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Equid Major Histocompatibility Complex (Mhc) Evolution & Genome Organization, Lauren C. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

The evolution of modern horses has a well-documented fossil record and has long been of interest to the genetics community. Although non-caballine equids (e.g. zebras, donkeys, and asses) can hybridize with horses, the resulting offspring are typically infertile. Despite these reproductive barriers, genomic analyses reveal regions of high sequence similarity among equid species. This dissertation investigates the role of historical introgression in the evolution of modern Equus species. The first chapter re-evaluates earlier findings derived from a limited horse population and a single reference genome. The variants of the identified regions were pushed through Ensembl’s Variant Effect Predictor to assess …

Environmental Detection And Quantification Of Equid Alphaherpesviruses In Equine Facilities Using Air Sampling, Emma E. Hyde

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 and 4 (EHV-1/-4) circulate at equestrian facilities, contributing to outbreaks. Due to the complexities of the pathogen, including the limited predictability of reactivation from latency and the effects associated with secondary sites of viral replication, abortion, and neurologic disease, EHV infections are of utmost concern to the equine industry. Recent studies have highlighted the prevalence of the viruses in stabling areas at competitions, though little is known about this phenomenon in other high-traffic equine environments. This thesis presents two studies using air sampling surveillance methods to further explore the viral detection in other equine environments (veterinary facility …

Religiosity And Political Affiliation As Moderators For Climate Change Belief, Jenna L. Hiljus

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Climate change remains a polarized issue in the United States despite broad scientific consensus. The present study examined how specific variables within political ideology (social and economic conservatism) and religiosity (belief, praxis, and morality) relate to climate change belief among undergraduate students at a private Christian university. Participants (N = 130) completed measures of climate change perceptions, multidimensional religiosity, and social and economic conservatism. Correlational analyses showed medium-sized, negative relationships between climate change belief and both social and economic conservatism, with no significant difference between the two domains. This finding suggests that political conservatism may operate as a unified construct …

Bovine Lactoferrin Maintains Antibacterial Effect Against Neonatal Escherichia Coli Septicaemia Isolates Despite The Presence Of Iron Acquisition Genes, Matthew Mayorga, Joshua Wheatley, Brianna N. Maldonado, Susana Chavez-Bueno

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Introduction. Escherichia coli is a dominant cause of neonatal sepsis for which no prevention measures currently exist. Lactoferrin (LF) is an iron-sequestering antibacterial protein that has been noticed to decrease neonatal late-onset sepsis.Hypothesis/Gap Statement. LF's effect on in vitro growth of neonatal E. coli clinical isolates causing septicaemia is unknown. The prevalence of iron acquisition virulence genes which contribute to pathogenicity outcomes in these strains has also not been described in detail.Aim. To evaluate bovine lactoferrin's (bLF) effects on the in vitro growth of neonatal septicaemia E. coli isolates, and to determine the presence of iron acquisition virulence …

Evaluation Of Mycoplasma Genitalium Positivity And Co-Infection With Chlamydia Trachomatis And/Or Neisseria Gonorrhoeae At Various Care Sites Across The United States, Rebecca Lillis, Rodney Arcenas, Christy M. Boraas, Steven E. Chavoustie, Lashonda Crane, Nicole D'Empaire, Aaron C. Ermel, Glenn Harnett, Federico Hinestrosa, Stacey House, Joseph Miller, Anthony Mills, Ronald Poblete, Stephen Young, Barbara Van Der Pol

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) positivity and co-infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and/or Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), based on results from a trial assessing clinical performance of the Cobas® Liat CT/NG/MG point-of-care test. METHODS: A prospective, US, multicenter, noninterventional study assessed MG positivity in prospective urine samples (male) and clinician-collected vaginal swabs (female) from symptomatic/asymptomatic patients aged ≥14 years attending various clinical settings. Participants were designated positive or negative for MG, CT, and NG based on combined results from three US Food and Drug Administration-approved assays and one laboratory-developed test. MG co-infection with CT and/or NG was assessed. RESULTS: Among …

Socio-Spatial Patterns Of Suicide Mortality In The United States, Kushagra Tiwari, M. Amin Rahimian, Marie-Laure Charpignon, Philippe J. Giabbanelli, Praveen Kumar

VMASC Publications

Suicides cause more than 49,000 deaths per year in the United States, including 55% associated with the use of a firearm. Across states and counties in the US, suicide mortality exhibits substantial geographical and sociodemographic heterogeneity. However, the role of large-scale social networks in shaping this variation remains underexplored. To assess how both the risk of suicide mortality and the effect of firearm restriction policies propagate through inter-county social ties, we integrate data on county-level suicide mortality (2010–2022) and the Facebook Social Connectedness Index (SCI), a continuous measure of the strength of social ties between counties used to derive weighted …

Nanosecond Electric Pulses As A Novel In Situ Vaccination Strategy For Cancer Treatment: Mechanisms, Challenges And Prospects, Siqi Guo

Bioelectrics Publications

Nanosecond electric pulses (nsEPs) are an emerging pulsed-power technology with unique bioelectric characteristics distinct from conventional long-pulse electroporation. As a tunable physical modality, nsEPs can modulate intracellular structures, membrane dynamics, and signaling pathways. Increasing evidence supports nsEPs as a promising non-thermal tumor ablation approach due to their high spatial precision, preservation of critical tissue structures, and minimal adverse effects. One of the most significant discoveries associated with nsEP tumor ablation is the induction of potent systemic antitumor immunity, particularly in situ vaccination (ISV) effects and, in some cases, abscopal effects against distant untreated tumors. Substantial evidence demonstrates that nsEPs can …

Politics Of A Silent Pandemic: Antimicrobial Resistance And State Capacity In India And Nigeria, Mia Kelly

CMC Senior Theses

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has emerged as one of the most pressing yet widely underestimated health threats of the 21st century; this thesis explores the potentially devastating global impact of this “silent pandemic”, exposing how deeply health outcomes depend on political choices, regulatory capacity, and economic constraints. Although the danger of spreading drug-resistant pathogens is now widely acknowledged in both the scientific and political communities, states differ in their abilities to contain the issue, with low- and middle-income countries facing the greatest obstacles to national action plan implementation. This thesis investigates these disparities through a comparison of India and Nigeria, two …

Determinants Of Routine Childhood And Adolescent Vaccine Hesitancy And Uptake Among Parents In The United States: A Scoping Review, Precious Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Routine childhood and adolescent vaccination is an essential public health strategy for preventing disease and protecting communities. However, parental vaccine hesitancy and barriers to vaccine uptake continue to affect vaccination decisions in the United States. This scoping review examined factors associated with routine childhood and adolescent vaccine hesitancy and uptake among U.S. parents. A comprehensive literature search of PubMed and EBSCO identified peer-reviewed studies published in English between 2016 and 2026. Studies focusing on parents, guardians, or caregivers of children and adolescents in the United States were screened according to predefined eligibility criteria. Of 69 records identified, 52 remained after …

Why Queer People Like Horror Films: An Empirical Study, Oscar Garcia

Theses & ETDs

Many queer people hold a particular affinity for horror films, despite the history of harm to queer people that those films have helped to perpetuate. Previous explorations of this relationship have focused on timelines of queer and film history, personal anecdotes, and theorization about these films and the audiences who view them, with no broad study examining how queer people themselves interact with and perceive the media. This study explores how queer people engage with horror films using a multi-method approach that involves a survey and qualitative interviews, examining queer horror fans’ opinions about subgenres, identifications, preferences, impacts of horror …

Protecting Wild Animal Abundance, Natalie Jacewicz

Utah Law Review

Americans today encounter billions fewer wild animals than their grandparents did. These ongoing losses affect an enormous array of interests, including billions of dollars in costs to agriculture, tourism, and land management, as well as lost wildlife encounters. Dramatic declines in wild animal abundance reveal a blind spot in American law: In general, environmental law does not aim to protect the “supply” of wild animals we think of as common. Because scientists have only recently begun to appreciate the scale of common animal loss, the phenomenon has received comparatively little attention from legal scholars. This Article sets forth the problem …

Maine Law Magazine - Issue No. 100, University Of Maine School Of Law

Maine Law Magazine

Features

• Maine Law’s Privacy Program Continues to Innovate
  How Maine Law’s privacy and innovation programs are preparing students for emerging legal challenges.

• New Business & Law Clinic
  Strengthening Maine’s economy one startup at a time.

• Global Experiential Learning
  From the Arctic Circle to U.N. climate negotiations, students engage with environmental law where it happens.

• Rural Access to Justice
  The Rural Practice Clinic’s impact on Maine’s growing justice gap.

• Law & Conservation Efforts
  How Maine Law alumni steward change and safeguard the future through environmental advocacy.

• Supporting Maine’s Vulnerable
  The Refugee & Human Rights Clinic expands access to justice across Maine. …

The Multidimensional Impacts Of Poverty On Adolescent Outcomes, Klarence Baker

Graduate Research Papers

Poverty is a pervasive, multidimensional phenomenon that extends beyond financial scarcity to encompass a lack of both tangible and intangible resources necessary for healthy development. This research article synthesizes current literature to explore the profound impacts of poverty on adolescents specifically examining how economic hardship influences long term outcomes in financial attainment, educational success, and physical and mental health. This study investigates how cooccurring risk factors can disrupt neural development and social trajectories. The primary purpose of this study is to assess the duration and severity of poverty exposure and its lasting effects extending into adulthood. This research examines three …

Digital Technology And Women’S Health In Nigeria: A Feminist Sts Walkthrough Analysis Of Mdoc Digital Health, Edith Michael Ogbodo

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis critically examines how a Nigerian digital health platform, mDoc, represents and constructs women’s health. Drawing on Feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Light et al.’s (2018) walkthrough method, the study interrogates the values, assumptions, and power relations embedded in mDoc’s design, language, and governance structures. The analysis reveals that mDoc, despite positioning itself as an equitable solution to Nigeria’s health crisis, reproduces and depoliticizes the structural inequalities it claims to address. Through its neoliberal emphasis on self-care, the individualization of structurally produced suffering, and the datafication of women’s bodies, the platform encodes gendered, colonial, and class-based assumptions …

Computational And Ai Frameworks For Identifying Key Regulatory Genes And Their Target Genes In Plants And Humans, Md Khairul Islam

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This dissertation presents computational and AI-driven frameworks for identifying key regulatory genes and their downstream targets across plant and human biological systems. Three studies address distinct challenges in genomic regulation using advanced machine learning and bioinformatics approaches.

The first study introduces DyGAF (Dynamic Gene Attention Focus), a dual-attention transformer framework that identifies and ranks disease-relevant biomarker genes by simultaneously modeling independent molecular responses and interdependent regulatory network behavior. Two attention models provide complementary perspectives on gene importance and are fused through a novel combination metric. Applied to COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab profiles, the attention-weighted representations achieved 94.23% classification accuracy, high sensitivity, …

The “Multi-Normative” Biological Weapons Convention: A Study Of The 2022 Article V Meeting In Geneva, Robert Lawless

Emory International Law Review

In September 2022, States parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) held a Formal Consultative Meeting in Geneva pursuant to Article V of the Convention, following Russia’s allegations that the United States and Ukraine had developed biological weapons in violation of BWC prohibitions. Although largely overlooked in public discourse, the Geneva meeting provides a revealing example of the BWC in practice. This article examines the Geneva meeting to assess the Convention’s normative role in contemporary international relations. It argues that States parties reaffirmed their commitment to the BWC’s core prohibition against the hostile use of biological agents against humans. Moreover, …

Calcinosis Cutis In A Young Patient With End-Stage Renal Disease: A Severe And Morbid Complication, Gopi Mulaka, Babu Shaik, Jaya Surya Manimekalai, Durga Dandu, Rupali Prabhukhot

North Texas GME Research Forum 2026

BACKGROUND/ INTRODUCTION: Calcinosis cutis is a rare but serious complication of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), often related to disordered calcium–phosphate metabolism. It can lead to significant morbidity, recurrent infections, and challenging management decisions.

CASE PRESENTATION: We present a 23-year-old male with ESRD on hemodialysis, hypertension, anemia of chronic disease, and a left upper extremity arteriovenous fistula who developed progressive pain, swelling, and purulent drainage involving the left third and fourth digits. Imaging revealed extensive soft tissue calcifications consistent with calcinosis cutis. His hospital course was complicated by recurrent infections, osteomyelitis, and gangrene despite antibiotic therapy and wound care, ultimately requiring …

Septic Arthritis Suspected But Pseudogout Confirmed: The Importance Of Early Joint Aspiration And Crystal Analysis, Munazzah Kaleem, Jose Lozano

North Texas GME Research Forum 2026

BACKGROUND/ INTRODUCTION: Septic arthritis present as an acute monoarticular arthritis and is highly suspected in patients with risk factors including DM, ESRD, and bacteremia. As a result, empiric antibiotics are usually started prior to definitive diagnosis. But crystal induced arthropathies closely mimic septic arthritis in their presentation. This case highlights the importance of early arthrocentesis to avoid unnecessary antibiotic treatment.

CASE PRESENTATION: 50-year-old female on antibiotics for MSSA bacteremia presented due to acute onset left hip pain, swelling and decreased range of motion. No trigger was present. PMH included HTN, T2DM and ESRD on HD. She denied fever, chills or …

Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis: A Two-Year Journey, Jason Woods, Padmaditya Sureddi, Nga Van, Danielle Ford

North Texas GME Research Forum 2026

BACKGROUND: Highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) has decreased the incidence of opportunistic infections among persons with HIV. Invasive aspergillosis specifically is uncommon among individuals with clusters of differentiation 4 (CD4) count >100 cells/mm3. Furthermore, treatment of aspergillosis in the HIV-infected population has not been examined systematically. We report a patient with CD4 count >200 cells/mm3, compliant with HAART therapy who developed invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) over the course of two years that was successfully treated through a combination of bronchial artery embolization and liposomal amphotericin.

CASE PRESENTATION: A 56-year-old man from southern Africa with four-year history of HIV-1 on HAART …

Impact Of Mips Measure 66 On The Incidence Of Pta's, Sydney Finch, Christopher Houston

North Texas GME Research Forum 2026

INTRO

A number of randomized controlled trials indicate that using point-of-care group A strep (POC GAS) testing decreases antibiotic utilization without compromising health outcomes. In 2018, the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) measure 66 went into effect requiring the testing for GAS when treating pharyngitis. The intent was to decrease the unnecessary use of antibiotics in the treatment of pharyngitis, given that most cases are viral. Anecdotally, some physicians have noticed the increased incidence of peritonsillar abscesses (PTA). Our research group aims to investigate if there has been a significant increase in incidence of PTAs after the implementation of MIPS …

A Novel Tyrosine Kinase Axis In Innate Immune Signaling, Santanu Das, Pracheta Sengupta, Manoj Veleeparambil, Saurabh Chattopadhyay

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Tyrosine phosphorylation has emerged as a central regulatory mechanism in innate immunity. Building on our recent studies that Syk and EGFR sequentially phosphorylate TLR9 to fully activate it, we discuss how similar mechanisms operate across other Toll-like receptors and the cytosolic DNA sensor STING. Evidence from complementary systems reveals that receptor and nonreceptor tyrosine kinases, including Src-family kinases, Syk, BTK, and EGFR, form an integrated signaling network that triggers receptor activation, trafficking, and downstream gene expression. Scavenger receptors such as SR-A further drive this kinase cascade by coordinating viral recognition to TLR activation. These observations reveal a novel ‘tyrosine kinase …

Bariatric Surgery Impacts Immune Cell Metabolism And Function Dependent On Metabolic Status, Samantha N. Hart

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), one of the top ten causes of death worldwide, is fueled by chronic inflammation. T2D is considered a metabolic disease, and there is a great push to target metabolic and associated inflammatory pathways to ameliorate the disease & its comorbidities i.e., obesity and cardiovascular disease. Thus far, clinical trials of anti-inflammatory drugs have had modest impacts on T2D and have not led to changes in clinical practice. This may in part be due to a gap in knowledge in the mechanism(s) driving obesity-associated chronic inflammation. I posit that metabolic abnormalities in immune cells in those with …

Whole Genome Sequencing: Considering Regulations, Policies, And Procedures, Nyaw Lar Too

Athena: Undergraduate Research and Literary Journal

This research explores the opinions of young adults between the ages of 19 to 30 about the vulnerabilities of using DNA sequencing tests as a part of couples’ prenatal care to determine every possible mutation, variation, and cancers possible for future offspring. A survey-based experiment was used to gather information from a sample of 17 young adults within the aforementioned age group. The findings from the surveys are intended to assist scientists in acknowledging public opinion and aid in guiding their decisions on how to move forward with genome sequencing. Ultimately, the survey findings could give scientists an idea of …

Electrochemical Hemoglobin Biosensors For Point-Of-Care Diagnostics, Ashwini Dantanarayana, Gymama Slaughter

Center for Bioelectronics Publications

Hemoglobin (Hb) and its glycated variant (HbA1c) are essential clinical biomarkers for diagnosing anemia, acute hemorrhage, and long-term glycemic control. The growing demand for decentralized point-of-care (POC) testing has accelerated the development of rapid, inexpensive, and portable electrochemical sensing platforms. These technologies exploit the intrinsic redox activity of the heme prosthetic group, yet achieving efficient direct electron transfer (DET) remains a fundamental challenge because the electroactive iron center is deeply embedded within the globin structure. This review critically examines recent advances in electrochemical Hb sensing, tracing the evolution of electrode architectures from conventional carbon substrates to nanostructured materials, including graphene, …

A Phylogenetic Analysis Of Avian-Associated Ixodes Scapularis & Implications For Lyme Disease, Nora Correiro

Honors Theses

Lyme disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by the blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis, is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States. Whereas Lyme disease is concentrated in the northeastern US, I. scapularis exists in the southeast as well, and the ticks in these regions generally separate into northern and southern evolutionary lineages. Although recent analyses suggest unidirectional and limited gene flow from north to south due to behavioral, ecological, and environmental barriers, the mechanisms underlying the persistence of this limited gene flow remain unclear. This study examines whether bird-mediated dispersal may facilitate south-to-north gene …

2026 Cancelled Titles With Alternate Access, Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library

Himmelfarb Library Liaison Letters

No abstract provided.

Nurses' Perspectives On Caring For Critically Ill Children During A Measles Outbreak: A Case Report, Cara Everard Gallegos, Melissa Gale Robinson, Brittny Ayola, Lacey Kovar, Nicole Roehrig

Covenant Nurses Week 2026

No abstract provided.

Elevated Temperatures Disrupt Wolbachia-Induced Feminisation And Reshape Microbial Community Dynamics Across Generations In A Spider Host, Virginija Mackevicius-Dubickaja, Jennifer A. White, Ellen E. Williams, Eyal Klement, Yuval Gottlieb, Matthew R. Doremus

Entomology Faculty Publications

Longitudinal microbial interactions within a host are challenging to study, leading to a focus on constructed microbial communities in vitro settings. Here, we take advantage of a naturally defined microbial community within a spider host to study how elevated temperatures influence microbial dynamics and phenotypes across host generations. The spider Mermessus fradeorum hosts up to five endosymbionts, including a Wolbachia strain, W1, which induces feminisation, causing genetic males to develop as phenotypic females, skewing sex ratios and promoting symbiont spread. Despite this, Wolbachia 1 persists at intermediate frequencies in wild populations. We hypothesised that elevated temperatures might reduce penetration of …

Calculus In Context: The Five College Calculus Project, James Callahan, Kenneth Hoffman, David Cox, Donal O'Shea, Harriet Pollatsek, Lester Senechal

Open Educational Resources: Textbooks

Calculus in Context: The Five College Calculus Project is a thorough reframing of what it means to learn calculus. It starts with a “clean slate;” there is no presumptive commitment to any aspect of the traditional course. Instead, the curriculum is guided by the following principles:

• Calculus is fundamentally a way of dealing with functional relationships that occur in scientific and mathematical contexts. The techniques of calculus must be subordinate to an overall view of the underlying questions.
• Technology radically enlarges the range of questions we can explore and the ways we can answer them. Computers can be engaged as …

Integrating Routine Hiv Screening Into A Sexually Transmitted Infection Panel At An Opioid Addiction Treatment Facility: A Dnp Clinical Practice Change, Stephanie Bass

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

People who use drugs are at increased risk of contracting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, hepatitis B infection, hepatitis C, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) due to high-risk behaviors, including needle sharing, incarceration, multiple sex partners, and unprotected sex. Individuals with substance use disorders are also at increased risk for liver dysfunction, renal impairment, and other medical comorbidities associated with chronic substance use. Although many organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommend routine screening and laboratory monitoring in high-risk populations, many addiction treatment facilities in the United States lack standardized protocols for bloodborne infection, STI screening, …