Digital Commons Network^™

Modifying Aha Stress Management And Physical Activity Modules For Senior Communities, Madai Molina Apolinar, Kristina Luu, Sarah Allen, Samantha Isabel Pio Argueta, Annalise P. Sanders, Emil Visaya

Nursing Leadership in Community Engagement Projects

Modifying AHA Stress Management and Physical Activity Modules for Senior Communities

This quarter our group was given the opportunity to partner with two organizations to conduct work surrounding blood pressure and heart health education. One of our partners was a senior living organization whose mission is to transform beliefs about affordable housing through supporting communities where seniors and families can thrive. We also collaborated with the American Heart Association (AHA), which seeks to combat cardiovascular disease and stroke for the improvement and overall health of the population.

For this project, we were tasked with simplifying the AHA “Check. Change. Control.” …

Increased Hif-2Α Activity In The Nucleus Pulposus Causes Intervertebral Disc Degeneration In The Aging Mouse Spine, Shira N Johnston, Maria Tsingas, Rahatul Ain, Ruteja A Barve, Makarand Risbud

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are essential to the homeostasis of hypoxic tissues. Although HIF-2α, is expressed in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells, consequences of elevated HIF-2 activity on disc health remains unknown. We expressed HIF-2α with proline to alanine substitutions (P405A; P531A) in the Oxygen-dependent degradation domain (HIF-2αdPA) in the NP tissue using an inducible, nucleus pulposus-specific K19^CreERT allele to study HIF-2α function in the adult intervertebral disc. Expression of HIF-2α in NP impacted disc morphology, as evident from small but significantly higher scores of degeneration in NP of 24-month-old K19^CreERT; HIF-2α^dPA (K19-dPA) mice. Noteworthy, comparisons of grades …

Ecological Drivers Of Plasticity And Parental Care In Poison Frogs, Olivia Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

Parents increase their offspring fitness prospects by providing care, but at the cost of lost current or future reproductive opportunities. Parents often rear multiple offspring simultaneously, and because parents cannot supply unlimited care to their offspring, parents benefit from distributing resources non-randomly within a brood. Having access to information that helps inform allocation decisions can be valuable to parents, and parents may use a variety of information types that are either intrinsic or extrinsic to the offspring to help inform these decisions. Here, I explore the types of information that parents use when allocating resources within broods, and I explore …

Value Of Gain In The Lamb Feeding Industry, Jay Parsons

Cornhusker Economics

Value of gain (VOG) is a term in the livestock feeding industry that refers to the average value of a pound of gain. It is the most appropriate revenue value to use in comparison to the cost of gain to determine profit margin.

When And Why Ecological Systems Respond To The Rate Rather Than The Magnitude Of Environmental Changes, Karen C. Abbott

Faculty Scholarship

Ecologists and conservation biologists have become quite familiar with the concept of tipping points: abrupt changes in an ecosystem's state that occur after a period of relative stasis. Most of the familiar ecological examples of tipping points occur either because a once-stable state has lost stability, or the system has been subjected to a particularly large perturbation and transitions to an alternative stable state, distinct from the pre-perturbed state. A different class of tipping points, known as rate-induced tipping (or r-tipping) points, are likely present in many ecological communities but remain little known in the field. Rate-induced tipping occurs when …

Depletion Of Complement Factor 3 Delays The Neuroinflammatory Response To Intracortical Microelectrodes, Sydney S. Song, Lindsey N. Druschel, Jacob H. Conard, Jaime J. Wang, Niveda M. Kasthuri, E. Ricky Chan, Jeffrey R. Capadona

Faculty Scholarship

The neuroinflammatory response to intracortical microelectrodes (IMEs) used with brain-machine interfacing (BMI) applications is regarded as the primary contributor to poor chronic performance. Recent developments in high-plex gene expression technologies have allowed for an evolution in the investigation of individual proteins or genes to be able to identify specific pathways of upregulated genes that may contribute to the neuroinflammatory response. Several key pathways that are upregulated following IME implantation are involved with the complement system. The complement system is part of the innate immune system involved in recognizing and eliminating pathogens – a significant contributor to the foreign body response …

Neuronal Npr-15 Modulates Molecular And Behavioral Immune Responses Via The Amphid Sensory Neuron-Intestinal Axis In C Elegans, Benson Otarigho, Anna Frances Butts, Alejandro Aballay

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The survival of hosts during infections relies on their ability to mount effective molecular and behavioral immune responses. Despite extensive research on these defense strategies in various species, including the model organism

A Video Based Training Review, Sarah Kessel, Rachel Cyers, Alicia Johnson, Macky Juan, Malia Lafrance, Julia Zajac

Nursing Leadership in Community Engagement Projects

A Video Based Training Review

This project addresses the issue of homeless youth in Seattle by supporting those working with this population. Our intervention intends to provide staff with training materials to better support the homeless youth in Seattle. The agency that we are partnering with provides temporary housing for homeless youth and seeks to find permanent housing solutions. The purpose of our project is to help agency employees review and assess their knowledge on selected topics relevant to their initial training. This project compiles a collection of evidence-based training videos with knowledge competency quizzes to help strengthen understanding on …

Geographic Distribution Of Human Infections With Zoonotic Ancylostoma Ceylanicum And Anthropophilic Hookworms In Ecuador: A Retrospective Analysis Of Archived Stool Samples, Dayana Aguilar-Rodríguez, Victor Seco-Hidalgo, Andrea Lopez, Natalia Romero-Sandoval, Manuel Calvopiña, Angel Guevara, Lucy Baldeón, Alejandro Rodríguez, Rojelio Mejia, Thomas B Nutman, William J Sears, Philip J Cooper

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Zoonotic human infections with Ancylostoma ceylanicum have recently been reported in the Americas. We used archived human stool samples to study the geographic distribution of human infections with A. ceylanicum and anthropophilic hookworms in different geoclimatic regions (coastal, Andean, and Amazon) of Ecuador. We analyzed retrospectively archived human stool samples from five studies previously screened for hookworm infection by microscopy, of which four included hookworm-positive samples only and one involved hookworm-negative samples to increase geographic distribution of sampling. Stools were analyzed using multi-parallel quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays to detect Necator americanus, Ancylostoma duodenale, A. ceylanicum, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris …

Composting Reduces The Risks Of Resistome In Beef Cattle Manure At The Transcriptional Level, Yuepeng Sun, Zachery R. Staley, Bryan Woodbury, Jean-Jack Riethoven, Xu Li

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Transcriptomic evidence is needed to determine whether composting is more effective than conventional stockpiling in mitigating the risk of resistome in livestock manure. The objective of this study is to compare composting and stockpiling for their effectiveness in reducing the risk of antibiotic resistance in beef cattle manure. Samples collected from the center and the surface of full-size manure stockpiling and composting piles were subject to metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses. While the distinctions in resistome between stockpiled and composted manure were not evident at the DNA level, the advantages of composting over stockpiling were evident at the transcriptomic level in …

Microclimate, An Important Part Of Ecology And Biogeography, Julia Kemppinen, Jonas J. Lembrechts

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Brief introduction: What are microclimates and why are they important? Microclimate science has developed into a global discipline. Microclimate science is increasingly used to understand and mitigate climate and biodiversity shifts. Here, we provide an overview of the current status of microclimate ecology and biogeography in terrestrial ecosystems, and where this field is heading next.

Microclimate investigations in ecology and biogeography: We highlight the latest research on interactions between microclimates and organisms, including how microclimates influence individuals, and through them populations, communities and entire ecosystems and their processes. We also briefly discuss recent research on how organisms shape microclimates from …

Chimeric Oncolytic Adenovirus Evades Neutralizing Antibodies From Human Patients And Exhibits Enhanced Anti-Glioma Efficacy In Immunized Mice, Dong Ho Shin, Hong Jiang, Andrew G Gillard, Debora Kim, Xuejun Fan, Sanjay K Singh, Teresa T Nguyen, Sagar S Sohoni, Andres R Lopez-Rivas, Akhila Parthasarathy, Chibawanye I Ene, Joy Gumin, Frederick F Lang, Marta M Alonso, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Juan Fueyo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncolytic viruses are a promising treatment for patients with high-grade gliomas, but neutralizing antibodies can limit their efficacy in patients with prior virus exposure or upon repeated virus injections. Data from a previous clinical trial using the oncolytic adenovirus Delta-24-RGD showed that generation of anti-viral neutralizing antibodies may affect the long-term survival of glioma patients. Past studies have examined the effects of neutralizing antibodies during systemic virus injections, but largely overlooked their impact during local virus injections into the brain. We found that immunoglobulins colocalized with viral proteins upon local oncolytic virotherapy of brain tumors, warranting a strategy to prevent …

Inhibition Of Mer Proto-Oncogene Tyrosine Kinase By An Antisense Oligonucleotide Enhances Treatment Efficacy Of Immunoradiotherapy, Yun Hu, Alexey Revenko, Hampartsoum Barsoumian, Genevieve Bertolet, Natalie Wall Fowlkes, Hadi Maazi, Morgan Maureen Green, Kewen He, Duygu Sezen, Tiffany A Voss, Claudia S Kettlun Leyton, Fatemeh Masrorpour, Zahid Rafiq, Nahum Puebla-Osorio, Carola Leuschner, Robert Macleod, Maria Angelica Cortez, James W Welsh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy (immunoradiotherapy) has been increasingly used for treating a wide range of cancers. However, some tumors are resistant to immunoradiotherapy. We have previously shown that MER proto-oncogene tyrosine kinase (MerTK) expressed on macrophages mediates resistance to immunoradiotherapy. We therefore sought to develop therapeutics that can mitigate the negative impact of MerTK. We designed and developed a MerTK specific antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) and characterized its effects on eliciting an anti-tumor immune response in mice.

Methods: 344SQR cells were injected into the right legs on day 0 and the left legs on day 4 of 8-12 …

Caldendrin Is A Repressor Of Piezo2 Channels And Touch Sensation In Mice, Josue A Lopez, Luis O Romero, Wai-Lin Kaung, J Wesley Maddox, Valeria Vásquez, Amy Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The sense of touch is crucial for cognitive, emotional, and social development and relies on mechanically activated (MA) ion channels that transduce force into an electrical signal. Despite advances in the molecular characterization of these channels, the physiological factors that control their activity are poorly understood. Here, we used behavioral assays, electrophysiological recordings, and various mouse strains (males and females analyzed separately) to investigate the role of the calmodulin-like Ca2+ sensor, caldendrin, as a key regulator of MA channels and their roles in touch sensation. In mice lacking caldendrin (Cabp1 KO), heightened responses to tactile stimuli correlate with enlarged …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Zoology

No abstract provided.

The Length-Weight Relationship And Condition Factors Of Coastal Small-Sized Adult And Juvenile Fish Species Following Dense Mucilage In The Sea Of Marmara, Türkiye, Yusuf Şen, İsmail Burak Daban, Alkan Özteki̇n, Adnan Ayaz, Uğur Altınağaç, Ali İşmen, Ahsen Yüksek, Uğur Özeki̇nci̇, Fikret Çakır, Tekin Demi̇rkiran, Gençtan Erman Uğur, Oğuzhan Ayaz, Buminhan Burkay Selçuk

Turkish Journal of Zoology

To understand the ecosystem health of the Sea of Marmara following the dense mucilage event in 2021, growth indicators (length-weight relationships and condition factors) of coastal fish species were investigated. For this purpose, individuals were sampled during experimental fishing trials with beach seine nets between November 2021 and March 2022 from the Sea of Marmara, Türkiye. A total of 32 fish species belonging to 19 families were obtained. A total of 12 juvenile and 20 small-sized adult coastal fish species were identified, condition factors and length-weight relationships (LWRs) were calculated. The LWR results of this study reveal first findings as …

Highways For Red Wood Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): A New Method To Increase The Size Of Anthills, Stanislav Stukalyuk, Mykola Kozyr

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Red wood ants (RWA, Formica rufa group) play a key role in forest ecosystems as effective entomophages and participants in the circulation of organic matter. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficiency of using the highway method to accelerate the growth of anthills, specifically focusing on height, diameter, volume. The study was conducted in Kyiv, Ukraine, from May to October 2023. In the experimental group, highways were constructed on ant trails, totalling nine Formica polyctena Forster, 1850 anthills and eight Formica rufa Linnaeus, 1761 anthills. These highways consisted of a continuous line of logs ranging from 10 …

Inbreeding Tolerance In Two Isolated Populations Of Harting’S Vole Microtus Hartingi(Rodentia, Arvicolinae), Tanya Zorenko, Larisa Petra Kaija

Turkish Journal of Zoology

The adaptive effects of inbreeding are understudied, but accumulating evidence suggests that it plays a major adaptive role in speciation, as populations with a history of inbreeding are more prone to it. Differences in inbreeding tolerance in two populations of Microtus hartingi voles were studied through a series of experiments on reproductive behaviour and partner choice. Modelling an artificial polygyny via the formation of trios composed of a brother, sister, and an unrelated female has shown an uneven attitude towards inbreeding, which was closely linked to the reproduction strategy: voles of the Rhodopean population (RP) would reproduce communally with only …

Transcriptomic, Proteomic, And Genomic Mutational Fraction Differences Based On Hpv Status Observed In Patient-Derived Xenograft Models Of Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Niki M Zacharias, Luis Segarra, Keiko Akagi, Natalie Wall Fowlkes, Huiqin Chen, Angelita Alaniz, Carolyn De La Cerda, Pedro Pesquera, Yuanxin Xi, Jing Wang, Jad Chahoud, Xin Lu, Priya Rao, Magaly Martinez-Ferrer, Curtis A Pettaway

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Simple Summary

Penile cancer is a rare but aggressive cancer. After it metastasizes, the median survival time is less than 12 months. The overall response rate to common first-line combination chemotherapy treatments is approximately 50%. There is an urgent need in advanced-penile-cancer treatment to find novel therapies that would generate better response rates than standard chemotherapy thus far and have less toxicity. Partially due to its rarity, there are few animal models and cell lines of penile cancer. We report on the generation of seven penile cancer animal models that were created by directly implanting human tumor tissue into immunocompromised …

Tgf-Β Signaling Pathways In The Development Of Diabetic Retinopathy, Andrew Callan, Sonal V. Jha, Laura Garcia, Lois F. Baldado, Andrew Tsin

School of Medicine Publications

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a prevalent complication of diabetes mellitus affecting a significant portion of the global population, has long been viewed primarily as a microvascular disorder. However, emerging evidence suggests that it should be redefined as a neurovascular disease with multifaceted pathogenesis rooted in oxidative stress and advanced glycation end products. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling family has emerged as a major contributor to DR pathogenesis due to its pivotal role in retinal vascular homeostasis, endothelial cell barrier function, and pericyte differentiation. However, the precise roles of TGF-β signaling in DR remain incompletely understood, with conflicting reports on its …

Ecosystem Services Provided By The Novel Winter Cash Cover Crop, Pennycress, Ryan Thomas Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient loss from agricultural practices in the Midwest contributes to degradation in ecosystem structure and function. Subsurface drainage systems in tilled corn-soybean rotations that rely on fertilization results in up to 50% of fall fertilizer being lost to the environment. Solutions are needed to reduce nutrient pollution from Midwestern agriculture. Cover crops are a best management practice that shows potential to reduce nutrient loss from Illinois farms. However, due to economic concerns, cover crop usage in Illinois is low (6%). A novel winter oilseed, pennycress, has the potential to act both as a cover crop and a cash crop, benefitting …

Inactivation Of Adenosine Receptor 2a Suppresses Endothelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition And Inhibits Subretinal Fibrosis In Mice, Qiuhua Yang, Yongfeng Cai, Qian Ma, Albert Xiong, Peishan Xu, Zhidan Zhang, Jiean Xu, Yaqi Zhou, Zhiping Liu, Dingwei Zhao, John Asara, Wei Li, Huidong Shi, Ruth B Caldwell, Akrit Sodhi, Yuqing Huo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Anti–vascular endothelial growth factor therapy has had a substantial impact on the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), the leading cause of vision loss in older adults. Despite treatment, many patients with nAMD still develop severe and irreversible visual impairment because of the development of subretinal fibrosis. We recently reported the anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic effects of inhibiting the gene encoding adenosine receptor 2A (Adora2a), which has been implicated in cardiovascular disease. Here, using two mouse models of subretinal fibrosis (mice with laser injury–induced CNV or mice with a deficiency in the …

Environmental Detection Of Parasites In The Marginalized Paiute Reservations Compared To A Nearby Area, Shannon Mckim, Kristen Kopystynsky, Nathaniel Wolf, Fahim A Akbar, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Peter J Hotez, Rojelio Mejia

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

The amounts of parasite DNA in soil samples from different playgrounds and other public areas can help identify areas of possible microbe transmission and give indications of the possible occurrence of parasite infection in nearby communities. We collected 207 soil samples from parks in Paiute indigenous tribal areas in southwestern Utah and from the higher income city of St. George, Utah, and tested them for 11 parasites that can cause human disease. Molecular tests revealed an elevated odds ratio (OR) of 3.072 (range, 1.114-8.065) for detecting the helminth Trichuris trichiura and an elevated OR of 3.036 (range, 1.101-7.966) for any …

Lc-Ms/Ms Reveals Hordeins Are Enriched In Brewers’ Spent Grain, Mitchell G. Nye-Wood, Michelle L. Colgrave

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Barley is commonly used in malting and brewing, and spent grain is repurposed for other foods. Barley contains gluten proteins called hordeins that cause intestinal damage and disease symptoms if eaten by people with celiac disease and related conditions. While the mashing process in brewing can partially hydrolyze immunogenic epitopes in hordeins, the immunogenic epitope load between the starting malt and spent grain has not been investigated. Herein, we quantified hordeins in commercially available spent grain and from matching malt. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and sandwich and competitive R5 ELISAs were used for quantification, revealing a higher abundance of gluten …

The Religious Significance Of Bees And Beehives In Egyptian, Israelite, And Latter-Day Saint Traditions, Anita Cramer

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The bee and beehive have been pervasive symbols in many ancient societies and religions. This iconography continues in the modern world, as Latter-day Saint beehives clearly testify. From Brigham Young University letterhead, to Utah highway signs, to the Salt Lake Temple doors, the state of Deseret continues to flaunt its mascot Yet few realize the profound symbolism, such as royalty and rebirth, associated with the bee. Examining the ancient Egyptian and Israelite usage of bees in a religious context, therefore, is intriguing, and provides insight into why Latter-day Saint pioneers chose to identify with the beehive and its inhabitants. Pharaonic …

Blackfeet And Long Knives: Hostilities Between Blackfeet And Americans, 1806-1840, Jay H. Buckley

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

More than twenty trappers had died within three months. The men had begun to cower in the fort, afraid to leave for fear of a Blackfoot attack. George Drouillard ventured out alone twice and brought back nearly twenty beaver pelts. He contended that he was too much Indian himself to be captured or killed. On the third day, he convinced two others to leave the fort as well-all three failed to return. Thomas James recorded that their search party found the first two bodies "pierced with lances, arrows, and bullets and lying near each other." One hundred and fifty yards …

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach To Working With Youth, Young Adults And Families, Weston J. Robins

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach to Working with Youth, Young Adults and Families

A focus on experiential mentoring, humanistic counseling and community engagement as a way to work with youth, young adults and families to provide true holistic therapeutic support and guidance.

Amplify: Elevating Student Voice Of Youth Experiencing Homelessness Through Podcasting, Kimberley A. Silva

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Discover the synergy of student voice, podcasting, and equity. Empower the voices of students experiencing homelessness in your schools through podcasting with best practices and trauma-informed insights. Learn the basics of starting a podcast with students, access a comprehensive toolkit, and hear from youth speakers. Don't miss this opportunity to amplify diverse voices and break down educational barriers for students experiencing homelessness with podcasting.

Teaching Students About Trauma, Stress And Brain Regulation, Kathy J. Van Horn

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

All students are impacted by stress and can benefit by understanding their brains, their stress response, and strategies for regulation. This presentation will provide practical principles and ideas for teaching students strategies and skills for physical, emotional, and cortical regulation.

Adult Neurocolpus Nubilus And Plagiognathus Sp. Dispersal On Tropaeolum Majus, Elyse Malamud

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Neurocolpus nubilus (Say) (Hemiptera: Miridae), commonly known as the clouded plant bug, is a species of plant bug. Widespread primarily across eastern North America, N. nubilus is known to feed on many types of plants. At least 43 host plants spanning 34 plant families have been recorded for N. nubilus and more may be possible. Plagiognathus (Fieber) (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a genus of plant bugs that is widespread across the Holarctic region. Plagiognathus spp. are typically found on various woody host plants. This paper describes an instance of adult N. nubilus and Plagiognathus sp. feeding on a cultivar of Tropaeolum …