Digital Commons Network^™

Microplastics, Nanoplastics, And Obesity: Current Evidence And Biological Mechanisms, Maram Albandak, Sanam Rabeeah, Ahmad Mahdi Zahidi, David A. Johnson

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Obesity is a rapidly growing global health concern. The pathogenesis is complex and cannot be fully explained by lifestyle factors alone. The increasing attention towards this concern has finally been directed towards environmental contributors which may influence metabolic regulation. Microplastics and nano-plastics (MNPs) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that have recently been detected in food, drinking water, air, and human biological samples, raising concerns about their potential role in metabolic disorders, including obesity. Chronic exposure to MNPs may interfere with metabolic homeostasis through multiple biological pathways. Emerging evidence, including both experimental and animal studies, reports alterations in lipid metabolism, body weight, …

Differential Impact Of Catheter Ablation Across Heart Failure Phenotypes In Atrial Fibrillation: A Grade Assessed Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Faizan Ahmed, Ayesha Zulfiqar, Mohamed Nasser Elshabrawi, Omama Ayatullah, Sheraz Qasim, Hira Sarfraz, Haris Bin Tahir, Faseeh Haider, Maryam Fatima, Syed Ahmed Ali Shah, Ameema Kaleem, Muhammad Taha Altaf, Muhammad Bin Aslam Zahid, Nazila Dalir, Manal Zia, Amro Taha, Abdul Qadeer, Bhavin Patel, Khurram Arshad

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is highly prevalent in heart failure (HF) and is linked to increased mortality and hospitalization in both preserved (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Catheter ablation (CA) has emerged as an effective rhythm-control strategy beyond medical therapy (MT), but phenotype-specific differences remain unclear. We compared the efficacy and safety of CA versus MT in AF with HFpEF or HFrEF.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane databases were searched through December 2025. Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted in R (version 4.5.3), reporting risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

Results: Fifteen studies involving …

Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Targeting Viral Persistence In Post-Covid-19 Condition (Long Covid) In The Usa (Recover-Vital): A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo Controlled, Phase 2 Trial, Lindsey R. Baden, Nirav S. Shah, Sean T. H. Liu, Jonathan Cohen, James May, Andre Kumar, Grace A. Mccomsey, Peter Chen, Michelle Floris-Moore, Nora G. Singer, Inti Fernandez, Alex J. Slandzicki, Zanthia Wiley, Alexandra Kadl, David A. Kaminsky, Harvey Hsu, Tiffany A. Walker, Aluko A. Hope, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Jason D. Goldman, Michael J. Peluso, Thomas F. Patterson, Sairam Parthasarathy, Janet M. Mullington, Paul Bolin Jr., Sarah E. Jolley, Jerry A. Krishnan, Mario Castro, Sally L. Hodder, Priscilla Pemu, Helen Y. Chu, Michael G. Risbano, Maya R. Jerath, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Ryan T. Hurt, Radica Alicic, Nabila S. Azad, Marc A. Sala, Michelle S. Harkins, Jeffrey Parsonnet, Neil Stafford, Philip Robinson, Sabiha Hussain, Xian Qiao, Sophie Two Hawk, Michael Lillestol, Nathan Erdmann, Kelly A. Gebo, Praveen Sudhindra, Joseph Sassine, Gailen D. Marshall, Tulika Chatterjee, Caryn G. Morse, Eyal Kedar, William W. Stringer, Jennifer A. Frontera, Michael Jordon, Caitlin Blaskewicz, Jorge L. Santana, Rachel A. Foot, Cherry Wongtrakool, Matthew William Mccarthy, Alem Mehari, Arch Amon, Alison K. Cohen, Nita Jain, Christine Maughan, Doug Lindsay, Rachel Olson, Samuel Broderick, Pearl Rowe, Sean M. O'Brien, David R. Walt, Bruce D. Levy, Leonard A. Jason, Phillip A. Low, Cyndya A. Shibao, Barry Make, Lucinda Bateman, Susan Redline, David Knopman, Adrian F. Hernandez, Tracy L. Nolen, Craig Reist, Lisa Berdan, Richard Whitley, Kanecia O. Zimmerman, For The Recover-Vital Clinical Trial Group

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background

Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, more commonly known as long COVID, has emerged as a major health problem. The pathogenesis of long COVID is unknown, but among the leading hypotheses is viral persistence. We aimed to investigate whether the use of the SARS-CoV-2 antiviral nirmatrelvir-ritonavir improved long COVID symptoms.

Methods

We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial involving adults who had developed persistent symptoms (≥12 weeks) associated with three major symptom phenotypes (cognitive, autonomic, or exercise) after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection at 69 US sites. Participants were eligible if they were 18 years or older and had a previous suspected, …

Developing An End-To-End Ecosystem Model To Inform Management Of Hudson River Estuary And New York Bight Ecosystem, Xiangyan Yang

Electronic Dissertations and Theses, 2010-current

Ecosystem models provide a powerful framework for evaluating complex anthropogenic impacts because they explicitly represent interactions among species and between biological and physical components of ecosystems. Preliminary analyses indicated that increasing temperature is a major driver of shifts in species distributions and biomass within the Hudson River Estuary and New York Bight (HRE-NYB), the focal region of this dissertation. This dissertation develops an end-to-end (E2E) ecosystem modeling framework to investigate the ecological consequences of climate-induced species distributional shifts in this climate-sensitive region. Habitat suitability index models were developed and validated using sea surface temperature as a key thermal indicator to …

From Germination To Transformation: Policy Studies In China Over The Past Half-Century (1970s–2020s), Shuai Cao, Ping Xu, Hongtao Yi, Ling Zhu

Political Science Faculty Publications

Over the past half-century, policy studies in China have undergone a remarkable evolution. This paper seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of the field's development by tracing its origins and transformations over time. We introduce a time-based and multifaceted framework that delineates the evolution of policy studies in China into four distinct phases: germination (1978 to mid-1990s), burgeoning (late 1990s to 2012), normalization (2013 to 2022), and transformation (2023 to present). We first analyze the evolution of each phase in terms of historical contexts, disciplinary development, policy research (including policy domains, theoretical advancements, and methodological approaches), and intellectual engagement with …

Location, Location, Reaction: How Mandatory Ip Disclosure Silences Critics And Sparks Backlash, Sirui Li, Ping Xu, Yue Guo

Political Science Faculty Publications

Previous research has identified two competing outcomes of regulatory disclosure for negative online sentiment: chilling effects, which suppress negative online sentiment, and reactance effects, which intensify it. In this study, we apply these theories to examine the impact of mandatory IP location disclosure on citizens' negative online sentiment expressed on Sina Weibo, a leading Chinese social media platform. We argue that the mandatory IP location disclosure can have opposite effects on negative online sentiment depending on the type of social media context. To test this, we use a quasi-natural experiment and analyze more than 160,000 comments posted before and after …

The Gendered Path Of Least Resistance: First Entry And Exit Behaviors Of Public And Nonprofit Employees, Tiana Marrese, Ying Liu, Femida Handy

Political Science Faculty Publications

Public and nonprofit organizations exhibit high rates of female employment often attributed to sector structures and social roles. To better understand how individual behaviors dynamically contribute to these distinctive ratios, we deconstruct public and nonprofit employment into gendered patterns of attraction and attachment. Using duration analysis and following a cohort from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, this research finds that women demonstrate a higher attraction to their first public and nonprofit job compared to men, evidenced through a faster rate of entry into this employment. There are no significant gender differences when considering the duration of an individual's …

The Rise Of Global Collaboration In China Policy Research: Evidence From Bibliometric Network Analyses, 2000–2025, Yu Xiao, Aaron Ley, Ping Xu

Political Science Faculty Publications

This study examines the evolution of China policy research and its growing role in global policy scholarship. Using bibliometric and social network analyses of 326 articles published in 20 high-impact political science journals from 2000 to 2025, we trace the field’s expansion, identify key thematic concentrations, and document the emergence of robust international collaboration patterns. Cross-national co-authorship networks reveal a clear transition from a fragmented, Western-centered structure to a dual-hub system anchored by Mainland China and the United States, while institution-level networks show that leading Chinese universities have become central collaborators and Hong Kong institutions continue to serve as critical …

From The Goodness Of Our Hearts: A Scoping Review Of Qualitative Literature On Altruism As A Reward Mechanism For Nursing, Jacqueline Christianson, Madaline Mccarthy, Bonnie Sommers-Olson, Emily Horner, Norah L. Johnson

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Introduction

Altruism, the desire to help others, is a common motivation for choosing a career in nursing. Improved understanding of the role of altruism as a reward or motivation for currently-practicing nurses may inform future interventions to improve effort-reward balance among practicing nurses. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to collect, examine, and present literature on how altruism has been described as a reward mechanism or motivation for engaging in professional nursing.

Methods

This scoping review of literature used the Arksey & O’Malley method, PRISMA-ScR reporting checklist, and Rayyan review management platform. PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL were …

Lost Fractures: Prevalence And Risk Factors For Missed Costosternal And Costal Cartilage Fractures Among Patients With Radiologic Chest Wall Injury., Joseph D Forrester, Mohamad Abou Chaar, Andrew T Barnes, Zachary M Bauman, Samy Bendjemil, Nizama N Betts, Benjamin Christie, Raaga Dasari, Devoe Wb, Michelle J Earley, Bradley Faliks, Tracy J Johns, Connie Johnson, Michelle S Junker, Brian D Kim, Jonathan M King, Ariel Whitney Knight, Alexis A Schweibinz, Daniel Stephens, Mary Stuever, Simeng Wang

Trauma and Acute Care Articles

BACKGROUND: Costosternal cartilages and the costal margin, collectively termed costal cartilage, are hyaline cartilage connecting ribs to the sternum and to adjacent ribs, respectively. Presence of intact costal cartilage is essential for elasticity of the chest wall. Anecdotally, costal cartilage injuries are underdiagnosed on trauma CT scan in patients with rib fractures. Our aim was to determine a baseline frequency of acute costal cartilage injury among patients presenting with rib fractures.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of injured adult patients admitted to Level I/II trauma centers with rib fractures from January 2020 to July 2024. CT images obtained …