Digital Commons Network^™

Utilizing Neuromuscular Force Recording As A Novel Proxy For Functional Assessments Of Brain Or Peripheral Nerve Stimulation In A Mouse Model, Aniruth Kartike Senthilkumar

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Studies have observed enhanced neuromuscular functions induced by corticospinal contributions through frequency and intensity modulation of electrical stimulation pulses. We plan to design and build a custom-made loadcell adaptor to observe central and peripheral contributions of electrical stimulation via different settings and arrangements of anesthetized animals. We aim to show correlations between the muscle force and electromyography when target muscles are being stimulated using certain levels of electrical stimulations within different frequency bandwidths. The results will provide insights on how stimulation can induce neural or muscular plasticity and how we can use force and EMG to evaluate the results objectively.

Why Poetry Comics? An Overview Of The Form's Origins, Creative Potential, And Pedagogical Benefits, Mara Beneway

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

Abstract: Poetry comics are a subgenre or hybrid form that appropriate elements and techniques from its foundational genres: poetry and comics. A form that braids literary traditions with visual art, poetry comics’ rich history and metaphorical possibility make for innate and deep engagement. This paper offers a brief history of visual poetry, an explicit definition of poetry comics along with theoretical context for engagement, and pedagogical approaches to using poetry comics in the creative writing classroom. In a discussion focused on interpretation and individual meaning-making, I reference Bianca Stone’s creative work, Sarah Minor’s scholarship on “textual reading” vs. “visual seeing,” …

Reduction Of Paraoxonase Expression Followed By Inactivation Across Independent Semiaquatic Mammals Suggests Stepwise Path To Pseudogenization., Allie M Graham, Jerrica M Jamison, Marisol Bustos, Charlotte Cournoyer, Alexa Michaels, Jason S Presnell, Rebecca Richter, Daniel E Crocker, Ari Fustukjian, Margaret E Hunter, Lorrie D Rea, Judit Marsillach, Clement E Furlong, Wynn K Meyer, Nathan L Clark

Faculty Research 2023

Convergent adaptation to the same environment by multiple lineages frequently involves rapid evolutionary change at the same genes, implicating these genes as important for environmental adaptation. Such adaptive molecular changes may yield either change or loss of protein function; loss of function can eliminate newly deleterious proteins or reduce energy necessary for protein production. We previously found a striking case of recurrent pseudogenization of the Paraoxonase 1 (Pon1) gene among aquatic mammal lineages-Pon1 became a pseudogene with genetic lesions, such as stop codons and frameshifts, at least four times independently in aquatic and semiaquatic mammals. Here, we assess the landscape …

How Can Meat Consumption Be Both Increasing And Decreasing?, Harold A. Herzog

Herzog - Dietary Issues

The percentage of Americans who do not eat meat has doubled in the past two decades. Per capita meat consumption in the U.S., though, has not changed in decades and remains among the highest in the world. The moralization-polarization effect explains this paradox. Cognitive dissonance may induce some people to eat less meat but others to eat more.

Relationships Between Vector Mosquitoes And Climate Change Derived From Long Term Ecological Data In The United States, Nicholas Scott

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Climate change has significant ecological and societal consequences as evident from the past few decades. It has had a large impact on many species, including vector mosquitoes. Although how climate change impacts mosquitoes of the tropical world has been explored, temperate areas remain inadequately studied. Therefore, the medical and healthcare sectors are underprepared for treating mosquito-borne diseases (EEE and Western Nile virus). Based on a long-term ecological dataset covering the past ~10 years across 45 sites, we streamlined, processed, and subsequently analyzed data by building statistical models to understand changes among mosquito populations in the US in response to climate …

Temporal Changes In Biological Community Structure In Response To Wetland Restoration: A Study Based On Amphibians And Reptiles, Kayla Keith

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Wetland degradation is a serious environmental concern worldwide. In the United States, over half of the wetland ecosystems have degraded since 1780, which can have numerous, lasting consequences with negative outcomes on ecosystems and human society alike. Ecological restoration can regain both the lost wetland acreage and functions. Both global and national scale interests in ecological restoration have trickled down, which has kindled the local and regional natural resource managers and conservation authorities to invest in restoration. Consequently, large-scale wetland restoration projects are now underway in southeastern Massachusetts, which has coincided with a decline in commercial cranberry farming in the …

Columbia Chronicle (05/02/2023), Columbia College Chicago

Columbia Chronicle

Student newspaper from May 2, 2023 entitled The Columbia Chronicle. This issue is 20 pages. Cover story: "The DEI Issue". Editor-in-Chief: Olivia Cohen.

Reverse Genetics: Downregulating Chk-1 And Fasn-1 In The Gonads Of C. Elegans, Sam Thompson

Undergraduate Theses

Despite its widespread use in research, the model organism C. elegans has several biological processes like gonadal development with potentially unexplored genetic regulators. Previous transcriptome analysis has identified several genes that are upregulated in a specific tissue or sex during the development of the somatic gonad in C. elegans (Kroetz et al. 2015) that have not been previously connected to this process. Of these genes, this research is concerned with chk-1 and fasn-1. Abrogating the expression of these genes in gonadal tissue during gonadogenesis could cause a change in phenotype for affected C. elegans that would aid in understanding these …

Self‑Objectification During The Perinatal Period: The Role Of Body Surveillance In Maternal And Infant Wellbeing, Lauren M. Laifer, Olivia R. Maras, Gemma Sáez, Sarah Gervais, Rebecca L. Brock

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Pregnancy represents a unique time during which women’s bodies undergo significant physical changes (e.g., expanding belly, larger breasts, weight gain) that can elicit increased objectification. Experiences of objectification set the stage for women to view themselves as sexual objects (i.e., self-objectification) and are associated with adverse mental health outcomes. Although women may experience heightened self-objectification and behavioral consequences (such as body surveillance) due to the objectification of pregnant bodies in Western cultures, there are remarkably few studies examining objectification theory among women during the perinatal period. The present study investigated the impact of body surveillance, a consequence of self-objectification, on …

Meditation-Type Exercise For The Management Of Chemotherapy Related Cognitive Impairment In Breast Cancer Patients, Christine Cain

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), or “chemobrain”, is one of the most troublesome side effects of chemotherapy (Dijkshoorn et al., 2020). Ongoing CRCI may negatively affect relationships, confidence, sleep, fatigue, anxiety, and the ability to return to work activities leading to a decreased quality of life (Johns et al., 2016; Gokal et al., 2018). The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to assess the efficiency of a meditation-type exercise intervention, chair yoga, on decreasing perceived cognitive impairment (PCI) in breast cancer patients. The PICOT question for this project was: In breast cancer patients with chemotherapy related cognitive impairment (P), …

Macronutrient Composition Of Sea Otter Diet With Respect To Recolonization, Life History, And Season In Southern Southeast Alaska, Nicole Laroche, Sydney King, Emily Fergusson, Ginny Eckert, Heidi Pearson

Faculty, Staff, and Students

The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) population of Southeast Alaska has been growing at a higher rate than other regions along the Pacific coast. While good for the recovery of this endangered species, rapid population growth of this apex predator can create a human-wildlife conflict, negatively impacting commercial and subsistence fishing. Previous foraging studies throughout the sea otter range have shown they will reduce invertebrate prey biomass when recolonizing an area. The goal of this study was to examine and quantify the energy content of sea otter diets through direct foraging observations and prey collection. Our study area, Prince of Wales …

May 2, 2023, Csusb

Coyote Chronicle (1984-)

No abstract provided.

Wild Birds: Human & Animal Welfare, Environment, And Global Sustainability, Janice H. Cox Mba

WellBeing News

Birds provide many ecosystem services and contribute to human well-being, but their numbers are falling worldwide.

Institutional Decline Or Evolution?: An Intergenerational Analysis Of African-American Religiosity, Ellis Braveboy Walker V

Whittier Scholars Program

African American religion, born from the traumas of institutionalized slavery, has played a significant role in the religio-cultural development of enslaved Africans and their descendants. Forced to adapt to the tumultuousness of systematic mistreatment and dehumanization at the hands of oppressive European forces, African peoples managed to create faith-based safe spaces in which they could socialize freely amongst themselves, ultimately protecting their indigenous spiritual belief systems and negotiating them with a reinvention of Eurocentric Christianity into the Black Church. This hybridization of West African spirituality and the Christian faith cemented itself into the culture of Black Americans for generations. However, …

On The Danger Of Not Understanding Technology, Fredric I. Lederer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Dense & Attention Convolutional Neural Networks For Toe Walking Recognition, Junde Chen, Rahul Soangra, Marybeth Grant-Beuttler, Y. A. Nanehkaran, Yuxin Wen

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Idiopathic toe walking (ITW) is a gait disorder where children’s initial contacts show limited or no heel touch during the gait cycle. Toe walking can lead to poor balance, increased risk of falling or tripping, leg pain, and stunted growth in children. Early detection and identification can facilitate targeted interventions for children diagnosed with ITW. This study proposes a new one-dimensional (1D) Dense & Attention convolutional network architecture, which is termed as the DANet, to detect idiopathic toe walking. The dense block is integrated into the network to maximize information transfer and avoid missed features. Further, the attention modules are …

Anticancer Activities Of Tetra-, Penta-, And Hexacyclic Phenothiazines Modified With Quinoline Moiety., Małgorzata Jel, Beata Morak-Młodawska, Rafał Korlacki

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The quinoline molecule is a chemical motif showing a highly promising pharmacological potential. Its numerous derivatives introduced into medicine revolutionized in the treatment of many entities of disease. The presence of the quinoline system in the structure of phenothiazines made it possible to obtain new aza- and diazaphenothiazine derivatives that show promising anticancer potential. The aza-analogs of the phenothiazines are structurally modified phenothiazines by the substitution of one or both benzene rings in the phenothiazine ring system with various azine rings. This approach to the strategy of obtaining new substances with biological potential can be classified as molecular hybridization methods …

Cancer Stem Cell Assay-Guided Chemotherapy Improves Survival Of Patients With Recurrent Glioblastoma In A Randomized Trial, Tulika Ranjan, Soma Sengupta, Michael J. Glantz, Richard M. Green, Alexander Yu, Dawit Aregawi, Rekha Chaudhary, Ricky Chen, Mario Zuccarello, Christine Lu-Emerson, Hugh D. Moulding, Neil Belman, Jon Glass, Aaron Mammoser, Mark Anderson, Jagan Valluri, Nicholas Marko, Jason Schroeder, Steven Jubelirer, Frances Chow, Pier Paolo Claudio, Anthony M. Alberico, Seth T. Lirette, Krista L. Denning, Candace M. Howard

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Therapy-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs) contribute to the poor clinical outcomes of patients with recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) who fail standard of care (SOC) therapy. ChemoID is a clinically validated assay for identifying CSC-targeted cytotoxic therapies in solid tumors.

In a randomized clinical trial (NCT03632135), the ChemoID assay, a personalized approach for selecting the most effective treatment from FDA-approved chemotherapies, improves the survival of patients with rGBM (2016 WHO classification) over physician-chosen chemotherapy. In the ChemoID assay-guided group, median survival is 12.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.2-14.7) compared with 9 months (95% CI, 4.2-13.8) in the physician-choice group (p = …

The Link May 2, 2023, Access To Justice Institute

The Link Newsletter

No abstract provided.

High School Quality Is Associated With Cognition 58 Years Later, Dominika Seblova, Chloe Eng, Justina F. Avila-Rieger, Jordan D. Dworkin, Kelly Peters, Susan Lapham, Laura B. Zahodne, Benjamin Chapman, Carol A. Prescott, Tara L. Gruenewald, Thalida Em. Arpawong, Margaret Gatz, Rich J. Jones, Maria M. Glymour, Jennifer J. Manly

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We leveraged a unique school-based longitudinal cohort—the Project Talent Aging Study—to examine whether attending higher quality schools is associated with cognitive performance among older adults in the United States (mean age = 74.8). Participants (n = 2,289) completed telephone neurocognitive testing. Six indicators of high school quality, reported by principals at the time of schooling, were predictors of respondents’ cognitive function 58 years later. To account for school-clustering, multilevel linear and logistic models were applied. We found that attending schools with a higher number of teachers with graduate training was the clearest predictor of later-life cognition, and school quality mattered …

Microbial Biofortification: A Sustainable Solution To Feed 10 Billion People, Perrin Thompson, Kathryn Tschida

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

No abstract provided.

A Geospatial Approach To Identify Patterns Of Antibiotic Susceptibility At A Neighborhood Level In Wisconsin, United States, Laurel Legenza, Kyle Mcnair, Song Gao, James P Lacy, Brooke J Olson, Thomas R Fritsche, Lucas T Schulz, Samantha Lamuro, Frances Spray-Larson, Tahmeena Siddiqui, Warren E Rose

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) varies regionally. This study explores whether geospatial analysis and data visualization methods detect both clinically and statistically significant variations in antibiotic susceptibility rates at a neighborhood level. This observational multicenter geospatial study collected 10 years of patient-level antibiotic susceptibility data and patient addresses from three regionally distinct Wisconsin health systems (UW Health, Fort HealthCare, Marshfield Clinic Health System [MCHS]). We included the initial Escherichia coli isolate per patient per year per sample source with a patient address in Wisconsin (N = 100,176). Isolates from U.S. Census Block Groups with less than 30 isolates …

Honors Recital (2023), St. Norbert College Music Department

Music Performances

SNC Music Department presents: the Honors Recital, also featuring students awarded scholarships (2023).

4-H Event Schedule For The 2023 North Haverhill Fair, Extension

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Organ Localization And Detection In Sow’S Using Machine Learning And Deep Learning In Computer Vision, Iyad Almadani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The objective of computer vision research is to endow computers with human-like perception to enable the capability to detect their surroundings, interpret the data they sense, take appropriate actions, and learn from their experiences to improve future performance. The area has progressed from using traditional pattern recognition and image processing technologies to advanced techniques in image understanding such as model-based and knowledge-based vision. In the past few years there has been a surge of interest in machine learning algorithms for computer vision-based applications. Machine learning technology has the potential to significantly contribute to the development of flexible and robust vision …

Does Vocalization Increase The Positive Valence Of Emotion?, Joshua Hyde

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study aims to determine if the act of voicing can have an effect on mood in a within-participant reversal paradigm, where each participant served as their own control. Following a baseline condition, participants underwent three experimental conditions: breathing, articulating, and voicing. Following baseline and experimental conditions, participants underwent an emotion-induction paradigm by looking at pictures. They rated their current mood and arousal levels following each picture. Additionally, psychophysiological measures of facial electromyography, electrocardiography, and electrodermal responses were gathered throughout the experiment. Results were mixed, revealing that there was a mood change during aversive picture viewing toward positive moods in …

Relative Discretionary Expenditures On Alcohol As An Indicator Of Alcohol Use Severity In A Diverse Emerging Adult Sample, Jackie Austin Varner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Relative discretionary expenditures towards alcohol (RDEA) is a behavioral economic measure that uses patterns of resource allocation (money) to alcohol versus other activities as an index of the relative reinforcing efficacy of alcohol. RDEA can be predictive of treatment response and is positively associated with alcohol use and consequences, but has not been validated in a diverse sample of emerging adults. This study hypothesized that RDEA would be an indicator of alcohol use severity and investigated associations among RDEA, alcohol use, and alcohol problems, as well as relationships among two measures of relative reinforcing efficacy (RRE) to establish construct validity …

Going To Her Ka: A New Identification Of The Pair Statues In The Tomb Of Meresankh Iii, Paige Nehls

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This thesis focuses on the pair statues in the western chamber of the tomb of Meresankh III. Meresankh predeceased her mother, Hetepheres II, who repurposed her own tomb for Meresankh. This relationship has led to scholars looking for Hetepheres in uninscribed statues of women throughout the tomb. I make the case that Hetepheres is not to be found in the statues of the west chamber as that was reserved for her daughter and her daughter’s ka. To make this point, I provide a summary of scholarship, followed by a layout of the tomb. Then, I describe the ka and its …

Rerupture Outcome Of Conservative Versus Open Repair Versus Minimally Invasive Repair Of Acute Achilles Tendon Ruptures: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Haidong Deng, Xin Cheng, Yi Yang, Fang Fang, Jialing He, Yixin Tian, Tiangui Li, Yangchun Xiao, Yuning Feng, Peng Wang, Weelic Chong, Yang Hai, Yu Zhang

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: To compare the rerupture rate after conservative treatment, open repair, and minimally invasive surgery management of acute Achilles tendon ruptures.

DESIGN: Systematic review and network meta-analysis.

DATA SOURCES: We searched Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to August 2022.

METHODS: Randomised controlled trials involving different treatments for Achilles tendon rupture were included. The primary outcome was rerupture. Bayesian network meta-analysis with random effects was used to assess pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals. We evaluated the heterogeneity and publication bias.

RESULTS: Thirteen trials with 1465 patients were included. In direct comparison, …

Very-Long-Chain Fatty Acids Induce Glial-Derived Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Synthesis, Secretion, And Neuroinflammation, Hyung-Lok Chung, Qi Ye, Ye-Jin Park, Zhongyuan Zuo, Jung-Wan Mok, Oguz Kanca, Sudhir Gopal Tattikota, Shenzhao Lu, Nobert Perrimon, Hyun Kyoung Lee, Hugo J Bellen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

VLCFAs (very-long-chain fatty acids) are the most abundant fatty acids in myelin. Hence, during demyelination or aging, glia are exposed to higher levels of VLCFA than normal. We report that glia convert these VLCFA into sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) via a glial-specific S1P pathway. Excess S1P causes neuroinflammation, NF-κB activation, and macrophage infiltration into the CNS. Suppressing the function of S1P in fly glia or neurons, or administration of Fingolimod, an S1P receptor antagonist, strongly attenuates the phenotypes caused by excess VLCFAs. In contrast, elevating the VLCFA levels in glia and immune cells exacerbates these phenotypes. Elevated VLCFA and S1P are also …