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Immunohistochemical Analysis Of The Effects Of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes On Mouse Testis, Rory E. Field, Brianna R. Demaio, Hannah R. Fioramonti, Makenna M. Landis, Jing Xu

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Because diabetes mellitus (DM) poses harm to the reproductive systems of humans and mice on both the cellular and histological levels, we sought to understand the effects of streptozotocin-induced (STZ) diabetes mellitus on the spermatogenesis and Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) production of mice. The structural integrity of the testes is disrupted due to the high levels of oxidative stress caused by DM, which also hinders spermatogenesis. Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been found to induce autophagy in Sertoli cells, and the Sertoli cells of diabetic models have fewer tight junctions between them. This disorganization and decreased integrity of the seminiferous …

Factors Affecting Risk Perceptions About The Human Health Effects Resulting From Harmful Algal Bloom Exposure, Alexandra Benitez Gonzalez, Heather A. Triezenberg, Diane Doberneck, Abigail Bennett, Mark Rey

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

In the Great Lakes region, harmful algal blooms (HABs) are known cyanobacterial blooms that pose significant public health, environmental, and socio-economic risks. Risk information related to HABs is primarily communicated through state and local government agencies; however, the effectiveness of these communication strategies and how local stakeholders are learning about such risks remains unclear. The objective of this study is to examine how to effectively communicate HABs risks and understand public risk perceptions of HABs-related risks during recreational lake use in Michigan. Guided by the social amplification of risk framework, this qualitative study conducted fieldwork in 2021, including 27 semi-structured …

Ponto-Bulbar Palsy, Sensorineural Hearing Loss, Tongue Fasciculation: Molecular Study & Review Of Indian Cases, Ankur Singh, Sukanaya Ghosh, Durgadatta Pattanayak, Abhishek Abhinay, Rajniti Prasad

Journal of Pediatric Genetics

Brown-Vialetto- Van Laere (BVVL) syndrome is neurodegenerative condition, characterised by ponto-bulbar palsy and sensori-neural hearing loss. Since, this is a rare condition with common sign and symptoms, diagnosis is usually missed or delayed. The above condition is Riboflavin transporter defect which responds to riboflavin therapy. Molecular study confirmed the diagnosis and found recurrent pathogenic variation c.1238 C>A; p Val 413 Asp in exon 5 of SLC52A3 gene in present case. We tabulated all Indian cases of BVVL and highlighted their clinical features and genotype. BVVL type 1 is the most common type, reported from Indian patients.

Short-Term Effects Of Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields On Neurogenesis And Wnt Signaling In Amniotic Fluid Cells, Coşar Uzun, Ümit Karakaş, Mustafa Ertan Ay, Özlem İzci Ay, Didem Derici Yıldırım, Nurten Erdal, Mehmet Emin Erdal

Journal of Pediatric Genetics

Background: Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) at 50 Hz are prevalent in household electrical systems. Although various studies have examined the effects of ELF-EMF on cell proliferation and gene expression, its impact on amniotic fluid cells (AFCs) remains unclear. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the potential effects of ELF-EMFs on gene expression related to neurogenesis and the Wnt signaling pathway in AFCs. Methods: AFCs were isolated from amniotic fluid obtained via amniocentesis and divided into five groups: control, sham, and three groups exposed to different ELFEMF intensities (1 mT, 2 mT, 3 mT for 30 minutes/day for 7 days). …

A Proposed Secure Video Using Lightweight Chacha20 Based On Chaotic Map, Hadeel Mohammed Taher, Ali Makki Sagheer

Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics

Multimedia content has become a necessary part of our daily lives in many domains, including medical imaging, surveillance, and entertainment. Among all multimedia categories, video is mainly critical because of its high content density and large size. For that, ensuring the security of video has become a necessity for transmission and storage. This paper proposed an enhancement to the Chacha algorithm integration with a hybrid chaotic map for generating keys to secure video. The main motivation for the selection ChaCha algorithm is that it is fast, simple, and appropriate for widespread applications, whereas the motivation for using chaos is to …

Characterization Of Pediatric Patients With Rheumatological Diseases Admitted To A Single Tertiary Health Hospital’S Pediatric Intensive Care Unit In Latin America, Valeria Erazo-Martínez, Ingrid Ruiz-Ordoñez, Carolina Álvarez, Laura Serrano, Cristian C. Aragón, Gabriel J. Tobón, Sandra Concha, Rubén Lasso, Lyna Ramírez

Journal of Pediatric Intensive Care

Objetives: Most autoimmune diseases (AIDs) during childhood debut with more severe and aggressive forms, with life-threatening conditions that increase the need for intensive care therapy. This study describes the clinical, laboratory, and health outcomes features of pediatric patients with AIDs admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study that included the clinical records of all pediatric patients with AIDs admitted to the PICU during 2011 and 2020 in Cali, Colombia. Results: Two-hundred and twenty-five PICU admissions from 136 patients were evaluated. Median age was 13 (11-15) years, and the median disease duration was …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2024–May 31, 2025. The Article discusses developments with respect to lawyer discipline, bar admission and reinstatement, malpractice, ineffective assistance of counsel, disqualification of counsel, judicial misconduct and recusal, attorney’s fees and liens, contempt and other sanctions, unauthorized practice of law, attorney-client privilege, prosecutorial misconduct, amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, advisory opinions, one miscellaneous matter, and potential reforms to the delivery of legal services.

Winter Commencement: December 19, 2025, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Winter Commencement program from December 19, 2025.

Substantial Contribution Of Woody Components To Rainfall Interception In Chinese Forests: Insights From A Refined Analytical Model, Zhi-Ang Chen, Zhi-Yun Jiang, Wei He, John T. Van Stan Ii, Et. Al.

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

Assessing rainfall interception (I-R) is a critical yet uncertain aspect in hydrological cycle, particularly the quantification of relative contributions from leaves and woody components (e.g., branches, stems, and trunks) to I-R. Nevertheless, the role of woody components in I-R estimation remains largely unexplored and thereby has been constantly overlooked. This study addressed this challenge and refined the widely-used Gash model to distinguish woody interception (I-W) from leaf interception (I-L). We incorporated the spatial variability of vegetation traits alongside satellite data in 2019 into the refined model, and spanned China's major forest types. The refined model showed a strong agreement with …

Exploring The Medicinal Properties Of Indigenous Plants Within An Enabling Program: Bridging The Gap Between School, Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Knowledge And Science, Sharon L. Gough, Julie Sartori, Angela Jones

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In 2021, less than half of Australian universities considered Indigenous perspectives in curriculum development, with only 15% ensuring Indigenous content in all courses. Literature acknowledges that a strengths-based approach to the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and perspectives, enhances representation and decolonises curriculum. In 2020, Noongar elder Vivienne Hansen, and John Horsfall created Noongar Bush Medicine, detailing the medicinal use of Indigenous plants. Yeshi, Turpin, Jamtsho, and Wangchuk noted that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities use native plants for health purposes. However, there is limited data on the therapeutic efficacy of these plants. In 2024, …

Sleep Menus: A Personalized Approach To Enhancing Patient Rest And Improving Sleep Quality, Justin W. Dorman

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Manuscripts

Sleep disruptions among hospitalized patients can negatively impact healing, recovery, and patient satisfaction. Hospital noise remains a persistent barrier to restful sleep, yet previous hospital-based noise reduction strategies have shown limited sustained success. This quality improvement project aimed to enhance patient-perceived sleep quality by implementing a patient-centered Sleep Menu offering patients earplugs or sound machines. A pre-post design was employed, using the Richard-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire (RCSQ) to assess patients' sleep quality before and after the Sleep Menu intervention. Sixty patients were approached; 25 chose earplugs, and 7 selected the sound machine. Despite environmental decibel levels remaining above the WHO recommendations …

December 19, 2025 Ereporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Investigating Metabolic Heterogeneity In Engineered Isogenic Microorganisms, Xinyue Mu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Engineered microorganisms play an increasingly important role in the sustainable production of fuels, bioplastics, and other valuable biomaterials. Successful industrial deployment depends on maximizing product titers and ensuring process robustness at large scale. However, one of the major obstacles is non-genetic cell-to-cell heterogeneity arising from stochastic intracellular processes. Such heterogeneity can result in subpopulations that divert substrates toward growth rather than product biosynthesis, ultimately reducing yield and contributing to batch-to-batch inconsistency. To better understand the mechanisms by which cell-to-cell variation emerges, propagates, and impacts bioproduction, this dissertation investigated how intracellular energetic dynamics and stochastic biosynthetic noise contributed to metabolic heterogeneity …

Probing The Mechanisms Of Reinforcement Learning: Reinforcement Learning, Ventral Striatal Astrocytes, And The Dynamic Coordination Of Information Seeking With Learning, Fatih Sogukpinar

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

While reinforcement learning has been a vital component in artificial intelligence and machine learning, there exist many open questions about its implementations and how to improve them, in both minds and machines. Among these are i) the contribution of non-neuronal cell types to reinforcement learning, and ii) information-seeking behavior during reinforcement learning. In this thesis, we studied these main topics pertaining to reinforcement learning. In the first chapter, we examined the role of astrocytes in reinforcement learning, and in the second, we investigated human information seeking during reinforcement learning. Neurons in the human and animal brain have been known to …

Learning From Images And Text (Clinical) Data: Toward Putting Ai In Radiology Workflows, Pan Xiao

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The rapid growth of medical imaging data highlights the need for intelligent systems that can understand both radiological language and image content. This dissertation presents two complementary research directions that advance machine learning in radiology through large-scale natural language understanding and unsupervised image representation learning. The first part develops and benchmarks machine learning models for identifying follow-up recommendations in radiology reports—a task essential for improving patient care and reducing missed follow-ups. Using 49,769 reports across multiple modalities and three institutional datasets, along with external and temporal test sets, thirty-two classification methods were systematically evaluated on both findings and impression sections. …

Mind The Gap: Intergenerational Perspectives On Mental Illness Within Ghanaian American Communities, Ama Danso-Ayesu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explores attitudes toward mental illness among Ghanaian immigrants and

first-generation Ghanaian Americans, with particular focus on factors that influence

stigma. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model, the study utilized the

Community Attitudes Toward Mental Illness (CAMI) Scale to measure four dimensions

of stigma, including authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community

mental health ideology. A comparative, cross-sectional design was employed to examine

differences between immigrant and American-born participants. The findings revealed

generational differences where Ghanaian immigrants reported higher levels of

authoritarian and socially restrictive beliefs, while first-generation Ghanaian Americans

demonstrated more benevolent and inclusive attitudes. Interpreted through the ecological

systems …

Likes For Love: Examining The Relationship Of Sociocultural Factors On Social Media Influences Of Instagram Use For Young Black Women, Cheria S. Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years there has been a push toward studying ethnic minority women related to the psychological implications of image and beauty, as historically the focus has been on the experiences of European women (Awad et al., 2015). Black women must process sexual development, attitudes, and behaviors through the lens of the sexual scripts and stereotypes of their ethnic group and must negotiate between mainstream and culture specific norms of sexuality (Daniels and Zurbriggen, 2016; Jerald et al., 2017). The presence of these scripts signifies a difference between Black women and other races about how they may internalize and react …

Counselor Perspectives On Substance Use Treatment In Pennsylvania As Medical Cannabis Laws Evolve, Renee L. Ludwig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis, once primarily regarded as a recreational or “party” drug, has undergone a significant shift in public and medical perception over the past two decades. It is now increasingly recognized as a therapeutic agent prescribed within clinical settings. While substantial research has examined the general use of medical cannabis, relatively little attention has been given to its implications for substance use counselors treating clients who use medical cannabis during treatment for substance use disorders. The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of substance use counselors regarding client use of medical cannabis and to investigate how such use …

The Experience Of African American Male Counselor Educators Navigating Racial Battle Fatigue, Quincy J. Stephenson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative phenomenological approach was used in this research to explore the lived experiences of African American male counselor educators (AAMCEs) in historically or predominantly White universities who have obtained tenure and promotion. The need for equitable support, recruitment, and retention of faculty of color in counselor education has received more attention from universities in recent years. Although some advancement has occurred, AAMCEs continue to be underrepresented in academia, especially counselor education. There has been research concerning the impact of racism on and resilience of AAMCEs; however, there is a lack of research concerning how this specific population navigates racial …

Creating A Radical Social Change Campaign To Restore Rational Thinking: A Theoretical Framework, John S. Long

Student Theses and Dissertations

Rational thinking is a skill and mindset that is under siege in modern society, becoming increasingly endangered as we devolve into increasingly hyper-partisan communities rife with echo chambers and confirmation biases. The most basic processes of analyzing issues and facts to develop clearly thought-out and defendable positions have been abandoned in favor of a zealous devotion to toe the party line, no matter the evidence or implications. What we are witnessing firsthand is the fast-approaching culmination of the post-truth era.

One might assume that an issue with such far-reaching implications across our entire society would generate a significant amount of …

Peripheral Blood Biomarkers For Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease, Brent A. Luedders

Theses & Dissertations

Rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD) is a common extra-articular complication of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Measuring peripheral blood biomarkers represents an appealing strategy to inform the screening and prediction of RA-ILD. In these studies, I aimed to further characterize the associations of peripheral blood biomarkers with prevalent and incident RA-ILD. First, I evaluated the associations of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) with RA-ILD among a multicenter cohort of RA U.S. Veteran patients (n = 2,312). Higher concentrations of MMP-7 and MMP-9 were independently associated with both prevalent and incident RA-ILD, including a nearly four-fold increased odds of prevalent RA-ILD (adjusted odds ratio …

Acceptability Of Using Brain-Computer Interface In The Workplace – Attitudes Of Prospective Employees, Aneta Biernikowicz

Studia i Materiały Wydział Zarządzania Uniwersytet Warszawski

Purpose: This study aims to examine the attitudes of young management students toward the use of brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) in the workplace, considering both the potential benefits and the associated risks of this technology.

Methodology: The study is exploratory in nature and was conducted using the CAWI method on a group of management students. Both open-ended and closed-ended questions were used on a 7-point Likert scale. Qualitative analysis included descriptive and focused coding, and quantitative analysis - descriptive statistics.

Results: Respondents showed a high level of awareness of the existence of BCI technology, mainly for medical purposes. …

Leveraging Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation To Enhance Self-Regulation In Emotion And Sleep, Suraya Dunsford, Mica Komarnyckyj, Elsa Fouragnan

School of Psychology

This Perspective article discusses the emerging potential of transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) as a non-invasive neuromodulatory technique for enhancing self-regulatory processes, particularly emotion and sleep regulation, in healthy individuals. Offering high spatial precision and the ability to target both cortical and deep brain regions, TUS uses focused ultrasound waves to induce acute and delayed effects on brain activity. We propose that combining TUS with neurofeedback methods and/or specific cognitive training exercises may capitalise on these neuroplastic effects, thereby augmenting and prolonging their impact to support lasting improvements in self-regulation. We focus on the domains of sleep and emotion regulation, where …

Immunoglobulin Germline Reference Sequences Enable Investigations And Reveal Insights Into Bat-Specific Immunity, Ashley B. Reers, Shijun Zhan, Taylor Pursell, Clara Reasoner, Natasha Hodges, Tanya M. Lama, Tony Schountz, Hannah K. Frank

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

We generated a highly contiguous, annotated genome of the Jamaican fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis, including annotated germline immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IGH) and light-chain lambda (IGL) loci to understand bat B cell receptor repertoires. The bat germline shares many structures and features described in human immunoglobulin loci. However, some features are unique to A. jamaicensis, including an expansion of cysteine-rich IGHV genes. To investigate the relationship between the germline IGH locus and expressed B cell receptors (BCRs), we sequenced the BCRs of wild-caught and captive A. jamaicensis, finding an enrichment of IGHV3 and IGHV4 genes. Compared to humans, A. jamaicensis had shorter …

Scout 07, Austin Roberts

Theses

Throughout my tenure at RIT, I have produced multiple short films, undertaken gaming co-ops, and pursued an independent study centered on gaming assets to expand my technical and creative skills. For my thesis film, I sought to merge these experiences by concentrating on environmental storytelling—a deliberate challenge, given faculty concerns that narratives lacking strong character focus may struggle to engage audiences emotionally. With these considerations in mind, I crafted a film featuring a secondary character within a rich environment, designed to immerse viewers and provoke curiosity about the story’s temporal and spatial context.

Protocol For Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Fractionation Of Mammalian Cells To Study Protein Translocation Via Immunoblotting, Adhikarimayum Lakhikumar Sharma, Eddy Zhu, Rithika Padyala, Kavya Parikh, Mudit Tyagi

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

Studying protein translocation is essential for understanding protein function and regulatory mechanisms, including the activity of transcription factors. Here, we present a protocol for isolating high-quality cytoplasmic and nuclear protein fractions from mammalian cells. We describe steps for separating cytoplasmic proteins, washing nuclei, and extracting nuclear proteins. We then detail procedures for quantifying proteins and analyzing their distribution by immunoblotting within a single immunoblot. This protocol is applicable to both suspension and adherent cell types. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Sharma et al.

Enduring Tension: (En)Countering Antisemitism In Every Age, Museum Of History And Holocaust Education

Museum of History and Holocaust Education Exhibits

Image of Jewish Woman during World War II Traveling Exhibition—KSU Addresses the History of Antisemitism Curated by the Museum of History and Holocaust Education, explores the long history of anti-Jewish bias in the United States within an international context. The exhibit asks two critical questions: Must we live with hate? And if we believe that hatred must be combated, what are the best ways to do so? Enduring Tension is generously funded by the Breman Foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia. It is presented by the Kennesaw State University Museum of History and Holocaust Education in partnership with the William Breman …

Public Perception About Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In South Central Nebraska, Rita Nnenne Oparaocha

Biology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

The COVID-19 pandemic created a shift in the trajectory of vaccination hesitancy, altering risk perceptions and vaccination attitudes among individuals in rural communities. The 5C framework highlights confidence, complacency, constraints, calculation, and collective responsibility as influencing factors of vaccine hesitancy. This study assessed the proportion of adults who refused COVID-19 vaccination and identified the individual reasons for hesitancy among those who refused the COVID -19 vaccines in South Central Nebraska. Data was analyzed from a local cross-sectional public health survey administered to 2,034 adult participants over a six-month period (March-August 2024), including 91 respondents who were from outside the seven-county …

Comparisons Of Fish Communities Between A Restored And A Control Pool Of The Mississippi River: A Before-And-After Examination, Hannah Lenning

Biology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

The quality and availability of valuable backwater habitats have declined in many rivers, including the Upper Mississippi River (UMR), due to river modifications and land use change. Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects (HREPs) are implemented by the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program and often aim to mitigate accelerated sedimentation and degradation of backwater habitats. One HREP in Pool 12 of the UMR targeted overwintering fish habitat by restoring four backwaters within 14 RKM. Fish community data was collected before (2006-2012) and after (2020-2024) restoration in Pool 12 and a downstream, control reach, Pool 13. The first objective of my study …

Self-Assembling Rna Nanostructures Are Highly Sensitive To Environmental Conditions, Jordan Aposhian, Surya Pratap S. Deopa, Scott Horowitz, Joseph D. Yesselman

Chemistry and Biochemistry: Faculty Scholarship

Recent developments in RNA nanotechnology have led to an increase in the design of specific, higher-order RNA structures, which will ultimately be used in drug delivery and immunomodulation applications. As researchers create RNA nanostructures with the intention of making them a standard tool in molecular biologists' toolkits, further investigation is required into the robustness of RNA designs. Primarily, in what different molecular contexts are the designed and intended nanostructures stable? In this work, we show that RNA nanostructure self-assembly is highly sensitive to environmental conditions by using second-order right-angle light scattering. While a test RNA hexagonal grid nanostructure forms correctly …