Digital Commons Network^™

Direct Reprogramming Of Cardiomyocytes Into Cardiac Purkinje-Like Cells, Nicole Prodan, Faheem Ershad, Arfaxad Reyes-Alcaraz, Luge Li, Brandon Mistretta, Lei Gonzalez, Zhoulyu Rao, Cunjiang Yu, Preethi H Gunaratne, Na Li, Robert J Schwartz, Bradley K Mcconnell

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Currently, there are no treatments that ameliorate cardiac cell death, the underlying basis of cardiovascular disease. An unexplored cell type in cardiac regeneration is cardiac Purkinje cells; specialized cells from the cardiac conduction system (CCS) responsible for propagating electrical signals. Purkinje cells have tremendous potential as a regenerative treatment because they may intrinsically integrate with the CCS of a recipient myocardium, resulting in more efficient electrical conduction in diseased hearts. This study is the first to demonstrate an effective protocol for the direct reprogramming of human cardiomyocytes into cardiac Purkinje-like cells using small molecules. The cells generated were genetically and …

A Rapid Systemic Review Of The Significance Of Parental Awareness Of Children’S Oral Health On The Prevalence Of Dental Caries In Saudi Arabia, Nasser Albishi

Master of Public Health Capstone Presentations

Dental caries in children has been identified as a public health challenge in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Among those factors associated with their presence is the role that parents play in their children’s oral hygiene practices and how much it affects their development. The knowledge and awareness levels of the parents when it comes to maintaining proper oral hygiene in their children are still limited in the KSA, and a well-rounded characterization of these levels is needed for the problem to be addressed. Hence, a rapid systematic review was conducted to synthesize the evidence from published articles and …

The Emotional Well-Being Of Menstruating Women In South Asia: A Rapid Systematic Review, Payal Patel

Master of Public Health Capstone Presentations

In South Asia, many girls and women experience period poverty which is defined to be a lack of access to or affordability of menstrual hygiene products, washing facilities, and disposal methods. There is also a lack of education and conversation that surrounds menstruation, leading to there being stigma and taboo. With an absence of Wash, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, women and girls in South Asia are unable to change their pads safely and privately, have access to clean water, and successfully manage their hygiene and health. Apart from the lack of education and WASH facilities, there are also unfair …

The Food Environment: Examining The Proximity Of Crimes To Food Stores, Nina Diamond

Master of Public Health Capstone Presentations

Food insecurity is a persistent and widespread issue in the United States. Individuals who are food insecure are more likely to develop chronic diseases due to their dietary habits, which tend to consist of ultra-processed foods. For many individuals, these habits are not by choice, but are the result of a lack of access to healthy foods. Both geographical and financial access issues often lead to these unhealthy diet choices, which increase an individual’s risk of morbidity and mortality. While the issue of food insecurity is complex, it is not often observed in the context of violence. Many food insecure …

Fall Reduction Strategies For Older Community Dwelling Americans, Heather L. Roach

Master of Public Health Capstone Presentations

Each year millions of older adults fall, and one out of five falls result in an injury that requires medical attention. In 2015 medical costs associated with falls was over $50 billion. Falls and specifically fall related injury in the older American population is a public health burden. There are many modalities that are implemented to reduce falls including management of underlying medical conditions, exercise regimens, supplementation, medication modifications, and home modifications. This project worked to identify which modalities had the greatest impact on falls. The goal of the information obtained is to inform practitioners and public health professionals that …

Reducing Liver Cancer Risk Through Dietary Change: Positive Results From A Community-Based Educational Initiative In Three Racial/Ethnic Groups, Lin Zhu, Ellen Jaeson Kim, Evelyn González, Marilyn A. Fraser, Steven Zhu, Nathaly Rubio-Torio, Grace X. Ma, Ming-Chin Yeh, Yin Tan

Publications and Research

Dietary behaviors and alcohol consumption have been linked to liver disease and liver cancer. So far, most of the liver cancer awareness campaigns and behavioral interventions have focused on preventive behaviors such as screening and vaccination uptake, while few incorporated dietary aspects of liver cancer prevention. We implemented a community-based education initiative for liver cancer prevention among the African, Asian, and Hispanic populations within the Greater Philadelphia and metropolitan New York City areas. Data from the baseline and the 6-month follow-up surveys were used for the assessment of changes in dietary behaviors and alcohol consumption among participants. In total, we …

"Everything…Fell Apart Once Covid-19 Hit"-Leveraging The Covid-19 Response To Strengthen Public Health Activities Toward Ending The Hiv Epidemic: A Qualitative Study, Samantha A Devlin, Moctezuma Garcia, Kayo Fujimoto, Camden Hallmark, Marlene Mcneese, John Schneider, Moira C Mcnulty

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

COVID-19 caused widespread disruption of activities for Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE). In this study we assessed public health perspectives on leveraging the COVID-19 response to advance the goals of EHE. We conducted a qualitative study with 33 public health partners in the Midwestern and Southern United States from October 2020 to February 2022. Participants were asked how the strategies developed for COVID-19 could be applied to the HIV epidemic. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and examined using rapid qualitative analysis. Four themes emerged: (1) Rebuilding teams and adapting culture for success in EHE activities; (2) Recognizing and modernizing the role …

Scale-Up Of A Rh-Catalyzed Asymmetric Sp3–Sp2 Suzuki–Miyaura-Type Reaction, Laura Cunningham, Mireia Sidera Portela, Stephen P Fletcher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Csp²–Csp² Suzuki–Miyaura couplings (SMCs) are ubiquitous in the synthesis of small molecules, but analogous Csp²–Csp³ bond-forming SMCs are rare, especially asymmetric variants. Recently, we developed a series of Rh-catalyzed couplings between racemic sp³-hybridized allyl chlorides and heteroaryl boronic acids. Here, we demonstrate that these catalytic asymmetric reactions can be scaled-up to give over 100 g of a product. The reaction we chose to test couples a heteroaromatic boronic acid derivative and a racemic bicyclic electrophile to give a product with three contiguous stereogenic centers. The SMC product was obtained as a single …

Climate Action And Indigenous Land Relations: A Case Study In Nagaland, Northeastern India, Osensang Pongen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research grew out of my interest in the implications of climate action, especially its effects in natural-resource-rich peripheral regions like my home state of Nagaland. This study will be of interest to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the ways in which global ecodevelopment programs expand and mutate at the micro-scales in Indigenous communities. This includes structural transformations to their Indigenous socio-economic and political lifeworlds, their cosmologies, and their affective relations with their ancestral lands and environment. More broadly, the study draws attention to the growing challenges confronting Indigenous peoples in the Global South who are being seduced by …

Genome-Transcriptome-Functional Connectivity-Cognition Link Differentiates Schizophrenia From Bipolar Disorder, Jiayu Chen, Zening Fu, Juan R Bustillo, Nora I Perrone-Bizzozero, Dongdong Lin, Jose Canive, Godfrey D Pearlson, Julia M Stephen, Andrew R Mayer, Steven G Potkin, Theo G M Van Erp, Peter Kochunov, L Elliot Hong, Bhim M Adhikari, Ole A Andreassen, Ingrid Agartz, Lars T Westlye, Jing Sui, Yuhui Du, Fabio Macciardi, Faith M Hanlon, Rex E Jung, Jessica A Turner, Jingyu Liu, Vince D Calhoun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) share genetic risk factors, yet patients display differential levels of cognitive impairment. We hypothesized a genome-transcriptome-functional connectivity (frontoparietal)-cognition pathway linked to SZ-versus-BD differences, and conducted a multiscale study to delineate this pathway.

STUDY DESIGNS: Large genome-wide studies provided single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) conferring more risk for SZ than BD, and we identified their regulated genes, namely SZ-biased SNPs and genes. We then (a) computed the polygenic risk score for SZ (PRSSZ) of SZ-biased SNPs and examined its associations with imaging-based frontoparietal functional connectivity (FC) and cognitive performances; (b) examined the spatial …

Impact Of Solid State Roadway Lighting On Melatonin In Humans, Ronald B Gibbons, Rajaram Bhagavathula, Benjamin Warfield, George Brainard, John P Hanifin

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Introduction: In 2009, the World Health Organization identified vehicle crashes, both injury-related and fatal, as a public health hazard. Roadway lighting has long been used to reduce crashes and improve the safety of all road users. Ocular light exposure at night can suppress melatonin levels in humans. At sufficient light levels, all visible light wavelengths can elicit this response, but melatonin suppression is maximally sensitive to visible short wavelength light. With the conversion of roadway lighting to solid state sources that have a greater short wavelength spectrum than traditional sources, there is a potential negative health impact through suppressed melatonin …

Splitting Gaussian Densities To Minimize Variance Along A Direction Of Nonlinearity, Amit Kumar

Dissertations and Theses

Nonlinear functions of random vectors are frequently used in signal processing, and especially in state space tracking algorithms. Many of these algorithms require a way of estimating the probability density of the state vector at the output of the nonlinear function. Algorithms derived from Kalman Filter, such as Extended Kalman Filter and Unscented Kalman Filter, are popular choices for this, but they only estimate mean and covariance which may be insufficient to describe the non-Gaussian densities. On the other hand, Monte Carlo methods such as particle filters can be more capable but require much more computation. Gaussian mixture filters aim …

The Development Of A Mobile App-Focused Deduplication Strategy For The Apple Heart Study That Informs Recommendations For Future Digital Trials, Ariadna Garcia, Justin Lee, Vidhya Balasubramanian, Rebecca Gardner, Santosh E. Gummidipundi, Grace Hung, Todd Ferris, Lauren Cheung, Sumbul Desai, Christopher B. Granger, Mellanie True Hills, Peter Kowey, Divya Nag, John S. Rumsfeld, Andrea M. Russo, Jeffrey W. Stein, Nisha Talati, David Tsay, Kenneth W. Mahaffey, Marco V. Perez, Mintu P. Turakhia, Haley Hedlin, Manisha Desai

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

An app-based clinical trial enrolment process can contribute to duplicated records, carrying data management implications. Our objective was to identify duplicated records in real time in the Apple Heart Study (AHS). We leveraged personal identifiable information (PII) to develop a dissimilarity score (DS) using the Damerau-Levenshtein distance. For computational efficiency, we focused on four types of records at the highest risk of duplication. We used the receiver operating curve (ROC) and resampling methods to derive and validate a decision rule to classify duplicated records. We identified 16,398 (4%) duplicated participants, resulting in 419,297 unique participants out of a total of …

Fort Hays State University Tiger Weekly, November 18, 2022, University Relations

Tiger Weekly Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Data Sampling Methods On The Representation Of Neural Spiking Activity In Vivo, Meike E Van Der Heijden, Amanda M Brown, Roy V Sillitoe

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

From Digital Commons To Alma/Primo: Expanding Readership For Doctor Of Nursing Practice Projects, Sara Hoover

Medical Institutional Repositories in Libraries (MIRL)

In 2017 the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library partnered with The George Washington University School of Nursing to create a permanent digital archive for their Doctor of Nursing Practice project collection in our instance of Digital Commons. DNP projects are a unique type of content because they provide important research about nursing practices, but often go unpublished elsewhere. The GW DNP collection now contains over 120 items that have been downloaded over 95,000 times and therefore we were eager to explore additional avenues for disseminating this content beyond our IR and its subsequent indexing platforms. In 2018 our library migrated to …

The Principle Of Resulting Trust Under The English And Sudanese Legislations: A Comparative Study, Hafiz Jaafar Ibrahim Dr.

مجلة جامعة الإمارات للبحوث القانونية UAEU LAW JOURNAL

This study sheds light on the subject of the resulting trust and its role in restoring the title of real property by reviewing the legal principles and jurisprudence of Anglo-Saxon system, for which English law is basis. The problem of this study focused on the nominal registration of a property in the name of a person, the legal system recognizes the ownership of the person whose name appears as registered owner of the real estate. Not surprisingly, the real estate registry record is considered an inclusive evidence for what it includes, and it is not permissible for all challenge it …

The Perceived Impact Of Project-Based Learning (Pbl) On Middle School Students’ Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Identity And Engagement, Jonathan Olivera

Theses and Dissertations

Despite multiple calls to action, the United States educational system is not producing enough viable contributors in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). These fields continue to grow, and the STEM workforce continues to expand. However, the pool of citizens prepared to enter these professions is not keeping up with the demand. Part of this issue can be attributed to a diminishing interest in STEM by students, particularly during their identity forming adolescent years. Active learning strategies have proven successful in preventing this decline with project-based learning (PBL) being one of the most successful active learning strategies. …

Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - November 17, 2022, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the November 17, 2022 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's newsletter - Watercooler.

Contents include:

• Sharing stories of gratitude
• Study assesses clinical impact of targeted genomic profiling
• Meet a Med Student: Kara Nix
• Prakash awarded 2022 Mayer Mitchell Award for Excellence in Cancer Research
• Wattenbarger joins emergency medicine faculty

Curricular Changes Proposed For 2023-2025 Morris Catalog Division Of Education, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Reports

No abstract provided.

Palliative Care Services On An Adult Inpatient Oncology Unit, Heather E. Barger

Dissertations

Abstract

Problem: Palliative care (PC) services are widely underutilized for patients with cancer, partly due to the shortage of PC specialists. Additionally, many Americans have not filled out advance directive (AD) paperwork which is commonly addressed in PC. In the absence of an AD, cancer patients are at risk of receiving undesired aggressive treatments in the event they are unable to make decisions independently.

Methods: This quality improvement pilot initiative utilized a descriptive observational design to evaluate the number of ADs documented in the electronic health record (EHR) on an inpatient oncology unit. A retrospective EHR review was used to …

Aruba's Taxing Dilemma: Navigating Tourist Perceptions On Room Tax And Turnover Tax In Paradise, Jorge Ridderstaat, Robertico Croes, Manuel A. Rivera, Jeong-Yeol Park

Dick Pope Sr. Institute Publications

This study presents the second part of our assignment for the Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA). Our study investigated the effects of two tax proposals (a turnover tax rate increase from 6% to 7% and a room tax rate increase from 9.5% to 12.5%) on tourism demand. We used monthly time-series data on tourism arrivals from several markets, including the U.S., The Netherlands, and other markets. We also segmented the arrival data based on the accommodations used in Aruba (high-rise, low-rise, and other accommodations). We applied several procedures to prepare and test the data before applying an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model …

The Beacon, November 17, 2022, Beacon Staff

The Beacon, 2022-2023

The magical world of Disney at NW; Women in leadership club at NW; "Takin' it Back" to the self-respecting days; Styles still finding his way in the movie industry; A true artist with a paintbrush and bright smile; A deep undertone brought to life through humor; The chaotic history of Black Friday; When you wish upon a class at NW; International Education week at Northwestern; Women in Leadership; It's beginning to look a lot like Thanksgiving; The sea creatures that smile back; Midland meets Moser's milestone mayhem; Fall-ing in love with winter wrestling at NW; Cross country crew will yeet …

Where Are The Black Teachers? There Should Be More To Make It Even, Harolyn Harris

Dissertations

For years, Black teachers lived and worked in the communities that they served. I was one of those teachers who lived and worked in my community, but I noticed that there were not many of us. As a Black woman, mother and teacher, I was fully aware of the numbers of Black teachers declining. I wanted to know why.

In this study, I utilized my experience as a Black student, a Black teacher, and a Black administrator to reflect my feelings. I used Critical Race Theory as the theoretical lens on my stories using autoethnography as the research method. I …

Bearing Witness To Human Value: Race Relations Under The Apartheid Regime In Select Works Of Athol Fugard, Cameron Alex Yngsdal

Masters Theses

South African white playwright Athol Fugard utilized his theatrical expertise to articulate a socially conscious voice of protest against the oppressive systems implemented by the South African Apartheid government. Because of his writing taking place in the particularized Apartheid-specific setting, where he, as a member of the white minority, he was afforded the freedoms and opportunities which were not offered to members of non-white races. Thus, although Fugard’s race offered him opportunities to protest Apartheid, it brought the possibility of incorrectly portraying non-white South Africans. This incorrect portrayal, known as the “white savior complex,” wherein a white figure rescues the …

The Aesthetics, Sanctity, And Utility Of Jihad In The Earliest Biography Of Muhammad, Alexander Connally Mcmullen

Masters Theses

This thesis is an examination of the way jihad is portrayed in the earliest surviving biography of Muhammad. Sirat Rasul Allah is the oldest most complete biography of Muhammad to which we still have access to today, and in this biography wars, raids, and other violent acts are treated as something that is morally good, beautiful, and rewarded. To engage in violence, war, and raids, on behalf of Allah, is seen as a mark of the pious, courageous, and noble-born. Jiha is also seen as Allah’s punishment of the wicked and those who enact jihad are depicted as being directly …

Chapman University Treble Choir And University Choir In Concert, Chapman University Treble Choir, Chapman University Choir

Printed Performance Programs (PDF Format)

No abstract provided.

Stahlmann's 'Asian Eyes': Jewish Identity In Peter Weiss's The Aesthetics Of Resistance Vol. 3, Caroline Rupprecht, Caroline Rupprecht

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Comment, November 17, 2022, Bridgewater State University

The Comment

No abstract provided.

Dance 2022: Find Me In The Shadows, Otterbein Theatre And Dance Department

2022-2023 Season Productions

An Original Dance Concert Conceived by senior, Emily Baggarly, Find Me in the Shadows is a murder mystery, using shadows and silhouettes to show what we tell and what we keep hidden.