Digital Commons Network^™

Loss Of Kmt2c Reprograms The Epigenomic Landscape In Hpscs Resulting In Nodal Overexpression And A Failure Of Hemogenic Endothelium Specification, Shailendra Maurya, Wei Yang, Minori Tamai, Qiang Zhang, Petra Erdmann-Gilmore, Amelia Bystry, Fernanda Martins Rodrigues, Mark C Valentine, Wing H Wong, Reid Townsend, Todd E Druley

Open Access Publications

Germline or somatic variation in the family of KMT2 lysine methyltransferases have been associated with a variety of congenital disorders and cancers. Notably,

Augmented Cardiac Growth Hormone Signaling Contributes To Cardiomyopathy Following Genetic Disruption Of The Cardiomyocyte Circadian Clock, Ravi Sonkar, Ryan Berry, Mary N Latimer, Sumanth D Prabhu, Martin E Young, Stuart J Frank

Open Access Publications

Circadian clocks regulate numerous biological processes, at whole body, organ, and cellular levels. This includes both hormone secretion and target tissue sensitivity. Although growth hormone (GH) secretion is time-of-day-dependent (increased pulse amplitude during the sleep period), little is known regarding whether circadian clocks modulate GH sensitivity in target tissues. GH acts in part through induction of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), and excess GH/IGF1 signaling has been linked to pathologies such as insulin resistance, acromegaly, and cardiomyopathy. Interestingly, genetic disruption of the cardiomyocyte circadian clock leads to cardiac adverse remodeling, contractile dysfunction, and reduced lifespan. These observations led to the …

Steroid Hormone Signaling Activates Thermal Nociception During Drosophila Peripheral Nervous System Development, Jacob S. Jaszczak, Laura Devault, Lily Yeh Jan, Yuh Nung Jan

Open Access Publications

Sensory neurons enable animals to detect environmental changes and avoid harm. An intriguing open question concerns how the various attributes of sensory neurons arise in development.

Fracture Healing Is Delayed In The Absence Of Gasdermin-Interleukin-1 Signaling, Kai Sun, Chun Wang, Jianqiu Xiao, Michael D. Brodt, Luorongxin Yuan, Tong Yang, Yael Alippe, Huimin Hu, Dingjun Hao, Yousef Abu-Amer, Matthew J. Silva, Jie Shen, Gabriel Mbalaviele

Open Access Publications

Amino-terminal fragments from proteolytically cleaved gasdermins (GSDMs) form plasma membrane pores that enable the secretion of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18. Excessive GSDM-mediated pore formation can compromise the integrity of the plasma membrane thereby causing the lytic inflammatory cell death, pyroptosis. We found that GSDMD and GSDME were the only GSDMs that were readily expressed in bone microenvironment. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that GSDMD and GSDME are implicated in fracture healing owing to their role in the obligatory inflammatory response following injury. We found that bone callus volume and biomechanical properties of injured bones were significantly reduced in mice lacking …

Tourette Syndrome Research Highlights From 2020, Andreas Hartmann, Cyril Atkinson-Clement, Christel Depienne, Kevin Black

Open Access Publications

We present here research from 2020 relevant to Tourette syndrome (TS). The authors briefly summarize a few reports they consider most important or interesting.

Mammals Adjust Diel Activity Across Gradients Of Urbanization, Travis Gallo, Mason Fidino, Brian Gerber, Adam A. Ahlers, Julia L. Angstmann, Max Amaya, Amy L. Concilio, David Drake, Danielle Gay, Elizabeth W. Lehrer, Maureen H. Murray, Travis J. Ryan, Colleen Cassady St. Clair, Carmen M. Salsbury, Heather A. Sander, Theodore Stankowich, Jaque Williamson, J. Amy Belaire, Kelly Simon, Seth B. Magle

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Time is a fundamental component of ecological processes. How animal behavior changes over time has been explored through well-known ecological theories like niche partitioning and predator–prey dynamics. Yet, changes in animal behavior within the shorter 24-hr light–dark cycle have largely gone unstudied. Understanding if an animal can adjust their temporal activity to mitigate or adapt to environmental change has become a recent topic of discussion and is important for effective wildlife management and conservation. While spatial habitat is a fundamental consideration in wildlife management and conservation, temporal habitat is often ignored. We formulated a temporal resource selection model to quantify …

Analyzing The Differential News Coverage Of The North Atlantic And North Pacific Right Whales: A Case Study Of Agenda Setting, Framing, And Tone In Endangered Species Communication, Colette Soulier

Open Access Master's Theses

Mixed methods analysis was used to evaluate policy protections and media coverage of the less endangered North Atlantic Right Whale (NARW) compared to the more endangered North Pacific Right Whale (NPRW) from 2008-2020. The NARW and NPRW represent an interesting case study of mismatched conservation action and threat status, due to their highly similar appearance and membership in a traditionally highly prioritized group for conservation action. This study establishes large differences in policy creation between the species and uses media content analysis of news coverage of both whales to understand trends in framing, tone, and content between articles focusing on …

The Role Of Federalism In Initiating Offshore Wind Development In The United States And Europe, Clayton K. Starr

Open Access Master's Theses

For the United States, offshore wind represents a significant opportunity to meet renewable energy goals, contribute to climate change mitigation, and pursue economic development. Yet despite having abundant wind resources, the United States lags behind most countries with active offshore wind industries in terms of total installed capacity. Drawing on environmental federalism theory, this thesis used desk research and key informant interviews with offshore wind policy experts (n = 22) to compare the effects of federalism on offshore wind development in the United States and Europe. Interview data were coded using the program Atlas.ti, and applied thematic analysis revealed five …

Lawyers And The Lies They Tell, Bruce A. Green, Rebecca Roiphe

Faculty Scholarship

The law holds lawyers to a more demanding standard of conduct than others when it comes to aspects of their fiduciary relationships with courts and clients. For instance, states can sanction lawyers for some speech inside a courtroom that would be protected if uttered by a non-lawyer. This Article explores whether lawyers’ free speech rights should also be different from those of other speakers when lawyers, acting on their own behalf, participate in political discourse. Applying the current First Amendment framework, the authors question the bar’s assumption that, simply because lawyers are subject to rules of professional conduct, courts can …

Sentience And Sentient Minds, John Anthony Webster

Animal Sentience

My commentary builds on Rowan et al.’s (2022) comprehensive review to address the question ‘what do we mean by sentience?’ It suggests how we might recognise degrees of sentience within the animal kingdom, ranging from primitive sensations such as hunger and pain to more complex emotions that determine quality of life.

Dataset Of Parent-Child Hyperscanning Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Recordings, Andrea Bizzego, Giulio Gabrieli, Atiqah Azhari, Mengyu Lim, Gianluca Esposito

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The term “hyperscanning” refers to the simultaneous recording of multiple individuals’ brain activity. As a methodology, hyperscanning allows the investigation of brain-to-brain synchrony. Despite being a promising technique, there is a limited number of publicly available functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning recordings. In this paper, we report a dataset of fNIRS recordings from the prefrontal cortical (PFC) activity of 33 mother-child dyads and 29 father-child dyads. Data was recorded while the parent-child dyads participated in an experiment with two sessions: a passive video attention task and a free play session. Dyadic metadata, parental psychological traits, behavioural annotations of the play …

On (Not) Seeing The Chicken: Perdue, Animal Welfare, And The Failure Of Transparency, Calvin Coker, Rachel A. Coker

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In this essay, we analyze Perdue’s animal welfare campaign from 2016 to 2020 to isolate how demands for transparency are mediated and subverted by Perdue’s public facing rhetoric. Though Perdue’s annual releases and commitments to change nominally constitute a victory for animal welfare advocates, the company’s campaign enacts transparency as a sort of publicity for the company that belies marginal gains for the lives of chickens and may ultimately result in increased meat consumption. In providing trackable metrics, offering paternalistic justifications for their treatments of chickens, and through strategic omissions of language and visuals, Perdue satisfies demands for transparency without …

Cambridge 1629 Anglican Trilogy, Dale B. Billingsley

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In 1629, Thomas and John Buck, Cambridge University Press printers, published three texts—the Book of Common Prayer, the Bible and the Whole Book of Psalmes (known as the “Metrical Psalter”)—that were often bound together in one volume [UL], 1 one copy of which is now on permanent loan to the Archives & Special Collections of Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. We do not know with any certainty when UL was bound, but because the KJV second edition was published in 1638, with many scholarly corrections based on the original languages, we can assume that the three texts were bound together …

Sorry, They Were On Mute: The Sec’S “Token Proposal 2.0” As Blueprint For Regulatory Response To Cryptocurrency, J. Scott Colesanti

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

In 2008, as the world dreaded economic meltdown, one or more anonymous individuals titled "Nakomoto" posted a scientific white paper on the Internet. "Bitcoin" was thus born. That name - uttered but once in the white paper- would go on to define a movement, a market, and a mountain.

By late 2010, approximately 100 bitcoin had been mined; two years later, that number approached 10 million, and a second crypto had emerged. By 2018, bitcoin traded at over $18,000 per coin; a year later, that market value had plummeted to less than $5,000. Concurrently, tales of digital asset fortunes lost …

The Thin Blue Line Between Virtue And Vice: Confronting The Moral Harms Of Policing, G. Alex Sinha

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Scholarship on policing has exploded in recent years as bystanders increasingly record and circulate videos of police brutality, much of it directed at civilians of color. These incidents have invited significant attention on the culture of police departments and police unions, generating widespread calls for the reform or even the abolition of police forces. The traditional considerations at the center of these debates include the practical challenges to enacting reforms, the expected efficacy of proposed changes for curtailing abuses, and the possible costs of these changes (whether measured in dollars or crime rates). The moral premises that are inherently embedded …

Using Theory Of Planned Behavior To Determine Consumer Intention In Choosing Cloth Vs Plastic Bags, Zahra Batooli, Saeed Zarein-Dolab, Azam Mohamadloo, Mitra Rahimzadeh

Applied Environmental Research

Plastics bags waste presets serious danger to human and animal health. A descriptive study was conducted on 250 consumers who were shopping in different stores of Kashan city in Iran in 2020 to investigate the consumers’ intention, attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control towards reducing the consumption of plastic bags and using cloth bags based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Stratified sampling was applied to select the consumers to filled out a questionnaire developed based on the TPB in Farsi. A path analysis was used to investigate whether attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control would have …

Assessment Of Organophosphorus Pesticide Residues In Water And Sediment Collected From The Southern Caspian Sea, Reza Golshani, Ghasem Ghorbanzadeh Zafarani, Maksim Rebezov, Samaneh Karbalaei, Tony R. Walker

Applied Environmental Research

Pollution of water resources by uncontrolled pesticide use is a serious health and environmental issue. In this study, concentrations of three organophosphorus pesticides (diazinon, malathion, and azinphos-methyl) in water and sediment samples from five estuaries (Sefidrud, Chalus, Babolrud, Tajan, and Gorganrud) along the Caspian Sea were investigated. Samples were collected from surface water and sediment during summer to autumn, and pesticides were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results indicated that salinity and turbidity in Gorganrud were higher (salinity: range 2–8%; turbidity: range 1–9%) compared to other stations. Higher diazinon (water: 0.08±0.06, sediment: 0.04±0.01), malathion (water: 0.09±0.06, sediment: 0.05±0.01) and …

Sustainable Energy Transition In Thailand: Drivers, Barriers And Challenges Of Waste-To-Energy At Krabi Province, Chariya Senpong, Dawan Wiwattanadate

Applied Environmental Research

Waste-to-Energy (WtE) has been considered as an option to eliminate Krabi’s problems of municipal solid waste (MSW) management. A survey on WtE potential as well as key drivers, barriers, and challenges to overcome the barriers was conducted in this study. The study found high WtE potential due to huge amount of many years accumulated MSW in couple with the increasing trend of new daily waste generation. Meanwhile, Krabi is an island having land limitation for landfill. The urgent need to eliminate the huge amount of MSW has become a key driver for WtE implementation. One more key driver of WtE …

Predictors And Disparities Associated With Pain (Pandda-P) Study: A Comparison Of Pediatric Rheumatology Patients, Kathryn Ann Thompson

All ETDs from UAB

Background: Chronic pain is a prominent feature of many pediatric rheumatic conditions. However, the diagnosis, experience, and treatment of musculoskeletal pain varies by condition. Therefore, the overall aim of the present study is to elucidate group differences and examine biopsychosocial correlates of pain in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome (JPFS), non-specific chronic pain (NSCP), and pain-free controls.Methods: We recruited 117 (66% female, 73% White) school-aged children from Children’s of Alabama Rheumatology and Allergy Clinics and the community. Participants self-reported their pain, physical function, sleep, pain-related stigma, and somatic symptoms and underwent experimental pain tasks. Caregivers …

Leading Law Schools: Relationships, Influence, And Negotiation, Michael T. Colatrella Jr.

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Disentangling Mtor Complexes Underlying Pten-Loss-Associated Autism Spectrum Disorder, Kamran Tariq

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) protein is a negative regulator of the AKT serine threonine kinases (Protein Kinase B) in the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Mutations in PTEN are found in patients with autism, epilepsy, or macrocephaly. In mouse models, Pten-loss results in neuronal hypertrophy, hyperexcitability, seizures, and social deficits. The underlying molecular mechanisms of these phenotypes are not well-delineated. I aimed to disentangle the role of the downstream mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2) in orchestrating aberrations in neuronal form and function resulting from Pten-loss. First, we found that …

Neuroprotective And Nootropic Evaluation Of Myristica Malabarica On Diabetes-Induced Cognitive Impairment In Experimental Animals: Promising For Controlling The Risk Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Kolguri Jagadeeshwar, Rajasekhar Reddy Alavala, Subhakar Raju Ravula, Umasankar Kulandaivelu, G.S.N. Koteswara Rao

The Thai Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

This study intends to explore the neuroprotective and memory-enhancing properties of Myristica malabarica (MM) leaf extracts on diabetic-induced cognitive decline rats. The models of Y maze and Morris water maze were selected for nootropic activity and neuroprotective properties were deliberate by assessing the levels of Ach, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), nitric oxide (NO), catalase (CAT) and glutathione hormone (GSH) in diabetic rat brains. Significantly improved memory and learning with 100 mg/kg (P < 0.01) and 200 mg/kg (P < 0.001) of EAMM (L) and MAMM (L) in Y maze and Morris water maze models. Significant effect was observed in all the extracts with two doses when compared with diabetic control on day 75. The levels of AChE (P < 0.001), MDA (P < 0.01), and NO (P < 0.05) were decreased significantly and significantly raised (P < 0.01) levels of SOD, CAT, and GSH with MAMM (100 and 200 mg/kg) compared with disease control. Further studies on MM leaf are needed as evidence of cognitive impairment in defense against diabetes has been shown to expose its mode of action.

A Comparison Of Growth Factor Release Between Platelet Rich Fibrin And Recombinant Human Platelet Derived Growth Factor Bb (Rhpdgf-Bb) And Beta-Tricalcium Phosphate: An In Vitro Analysis, Maggie Ann Misch

All ETDs from UAB

Patients presenting with significant alveolar bone loss can pose challenges for the clinician. Traditional bone augmentation techniques may be inadequate in achieving necessary gains to restore missing teeth with dental implants. The adjunctive use of growth factors may accelerate the healing process and enhance tissue regeneration. GEM21S is a product that includes a recombinant growth factor approved by the Federal Drug Administration for oral surgery. It is delivered as a two-component system: 1) recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor-BB (rhPDGF-BB) and 2) betatricalcium phosphate (β-TCP).[1] The research on GEM 21S for ridge augmentation is mostly limited to case studies.[2- 4] Biologically, …

A Systematic Study Of Data Security Issues In Smart Home Iot Devices, Hilal Nur Issi

All ETDs from UAB

The best description of IoT comes from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which defines it as "a global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies" (ITU, 2013). Different things, equipment, and household are employed in daily living in our world. The advantages that smart technology provides have piqued the curiosity of academics and practitioners alike. Home appliances have received a lot of attention, since smart technology has been extensively explored and put into practice. A great deal of research has gone into automating the house, making …

The Association Between Paraquat Exposure And Parkinson's Disease Mortality: A County-Level Ecological Study In The United States, Alexander Kozuch

All ETDs from UAB

Objectives: The current study reports the results of an ecological study regarding the association between PQ exposure and Parkinson’s disease mortality in the United States. Methods: The outcome of interest for this study was mortality due to Parkinson’s disease, obtained from CDC Wonder. The exposure of interest was PQ exposure at the county level which was obtained from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Statistical analysis was done using the mortality data, grouped into ten-year age groups, and focused on data from 2015-2019 to account for the lag time between initial Paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s Disease mortality. A Negative Binomial …

Comparison Of [18f]Fdg With 18f-Labeled Amino Acids For Pet Imaging Of Breast Cancer, Ugur Akca

All ETDs from UAB

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) are identified by their lack of estrogen re-ceptor, progesterone receptor, and overexpression of human epidermal growth factor re-ceptor 2-gene. The glucose analog, 2-deoxy-2-[18F]-fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) is the most often utilized PET tracer for imaging TNBC. The use of FDG for imaging primary and metastatic brain tumors is limited by high FDG uptake in normal brain tissue and some forms of inflammation. Also, MRI brain imaging methods have limitation in determining the differentiation between recurrent malignant and treatment effect. Radiolabeled amino acids (AAs), which have a lower uptake in normal brain and inflammation compared to FDG, can be …

Nox2-Derived Superoxide And Mda5-Dependant Responses Contribute To Autoimmune Diabetes, Samuel Isaac Blum

All ETDs from UAB

NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2)-derived superoxide, a precursor for many reactive oxygen species (ROS), regulates cell signaling, cellular trafficking, melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) responses, and Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Previously, we demonstrated that NOX2-derived superoxide promotes chemokine synthesis, spontaneous and virus-accelerated T1D, and MDA5 responses to coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), an associated environmental trigger for T1D. Yet, it remains unknown if ROS is necessary for diabetogenic T cell trafficking into islets or how MDA5 responses affect T1D. First, using non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice that contain an in-frame deletion within the helicase 1 domain of MDA5 (ΔHel1) or lack MDA5 expression (KO), …

Changes In Pain Intensity And Physical Activity Levels In Individuals With Acetabular Dysplasia Undergoing Periacetabular Osteotomy: A Longitudinal Cohort Study, Naif Z. Alrashdi

All ETDs from UAB

Acetabular dysplasia (AD) is a condition of the hip joint that is characterized by incomplete acetabulum development leading to lack of bony coverage of the femoral head. As a result of intra-articular injury from lack of bony congruency, often, individuals with AD report hip joint instability, pain, decreased hip-related function, and are at high risk for early development of hip osteoarthritis (OA). AD is primarily affects young-to-middle-aged adults, is more common in females and those with history of a breech birth position. Periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is the currently-recommended surgical treatment for AD that aims to reposition the acetabulum to increase …

Mice With Ghrh Deficiency Are Resistant To The Detrimental Health Effects Of High Fat Diet, Joseph Jablonsky

All ETDs from UAB

According to our previous study, mice with a CRISPR/Cas9 mediated deletion of the GHRH gene have decreased bodyweight, respiratory exchange ratio (RER), energy expenditure compared to wild type animals, and increased insulin sensitivity and enhanced longevity. Calorie restriction enhances lifespan and delays multiple aging related phenotypes; however it is not known how these animals respond to nutritional stressors such as high fat diet (HFD) during the aging process. We subjected 18 month old GHRH-/- male and female mice to a high fat diet to determine differences in response to HFD in aged animals. After HFD exposure, GHRH-/- mice have increased …

A Framework For Designing Blockchain Systems In A Smart City Setting, Mohammad Alhefdi

All ETDs from UAB

As main characteristics of successful smart cities, the high demand for increased data security and accessibility and citizen engagement mean the role of blockchain technology has begun to increase. Nonetheless, blockchain technology also faces several challenges, which have slowed its adoption. In response, this dissertation introduces a framework for designing blockchain systems in a smart city setting and considers the smart city and blockchain challenges. Researchers have proposed several smart city models that study and analyze the complexity of smart cities to improve city security, functionality, services, and smartness. The proposed information-theoretical modeling approach to generate an innovated blockchain model …