Digital Commons Network^™

Renal Lactate Dehydrogenase A: Underlying Mechanisms And Inflammatory Roles In Acute Kidney Injury, Gunars Osis

All ETDs from UAB

Kidneys are physiologically vital organs responsible for blood homeostasis preservation through fluid balance maintenance, blood pressure regulation, hormone production, and toxic compound removal. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a global condition affecting more than 13 million people yearly, and is characterized by a rapid decline in renal filtration capacity, consequent rise in serum creatinine and nitrogenous waste levels, and is associated with an elevated risk of morbidity in the form of progressive chronic kidney disease, kidney failure, and mortality. AKI-induced renal epithelial cell death forces surviving tubular cells to undergo de-differentiation, rapid proliferation to replace lost cells, and re-differentiation to …

Study Of The Effects Of Contusion Spinal Cord Injury And Optogenetic Stimulation On Lower Urinary Tract Function, Salvador A. Lopez

All ETDs from UAB

Lower urinary tract (LUT) dysfunction is a detrimental ailment that negatively affects a person’s independence, health, and overall quality of life. More specifically, LUT dysfunction as a result of spinal cord injury (SCI) is seen in more than 17,000 cases per year and of those cases, <20% are discharged from care with normal micturition1. Initially, after SCI, there is an acute period of spinal shock when the urinary bladder is flaccid and underactive, while the external urethral sphincter (EUS) that constricts the bladder outlet quickly becomes tonically active. In days to weeks after injury, spinallymediated, reflex bladder contractions re-emerge2-4. Numerous studies have examined aspects of LUT function using various models of SCI, primarily utilizing complete transection injuries. This set of studies first examined the effect of moderate to severe midthoracic contusion SCI on LUT function by examining cystometrogram (CMG) and EUS recordings, bladder/spinal cord morphology, sensory innervation of bladder tissue, and spinal neuronal activation in female mice. This model of SCI produced significant changes in normal bladder function as well as altered bladder morphology, including a robust loss of bladder afferent nerve fibers necessary for micturition. Inhibition of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) has been shown to prevent the loss of sensory nerve fibers in mouse hind paw tissue5, thus HDAC6 inhibition was examined as a possible strategy to prevent the observed loss of sensory nerve fibers in bladder tissue post-SCI. iv Mice were treated using intraperitoneal injections of inhibiting compounds ACY-1083 (10 mg/kg) or Tubacin (5 mg/kg). Treatment resulted in significant improvements in CMG measures and sensory innervation of the bladder wall. Finally, optogenetic stimulation was examined using an adenoassociated virus containing cre-recombinase for cre-dependent expression of channelrhodopsin (ChR2) in both spinal intact and SCI mice. The ability to spare afferent axons in bladder tissue post-SCI through HDAC6 inhibition allowed ChR2 expression in sensory nerve fibers. Direct photostimulation of the bladder using various parameters of duration (1, 2, 5, 10 sec continuous stimulation) and power (0.1mW/mm2, 0.95mW/mm2, 6.50mW/mm2) resulted in the ability to control bladder contractions in both spinal intact (SI) and SCI animals, allowing for on-demand voiding post-injury.

Hedgehog Signaling Rewires M2 Macrophage And Regulatory T Cell Metabolism Within The Tumor Microenvironment Of Breast Cancer, Dominique C. Hinshaw

All ETDs from UAB

Current treatments for breast cancer offer little relief to patients with metastatic disease. A contributory factor to tumor growth and metastasis is aberrant up-regulation of developmental signaling pathways such as the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway. This pathway is aberrantly activated in breast cancer and contributes to tumor progression and metastasis. The success of these events is highly influenced by the surrounding immune microenvironment. Macrophages exist along a spectrum of M1 (tumor-eradicating) to M2 (tumor-promoting), while regulatory T cells (Tregs) are an immunosuppressive cell type. The predominant functions of M2 macrophages and Tregs include dampening the immune response and promoting wound …

Fire Starters: Using A Train-The- Trainer Model And Team Consultations To Support A First-Year Experience Business Competition, Benjamin Peck, Wendy G. Pothier

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pkd-1 Signaling Inthe Regulation Of Cancer Stem Cell-Like Features And Cancer Cell Interactions With Endothelial Cells In Breast Cancer And Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor, Yichen Hailey Guo

All ETDs from UAB

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation cancer cells that play critical roles in tumor progression, recurrence, metastasis, and drug resistance. CSCs are characterized by self-renewal and plasticity. Protein kinase D-1 (PKD-1) signaling regulates CSC/stemness features in both breast cancers and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. In PNETs, PKD-1 signaling regulates not only stemness properties of cancer, but also epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). PNETs are typically well vascularized and heterogeneous. Everolimus (an mTOR inhibitor and the 2nd generation derivative of rapamycin) has been approved as a targeted chemotherapy for PNET patients. Unfortunately, nearly all patients will progress on treatment due to drug resistance …

The Role Of Protein Translation And Degradation In Aging And Alzheimer Disease Pathogenesis, Harper S. Kim

All ETDs from UAB

Protein translation (PT) is an essential cellular process playing crucial roles in growth and development. PT precipitously declines with age in multiple animal species, including humans. It has been implicitly assumed that elevated PT at young ages is beneficial to health while PT ends up dropping as a passive byproduct of aging. However, whether this holds true and how dynamic fluctuations in PT over time impact aging remain unknown. In Drosophila, we show that a transient PT spike in early-adulthood drives aging by triggering dysfunction in protein homeostasis (proteostasis) at old ages. We propose the early-adulthood spike in PT to …

Determining The Impact Of Immune Dysregulation On Cd4 T Cell Responses To Hiv-1 And Sars-Cov-2, Jacob K. Files

All ETDs from UAB

CD4+ T cells, often referred to as helper T cells, play a crucial role in the formation of antiviral immune responses following infection and vaccination. However, this can be disrupted by various forms of immune dysregulation. Many groups have described how HIV-1 adaptation and immune escape can lead to dysregulated HIV-specific immune responses. Our lab has previously shown that predicted HLA-II associated HIV-1 adaptation leads to dysregulated, poorly immunogenic CD4+ T cell responses in HIV-1 infection. Here, we focus on the impact of this HLA-II associated viral adaptation in the setting of HIV-1 vaccination. We show that HLA-II associated, vaccine-matched …

Driving Anger And Aggression In Persons With And Without Adhd, Maria T. Lechtreck

All ETDs from UAB

Driving a motor vehicle is both a privilege and one of the primary activities of daily living for most persons in the U.S. and many persons abroad; however, motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) bring great costs both to individuals and society. Driver behavior is the critical factor in an estimated 94% of MVCs and aggressive driving is the cause of two-thirds of U.S. traffic fatalities. Certain populations are at an increased risk for MVCs including persons who are young (ages 15-24), persons who have developmental disabilities such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and persons who have a high propensity for driving-related anger. …

Biomanufacturing Of Micro-Myocardial Tissue Through Suspension Differentiation With Improved Yields, Purity, And Quality, Asher M. Kahn-Krell

All ETDs from UAB

Despite major advances in revascularization and drug therapy for post-myocardial infarction (MI) heart failure (HF), heart transplantation remains the only curative therapy to prevent progressive and debilitating disease. Researchers have long sought a replenishable and expandable source of cardiomyocytes (CMs), the primary functional cell in the heart muscle, for a broad array of applications related to the treatment of HF ranging from direct implantation to high throughput drug testing. The lack of cell cycle activity and cell division in adult CMs prevented the development of an expandable primary cell line. However, with the discovery of high efficiency stem cell differentiation …

Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination (Tsd): Implications For The Biology And Conservation Of The Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys Kempii), Katherine Presz

All ETDs from UAB

The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) has temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) where the incubation temperature of the egg determines the sex of the hatchling. This has significant implications for the ecology, evolution, and conservation of this species because it can affect sex ratios. The studies presented in this thesis address hatchling sex ratios produced in Kemp’s ridley conservation programs using both natural as well as manipulated incubation regimes. First, a histology-based study was utilized to investigate sex ratios produced at the Padre Island National Seashore from 2002-2019. The results indicate that a female bias has been produced each year …

Early Life Stress And Barrier Dysfunction Of The Blood-Brain Barrier, Margaret Ellen Lloyd

All ETDs from UAB

Early Life Stress (ELS) refers to any process or event of chronic and/or sever stress that occurs early in an individual’s development; this can be spurred by environmental or behavioral cues and helps predict inflammation later1 in life. ELS is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other chronic conditions like depression. However, many of the physiological processes that lead to increased risk of chronic illness later in life have yet to be established or examined. The ELS mouse model is used to examine the unknown mechanistic links between childhood stress and risk for chronic disease in adulthood. …

An Evaluation Of The In Vitro Antibacterial, Biocompatibility, And Mineralization Properties Of Six Calcium Silicate-Based Pulp Capping Materials, Taimy Cruz Hondares

All ETDs from UAB

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity, biocompatibility, and mineralization-inducing potential of calcium silicate-based pulp capping materials. Methods: Six contemporary calcium silicate-based pulp capping materials were compared in this study, including ProRoot MTA, MTA Angelus, Biodentine, EndoSequence, NeoMTA 2 and NeoPutty. The antibacterial effects of these materials against Streptococcus mutans UA159 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 were determined by the agar-diffusion assay and the direct culture test. The biocompatibility and mineralization-inducing potential of these materials in preodontoblastic 17IIA11 cells were compared by the MTT assay and by evaluating alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium deposits, respectively. …

Dear Former Phenom, Meredith Beretta

All ETDs from UAB

Dear Former Phenom is a collection of essays and poems covering my life as a female athlete in America, beginning when I was a small child and continuing to my retirement after my senior year as a collegiate student-athlete. As it stands, the collection is incomplete. This current version contains the core memories and the foundation of my discussion. This collection tells the story of my failure to reach my full potential as an athlete. It is the story of me constantly achieving higher and higher achievements, awards, accolades, and praise until I didn’t anymore. Until there was no one …

We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So: On The Changes Of The Children's Horror Genre From The 17th Century Onward, Camrie Ann Latham

All ETDs from UAB

Research into the children’s horror genre is, currently, quite limited in that it is often only tangentially related to the history and qualities of the genre itself. This research is typically focused on horror at large, horror films for children, or children in horror. This thesis seeks to analyze the history of the genre and categorize the shifting purposes and intentions that, in turn, reflect larger social fears. It defines these purposes as moving from that of control, to entertainment, to empowerment, with transitionary periods in between. The thesis is also formatted chronologically, beginning in the late 1600s and continuing …

Insulation And Paper, Mary Elizabeth Skinner

All ETDs from UAB

Insulation and Paper reflects on my childhood and teenage years as a dreamy, adventure-seeking teenager who faced the harsh realities of living through an EF-4 tornado. This piece explores the ups and downs of being homeschooled, the scars of unprocessed trauma, complex family bonds, and growing up being Catholic and homeschooled. The story starts on April 26, 2011, the night before a deadly tornado outbreak, where I was writing on a story titled, Atallas. The first few chapters demonstrate how obsessed I was with fantasy, dance, storms, and adventure, being stuck at home with only a few friends. As the …

Disarmament, Demobilization, And Reintegration In Colombia: Lost Human Rights Opportunities For Ex-Combatants With Disabilities, Minerva Rivas Velarde, Janet E. Lord, Michael Ashley Stein, Thomas Shakespeare

Articles

This article examines whether and how the circumstances of Colombian ex-combatants with disabilities were recognized in the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes in the period following the adoption of the 2016 peace agreement. Our results suggest severe procedural and substantive shortcomings during the drafting of the peace agreement and the implementation of the DDR processes that exacerbated the exclusion of ex-combatants with disabilities from available opportunities for their social, economic, and political reintegration. We conclude that a better understanding of the disabling impact of conflict and the exp

Using Heidisongs Music As An Instructional Tool In The Elementary School Classroom: A Case Study, Leia Denise Jobe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study is to understand how teachers use HeidiSongs music as an instructional tool in the elementary school classroom. HeidiSongs uses multisensory structured language education to teach by engaging multiple senses simultaneously to increase retention. The theories guiding this study include Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, which involves kinesthetic intelligences among other types of intelligences, and Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition. HeidiSongs uses both musical and kinesthetic activities to enhance literacy. The central research question focused on how teachers use HeidiSongs music as an instructional tool in the elementary school classroom. The sub-questions …

A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Client And Stylist Interaction As A Culturally Specific Form Of Coping With Stress For Black Women In The United States, Nicole Michelle Holden

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to describe the experience of Black women who visit the salon regularly in the United States. This study is constructed around the culturally intimate relationship of the stylist-client interaction in the Black community as a historical coping mechanism in which Black women utilize for stress and life challenges rather than seek professional mental health services. Although COVID-19 continues to mount a significant mortality rate and financial hardships, its disproportionate effects on communities of color will have lasting implications on their mental health. The need for mental health services has increased due to the mental …

Christian Devotional Meditation And Holistic Well Being, Raymond D. Paxton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Holistic well-being is a concept that implies humans are multidimensional and require a broad approach to help them achieve life contentment and satisfaction. Spirituality, relationships, emotional functioning, and biology all play a part in achieving this life balance and satisfaction. Interpersonal neurobiology suggests that early life experiences can contribute to underdeveloped brain structures resulting in the diminished ability to form meaningful attachment relationships that help foster contentment as an adult. This ability to engage in positive and supportive relationships has impact on life and holistic well-being. Further, the inability to form close relationships, engage, and emotionally connect with others has …

The Potential Roles Of Broccoli Sprouts (Bsp) And Green Tea Polyphenols (Gtps) In Prevention Of Mammary Cancer, Itika Arora

All ETDs from UAB

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Based on the American Cancer Society statistics, in 2021 1,806,590 new cancer cases and 605,520 cancer deaths are projected to occur in the United States. Amongst all, breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent cancers that occurs in women. Various lifestyle factors such as alcohol intake, smoking, an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity may result in increased rates of BC risks (cancer-transition) by inducing mutations in DNA. Numerous epidemiological studies indicate that a diet rich in green tea polyphenols (GTPs), and/or cruciferous vegetables such as …

The Role Of Nitric Oxide And Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate Signaling In Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation, Maheshika S. Somarathna

All ETDs from UAB

Vascular access is the single most important component of the hemodialysis procedure and the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is the most preferred type. However, 60% of AVFs created fail to mature successfully for dialysis use (AVF maturation failure). AVF maturation failure is primarily the result of 1) intimal hyperplasia formation (IH) and 2) poor vascular outward remodeling. Currently, a major unmet clinical need in the field is the lack of effective therapies to treat/prevent AVF maturation failure due to the poor understanding of molecular mechanisms. This proposal is designed to: 1) elucidate the pathologic significance of nitric oxide (NO) and cyclic …

How Does Loss Of Pulsatility Lead To Non-Surgical Bleeding In Continuous Flow Ventricular Assist Device Patterns, Khahn Tu Nguyen

All ETDs from UAB

The primary goal of this study is to evaluate the effect of diminished pulsatility associat-ed with Continuous Flow Ventricular Assist Devices (CF-VADs) on endothelial respons-es of pro-angiogenic/proinflammatory soluble factors and von Willebrand Factor (vWF). Non-surgical bleeding is one of the most common adverse events after CF-VAD implan-tation and is a major cause of morbidity in patients supported by CF-VAD therapy. Alt-hough the exact mechanisms remain unclear, development of arteriovenous malfor-mations (AVMs) and acquired von Willebrand factor syndrome (AVWS) are widely be-lieved to be major risk factors. Another challenge with the study of pulsatility is that pre-clinical studies to understand how …

The Roles Of Repressive And Activating Epigenetic Factors In Vertebrates Neural And Neural Crest Development, Saeid Mohammad Parast

All ETDs from UAB

The vertebrate nervous system comes from specific regions of the ectoderm that comprises of the neural plate and the neural crest. Although genetic mechanisms governing vertebrate neural development have been investigated in depth, there is a knowledge gap regarding the roles of epigenetic mechanisms in this process. As epigenetic modulators, the COMPASS (also known as SET1/MLL complex) and HP1 proteins are responsible for regulating chromatin accessibility to transcription factors. COMPASS is responsible for deposition of activating histone H3K4 methylation marks at promoters and enhancers and thus creates open chromatin domains. The critical structural and regulatory subunits of COMPASS, Dpy30 and …

Citizen Surveillance Of Misleading Food Labelling, Clay Sapp

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Outside The Earth: Translating And Exploring With Tsiolkovsky, Michael Pilipchuk, Olga Lyanda-Geller

Russian Language Journal

This article describes a study that grew out of research and translation work completed within the framework of a series of innovative interdisciplinary courses called “Russian for Rockets.” While there are currently no language study requirements in most science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, there is a high demand among STEM majors in U.S. universities for language courses with a strong technical component. In particular, a poll at the Purdue School of Aeronautics and Astronautics conducted in 2018 showed that over 90% of respondents were interested in taking a course in technical Russian.1 This finding resulted in the development …

Grammars In Contact: A Linguistic Study Of Russian In Brighton Beach, New York, Oksana Laleko, Yana Miroshnychenko

Russian Language Journal

Within the burgeoning linguistic field of heritage language studies, two research traditions have emerged in recent years. The first, adopted most commonly in the studies of less robustly maintained heritage languages, draws generalizations across grammars instantiated in individual heritage language idiolects, taking as its focal point what diachronic linguists term the innovation phase of language change (Croft, 2000). The other approach, manifested most representatively in accounts of linguistic varieties emerging in relatively more established speech communities, focuses more closely on features that become conventionalized among heritage language speakers, a component of language change known as propagation (Croft, 2000). Considering the …

Prediction Of Length Of Stay In The Emergency Department For Covid-19 Patients: A Machine Learning Approach, Egbe Etu Etu, Leslie Monplaisir, Suzan Arslanturk, Sara Masoud, Celestine Aguwa, Ihor Markevych, Joseph Miller

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has become a global public health threat. The influx of COVID-19 patients has prolonged the length of stay (LOS) in the emergency department (ED) in the United States. Our objective is to develop a reliable prediction model for COVID-19 patient ED LOS and identify clinical factors, such as age and comorbidities, associated with LOS within a '4-hour target.' Data were collected from an urban, demographically diverse hospital in Detroit for all COVID-19 patients' ED presentations from March 16 to December 29, 2020. We trained four machine learning models, namely logistic regression (LR), gradient boosting (GB), …

Willard Hurst, Technological Changes, And The Transformation Of American Public Law, William J. Novak

Articles

As Sociobiologist E.O. Wilson once famously framed the “problem of humanity”: “We have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.” America’s greatest philosopher John Dewey similarly placed this yawning gap between rapidly expanding technological change and slowly evolving human emotions and institutions at the heart of what he called The Public and Its Problems. Indeed, Dewey traced the origins of the modern American state as well as what he termed “the Great Society” to the new and modern technologies in production and commerce and steam and electricity that “resulted in a social revolution.” Without warning, Dewey argued, traditional local communities …

Application Of Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning For Hiv Prevention Interventions, Yang Xiang, Jingcheng Du, Kayo Fujimoto, Fang Li, John Schneider, Cui Tao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In 2019, the US Government announced its goal to end the HIV epidemic within 10 years, mirroring the initiatives set forth by UNAIDS. Public health prevention interventions are a crucial part of this ambitious goal. However, numerous challenges to this goal exist, including improving HIV awareness, increasing early HIV infection detection, ensuring rapid treatment, optimising resource distribution, and providing efficient prevention services for vulnerable populations. Artificial intelligence has had a pivotal role in revolutionising health care and has shown great potential in developing effective HIV prevention intervention strategies. Although artificial intelligence has been used in a few HIV prevention intervention …

The Neighborhood Environment And Hispanic/Latino Health, Natalia I Heredia, Tianlin Xu, Minjae Lee, Lorna H Mcneill, Belinda M Reininger

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Hispanic/Latino adults on the Texas-Mexico border have high rates of chronic disease. Neighborhoods can influence health, though there is a limited research on neighborhood environment and health in Hispanics/Latinos. The purpose of this study was to assess the relation of neighborhood environment with health variables in Hispanic/Latino adults, including physical activity [PA], depression, anxiety, and lab-assessed conditions (type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and chronic inflammation).

METHODS: Participants were randomly-selected from a Hispanic/Latino cohort on the Texas-Mexico border. Neighborhood environment, self-reported PA, anxiety, and depression were assessed through questionnaires. Laboratory values determined Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and C-reactive protein …