: This study qualitatively examined family-building desires of diverse adopted adolescents.

Background: Research on parenting aspirations has rarely included youth with LGBTQ+ parents and/or from adoptive families. Understanding diverse adopted adolescents' feelings about parenthood may yield insights regarding identity and ideas about family.

Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of interview data from 48 adopted adolescents (27 were LGBTQ+) in the United States, aged 13 to 18, from lesbian, gay, and heterosexual two-parent families. Results: Most adolescents desired future parenthood, after achieving other normative milestones, and they typically did not feel familial or societal pressure to become parents. LGBTQ+ participants …

Wild Sun Bears (Helarctos Malayanus) Exhibit Aseasonality In Parturition, Zachary A. David, Brian Crudge, Matt Hunt, Kirsty Officer, Vuthy Choun, Barbara Durrant, Megan A. Owen, Morokot Long, John P. Whiteman

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Seasonal reproduction can provide species with fitness advantages by allowing the birth of young to coincide with favorable environmental conditions, particularly in environments with high seasonal and intra-annual variation in these conditions. Seven of the eight species in the bear family (Ursidae) reproduce seasonally in both managed care and the wild; however, data for the eighth species, the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus), is unclear. Sun bears have been observed to reproduce throughout the year in managed care, yet currently there are no clear data of birth timing for wild sun bear cubs. Here we investigate the seasonality of …

Half Of Atlantic Reef-Building Corals At Elevated Risk Of Extinction Due To Climate Change And Other Threats, Luis Gutierrez, Beth Polidoro, David Obura, Francoise Cabada-Blanco, Christi Linardich, Emma Pettersson, Paul Pearce-Kelly, Krista Kemppinen, Juan Jose Alvarado, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, Anastazia Banaszak, Pilar Casado De Amezua, James Crabbe, Aldo Croquer, Joshua Feingold, Elizabeth Goergen, Stefano Goffredo, Bert Hoeksema, Danwei Huang, Emma Kennedy, Diego Kersting, Marcelo Kitahara, Petar Kružić, Margaret Miller, Flavia Nunes, Juan Pablo Quimbayo, Andrea Rivera-Sosa, Rosa Rodríguez-Martínez, Nadia Santodomingo, Michael Sweet, Mark Vermeij, Estrella Villamizar, Greta Aeby, Khatija Alliji, Daniel Bayley, Elena Couce, Benjamin Cowburn, C. Isabel Nuñez Lendo, Sean Porter, Kaveh Samimi-Namin, Tom Shlesinger, Bryan Wilson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Atlantic reef-building corals and coral reefs continue to experience extensive decline due to increased stressors related to climate change, disease, pollution, and numerous anthropogenic threats. To understand the impact of ocean warming and reef loss on the estimated extinction risk of shallow water Atlantic reef-building scleractinians and milleporids, all 85 valid species were reassessed under the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, updating the previous Red List assessment of Atlantic corals published in 2008. For the present assessment, individual species declines were estimated based on the modeled coral cover loss (1989–2019) and projected onset of annual severe bleaching events (2020–2050) …

มาตรการเพื่อส่งเสริมธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืช, ณัฏฐา สงวนพงษ์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

เอกัตศึกษาฉบับนี้ มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อมีมาตรการ หรือแนวคิดริเริ่มเพื่อส่งเสริมธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชในประเทศไทยให้เติบโตมากขึ้น เพื่อสร้างประโยชน์ในระยะยาวให้กับเศรษฐกิจและสังคมไทยอย่างยั่งยืน ประโยชน์ของธุรกิจดังกล่าวส่งผลกระทบในด้านต่าง ๆ ดังนี้ (1) ประโยชน์ด้านสุขภาพ สามารถช่วยให้มีสุขภาพดีขึ้น รวมถึงลดความเสี่ยงต่อโรคต่าง ๆ (2) ประโยชน์ด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม การรับประทานอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชใช้ทรัพยากรต่าง ๆ เช่น ที่ดิน แหล่งน้ำ และพลังงาน น้อยกว่าอาหารที่มีส่วนผสมจากเนื้อสัตว์ จึงถือเป็นการประหยัดพลังงานและช่วยรักษาสิ่งแวดล้อมได้เป็นอย่างดี (3) ประโยชน์ด้านความมั่นคงทางอาหาร สามารถช่วยลดความเสี่ยงจากการขาดแคลนอาหาร เนื่องจากกระบวนการผลิตอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชใช้ทรัพยากรด้านต่าง ๆ น้อยกว่าผลิตภัณฑ์จากสัตว์ และ (4) ประโยชน์ด้านสวัสดิภาพสัตว์ การรับประทานอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชถือเป็นการคุ้มครองสัตว์ เพราะเป็นการลดการผลิตผลิตภัณฑ์จากเนื้อสัตว์ในฟาร์มเอกัตศึกษาฉบับนี้ มีการดำเนินการวิจัยด้วยวิธีการศึกษาเชิงเอกสาร (Documentary Research) โดยการศึกษาค้นคว้า รวบรวม วิเคราะห์ข้อมูล จากหนังสือ บทความ ตำรา วิทยานิพนธ์ เอกัตศึกษา เอกสารสิ่งพิมพ์ หลักภาษีอากร โดยมีการใช้ฐานข้อมูลออนไลน์ ที่มีบุคคลอื่นได้บันทึกหรือตีพิมพ์เผยแพร่ไว้เกี่ยวกับมาตรการเพื่อส่งเสริมธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืช ทั้งในประเทศไทยและต่างประเทศ จากนั้นนำข้อมูลที่รวบรวมได้มาทำการศึกษา เรียบเรียง และวิเคราะห์อย่างเป็นระบบ เพื่อเสนอแนวทางการสร้างแรงจูงใจให้กับผู้ประกอบธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชจากการศึกษา พบว่า ในปัจจุบัน ไทยยังขาดมาตรการส่งเสริมธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชที่ชัดเจนและครอบคลุม เมื่อเทียบกับหลายประเทศที่ให้ความสำคัญกับเรื่องนี้ เช่น สหรัฐอเมริกา สหภาพยุโรป และสิงคโปร์ ทั้งนี้ เพื่อส่งเสริมธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชในไทยให้เติบโตอย่างยั่งยืน ควรมีการดำเนินการดังนี้ (1) จัดทำแผนยุทธศาสตร์ระดับชาติ และกฎหมายเฉพาะเพื่อส่งเสริมอาหารทางเลือกจากพืช: กำหนดเป้าหมายและแนวทางการดำเนินงานที่ชัดเจน (2) บูรณาการนโยบาย เชื่อมโยงนโยบายด้านอาหารกับนโยบายอื่น ๆ เช่น สุขภาพ สิ่งแวดล้อม และเศรษฐกิจ รวมถึงการสนับสนุนการวิจัยและพัฒนา เพื่อส่งเสริมการพัฒนานวัตกรรม ซึ่งจะเป็นองค์ประกอบสำคัญในการพัฒนาผลิตภัณฑ์ใหม่ ๆ และเทคโนโลยีที่เกี่ยวข้อง (3) ส่งเสริมด้านสิทธิประโยชน์ทางภาษีเพื่อส่งเสริมธุรกิจอาหารทางเลือกจากพืช ทั้งในส่วนที่ส่งผลกับอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชโดยตรง เช่น การพิจารณาปรับลดอัตราภาษีมูลค่าเพิ่มสำหรับอาหารทางเลือกจากพืช และส่วนที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการให้สิทธิประโยชน์ทางภาษีทางอ้อม เช่น การหักค่าใช้จ่ายที่ใช้สำหรับการวิจัย (4) สร้างความตระหนักรู้ และประชาสัมพันธ์ข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับประโยชน์ของอาหารจากพืช ทั้งต่อผู้บริโภคเอง และต่อสังคมในภาพรวม (5) สนับสนุนเกษตรกร และส่งเสริมการปลูกพืชที่ใช้เป็นวัตถุดิบในการผลิตอาหารจากพืชการดำเนินการเหล่านี้จะช่วยให้ไทยมีอุตสาหกรรมอาหารทางเลือกจากพืชที่แข็งแกร่ง สามารถแข่งขันในตลาดโลก และตอบสนองความต้องการของผู้บริโภคที่ใส่ใจสุขภาพและสิ่งแวดล้อมมากขึ้น นอกจากนี้ …

Female Offenders: Exploring Risk Factors For Adulthood Violence, Lauren N. Fowler

Theses and Dissertations

The number of females under correctional supervision has been increasing in the last four decades. For adult women, these offenses are generally drug offenses; however, there have also been increases in the number of women committing violent crimes. Unfortunately, violent females are an understudied population, which limits the data available to inform programs and policies that could address the problem. This study explored potential factors related to violent behavior among adult females by analyzing public-use data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016. More specifically, violent and nonviolent state and federal female inmates were assessed regarding …

Usft 2024-2025 Usf Libraries Annual Report, Usf Libraries

Library Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of A Virtual Wilderness On Subjective Happiness: Enhancing Happiness Through Nature Imagery, Brittany Magid

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation explores the impact of virtual nature imagery on subjective happiness, investigating whether exposure to virtual nature environments can enhance self-reported happiness levels. While direct interaction with natural environments has been linked to increased happiness, this study seeks to evaluate the feasibility of virtual alternatives. Using a quantitative approach, three types of virtual experiences: nature, active control (office environment), and a control condition (gray panel) were compared to assess their influence on acute happiness. Participants (N = 409) were randomly assigned to one of these conditions and completed the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) after viewing a 15-second video. Demographic …

"The In-Betweeners": The Lived Experience Of Adult Cochlear Implant Users, Aylah Sroloff

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of adult cochlear implant (CI) users, implanted prior to the age of 10-years-old. Seven adult CI users were recruited. In-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews were conducted to explore participants’ experiences and identities as CI users. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, through which six group experimental themes were generated: (a) CIs and identity,” (b) social isolation, (c) advocacy, (d), costs and benefits of integration into the hearing world, and (e) “the future of CIs.” This study’s findings highlighted participants’ perspectives on living with CIs, the challenges they face, their process of identity exploration, …

An Organic Inquiry Into Teacher Experiences Of Self-Healing, Alison Davis

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation engages the spiritually-inspired methodology of organic inquiry to investigate how teachers practice self-healing in order to become available to students. Self-healing is a vital part of freeing up the teacher’s perceptive capacities to more deeply and fully attend to the needs of students. Self-healing work includes a variety of practices and modalities, including spiritual ones, in order to work through trauma, adversity, dis-ease, stress, and one-sidedness. Research shows that self-healing, especially in regards to mindfulness and meditation, equips teachers to confront compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, burnout, illness, and more. There is also ample evidence that training one’s attention …