Digital Commons Network^™

Bempedoic Acid: A Novel Lipid-Lowering Pharmacological Agent For The Management Of Dyslipidemia, Hajir Karim Abdul-Husseein

Maaen Journal for Medical Sciences

Bempedoic acid is a newly discovered a novel lipid-lowering non-statin agent used for the management of dyslipidemiaand the reduction of cardiovascular risk. Its therapeutic mechanism of action is mediated by the inactivation of upstream enzymatic activity of adenosine triphosphate-citrate lyase (ATP -citrate lyase) that implicated in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway. Clinical studies have reported that the treatment with bempedoic acid alone may reduce LDL-C levels via nearly 20% when compared with placebo, and by up to 38% when administered in combination with ezetimibe. This new drug has showed a satisfactory safety and tolerability profile demonstrated by a minimal level of …

The Impact Of Imo Regulations On Ship Emission Research: A Bibliometric Analysis, Halil İbrahim Sönmez

Seatific Journal

The regulation of ship emissions has become an important issue in the context of global environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation, and maritime policy. This study examines the impact of International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations on academic research related to ship engine emissions using a bibliometric methodology. A dataset consisting of 1,275 publications from 1995 to 2025 was extracted from the Scopus database and analyzed using the Biblioshiny package in RStudio. The average age of the studies was 5.77, while international collaboration was determined to be 28.08%. Outcomes show a 185.19% increase in post 2018 academic outputs following the implementation of …

Pengaruh Dedak Padi Dalam Ransum Ayam Lokal Yang Diberi Air Minum Mengandung Cemaran Kadmium Terhadap Performans, Deny Saefulhadjar, Iman Hernaman, Kurnia A. Kamil

Jurnal Ilmu Ternak Universitas Padjadjaran

Dedak padi banyak terdapat di daerah perdesaan. Bahan pakan ini mengandung fitat yang tinggi dan dapat mengikat Kadmium (Cd). Penelitian bertujuan untuk mempelajari lokal pengaruh penggunaan dedak padi dalam ransum ayam lokal yang diberi air minum mengandung cemaran kadmium terhadap performans. Dua puluh empat ekor ayam lokal digunakan dalam penelitian ini dengan bobot 422,08 ± 38,78 g. Dedak padi digunakan dalam ransum sebanyak 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50% selama 8 minggu. Air minum diberikan ad libitum mengandung 100 mg/kg Cd. Hasil, perlakuan menunjukkan perbedaan yang tidak nyata (P>0,05) terhadap performans. Penggunaan dedak padi sampai 50% lebih menguntungkan. Kadmium …

Addressing The Void Of Ai Policies In Education For Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Mikyung Shin, Fatmana Deniz, Latesha Watson, Cynthia Dieterich, Kathy B. Ewoldt, Friggita Johnson, Jennifer E. Kong, Sung Hee Lee, April Whitehurst

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The purpose of this study was to identify the current state of artificial intelligence (AI) policies in U.S. education and propose actionable recommendations through large language model–based topic modeling and Delphi surveys. Out of 12 policy documents released between 2015 and 2025, only two documents (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2024; W.A. v. Clarksville/Montgomery County School System, 2024) specifically addressed learning disabilities. Policy documents addressing topics such as AI-driven risk assessment, data protection, legal risk management, and ethical guidelines covering other disabilities and general AI in education policy were provided as baselines that could be discussed and validated through …

Fatigue Crack Length Estimation Using Acoustic Emissions Technique-Based Convolutional Neural Networks, Asaad Migot, Ahmed Saaudi, Roshan Joseph, Victor Giurgiutiu

Faculty Publications

Fatigue crack propagation is a critical failure mechanism in engineering structures, requiring meticulous monitoring for timely maintenance. This research introduces a deep learning framework for estimating fatigue fracture length in metallic plates through acoustic emission (AE) signals. AE waveforms recorded during crack growth are transformed into time-frequency images using the Choi–Williams distribution. First, a clustering system is developed to analyze the distribution of the AE image-based dataset. This system employs a CNN-based model to extract features from the input images. The AE dataset is then divided into three categories according to fatigue lengths using the K-means algorithm. Principal Component Analysis …

Pdr-Stgcn: An Enhanced Stgcn With Multi-Scale Periodic Fusion And A Dynamic Relational Graph For Traffic Forecasting, Jie Hu, Bingbing Tang, Langsha Zhu, Yiting Li, Jianjun Hu, Guanci Yang

Faculty Publications

Accurate traffic flow prediction is a core component of intelligent transportation systems, supporting proactive traffic management, resource optimization, and sustainable urban mobility. However, urban traffic networks exhibit heterogeneous multi-scale periodic patterns and time-varying spatial interactions among road segments, which are not sufficiently captured by many existing spatio-temporal forecasting models. To address this limitation, this paper proposes PDR-STGCN (Periodicity-Aware Dynamic Relational Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Network), an enhanced STGCN framework that jointly models multi-scale periodicity and dynamically evolving spatial dependencies for traffic flow prediction. Specifically, a periodicity-aware embedding module is designed to capture heterogeneous temporal cycles (e.g., daily and weekly patterns) and …

Changing High Water Exceedances In The Southeast U.S., Xavier Willis, Ian Kahn, Steven Meyers, Mark Luther

Making Waves REU

Sea level rise increases the likelihood that water levels will exceed flooding thresholds. This is particularly true for low-lying areas such as Florida. The rate of change of these exceedances is a topic of research, and important for planning community resilience to climate change. Data from NOAA coastal tide gauges for the Southeast U.S. were used to determine the annual 95th, 98th, and 99th percentile exceedance levels from 1975 to 2022, for each year and with Summer and Winter segments. Exceedance levels were on average 5-10% higher during Summer compared to Winter. The tide gauge station at Fernandina Beach had …

Pesticides Associated With Incident Diabetes Among Licensed Private Pesticide Applicators In The Agricultural Health Study Cohort (1993–2021), Laura E Beane Freeman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Growing evidence suggests pesticides may increase risk of type 2 diabetes, but data are limited on many specific chemicals.

Methods: In 29,527 private pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study cohort (enrolled 1993-1997 in Iowa and North Carolina), 3,847 incident diabetes cases were identified by self-report during follow-up surveys in 1999-2003, 2005-2010, 2013-2015, and 2019-2021. We examined 50 pesticides reported at enrollment, updated in 1999-2003 or 2005-2010, prior to diabetes diagnosis or end of follow-up, using log-binomial regression to calculate relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for ever-use and intensity-weighted lifetime days (IWLD) use (tertiles, T1-3), adjusting …

Statewide Sanctuary Policies And Female Homicide Rates, 2016–2021, Kaitlin M. Boyle, Sophia Shaiman, Veronica Valencia Gonzalez, Wendy Regoeczi

Faculty Publications

The current study examines whether state immigration enforcement policies, such as sanctuary policies that limit local police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, are associated with female homicide rates in the United States (2016–2021). We examine crude female homicide rates from the National Violent Death Reporting System (N = 244 state-years), which we stratify by race and ethnicity (Hispanic of all races, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White) and victim–suspect relationship (domestic vs. stranger homicide). State-years with policies that are more protective of immigrants were not associated with higher homicide rates for any group. Instead, state-years with these policies reported significantly lower …

"Uruk ... We Prefer 'Uruk'": The Representation Of The Orc In The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, Robert T. Tally Jr.

Journal of Tolkien Research

In Tolkien’s legendarium, there are many complicated characters, vexed figures who combine aspects of what readers might think of as good and evil, but Orcs are, it seems, always and only evil. This despite the fact that Tolkien’s own writings provide ample evidence that Orcs, however loathsome they may appear, are nevertheless people, a “race” that like Elves, Dwarves, Men, and Hobbits maintains social orders and belongs to Middle-earth. The Amazon Prime show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power offers a glimpse of Orc culture from within, as the audience is introduced to a mysterious new character, …

Betting On The Future By Re-Discovering The Past: History Of Hospital Infrastructure In Early Las Vegas And Southern Nevada, Aidy Weeks

Library Faculty Research

In the summer of 2025, the library director began reviewing resources available from the University Libraries Special Collections Portal to learn about early hospital infrastructure in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Using the keyword “hospital”, they reviewed 1,000 records to locate primary resources that could help tell the story of Las Vegas’s first hospital and Southern Nevada early history. In total, they located photos, oral histories, city documents, and newspaper articles, to help put together a timeline of which hospitals, current events, and key figures were critical in establishing a medical presence in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Information was …

Paywall Payout: A Three Year Review Of The Soml Open Article Fund, Aidy Weeks

Library Faculty Research

In 2022, the School of Medicine Library launched the Open Article Fund as a way to support faculty, residents, and fellows with their scholarly activities when submitting open access publications that would otherwise be ineligible for funding through the University Libraries fund which limited recipients to tenure-track faculty. After feedback from the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine Office of Research, The pilot fund was structured after the University Libraries funds with some modifications including awarding $2,000 instead of $1500 towards a publication, allowing for publications in hybrid journals, and requiring multi-author team submissions. The fund was initially supported by $30,000 …

Host-Derived Interleukin-1Α Drives Tumor Immunosuppression By Reprogramming Tumor-Associated Myeloid Cells, Manikanda Raja Keerthi Raja, Gourab Gupta, Grace Atkinson, Katie Kathrein, Alissa R. Armstrong, R. Michael Gower, Igor Roninson Ph.D., Eugenia Broude, Mengqian Chen Ph.D., Hao Ji, Chang-Uk Lim, Hongjun Wang, Daping Fan, Peisheng Xu Ph.D., Hexin Chen

Faculty Publications

Myeloid cells are highly heterogeneous and play key roles in establishing an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME), but the mechanisms controlling their differentiation remain unclear. Using orthotopic murine breast cancer models, we investigated how interleukin-1α (IL-1α) influences this process. Deletion of host Il1α resulted in rejection of transplanted tumors. Single-cell RNA sequencing identified CX3CR1⁺ macrophages as the main source of IL-1α in the TME. Il1α deficiency disrupted monocyte–macrophage differentiation, reducing CX3CR1⁺ macrophages and increasing iNOS⁺ macrophages. Myeloid cells from Il1α⁻/⁻ hosts induced lower PD-1 and CTLA-4 expression in co-cultured CD8⁺ T cells than those from wild-type hosts. CellChat analysis showed …

Inhibition Of Cdk8 Rescues Impaired Ischemic Fracture Healing, Christina A. Capobianco, Michelle J. Song, Easton C. Farrell, Alexander J. Knights, Karen Kessell, Alexis Donneys, Jeanna T. Schmanski, Luke R. Schroeder, Mengqian Chen Ph.D., Igor Roninson Ph.D., Yaday Wagley, Tristan Maerz, Kurt D. Hankenson

Faculty Publications

Annually, 10% of 15 million bone fractures in the US fail to heal, and fractures with compromised blood flow, i.e., ischemia, are five times more likely to become nonunions. While ischemia is known to impair healing, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this deficiency are unclear. Wild-type mice with surgically-induced ischemia underwent tibia fractures, and single-cell RNA-sequencing was performed on calluses at days 4 and 7 post-fracture. We observed delayed chondrogenic differentiation and upregulation of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8 (Cdk8) by stromal progenitors and fibroblasts in the ischemic callus. Hypoxia induced CDK8 gene expression in human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSC), …

Identifying Idealized Firn Core Sample Rates Of Annual Snow Accumulation On Larsen-C Ice Shelf, Saneru A. Williams, Orion L. Schomber, Brad E. Rosenheim

Making Waves REU

• Larsen-C ice shelf (LCIS) (Figure 1) à largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP)
• Eastern AP unstable (Table 1)
• Current stability uncertain

• Stable oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen (δ2H) isotopes in firn and ice provide climactic information
• Seasonality, annual accumulation, large-scale climactic modes
• Underutilized in firn

• Idealized sampling rates in firn have not been investigated across the LCIS
• Clear identification of sampling rates could provide insight for future firn core investigations

Reducing Work-Related Screen-Time In Healthcare Workers During Leisure Time (Reduce Screen) - A Randomized Controlled Trial, Megan L Rolfzen, Daniel I Sessler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The ubiquitous availability of work-related applications on personal devices makes healthcare workers prone to working during leisure time. We tested the hypothesis that an intervention to reduce work-related screen time during a weekend off reduces stress in healthcare workers in a pragmatic parallel design randomized controlled trial between November 2021 and November 2023. Healthcare workers using a smartphone with a work email application were eligible. Randomization was 1:1 to no treatment or a threefold educational intervention to: 1) activate automated responses to emails received, 2) reduce screen time, and 3) uninstall work applications from personal devices. The primary outcome was …

Plans4care, A Web Application Providing Caregivers Personalized Solutions To Manage Dementia-Related Care Challenges: Proof Of Concept And Efficacy Trial, Laura N. Gitlin, Eric Jutkowitz, Catherine V. Piersol, Sokha Koeuth, Taylor Sivori, Melinda J. Webster, Rachel N. Barnett, David L. Roth

Department of Occupational Therapy Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: Few dementia caregivers have access to evidence-based support programs. Web applications (app) may address this gap. Plans4Care, a web app, provides caregivers with on-demand personalized solutions to address care challenges. We present results of a proof-of-concept study and describe a trial protocol to test efficacy.

METHODS: To use Plans4Care, caregivers respond to brief onboarding questions, assess dementia patients' cognitive function, identify care challenges, and generate "action plans" (personalized strategies). Telehealth sessions with dementia-trained care advisors are available. A proof-of-concept study evaluated a clickable prototype using standardized technology scales to determine if >75 % scored positively on four criteria (acceptability, …

Premature Aging In Serious Mental Illness, Breno S Diniz, Gabriel R Fries, Chia-Ling Kuo, Ming Xu, Eric J Lenze

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Serious mental illnesses (SMIs), including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, have long been linked to cognitive decline, multiple chronic medical conditions, and premature mortality. These factors significantly contribute to the severe disability seen in SMIs, extending beyond the severity of psychopathology and indicating a premature aging phenotype associated with these conditions. The mechanisms that underlie the relationship between SMIs and the premature aging phenotype are not well understood, but recent evidence suggests that individuals with SMIs may exhibit accelerated biological aging. In this review, we present a comprehensive analysis of the current literature, demonstrating the potential association of …

Foxo1 Inhibition And Fadd Knockdown Have Opposing Effects On Anticancer Drug-Induced Cytotoxicity And P21 Expression In Osteosarcoma Cells, Danielle Walker, Antanay Hall, Alexis Bonwell, Nancy Gordon, Danielle Robinson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Forkhead box class O1 (FOXO1) and fas-associated death domain (FADD) regulate cell death pathways and homeostatic processes such as cell cycle progression and apoptosis. FADD phosphorylation promotes nuclear localization of FOXO1, and FOXO1 regulates FADD expression. Therefore, it is plausible that FOXO1 and FADD have synergistic or antagonistic effects on cell cycle regulation and the response to anticancer drug treatment in cancer cells. In the present study, we report that AS1842856-mediated inhibition of FOXO1 reverses anticancer drug-induced cytotoxicity, while FADD knockdown increases anticancer drug-induced cytotoxicity in osteosarcoma (OS). Reversed anticancer drug-induced cytotoxicity was accompanied by G2/M cell cycle arrest and …

The Nostalgia Of Jon Stewart: The Looming Extinction Of Journalism, James C. Smoot

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Death-Drive America: On Scott Wilson's Vision Of The Cultural Politics Of American Nihilism In The Age Of Supercapitalismmark, Mark Featherstone

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

About The Authors, Fast Capitalism Editorial Team

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Fast Capitalism Editorial Team

Fast Capitalism

No abstract provided.

The Aperspectival Playfulness Of Allan Leslie Combs, Zeke Floro

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This commemorative article reflects on the work of the late Dr. Allan Leslie Combs, a pioneering scholar in consciousness studies and an influential mentor. The essay argues that his scholarly writing, characterized by profound openness, heartfelt compassion, and sharp wit, represents an embodiment of the integral consciousness he writes about. Through a close reading of his essays and a personal reflection on his mentorship, the article connects his playful style to Jean Gebser’s concept of aperspectival consciousness and frames his humor within Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of divine “play” (lila), concluding that, for Combs, scholarship is an embodied practice …

Poetry Chronicle: Erica Jong, Peter Wild, And Others, John Ditsky

Ontario Review

JOHN DITSKY, a former contributor to OR, has published poetry, essays, and reviews in a number of North American journals. He is poetry editor of Windsor Review and Professor of English at the University of Windsor, where he teaches American literature and Modern Drama.

Field Trip, Art Hill

Ontario Review

ART HILL of Birmingham, Michigan is the author of an essay on Malcolm Lowry which appeared in a recent issue of Canadian Literature.

Two Poems: Opening Up; I Preserve My Father's Live Body, Joe David Bellamy

Ontario Review

JOE DAVID BELLAMY's most recent book is The New Fiction: Interviews with Innovative American Writers (University of Illinois Press). An associate professor of English at St. Lawrence University, he is also editor of fiction international. His work has appeared in a number of magazines, including Atlantic Monthly, Partisan Review, and Novel.

In Ettrick Forest, Robert Cockburn

Ontario Review

ROBERT COCKBURN's first collection of poems, That Far Shore, was published this spring. An associate professor of English at the University of New Brunswick, he is the author of The Novels of Hugh MacLennan and an associate editor of English Studies in Canada. His poems have appeared in Dalhousie R eview, West Coast Review, Canadian Forum , and other magazines.

A Dramalife, Gerry Raling Connolly

Ontario Review

GERRY RALING CONNOLLY has worked at the Folger Shakespeare Library and is currently a teaching assistant in the English Department at the University of Maryland.

The Salt Mines, Marian Engel

Ontario Review

MARIAN ENGEL, a resident of Toronto, has contributed fiction and essays to a number of Canadian magazines, most recently Chatelaine and Queen's Quarterly. Among her novels are The Honeyman Festival, No Clouds of Glory, and Monodromos.