Digital Commons Network^™

Participatory Action Research (Par) In Designing A Supplementary Animated Teaching Resource To Support Learning Cervical Assessment, Michelle Gray, Shelley Stuart, Melanie Welfare

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: To create an education resource that assists students to understand the movement of the cervix during labour from a posterior retroverted position to a central location, cervical effacement, dilatation of the cervix and descent of the fetal skull. Background: Learning about anatomy and physiology in relation to cervical effacement and dilatation are abstract concepts that are difficult to understand from reading alone. Diagrams are of little assistance however 3D animation has the potential to improve students learning experiences. Design: Participatory Action Research (PAR) using the 7 C's Feekery Framework approach was adopted. Participants became coresearchers in conceptualising the learning …

Widespread Decline In The Abundance Of Sea Cucumber Assemblages In Atolls Of The Protected Rowley Shoals, Northwestern Australia, Inês Leal, Claire L. Ross, Simone Strydom, Richard D. Evans, Thomas H. Holmes, Graham J. Edgar, John K. Keesing

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The Rowley Shoals, off northwestern Australia, are renowned as a biodiversity hotspot. This remote system comprises three atolls, Clerke, Imperieuse and Mermaid, which in recent years have been increasingly targeted by illegal fishing, a pressure rising across the Indo-Pacific. The objective of this study was to quantify recent changes in sea cucumber assemblages across the Rowley Shoals. We surveyed nine sea cucumber species at monitoring sites in 2018 and 2023 to assess changes in their abundance. Total assemblage densities declined significantly across all atolls and habitats. Documented seizures of illegally harvested holothurians by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority over this …

Diversity And Immune Dynamics Of Choroid Plexus Macrophages Are Shaped By Distinct Developmental Origins, Siling Du, Khai M Nguyen, Alina Ulezko Antonova, Jose L Fachi, Patrick Fernandes Rodrigues, Alice Verdiani, Martina Molgora, Igor Smirnov, Jasmin Herz, Tornike Mamuladze, Jennifer Ponce, Amanda Swain, Mattia Bugatti, Susan Gilfillan, Marina Cella, William Vermi, Jonathan Kipnis, Marco Colonna, Simone Brioschi

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

The choroid plexus forms a key barrier and signaling interface between the brain and peripheral circulation, yet its immune landscape remains incompletely understood. Using single-cell transcriptomics combined with lineage and spatial tracing methods, we identified three biologically distinct populations of choroid plexus macrophages, defined by differential expression of CD163, MHCII or CD9. These subsets arise from separate hematopoietic waves, occupy distinct anatomical niches and differentially rely on CSF1 and IL-34 for survival. We found that TGFβ signaling is essential to maintain their tissue-specific identities, and deletion of Tgfbr2 in these cells induces broad phenotypic reprogramming. During neuroinflammation, choroid plexus macrophages …

Glutamatergic Dysfunction Of Astrocytes In Paraventricular Nucleus Of Thalamus Contributes To Adult Anxiety Susceptibility In Adolescent Ethanol Exposed Mice, Aubrey Bennett, Hyunjung Kim, David Thomas, Peter Biggs, Roxan Ara, Asamoah Bosomtwi, Seungwoo Kang

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

Repeated ethanol exposure during adolescence increases adult anxiety risk, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) has been considered a hub for controlling anxiety and is affected by experiences from early life. Thus, this study investigated how adolescent intermittent repeated ethanol exposure (AIE) affects the PVT activities and anxiety-related behaviors in adulthood. We found that AIE triggers anxiety-like behaviors and parallelly exhibited elevated firing rates and increased calcium signaling in the PVT neurons compared to control counterpart mice. Chemogenetic inhibition of PVT neurons reduced anxiety-like behaviors in AIE-treated animals, confirming PVT's role in adolescent …

Lipids Grease The Chain Of Cancer Progression, Joseph Rupert, Pham Hong Anh Cao, Daniel E Frigo, Mikhail G Kolonin

The Brown Foundation: Institute of Molecular Medicine

The role of lipids in cancer progression has become a fervent area of exploration. The crosstalk of tumors with adipose tissue is a complex but well-regulated orchestration of signaling pathways, lipid transporters, and enzymes. They regulate fatty acid synthesis, their deposition into lipid droplets (LDs) as triglycerides, induction of lipolysis, shuttling lipids across cells, and their systemic trafficking, modification, and catabolism. For the latter, lipid oxidation has emerged as a metabolic process of particular clinical importance. Products of lipid processing can become secondary messengers, contribute to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, stimulate the production of antioxidants, and, if left unchecked, …

2026 March, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for March of 2026.

Legislative & Administrative Notes, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Behavioral And Cognitive Changes In Patients With Pathologically Confirmed Alzheimer Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, And Mixed Dementia, Ming Wang, Hongke Wu, Aaron Bonner-Jackson, Yiming Chen, Wen Tang, Hao Feng, Lijun Zhang, Chixiang Chen, James B Leverenz, Jagan A Pillai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background and objectives: Alzheimer's disease pathology (ADP) and Lewy body pathology (LBP) are traditionally associated with distinct cognitive profiles. However, growing evidence highlights the role of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in shaping clinical presentations. The combined influence of cognitive and behavioral symptoms across neuropathologically confirmed ADP, LBP, and mixed AD-LBP has not been systematically examined. This study aimed to identify clinically meaningful subtypes by jointly analyzing cognitive performance and BPSD profiles in individuals with autopsy-confirmed dementia pathology.

Methods: This retrospective longitudinal cohort study used data from the National Alzheimer Coordinating Center (NACC), collected across multiple U.S. Alzheimer's …

Molecular Lung Imaging Following Exposure To Radiation Predicts Long-Term Survival In Rats, Anne V. Clough, Kathrina Mpala, Taheri Pardis, Laura Norwood Toro, Andreas M. Beyer, Tracy Gasperetti, Ming Zhao, Sarah Kerns, Heather A. Himburg, Said H. Audi

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

Delayed effects of acute radiation exposure (DEARE), including radiation pneumonitis (lung-DEARE), develop weeks to months after radiation exposure. Pathway-targeted biomarkers that capture early oxidative stress and cell death could improve risk stratification and provide objective measures of mitigator efficacy. The objective was to test whether molecular lung imaging predicts long-term survival and mitigator response after irradiation. Rats received 13.5 Gy leg-out partial-body irradiation with a subset treated with the radiation-injury mitigator lisinopril. Rats underwent lung imaging at weeks 2 and 4 post-irradiation with ^99mTc-duramycin (cell death) and ^99mTc-HMPAO (oxidative stress). Plasma mitochondrial damage-associated molecular patterns (mtDAMPs) were also …

Adam N. Steinman, Adam N. Steinman

Faculty CVs

No abstract provided.

Design And Tissue Engineering Applications Of Microporous Annealed Particle (Map) Scaffolds, Nic D. Leipzig, Oluwaseyi Shofolawe-Bakare

University Research

Microporous annealed particle (MAP) scaffolds are emerging as a facile, yet sophisticated biomaterial platform with tremendous potential for tissue regenerative applications. These scaffolds are fabricated in situ through interparticle crosslinking of microgels using a variety of covalent or non-covalent techniques and possess excellent tunability and biocompatibility. The microporous structure of MAP scaffolds allows cellular infiltration and vascularization independent of degradation rate, making them more advantageous than traditional nanoporous bulk hydrogels. Moreover, the incorporation of in situ crosslinking allows MAP scaffolds to retain the key advantages of traditional microgel-based scaffolds—such as injectability and modularity—while providing the added benefit of a fixed …

Unilateral Online Ultrasound Stimulation Of Early Visual Cortex Suppresses Responses To Contralateral Visual Stimuli, Suraya Dunsford, Keith Murphy, Ema Darrieutort, Elsa Fouragnan, Giorgio Ganis

School of Psychology

INTRODUCTION: Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) shows great promise for inducing neuroplastic changes that persist long after stimulation. Evidence of stimulation-locked (online) neural changes would enable the development of closed-loop application of TUS. However, such responses have been difficult to distinguish from coincident neural activity caused by auditory and somatosensory effects of TUS.

METHODS: To dissociate genuine online neuromodulatory effects from peripheral confounds, we leveraged the contralateral retinotopic organization of the early visual cortex in nineteen subjects. Using a hemifield visual stimulation paradigm combined with high-precision, functional MRI-guided TUS, we applied TUS to the left early visual cortex while participants viewed …

Shaping The Future Of Vertical Bone Augmentation: A Detailed Review Of Additive Manufacturing And 3d Biodegradable Scaffolds, Sleem Abdelstar Farag, Refaie Ahmed Omar, Salah A. Salman, Ahmed Barhoum, Gomaa A. Abdalla, Abdalla Abdal Hay Ali

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Achieving effective alveolar bone augmentation in the vertical dimension presents a significant challenge in periodontal tissue regeneration, particularly for optimizing dental implant procedures. Sufficient alveolar bone height is crucial for successful implant placement. To achieve this, several surgical approaches—such as autologous bone block grafting, distraction osteogenesis, and guided bone regeneration (GBR)—are commonly used, often in combination with natural or synthetic grafting materials. However, these conventional methods face limitations, including morbidity, dimensional instability, structural weaknesses, handling difficulties, and high failure rates. Recent advancements in additive manufacturing, present innovative solutions by enabling the creation of 3D porous scaffolds with essential properties for …

The Application, Construction, And Validation Of Hidden Markov Model Profiles For Carbonic Anhydrase Enzymes, Samuel F. Kaplan

Master's Theses

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) catalyze the reversible hydration of CO2 and have evolved independently at least eight times, resulting in structurally distinct enzyme families (α, β, γ, δ, ζ, η, θ, ι). Traditional sequence alignment methods struggle to classify these convergently evolved proteins because their sequential similarity does not reliably indicate functional or evolutionary relationships. Many CA sequences in public databases are annotated generically without family assignments, and prior computational approaches have focused predominantly on the three well characterized families (α, β, γ), leaving the five recently discovered classes without robust classification tools. Family level assignment is often a prerequisite for …

Design And Development Of A 12-Degree-Of-Freedom Quadruped Robot, Kai De La Cruz

Master's Theses

This thesis presents the design, analysis, and experimental validation of a 12-degree-of-freedom (DOF) quadruped robot developed as a research platform for legged locomotion and control. The system builds upon the Cal Poly Legged Robotics Group’s prior 8-DOF quadruped, addressing key limitations in manipulability, load distribution, and mechanical robustness by introducing a 3-DOF leg architecture.

The mechanical design emphasizes lightweight construction, structural integrity, and modularity to support future research extensions. Static and dynamic loading models were developed to inform component sizing and material selection. A carbon-fiber chassis and redesigned leg assemblies were fabricated and validated through finite element analysis and physical …

Measurement And Control Of The Oxidation-Reduction Potential And Its Chemical And Sensory Consequences In Wines, William Jordan Wright

Master's Theses

The oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) is a measurement thought to reflect the overall ability of a solution to oxidize or reduce substances within that solution. In wine, there is no absolute agreement as to which substances control or dominate the ORP; however, oxygen, ethanol, iron-tartrate and copper-tartrate complexes, and glutathione are suspected to play key roles, while sulfur dioxide and phenolics may act as buffers. Anecdotally, some varieties of Vitis vinifera are prone to oxidation while others are prone to reduction, though the chemical basis of this remains unclear. The following works aim to further elucidate the influence of specific chemical …

Associations Between Nutrition-Related Chronic Disease And Food Insecurity: Data From The California State University, Elizabeth Ochoa

Master's Theses

Food insecurity is a growing public health concern consistently associated with elevated rates of nutrition-related chronic disease (NRCD) across the general population. Despite young adulthood being a critical window for dietary pattern formation, this relationship remains minimally explored among college students. This thesis examined associations between food insecurity and NRCD diagnosis, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease, among undergraduate students across the California State University (CSU) system. Cross-sectional data were drawn from the Spring 2021 CSU National College Health Assessment, administered across all 23 campuses. After exclusions, the analytical sample comprised 13,762 students. Bivariate analyses assessed relationships between key …

Evolutionary Conservation Of Midline Axon Guidance Activity Between Drosophila And Tribolium Frazzled, Piyasi Ghosh, Benjamin C. Wadsworth, Logan Terry, Timothy A. Evans

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The regulation of midline crossing of axons is of fundamental importance for the proper development of nervous system connectivity in bilaterian animals. A number of conserved axon guidance signaling pathways coordinate to attract or repel axons at the nervous system midline to ensure the proper regulation of midline crossing. The attractive Netrin-Frazzled/DCC (Net-Fra) signaling pathway is widely conserved among bilaterians, but it is not clear whether the mechanisms by which Net and Fra promote midline crossing are also conserved. In Drosophila, Fra can promote midline crossing via Netrin-dependent and Netrin-independent mechanisms, by acting as a canonical midline attractive receptor and …

Weaponizing Nature, Naturalizing Violence: Anthropologies Of Ecofascism, Chloe Ahmann, Mona Bhan, Alexandra Coțofană, Radhika Govindrajan, Julia Leser, Zeynep Oguz, Yuka Suzuki, Noah Theriault

All Works

After decades of denial and obstruction, the global Right is increasingly willing to acknowledge that climate change is a threat to lives and lifeways everywhere. Moreover, some seize on the specter of ecological collapse to advance fascistic politics. Mass shootings by White men who propose that eliminating racialized people will ease environmental pressures—including in Christchurch and El Paso—have been the most spectacular manifestations of this shift. But close observers note kindred shifts at borders and in boardrooms all across this planet, as far-right groups work not merely to “save the earth” but to save it for specific people, and from …

Revisiting The Remedial Spectrum: A Proposed Framework For Sentence Reduction Beneath Mandatory Minima Under Ferguson And Nasogaluak, Justin Forlini

UBC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Health And Wellbeing Course And Study Away Program To Alaska, Lorraine S. Wallace, Steven J. Mousetes, Jennifer Bickley

Journal of Global Education and Research

High-impact practices, such as diversity/global education, have been shown to positively contribute to student development, engagement, and success. As the US is both culturally and linguistically diverse, domestic study away programs can offer students impactful multicultural educational experiences without leaving the country. The purpose of this study was to describe the design of a health and well-being academic course and accompanying study away program to Alaska for undergraduates at The Ohio State University (OSU). The authors (1) describe the application of the backward design process in guiding ELOs development, (2) provide a sample of course assignments and student responses, and …

Globalizing The Engineering Job Market: Optimizing Engineering Career Expos To Serve International Students, Hailey A. Hesseltine

Journal of Global Education and Research

As the United States hosts approximately one million international students annually, it becomes imperative that on-campus resources are tailored to meet the needs of this diverse student population. One on-campus resource that is crucial to student success is career services, especially considering the aspirations of many international students to secure employment post-graduation. To address this, this study aimed to understand the satisfaction levels of international engineering students with an engineering career expo in Hawaiʻi. Utilizing a combination of surveys and interviews using a neo-racism framework, international students shared their experiences from the career expo through discussion and assessment. Information given …

Trophic Structure And Mercury Bioaccumulation In Walleye And Yellow Perch In The Upper And Lower Red Lake Basins, Marissa Pribyl

Biology Graduate Theses

Mercury is a persistent global contaminant that biomagnifies through aquatic food webs, with dietary and environmental factors serving as the primary drivers of accumulation in fishes. Trophic structure and methylmercury dynamics in Walleye (ogaa; Sander vitreus) and Yellow Perch (asaawens; Perca flavescens) were investigated in the Upper and Lower Red Lake basins in Red Lake, Minnesota, during 2024-2025. Diets of Walleye and Yellow Perch were assessed through stomach dissections, and tissue samples from both species were analyzed for total mercury concentrations. Additional analyses included shiners (gigoozens; Notropis spp., Hudsonius spp.) along with a variety of freshwater fish and …

Generative Ai For Text-To-Video Generation: Recent Advances And Future Directions, Kadhim Hayawi, Sakib Shahriar

All Works

Text-to-video (T2V) generation has recently emerged as a transformative technology within the field of generative AI, enabling the creation of realistic, temporally coherent videos based on natural language descriptions. This paradigm provides significant added value in many domains such as creative media, human-computer interaction, immersive learning, and simulation. Despite its growing importance, systematic discussion of T2V is still limited compared with adjacent modalities such as text-to-image and image-to-video. To alleviate the scarcity of discussions in the T2V field, this paper provides a systematic review of works published from 2024 onward, consolidating fragmented contributions across the field. We survey and categorize …

Creating A News Literate Journalism: A Metacognitive Model For Journalism Practice, Patrick R. Johnson

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This article introduces News Literate Journalism, a metacognitive approach that redefines news literacy as a professional competency. Drawing on interviews with 30 journalists and grounded in news literacy and educational psychology, I argue that ethical, adaptive journalism relies on reflection, regulation and critical reasoning. These behaviors, though embedded in journalistic routines, are often overlooked. The approach presents a new framework for journalism education and practice, one that promotes transparency, fosters trust and supports democratic resilience.

Pharmacokinetic Modeling Strategies For Dynamic Hyperpolarized Urea Imaging, Keith A Michel, Collin J Harlan, Christopher M Walker, Matthew E Merritt, Yunyun Chen, Stephen Y Lai, James A Bankson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: To evaluate pharmacokinetic modeling methods for quantification of tissue perfusion/permeability with hyperpolarized 13C urea.

Methods: Three models for quantitative analysis of dynamic HP urea imaging data were proposed and evaluated in numerical simulations and a thyroid cancer mouse model. A multicompartment model resembling the extended Tofts model for DCE-MRI (Model I) and two simplified models were used. The simplified models each eliminate a volume parameter representing vascular (Model II) or impermeable cellular space (Model III). Signal curves were generated from Model I, and models were fit to these synthetic data to quantify the effects of acquisition settings, bias in …

A Patient-Derived Organ-On-Chip Platform For Modeling The Tumor Microenvironment And Drug Responses In Pancreatic Cancer, Darbaz Adnan, Natan Roberto De Barros, Luca S Santovito, Xuhong Cheng, Kristi M Lawrence, Mariah K Barnett, Martine D Boetto, Neal Mehta, Ajaypal Singh, Lin Cheng, Xiangsheng Huang, Faraz Bishehsari

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a fatal malignancy. Current conventional chemotherapeutics are inadequate in controlling the disease; hence, there is an urgent need for precision medicine. Ex vivo models that replicate the tumor and its microenvironment can advance precision medicine in PDAC. Patient‐derived organoids (PDOs) offer a promising solution by retaining the functional features of the tumor, allowing for individualized study of cancer biology and drug response. However, PDOs fall short in replicating the tumor microenvironment (TME), which includes various stromal and immune cells influencing tumor growth and chemoresistance. We hypothesize that combining PDO technology with organ‐on‐a‐chip (OoC) systems can …

Shiga Toxin Increases Intestinal Transit To Displace Resident Microbes And Facilitate Pathogen Colonization, Max A Odem, Sabona B Simbassa, Cecilia Fadhel Alvarez, Oliyad Jeilu, Shelby R Simar, Rachel Bosserman, Soumita Dutta, Walter Galdamez, Hossaena Ayele, Blake M Hanson, Diana M Proctor, Anne Marie Krachler

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major cause of food-borne illnesses, and disease severity correlates with the production of Shiga toxins. While clinical symptoms such as bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome have been attributed to Stx, its contribution to bacterial fitness is not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that Stx2 enhances STEC colonization of the zebrafish gut by facilitating the partial displacement of gut resident microbes. Infection with Stx2-producing STEC strains or direct exposure of fish to purified Stx2 induces alterations in the zebrafish microbiome structure, impacting several bacterial phyla and genera, notably Pseudomonads. We show that …

Alpha 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Contributes To Long-Term Cognitive Recovery Following Ischemic Stroke, Dustin T Nguyen, Kate Mendoza, Cassandra Hall, Chunfeng Tan, Anjali Chauhan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Stroke is associated with autonomic dysfunction and reduced acetylcholine (ACh), a neurotransmitter critical for cognition. ACh signals in part through the alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR), a ligand-gated ion channel involved in synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory. Impaired α7nAChR signaling has been linked to heightened neuroinflammation and poor acute stroke recovery. Here, we investigated whether α7nAChR contributes to post-stroke cognitive recovery in young male mice. Wild-type (WT) and α7nAChR knockout (α7n0KO) mice underwent 60-min middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). In a pharmacology cohort, the α7nAChR agonist GTS-21 was administered immediately after reperfusion and then daily for 20 days. Cognitive performance …

Clemastine Ameliorates Cognitive Deficits In An Experimental Rat Model Of Chronic Cerebral Hypoperfusion, Xuemei Zong, Zhihai Huang, Fanfei Kong, Yu Feng, Yulan Zhang, Peibin Zou, Hung Wen Lin, David C Hess, Quanguang Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) profoundly affects patient well-being and has been proposed as a risk factor for cognitive impairment and dementia. However, due to the limited understanding of the pathophysiology of CCH, there are currently no effective preventive or therapeutic approaches for CCH-associated cognitive impairment. Therefore, identifying new targets for CCH is essential to bridge this knowledge gap. In this study, we sought to determine whether enhanced myelination could prevent cognitive impairment associated with CCH. Experimental CCH was induced via bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) in rats, and clemastine, a well-established pro-myelinating agent, was administered to boost myelin renewal. …