Digital Commons Network^™

“If He Did It, I Can Do It, Too. I Can Change My Life Around”: The Social Model Of Recovery Within The Context Of Recovery Homes Accepting Residents Prescribed Medications For Opioid Use Disorder, Jodie M Dewey, Kathryn R Gallardo, Meenakshi S Subbaraman, Amy A Mericle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: This paper provides an in-depth examination of examines four recovery residences, that serve individuals prescribed medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The study has two primary aims: first, to deepen understanding of how recovery residences adopt and operationalize Social Model of Recovery principles; and second, to identify gaps in staff integration of residents receiving MOUD-gaps that may either support or undermine the integrity of the social model within these settings.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 17 residents receiving MOUD living in four participating recovery homes. The interviews were conducted between August 2022 and January 2024 using a semi-structured …

Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Are Associated With Less Later-Life Cognitive Decline In A Longitudinal, Prospective Cohort, Molly M Fox, Jennifer E Bramen, Dayoon Kwon, Mark A Espeland, Yijia Sun, Li Zhang, Aladdin H Shadyab, Ramon Casanova, Joann E Manson, Marcus Y Chang, Verna R Porter, Leslie V Farland, Qian Xiao, Robert A Wild, Prabha Siddarth, Carolyn J Crandall

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: The brains of female mammals evolved to undergo structural and functional changes during pregnancy and lactation, equipping them for motherhood. However, long-term cognitive health implications of these adaptations in women are poorly understood.

Methods: In the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Memory Study (WHIMS; n = 7427) and WHI Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA; n = 2304), postmenopausal women completed reproductive history interviews, annual global cognitive assessment from mean age 70 for up to 13 years, and multi-domain cognitive testing for up to 8 years.

Results: Each additional month pregnant was associated with higher scores of global cognition. Each additional …

Artificial Light At Night Extends Pollen Season And Elevates Allergen Exposure, Brandt Geist, Lin Meng, Daniel S W Katz, Huidong Li, Franz Hölker, Qian Xiao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Artificial light at night (ALAN), a growing environmental stressor in urban ecosystems, disrupts natural light-dark cycles and alters plant phenological events such as leaf-out and flowering. However, the extent to which ALAN influences airborne pollen season timing and exacerbates allergy-related health risks remains largely understudied. This study investigates how ALAN influences the timing and duration of the airborne pollen season across the Northeastern United States from 2012 to 2023 and the consequences of allergenic pollen exposure. Using daily pollen concentrations from the National Allergy Bureau, ALAN data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite product, and gridded Daymet climate data, …

Plasma Proteomic Profile Of Dietary Potassium And Incident Ckd, Jiaqi Yang, Lauren Bernard, Jingsha Chen, Valerie K Sullivan, Bing Yu, Eugene P Rhee, Paul A Welling, Casey M Rebholz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background:: There is a need for objective biomarkers of dietary potassium. The mechanisms through which dietary potassium influences kidney health are incompletely understood.

Methods:: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study participants at visit 3 (1993–1995) with dietary and proteomics data were randomly divided into discovery (N=6,814) and replication (N=3,380) sets. We examined associations between dietary potassium and 4,955 aptamers using multivariable linear regression, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and estimated glomerular filtration rate, with a false discovery rate of 0.05. Then, we tested the prospective associations between potassium-related proteins and incident chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Results:: …

Adapting A Smartphone-Based Auricular Point Acupressure Self-Management Program For Rural Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Qualitative Study, Jungkyung Min, Peiyin Hung, Jane N Bolin, Rupsikha Bora, Sarah Pace, Patricia Pitones, Hulin Wu, Jennifer Kawi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Chronic musculoskeletal pain is more prevalent in rural areas where access to pain interventions, including complementary approaches like Auricular Point Acupressure (APA), remains limited. APA is a non-invasive, needle-free approach, and its smartphone-based self-management delivery model has not been optimized for rural contexts.

Objectives: To explore the perspectives of rural partners on adapting a smartphone-based Auricular Point Acupressure-Self-Management (APA-SM) program to better meet rural needs. Study objectives were to: (1) refine the APA-SM program for rural adults, (2) identify implementation barriers, (3) understand practice workflows and engagement, and (4) identify strategies to integrate the APA-SM program into rural pain …

Data For Forthcoming Article: "Employing Zebrafish To Understand Genetic Drivers Of Epilepsy-Related Comorbid Behaviors", Colleen Carpenter-Swanson

Biology Faculty Publications

Forthcoming from Frontiers in Pharmacology:

"Children with epilepsy frequently experience a range of significant comorbidities beyond seizures, such as motor dysfunction, cognitive impairment, and neurodevelopmental delays. In some cases, these comorbidities contribute more significantly to overall disease burden than the seizures themselves. To improve quality-of-life (QOL) for these children, treatment options should be selected that control seizures and ameliorate comorbidities. Unfortunately, such therapeutics remain largely elusive. Addressing this issue requires suitable preclinical models. Here we used CRISPR-generated zebrafish with single-gene mutations linked to pediatric epilepsy and applied clinically-relevant behavioral assays to study the effects of these mutations. Using high-throughput locomotion-based …

Subgroup Identification Of Disparities In Buprenorphine Discontinuation In Opioid-Use Disorder: A Virtual Twins Machine Learning Approach Using Nationwide United States Claims Data, 2006–2022, Kehe Zhang, Paula A Jaimes-Buitron, Wanru Guo, Yanmin Gong, Yuanxiong Guo, Carolina Vivas Valencia, Cici Bauer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Buprenorphine retention is crucial for effective treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD), yet disparities in treatment discontinuation persist. This study aims to identify and quantify disparities in buprenorphine treatment retention using a machine learning framework adapted from Virtual Twins approach focusing on disparities related to sex, age, insurance type, geographic region, mental health status and community-level Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Using a nationwide longitudinal cohort, we applied a two-stage machine learning approach. In Stage one, we trained classification models to estimate the counterfactual differences in treatment discontinuation across disparity types. Model performance was assessed using C-statistics and precision-recall curve. In …

Improving Overall Risk Ranking Via Subgroup-Level Information Borrowing In Survival Risk Stratification, Tia S Thomas, Jing Ning, Ruosha Li

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Effective risk stratification is essential for providing tailored therapies, improving patient outcomes, and optimizing healthcare resources by identifying sub-populations with similar health risks. However, accurate risk ranking is challenging in the presence of heterogeneous subgroups. Under these instances, subgroup-level information can be leveraged to refine the overall risk ranking. We propose a novel approach that integrates within-subgroup risk ranking percentiles to enhance the overall cohort risk stratification. This method uses both a global model and subgroup-specific models along with optimized weights to improve discriminatory performance across the entire cohort. The proposed method is validated through extensive simulations and applied to …

Relationship Between Foraminiferal Assemblages And Cassiopea Coverage Across A Gradient Of Human Influence In Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Puerto Rico, Nylah Barber, Angelique Rosa Marín, Natalia López-Figueroa, Darma Ramos-Negrón, Xiomara Cruz-De León, Andrea Acevedo Colón, Pamela Hallock

Making Waves REU

Ecological Relevance: Foraminifera and Cassiopea (upside down-jellyfish) are symbiont-bearing organisms that respond rapidly to environmental changes in tropical systems, hence potential candidates as bioindicators to support ecological monitoring at JBNERR. Purpose: By using foraminiferal assemblages and Cassiopea as potential bioindicators, we can assess environmental conditions and contribute to management needs in the reserve. Hypothesis: Foraminiferal assemblages and the percent coverage of Cassiopea will reflect the habitat conditions of sites with varying levels of human influence at JBNERR.

Organizations, Businesses, Religious Groups In Alabama Supporting The Moratorium, Unsigned

Moratorium Advocacy

A list of more than 200 religious groups, businesses and organizations supporting the proposed moratorium on executions in Alabama.

Investigation Of Succinylated Zwitterionic Polyethylenimine/Dna Complexes: Performance In Serum, Internalization, And Intracellular Fate, Levi Lampe

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Gene therapy has promised to revolutionize medicine since the earliest clinical trials, but a lack of delivery methods that are both safe and efficient has hampered progress. Gene therapy with viral vectors is effective at delivering nucleic acids to cells, but is associated with dangerous immunogenic responses and cancer-causing insertions into the genome. Viral vectors are also among the most prohibitively costly therapeutics in medicine. Polymeric vectors avoid these dangers and are made from inexpensive, off-the- shelf materials, but have been hindered by poor efficiency compared to viral vectors.

A benchmark polymer for in vitro nucleic acid delivery has been …

Impact Of Preoperative Symptom Duration On Postoperative Outcomes Following Lumbar Spine Surgery, Ahmed Anas Zahra, Ayman Mohamed Basha

Mansoura Medical Journal

Background: The optimal timing for lumbar spine surgery (LSS) relative to symptom duration remains debatable. While surgical delays are common, their impact on postoperative outcomes is not fully elucidated. This study evaluated the relationship between preoperative symptom duration and postoperative outcomes following LSS.

Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on 60 adults undergoing LSS (decompression and/or fusion) at a single university hospital. Participants were stratified into three groups based on symptom duration:Months, 3-12 months, and >12 months. The primary outcome was functional disability assessed by the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). Secondary outcomes included pain intensity (Visual Analog Scale, VAS), …

Fetal Foot Length As A Predictor Of Gestational Age, Ruman Bashir Abdi Kadie, Hossam El-Dyn El-Sayed Gouda, Mohamad Ahmad El-Sayed Mohamad Emam, Alhussein Ahmed Mohamed

Mansoura Medical Journal

Background: Accurate estimation of gestational age (GA) is essential for obstetric care. Conventional ultrasound (US) biometric parameters may be limited in certain clinical situations. Fetal foot length (FFL) has been proposed as an alternative measurement, but its role requires further evaluation.

Aim of study: To examine the association between fetal foot length and ultrasound-based gestational age, and to explore its relationship with other fetal biometric parameters in uncomplicated singleton pregnancies.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 200 pregnant women who underwent two-dimensional transabdominal ultrasound. Standard fetal biometric parameters—including biparietal diameter (BPD), head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length …

“Thou Hast Taught Me, Silent River, Many A Lesson, Deep And Long”: Metabolism, Development, And Evolution As Team Sports, Scott F. Gilbert

Biology Faculty Works

We recognize three great fluxes in nature. First there is the metabolic flow of molecules that pervades our cells and which creates organisms. Second, there is the developmental flow of cells that is our cycle of life. Third, there is the evolutionary flow of genes, organisms, and populations from the first single-celled prokaryotes to the extensive biodiversity present on earth today. Recent studies have shown that organisms are consortia of several species acting together. What we had thought of as metabolism based on a single genome is actually the co-metabolism of more than one species. What we had thought as …

Signs Of Life: Interkingdom Communication And The Sympoietic Organism, Scott F. Gilbert

Biology Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Hybridization Of Genetic Algorithm, Principal Component Analysis And Deep-Learning For Networks Intrusion Detection Systems, Mostafa A. R. Eltokhy, Hend M. A. Mahmoud, Mohammad Sammany

Trends in advanced sciences and technology

With cyber-attacks on the rise, the demand for precise and efficient Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) is more critical than ever. Traditional machine learning methods struggle with high false alarm and poor detection rates. IDS are crucial for creating secure digital environments by classifying and responding to network intrusions. However, the large volume of inputs for classification often leads to reduced accuracy and misclassification errors. To address this problem, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to optimize the number of classifier inputs, enhancing simplicity without compromising accuracy. A significant challenge in PCA for feature selection lies in determining the best cutoff …

Immuno-Toxic Effects Of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles And Protective Role Of Moringa Olifera On Thymus Of Male Albino Rats, Marwa Abdelsalam Abdallah, Alaa Fehaid, Aml Abdelmonem Halawa, Mmdouh Mohammed Abou Ealmagd

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

Background and Aim The present study aims to evaluate the protective role of Moringa olifera (MO) extract against Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) induced immunotoxicity in male albino rats. Methods Forty-eight Male albino rats were divided into six groups. The 1st group (control) orally received distilled water. The 2nd group received 100 mg/kg of MO extract. The 3rd group was administered 200 mg/kg B.W ZnO NPs. The 4th group received 200 mg/kg B.W ZnO NPs in combination with 100 mg/kg of MO extract. The 5th group received 400 mg/kg B.W ZnO NPs. The 6th group received 400 mg/kg B.W ZnO …

International Human Rights Intervention: Collective Self-Defense Of Humanity, Anthony J. Colangelo

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Family And Social Determinants Of Health On Behavioral And Bmi Outcomes In Adolescents With And Without Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: An Ecological System Perspective, Pingnan Li

Social Work Theses

Adolescence is a critical developmental period during which behavioral and physical health outcomes are shaped by social and family determinants of health; yet limited research has examined how these determinants operate among adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) within a multilevel ecological framework. To address this gap, this thesis used data from Years 9 and 15 of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), with a final analytic sample of 3,176 adolescents at Year 15, including 150 with IDD. Descriptive analyses first examined the differences in demographic characteristics, behavioral outcomes (externalizing and internalizing behaviors), and physical outcomes …

Analyzing Changes In Russian Olive Distributions Along The Missouri River In Response To Flooding, Zachary Schild

Dissertations and Theses

Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia; RO) is an invasive, nitrogen-fixing tree that has spread across riparian ecosystems in the western United States, potentially hindering native tree recruitment, reducing species richness, and impacting wildlife. RO has established within the Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR) in part due to modified flow regimes following dam construction. This study aimed to map the spread of RO using high-resolution National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery (2010, 2012, 2018, 2022) and evaluate the effects of the 2011 and 2019 floods on RO distributions in the Missouri National Recreational River (MNRR). RO cover in this area has expanded …

Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields For Extracellular Vesicle Engineering: From Electro-Exocytosis To Cargo Modulation, Art Neal, Teresa Graham, Mohamadmahdi Samandari, Arash Ghorbannia, Anca Dobrian, Stephen J. Beebe, Ruben M. L. Colunga-Biancatelli

Bioelectrics Publications

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) and medium/large extracellular vesicles (MVs), have emerged as promising therapeutic vectors and diagnostic biomarkers across various branches of biomedicine. However, the clinical translation of EV-based technologies remains constrained by persistent challenges in manufacturing: insufficient yield from primary cell sources, limited control over cargo composition, and the absence of scalable, standardized production platforms. Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) represent an emerging biophysical approach that can address several of these limitations. Unlike conventional electroporation, which targets the plasma membrane using microsecond-to-millisecond pulses, nsPEF delivers ultrashort (1–300 ns), high-amplitude (10–300 kV/cm) pulses that penetrate intracellularly …

From Clinic To Code: Using Clinician Insights To Develop A Framework For Fair And Representative Datasets In Women’S Health Ai, Andrea Heaney, Emma Murphy, Eugene Hickey

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is largely dependent on the quality of medical datasets. However, these datasets often fail to accurately represent women (and those seen as women) due to historic, implicit and biological biases. This under-representation can lead to biased, inequitable and even harmful models. Building upon the findings of previously conducted qualitative semi-structured semantic interviews with clinicians on their perceptions of women’s health, this paper presents a framework for translating qualitative findings to dataset characteristics via operationalisation. This framework outlines the key characteristics and considerations a dataset should include or consider to more accurately represent …

Associations Between Contralesional Neuroplasticity And Motor Impairment Through Deep Learning-Derived Mri Regional Brain Age In Chronic Stroke (Enigma): A Multicohort, Retrospective, Observational Study, Gilsoon Park, Mahir Khan, Justin Andrushko, Nerisa Banaj, Michael Borich, Lara Boyd, Amy Brodtmann, Truman Brown, Cathrin Buetefisch, Adriana Conforto, Steven Cramer, Michael Dimyan, Martin Domin, Miranda Donnelly, Natalia Egorova-Brumley, Elsa Ermer, Wuwei Feng, Fatemeh Geranmayeh, Colleen Hanlon, Brenton Hordacre, Neda Jahanshad, Steven Kautz, Mohamed Salah Khlif, Jingchun Liu, Martin Lotze, Bradley Macintosh, Feroze Mohamed, Jan Nordvik, Fabrizio Piras, Kate Revill, Andrew Robertson, Christian Schranz, Nicolas Schweighofer, Na Jin Seo, Surjo Soekadar, Shraddha Srivastava, Bethany Tavenner, Gregory Thielman, Sophia Thomopoulos, Daniela Vecchio, Emilio Werden, Lars Westlye, Carolee Winstein, George Wittenberg, Jennifer Ferris, Chunshui Yu, Paul Thompson, Sook-Lei Liew, Hosung Kim

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Stroke leads to complex chronic structural and functional brain changes that specifically affect motor outcomes. The brain predicted age difference (PAD) has emerged as a sensitive biomarker of both sensorimotor and cognitive function after stroke. Our previous study showed a higher global brain PAD associated with poorer motor function after stroke. However, the association between local stroke lesion load, regional brain age, and motor impairment is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the associations between focal lesion damage, regional brain PAD in both hemispheres, and motor outcomes in chronic stroke, and to identify key predictors of motor impairment.

METHODS: …

Artem: Enhancing Large Language Model Agents With Spatial-Temporal Episodic Memory, Cassandra Hui Ming Tan, Budhitama Subagdja, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Current large language models (LLMs) exhibit significant deficiencies in episodic memory tasks including encoding, storing, and retrieving specific information from temporally dependent events over a long period of time. Recent approaches to handle memory tasks in LLMs, such as in-context learning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and fine-tuning, may resolve the long-term retention issues, but are still inadequate to handle tasks requiring chronological awareness of the stored information. We introduce Agentic Retrieval with Temporal-Episodic Memory (ARTEM), a hybrid LLM-based agent architecture integrating LLMs with a self-organizing neural network named Spatial-Temporal Episodic Memory (STEM), designed to handle episodic memory tasks. Our approach employs …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Decline In Reading Scores Among Fourth- And Fifth-Grade Students, Brigetta Foules-Sims

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to explore teachers’ perceptions of the factors contributing to the decline in reading achievement among fourth- and fifth-grade students in a rural elementary school in a southern state. The study explored teachers’ perceptions of the causes of declining reading performance, the instructional challenges they encounter when addressing reading difficulties, and the resources and supports they believe are necessary to improve student outcomes.

Data were collected through semi structured interviews with eight certified fourth- and fifth-grade teachers. Five themes emerged from the data: (a) increasing academic demands reveal foundational reading gaps, (b) …

Exploring Relational Leadership And Psychological Safety During Ai Integration In The Workplace, Solmaz Kaynama

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explores employee psychological safety, or its lack, during artificial intelligence (AI) integration in the workplace through a relational leadership lens. The population included employees of for-profit business corporations currently integrating or adopting AI technologies (N = 14). Participants completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Results showed eight themes: relational leadership creates a psychologically safe workplace climate; unsupportive and dysfunctional leadership erodes trust and psychological safety; psychological safety determines whether employees speak up openly or hold back; employees’ experience daily work through workplace culture, pace, and remote or hybrid conditions; AI may delivers immediate productivity benefits while introducing new psychological and …

Between Self, Family, And Becoming: Mindfulness And The Transition Experiences Of Latinx Clinical Counseling Graduate Students, Orlando R. Alvarez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Latinx graduate students transitioning into their first semester of clinical counseling master’s programs often navigate substantial challenges as they embark on their academic journeys. While transitions into any new role can be difficult, the changes that accompany the beginning of a graduate program have been associated with increased role and identity strain, anxiety, depression, and feelings of fraudulence and imposterism, negatively impacting student success, performance, and attrition rates (Halladay et al., 2019; Murphy, 2021; Vidic & Cherup, 2019). Although mindfulness practices provide benefits for graduate student wellbeing, there is no current scholarship that has examined how mindfulness practices support Latinx …

Beyond The Diagnosis: A Qualitative Exploration Of Men Living With Hiv, David R. Romanelli

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of men (18+ years old) living with HIV to better understand how they navigate identity, mental health, relationships, and healthcare systems after diagnosis. The method included a qualitative thematic analysis with 10 participants. Eight themes emerged from the data: (1) reactions, reflections, and meaning-making after diagnosis; (2) managing medication, treatment, and co-occurring conditions; (3) stigma, disclosure, and negotiation of identity; (4) substance use, housing instability, and socioeconomic stressors; (5) navigating the changing HIV landscape; (6) experiences with family and intimate relationships; (7) implications for mental health counseling; and (8) the role of community …

The Effect Of Paternal Engagement On The Sexual Self-Concept Of Black Female Adolescents, Amelia Flynn

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Black women in the U.S. continue to experience disproportionately high rates of unintended pregnancies, with a 64% rate reported in 2011 (Finer & Zolna, 2016). Positive sexual self-concept (SSC) is linked to healthier sexual behaviors, yet research on SSC development has largely overlooked the role of fathers and systemic influences, particularly within Black families. Grounded in an ecological framework, this study examines the impact of father-daughter engagement on SSC among Black female adolescents, considering paternal residential status and socioeconomic class as key contextual factors. The study revealed that when middle class father-daughter engagement is high, daughters’ sexual self-esteem is lower. …

Assessing Use Of Invasive Understory Plant Species By The Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene Carolina Carolina) Within A Massachusetts Wildlife Management Area, Karoline Weston

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Eastern box turtles are facing population declines across their range due to habitat loss, vehicular strikes, and illegal collection. A lesser-explored aspect of eastern box turtle conservation is the role of non-native, invasive vegetation in shaping fine scale habitat use. Invasive vegetation can alter habitat structure and quality, yet its role in eastern box turtle behavior remains unstudied. To evaluate this relationship, I tracked 19 eastern box turtles via radio telemetry throughout the 2022 active season in a Massachusetts wildlife management area. My study addressed six questions: (1) Do eastern box turtles exhibit a preference for microhabitats containing invasive vegetation? …