Digital Commons Network^™

Middle School Students' Initial Ideas And Their Connections In Proportion Word Problems, Carrie Ann Lawton

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation study, I sought to identify the initial ideas that middle school students had when approaching Multiple Batches and Variable Parts proportion word problems, as well as the connections they made among those initial ideas. I conducted semi-structured individual and paired interviews with 13 sixth- and seventh-grade students at the end of their school year. I then used the Knowledge-in-Pieces theoretical perspective to identify knowledge resources that the participants accessed when approaching the tasks, prior to any intervention on my part.

Through my analysis, I identified 18 initial ideas that the middle school students employed when solving the …

Examination Of The Effects Aesthetic Enrichment And Music Have On Well-Being And Task Performance In A Workplace Simulation, Emily Budik

Theses and Dissertations

Workplace environments are often designed with a focus on efficiency, yet emerging research suggests that environmental features such as aesthetic enrichment and music may influence employee well-being and performance. The present study examined whether visual aesthetic enrichment and auditory stimulation through music could improve well-being, reduce stress, and enhance task performance within a simulated workplace task. Participants completed a 30-minute in-basket task under one of four conditions: a control environment, music only, aesthetic enrichment only, or a combined aesthetic enrichment and music condition. Measures of stress, well-being, and task performance were collected following task completion. Results indicated that neither aesthetic …

Data Utilization In Facilities’ Performance Management Decision- Making At U.S. Four-Year Public Institutions: A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study, Tanaporn Supanichrattana

Theses and Dissertations

The growing complexity of higher education finance, aging infrastructure, and rising accountability expectations has intensified demands on facilities organizations to manage institutional assets strategically. As colleges and universities face sustained fiscal constraints and expanding operational pressures, the ability of facilities leaders to use data to inform performance management has become increasingly critical. Despite this importance, limited empirical research has examined how facilities leaders integrate data into decision-making within public higher education contexts.

The quantitative study employed a cross-sectional, exploratory survey design to investigate data utilization practices among facilities leaders at U.S. public four-year institutions. Guided by the Data–Information–Knowledge–Wisdom hierarchy and …

The Acculturation Of International-Born Student Affairs Administrators In The United States, Amber Joy Webb

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative narrative study explored how international student affairs administrators in the United States experience acculturation. Guided by Berry’s (1997) fourfold model of acculturation, the study examined how participants experienced assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization as they navigated their professional roles, institutional expectations, and cultural identities. Eight participants, representing diverse countries of origin, institutional types, and professional roles, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) framework. Findings indicated participants employed multiple, context-dependent acculturation strategies rather than adhering to a single strategy. Assimilation emerged as a strategic process for establishing professional legitimacy, navigating …

First- And Second-Generation Immigrant Emerging Adults’ Career Aspirations, Laura A. Botros

Theses and Dissertations

Despite first- and second-generation immigrants making up 19.6% of the U.S. workforce (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024), research exploring their career aspirations is scarce. Studies show that individuals’ cultural backgrounds significantly shape first- and second-generation immigrants' career aspirations, values, and professional goals (Kao, 2004; Polenova et al., 2017). The purpose of the study is to examine how first- and second-generation immigrant emerging adults' cultural backgrounds inform their career aspirations. I utilized a qualitative approach by asking participants about their cultural background, career aspirations, and what influenced their career aspirations. Interviews and a cognitive map activity were conducted to investigate …

"I Didn't Teach It Again Because It Wasn't Worth It": How Grades 6-12 English Language Arts Teachers Select Texts And Navigate The Obstacles That Impede Them, Steve Poggendorf

Theses and Dissertations

Classroom texts not only function as tools through which teachers can build curricula, but they can also engage and empower learners. Despite the importance of engaging texts in the classroom, teachers encounter obstacles, both social and institutional, that impede their ability to select the texts they believe will best foster student engagement and empowerment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how teachers make text selections, as well as the nature of the obstacles that stand in the way of teachers who hope to inspire and engage their students through lessons built around texts of their choosing. The …

Adherence And Compliance With Exercise Training In Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Rates And Correlates From The Cogex Trial, Cogex Research Team, Robert W. Motl, Andrew Argie, Roberto S. Hernandez, Brian M. Sandroff, Maria Pia Amato, Giampaolo Brichetto, Jeremy Chataway, Nancy D. Chiaravalloti, Gary Cutter, Ulrik Dalgas, John Deluca, Rachel Farrell, Peter Feys, Massimo Filippi, Jennifer Freeman, Matilde Inglese, Cecilia Meza, Maria A. Rocca, Amber Salter, Anthony Feinstein

School of Health Professions

Background: There is limited understanding of adherence and compliance rates for exercise training(ET) in people with progressive multiple sclerosis(PMS).Objectives: This secondary, exploratory data analysis examined rates of adherence and compliance for continuous, moderate intensity training and high-intensity intervaltraining(HIIT) and possible correlates among people with PMS from the CogEx trial.Methods: CogEx was a multi-site, multi-arm, randomized, double-blinded, and shamcontrolled trial undertaken by 11 sites in six di8erent countries. Participants(N=311) wererandomized into one of four conditions with di8erent combinations of ET and cognitive rehabilitation, including respective sham conditions, delivered twice weekly over 12 weeks.The analysis focused on adherence and compliance rates and …

Connecting The Dots - Recognition Of Artificial And Natural Shapes Relies On Representing Points Of High Information, Gunnar Schmidtmann, Nicholas Baker, Kevin J. Lande, Filipp Schmidt

School of Health Professions

Physiological and psychophysical evidence suggests that the visual system represents object outlines using prominent curvature features, particularly regions of extreme curvature (convex maxima and concave minima). These curvature extrema often coincide with points of high informational content (“surprisal”), but this relationship is only correlational. It remains unclear whether the visual system explicitly encodes curvature extrema or instead prioritizes the most informative contour locations. To address this, we conducted two shape-matching experiments comparing the roles of curvature extrema and surprisal in shape representation. Observers performed match-to-sample tasks in which smooth reference shapes were matched to simplified polygonal versions created by connecting …

Self-Guided Functional Imagery Training To Reduce Anxiety, Jackie Andrade, Stephanie Hartgen-Walker, Caroline Morgan, Ayan, Idil Aytekin, Khadijah Sekoni, Kardelen Sengul, Jonathan Rhodes

School of Psychology

Objectives: Many university students experience high anxiety but have limited access to effective interventions. We evaluated a novel digital intervention for anxiety based on functional imagery training (FIT), designed to help individuals identify the impacts of anxiety, set engagement goals, and strengthen motivation for change. Functional Imagery for Keeping Anxiety low (FIKA) uses speak-aloud tasks, journalling, empathic questions, and personalised guided imagery for a person-centred approach. It builds motivation for engagement goals over safety goals through development and practice of vivid and emotionally laden multisensory imagery. Design: Study 1 used semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore user experiences of …

Dampened Social Motivation In Dysphoria: The Role Of Negative Social Expectancies And Internal Causal Attribution Style, Julie L Ji, Nilly Mor, Colin Macleod

School of Psychology

Dysphoria is associated with dampening of social interaction intention, but the cognitive mechanisms that underpin this relationship are under-investigated. This study tested the hypothesis that heightened negative social expectancies mediate the association between dysphoria and dampened social motivation. Additionally, it tested the hypothesis that the association between dysphoria and negative social expectancies is mediated by an attribution style bias that attributes negative, but not positive, outcomes to internal causes. University students (N = 271) with varied levels of dysphoria read vignettes describing hypothetical situations where they initiate a social interaction that results in positive or negative outcomes. Participants rated their …

Others’ Requests May Dampen The Desire To Do Good: The Effect Of Requests On Children's Prosocial Motivation Across Five Cultures., Anneliese Skrobanek, Patricia Kanngiesser, Jahnavi Sunderarajan, Jorge David Mantilla Salgado, Saiwa Sisa Quimbo Yacelga, Shoji Itakura, Marie M. Morita, Masanori Yamaguchi, Nadia Chernyak, Lucy M. Stowe, Joscha Kärtner

School of Psychology

There exists cultural variation in how people react to prosocial obligations, but we still know little about when these differences emerge in development and how they can be explained. We investigated this in a study with 6- to 11-year-old children (N = 686) in five cultural contexts. Children listened to scenarios about spontaneous and requested (within-subjects) helping and sharing. They rated requested scenarios as less desirable and less satisfying, but there was significant cross-cultural variation in the magnitude of this effect, which was mostly stable with age. We also measured children's sense of individual agency and internalization of prosocial norms …

Sustainable Development And Faith, Tony Kealy

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The contribution of faith-based input to the broader idea of sustainable development has not been widely acknowledged in the traditional sense; however, recent global events suggest it may warrant further exploration. This qualitative study examines how faith-based activities, such as missionary work, have historically and can continue to contribute significantly to the environmental, economic, and human/social aspects of organizational decision-making. The focus is on the Catholic faith, specifically the role played by the Irish-based Medical Missionaries of Mary religious congregation in the mid-to-late twentieth century. An initial literature review was conducted to gather information from various sources to define sustainable …

Diffusion-Enhanced Nat-Bart Vision Language Transformer For Unified Urdu Word Recognition, Wahid Hussain, Shahbaz Hassan, Isma Ul Hassan, Ahmad Raza Shahid, Asif Naeem, Muhammad Usman Yaseen, Nouman Ashraf

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Handwritten Urdu text recognition remains a very challenging problem due to the cursive and complex nature of the Nastaliq script. Each writer has a unique style, and there is a severe lack of large, well-labeled datasets. These challenges make Urdu text recognition much harder than for many other languages. Here we propose a novel and effective approach for handwritten Urdu word recognition that addresses both data scarcity and feature complexity. We utilized conditional diffusion models to generate synthetic handwritten Urdu word images. These models produce realistic word samples covering a wide range of variations, such as stroke thickness, curves, and …

Influence Of Beamwidth, Gain Stability, And Antenna Element Spacing On Aoa Accuracy In Ieee 802.15.4z Uwb Systems, Hossein Raghib Hokmabadi, Wasi Ur Rehman Khan, Patrick Mcevoy, Max James Ammann

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Precision is a crucial requirement in indoor localization, and the industrial sector increasingly demands technologies that provide both high accuracy and low cost. This work presents a hardware-based evaluation of dual-antenna arrays using an IEEE 802.15.4z-compliant UWB angle of arrival (AoA) development kit to assess antenna performance in terms of phase difference of arrival (PDoA)/AoA linearity. Four antenna types: 1) printed monopole; 2) CPW-fed slot; 3) stacked dielectric resonator antenna (DRA); and 4) dual-layer microstrip patch are evaluated on channels 5 and 9, with measurements performed in a calibrated anechoic chamber under controlled conditions. The results show that wide beamwidth …

Once-Weekly Navepegritide In Children With Achondroplasia: The Approach Randomized Clinical Trial, Ravi Savarirayan, Ciara Mcdonnell, Carlos A Bacino, Daniel G Hoernschemeyer, Janet M Legare, M Jennifer Abuzzahab, Paul L Hofman, Philippe M Campeau, Josep Maria De Bergua Domingo, Leanne M Ward, Kevin Smit, Alden Smith, Meng Mao, Michael S Ominsky, Lærke C Freiberg, Aimee D Shu, Hanne B Hove

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Importance: Historically considered a skeletal dysplasia characterized by disproportionate short stature, achondroplasia is a condition with multisystemic effects due to the widespread expression of the fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 variant throughout the body, impacting muscle, neurological function, cardiorespiratory health, and health-related quality of life.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of once-weekly navepegritide, an investigational prodrug of C-type natriuretic peptide, while assessing benefits beyond growth that may have important implications for complications and health-related quality of life in children with achondroplasia.

Design, setting, and participants: Enrollment for this pivotal phase 2b, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (APPROACH) was …

The Words Community Dwelling, Spanish-Preferring Mexican/Mexican American Adults Use To Talk About Alzheimer’S Disease And Genetic Testing: Implications For Education And Outreach, Jamie C Fong, Fatima I Chavez, Karla Silos, Mirna L Arroyo-Miranda, Gabriela Castro Castro, Mark E Kunik, Joshua M Shulman, Luis D Medina

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Hispanic/Latino (H/L) adults are more likely than non-Hispanic White individuals to have Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet fewer than one in five H/L adults has apolipoprotein E (APOE) Ɛ4, underscoring gaps in understanding genetic risk across H/L heritage groups. H/L adults remain underrepresented in AD research that uses genetic data for participant stratification. To inform culturally appropriate educational materials for 16 million U.S. Spanish speakers, we identified culturally salient words Spanish-preferring H/L adults use to describe AD and genetic testing beyond APOE.

Methods: Community-residing, Spanish-preferring Mexican/Mexican American adults (n = 14) completed freelisting interviews, a method eliciting …

Amino Acids And Lean Mass Accretion In Preterm Neonates, Antonio C Ramos Dos Santos, Marta L Fiorotto, Teresa A Davis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Purpose of review: This review evaluates recent evidence on how total protein and energy intake, amino acid composition, and nutrient delivery modality influence protein synthesis in preterm neonates, with the goal of informing nutritional strategies to support optimal lean mass accretion and growth.

Recent findings: Preterm neonates exhibit anabolic resistance to feeding due to impaired insulin and amino acid signaling in skeletal muscle. Enteral nutrition, especially fortified human milk, supports better lean mass accretion and neurodevelopment than parenteral nutrition. Intermittent bolus feeding and pulsatile leucine supplementation during continuous feeding further enhance mTORC1-dependent translation initiation signaling and protein synthesis efficiency in …

Reclaiming Sophia In The Age Of Ai: Theological And Ethical Reflections On Consecrated Technology And Human Dignity, Matthew H. Sauber

Faculty Scholarship 2026

The cultural emergence of artificial intelligence systems named after figures of divine wisdom—most notably the Hanson Robotics humanoid Sophia, granted Saudi citizenship in 2017—reveals a gap between the language of the wisdom traditions and that of contemporary technology. This paper treats that gap as the occasion for theological and ethical reflection on AI. Drawing on the Sophia tradition across its Hebrew, Hellenistic-Patristic, Gnostic, Russian Sophiological, perennialist, and Sufi articulations—especially Sergei Bulgakov’s account of Sophia as mediation between divine wisdom and created order—it develops a framework termed Consecrated Technology. The argument unfolds in three moves: (1) a structural critique showing how …

In Vivo Volumetric Visualization And Quantification Of Cumulus Expansion In Mice With Intravital Optical Coherence Tomography, Kohei Umezu, Frank J Brooks, Irina Larina

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Ovulation is preceded by a critical physiological process known as cumulus expansion, during which the cumulus cell layer surrounding the oocyte undergoes structural remodeling. Despite the recognized importance of this process for reproductive success, live quantitative imaging of cumulus expansion has not been previously achieved due to limitations of current imaging technologies for deeply located ovaries. In this study, we employed intravital optical coherence tomography for three-dimensional visualization of mouse follicles containing cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) within the physiological context of the ovary, both ex vivo and in vivo. This method enabled time-lapse measurement of cumulus layer thickness and COC …

Astrocytic Sox9 Overexpression In Alzheimer’S Disease Mouse Models Promotes Aβ Plaque Phagocytosis And Preserves Cognitive Function, Dong-Joo Choi, Sanjana Murali, Wookbong Kwon, Junsung Woo, Eun-Ah Christine Song, Yeunjung Ko, Debosmita Sardar, Brittney Lozzi, Yi-Ting Cheng, Michael R Williamson, Teng-Wei Huang, Kaitlyn Sanchez, Joanna Jankowsky, Benjamin Deneen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Astrocytes play essential roles in the brain, and their dysfunction is associated with nearly every form of neurological disease. Despite their ubiquity, knowledge of how astrocytes contribute to disease pathogenesis is incomplete; accordingly, harnessing their biology toward therapeutics remains a major challenge. Here we show that the transcription factor Sox9 plays a context-specific role in maintaining astrocyte function and circuit activity in the aging hippocampus and Alzheimer's disease (AD) models. We found that Sox9 overexpression in astrocytes in AD models clears existing amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and preserves cognitive function. Mechanistically, Sox9 promotes the phagocytosis of Aβ plaques by astrocytes …

Common And Recurrent Dysregulated Molecular Network Of Placental Hypoxia And Associated Vasculogenesis And Angiogenesis In Fetal Growth Restriction, Wei Li, Xiaoyi Bai, Oi Ka Chan, Maran Bo Wah Leung, So Ling Lau, Chi Chiu Wang, Tak Yeung Leung

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Fetuses with fetal growth restriction (FGR) and selective FGR (sFGR) face elevated health risks both before and after birth. Although the underlying pathomechanisms remain unclear, placental dysfunction is recognized as a major contributing factor. By integrating untargeted transcriptomic data from FGR/sFGR placentae, this study identified 69 differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRs) and eight differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRs). Functional enrichment analysis demonstrated significant enrichment in the angiogenesis and vasculogenesis pathways, with the hypoxia-related genes

Predictors Of Inpatient Rn Turnover In Rural And Urban Vha Hospitals, Katherine G Bay, Chase S Eck, Melissa K Knox, Paras Mehta, Laura A Petersen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: The rising demand for health care delivery and an aging workforce is of particular concern in rural areas, where health care access depends upon an adequate nursing workforce. To address this shortage and optimize care, it is essential to measure when registered nurses (RN) leave inpatient direct care positions (ie, inpatient RN turnover) and identify modifiable factors correlated with RN turnover.

Objectives: Apply a novel method for characterizing inpatient RN turnover to understand factors associated with variation in RNs leaving inpatient positions at rural and urban Veterans Health Administration (VHA) hospitals.

Project design: Retrospective cohort study.

Subjects: Direct care …

Duration Of Antimicrobial Therapy In Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Device Associated Systemic Infections: A Retrospective Analysis, Emily Y Xiao, Patrick T Lynch, Sarwat Khalil, Derrick A Draeger, Alexandra M Lewis, Faiz M Baqai, Mihail G Chelu, M Rizwan Sohail

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: While the need for complete device removal is well-established for cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) infections, there is insufficient evidence on the optimal duration of antimicrobial therapy.

Objectives: To examine how antimicrobial duration affects clinical outcomes of patients presenting with CIED-associated bacteremia and lead endocarditis.

Design: This is a retrospective cohort study conducted at a quaternary care hospital in Houston, TX, USA.

Methods: Patients who underwent device removal for a primary indication of bacteremia or lead endocarditis over a 10-year period were stratified by prescribed duration of antibiotics as ⩽2 weeks or >2 weeks post-extraction. Measured outcomes included all-cause …

Modulation Of Corneal Sensory Processing And Pain Responses By Dry Eye And Corneal Wounding, Ebru Yaman, Yangluowa Qu, Kaylin C Arpaia, Fairouz Elsaeidi, Uma Lakshmi Balakrishnan, Lance He, Henry Skrehot, Jehan Alam, Rui Chen, Mary Ann Stepp, Cintia S De Paiva, Stephen C Pflugfelder

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disorder of the ocular surface in which tear film instability, epithelial barrier disruption, and neurosensory dysfunction contribute to symptom generation. Although several contributing factors have been identified, how different forms of ocular surface stress affect sensory pathways and behavioral responses remains unclear.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate corneal barrier function, sensory responses, and pain-related behaviors across acute and chronic dry eye and corneal injury models, and to assess stimulus-specific responses associated with TRPV1 and TRPM8 mediated pathways.

Methods: Female C57BL/6 J wild type and Mmp9KO mice were evaluated in acute desiccating …

Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies And Validates Genetic Variation In The Rig-I/Mavs Signaling Pathway Associated With Hiv-Related Kaposi Sarcoma In Children And Adults, Casey L Mcatee, Erin Peckham-Gregory, Pagna Sok, Melissa Richard, Luis Olivares, Deborah Marquez-Do, Grace Kisitu, Jeffrey Martin, Nader Kim El-Mallawany, Carl E Allen, Joseph Lubega, Michael E Scheurer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: Immune deficiency and infection with human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) are established component causes of Kaposi sarcoma (KS), but they are insufficient to cause disease in most people at risk. Therefore, we hypothesized that genetic variation may contribute to KS risk in children and adults, as well as contribute to its unique epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: To test this hypothesis, we conducted a two-phase genome-wide association study (GWAS): a discovery study in perinatally HIV-infected children (45 KS cases, 91 controls), followed by validation of significant results in a sample of adults living with HIV (215 cases, 262 controls). After standard …

Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Foundations In Physics And Image Acquisition: An Innovative Hands-On Active Learning Workshop, Cherie Tator, Saul Flores, Alan Riley, Kiyetta Alade

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Introduction: We developed an innovative, active learning workshop to introduce foundations of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) physics and instrumentation. The workshop design aimed to reduce cognitive load and encourage learner-centered engagement through hands-on exploration that reinforces key principles and connects theory to practice.

Methods: First-year medical students participated in small-group, student-driven exercises to explore POCUS machine controls, transducers, and image acquisition skills. Each group was supported by a faculty member to guide activities and ensure accuracy. Students scanned pickles, hard-boiled eggs, and olives with pits; these items were selected for their low cost, sonographic characteristics, and recognizability. Later in the semester, …

Prevention Beyond Deterrence, Benjamin A. Barsky

Faculty Scholarship

This Article reconceptualizes preventive justice—the public safety paradigm that seeks to prevent harm before it occurs. Scholars have long documented how cities have advanced this paradigm through largely punitive measures, notably variants of broken windows policing, which posit that aggressive misdemeanor enforcement deters more serious crime. Yet in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd protests, and as underscored recently in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, these measures have faced a legitimacy crisis—prompting calls for nonpunitive responses to nonviolent incidents.

This Article establishes a preventive justice approach that advances health and safety without emphasizing crime deterrence. It draws on …

Retrenchment, Segregation, And Public Education: A Five-Year Analysis Of State Exclusionary School Discipline Legislation, Thalia Gonzalez, Will Martel

Faculty Scholarship

Notwithstanding the decision in Brown v. Board of Education formally ending educational segregation and more than two decades of state reform, the legislative landscape protecting minoritized children from the structural violence of exclusionary school discipline has dramatically shifted in less than five years. From the passage of state “Teacher’s Bills of Rights” to mandatory expulsions, rescissions of prior protections, and new categories of removal, a retrenchment of anti-inclusion legislation—and its corollary, educational carcerality— has occurred. While studies of other forms of legislative retrenchment in K–12 public schools, such as anti-Critical Race Theory and Don’t Say Gay laws, literacy bans, and …

Microbial Collagenase Activity Is Linked To Oral–Gut Translocation In Advanced Chronic Liver Disease, Shen Jin, Aurelie Cenier, Daniela Wetzel, Bethlehem Arefaine, Mar Moreno-Gonzalez, Marilena Stamouli, Merianne Mohamad, Mariia Lupatsii, Emilio Ríos, Sunjae Lee, Ane Zamalloa, Shilpa Chokshi, Adil Mardinoglu, Saeed Shoaie, Naiara Beraza, Vishal C. Patel, Melanie Schirmer

Peninsula Medical School

Microbiome perturbations are associated with advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD), but how microorganisms contribute to disease mechanisms is unclear. Here we analysed metagenomes of paired saliva and faecal samples from an ACLD cohort of 86 individuals, plus 2 control groups of 52 healthy individuals and 14 patients with sepsis. We identified highly similar oral and gut bacterial strains, including Veillonella and Streptococcus spp., which increased in absolute abundance in the gut of patients with ACLD compared with controls. These microbial translocators uniquely share a prtC gene encoding a collagenase-like proteinase, and its faecal abundance was a robust ACLD biomarker (area …

Mir-302 Regulates Pancreatic Progenitor Pool And Pancreatic Size, Ziyue Z Yang, Caroline G Snider, Ronald J Parchem

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Disruptions in pancreatic development can lead to health issues such as pancreatic agenesis and congenital diabetes mellitus. Understanding pancreatic organogenesis is critical for elucidating disease mechanisms and developing regenerative therapies. The pancreas consists of endocrine and exocrine cells, both of which are derived from multipotent progenitor cells (MPCs). MPC proliferation and differentiation are tightly controlled by multiple mechanisms, including post-transcriptional regulation by miRNAs. However, these regulatory factors are not fully understood. Here, we profiled miRNA expression in MPCs and identified that mir-302 was highly enriched during the earliest stages of pancreatic development. Loss of mir-302 resulted in reduced pancreatic size …