Digital Commons Network^™

Semaglutide And Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy, Cindy X Cai, Michelle Hribar, Sally Baxter, Kerry Goetz, Swarup S Swaminathan, Alexis Flowers, Eric N Brown, Brian Toy, Benjamin Xu, John Chen, Aiyin Chen, Sophia Wang, Cecilia Lee, Theodore Leng, Joshua R Ehrlich, Andrew Barkmeier, Karen R Armbrust, Michael V Boland, David Dorr, Danielle Boyce, Thamir Alshammari, Joel Swerdel, Marc A Suchard, Martijn Schuemie, Fan Bu, Anthony G Sena, George Hripcsak, Akihiko Nishimura, Paul Nagy, Thomas Falconer, Scott L Duvall, Michael Matheny, Benjamin Viernes, William O'Brien, Linying Zhang, Benjamin Martin, Erik Westlund, Nestoras Mathioudakis, Ruochong Fan, Adam Wilcox, Albert Lai, Jacqueline C Stocking, Sahar Takkouche, Lok Hin Lee, Yangyiran Xie, Izabelle Humes, David B Mccoy, Mohammad Adibuzzaman, Raymond G Areaux, William Rojas-Carabali, James Brash, David A Lee, Nicole G Weiskopf, Louise Mawn, Rupesh Agrawal, Hannah Morgan-Cooper, Priya Desai, Patrick B Ryan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Importance

Semaglutide, a glucagonlike peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA), has recently been implicated in cases of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), raising safety concerns in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Objective

To investigate the potential association between semaglutide and NAION in the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) network.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This was a retrospective study across 14 databases (6 administrative claims and 8 electronic health records). Included were adults with T2D taking semaglutide, other GLP-1RA (dulaglutide, exenatide), or non–GLP-1RA medications (empagliflozin, sitagliptin, glipizide) from December 1, 2017, to December 31, 2023. The incidence proportion …

Gender And Sexuality: Lgbtq+ Youth Experiences, Lauren B. Mcinroy, Kathryn Macapagal, Oliver Beer, Claire Coyne

School of Health Professions

Internet-enabled information and communication technologies (ICTs) pose simultaneous risks and opportunities for contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or otherwise sexual and/or gender diverse (LGBTQ+) adolescents and young adults—a population who may be particularly active users of ICTs. This chapter provides a brief overview of LGBTQ+ youths’ lived experiences and barriers to care, followed by a review of extant knowledge regarding the ICT experiences of this population with a particular focus on the context of the United States. Significant gaps in knowledge regarding LGBTQ+ youths’ engagement with ICTs persist and proposed areas of inquiry for future research are provided. As …

Erythritol, Erythronate, And Cardiovascular Outcomes In Older Adults In The Aric Study, Layla A Abushamat, Bing Yu, Ron C Hoogeveen, Caroline Sun, Chao Cheng, Sean M Hartig, Mark A Herman, Ashok Balasubramanyam, Jane Eb Reusch, Elizabeth Selvin, Chiadi E Ndumele, Vijay Nambi, Christie M Ballantyne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Circulating erythritol, an endogenously produced metabolite and an artificial sweetener, is associated with cardiovascular outcomes.

OBJECTIVES: The authors assessed associations of erythritol and its downstream metabolite, erythronate, with cardiovascular risk factors and events in older adults in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities) study (visit 5, 2011-2013).

METHODS: We included 4,006 participants without prevalent cardiovascular disease and with metabolomic profiling. Erythritol and erythronate were measured by mass spectrometry. We analyzed associations of log-transformed erythritol and erythronate with cardiovascular risk factors and events using Cox proportional hazard models.

RESULTS: Participants in the highest tertiles of erythritol or erythronate were older, …

Zika Virus Ns1 Drives Tunneling Nanotube Formation For Mitochondrial Transfer And Stealth Transmission In Trophoblasts, Rafael T Michita, Long B Tran, Steven J Bark, Deepak Kumar, Shay A Toner, Joyce Jose, Indira U Mysorekar, Anoop Narayanan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) is unique among orthoflaviviruses in its vertical transmission capacity in humans, yet the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here, we show that ZIKV induces tunneling nanotubes (TNTs) in placental trophoblasts which facilitate transfer of viral particles, proteins, mitochondria, and RNA to neighboring uninfected cells. TNT formation is driven exclusively via ZIKV non-structural protein 1 (NS1). Specifically, the N-terminal 1-50 amino acids of membrane-bound ZIKV NS1 are necessary for triggering TNT formation in host cells. Trophoblasts infected with TNT-deficient ZIKV

Antibiotic-Induced Loss Of Gut Microbiome Metabolic Output Correlates With Clinical Responses To Car T-Cell Therapy, Rishika Prasad, Abdur Rehman, Lubna Rehman, Faezeh Darbaniyan, Viktoria Blumenberg, Maria-Luisa Schubert, Uria Mor, Eli Zamir, Sabine Schmidt, Tomo Hayase, Chia-Chi Chang, Lauren Mcdaniel, Ivonne Flores, Paolo Strati, Ranjit Nair, Dai Chihara, Luis E Fayad, Sairah Ahmed, Swaminathan P Iyer, Michael Wang, Preetesh Jain, Loretta J Nastoupil, Jason Westin, Reetakshi Arora, Joel Turner, Fareed Khawaja, Ranran Wu, Jennifer B Dennison, Meghan Menges, Melanie Hidalgo-Vargas, Kayla Reid, Marco L Davila, Peter Dreger, Felix Korell, Anita Schmitt, Mark R Tanner, Richard E Champlin, Christopher R Flowers, Elizabeth J Shpall, Samir Hanash, Sattva S Neelapu, Michael Schmitt, Marion Subklewe, Johannes Francois-Fahrmann, C K Stein-Thoeringer, Eran Elinav, Michael D Jain, Eiko Hayase, Robert R Jenq, Neeraj Y Saini

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Antibiotic (ABX)–induced microbiome dysbiosis is widespread in oncology, adversely affecting outcomes and side effects of various cancer treatments, including immune checkpoint inhibitors and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies. In this study, we observed that prior exposure to broad-spectrum ABXs with extended anaerobic coverage such as piperacillin-tazobactam and meropenem was associated with worse anti-CD19 CAR-T therapy survival outcomes in patients with large B-cell lymphoma (N = 422) than other ABX classes. In a discovery subset of these patients (n = 67), we found that the use of these ABXs was in turn associated with substantial dysbiosis of gut microbiome function, …

Aif3 Splicing Variant Elicits Mitochondrial Malfunction Via The Concurrent Dysregulation Of Electron Transport Chain And Glutathione-Redox Homeostasis, Mi Zhou, Shuiqiao Liu, Yanan Wang, Bo Zhang, Ming Zhu, Jennifer E Wang, Veena Rajaram, Yisheng Fang, Weibo Luo, Yingfei Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genetic mutations in apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) have a strong association with mitochondrial disorders; however, little is known about the aberrant splicing variants in affected patients and how these variants contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction and brain development defects. We identified pathologic AIF3/AIF3-like splicing variants in postmortem brain tissues of pediatric individuals with mitochondrial disorders. Mutations in AIFM1 exon-2/3 increase splicing risks. AIF3-splicing disrupts mitochondrial complexes, membrane potential, and respiration, causing brain development defects. Mechanistically, AIF is a mammalian NAD(P)H dehydrogenase and possesses glutathione reductase activity controlling respiratory chain functions and glutathione regeneration. Conversely, AIF3, lacking these activities, disassembles mitochondrial complexes, increases …

A Protocol To Purify Human Mediator Complex From Freestyle 293-F Cells, Hui-Chi Tang, Kuang-Lei Tsai, Ti-Chun Chao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Mediator, a multi-subunit protein complex in all eukaryotes, comprises the core mediator (cMED) and the CDK8 kinase module (CKM). As a molecular bridge between transcription factors (TFs) and RNA polymerase II (Pol II), the Mediator plays a critical role in regulating Pol II-dependent transcription. Considering its large size and complex composition, conducting in vitro studies on the Mediator complex is challenging, especially when isolating the intact and homogeneous complex from human cells. Here, we present a method to purify the intact CKM-cMED complex from FreeStyle 293-F cells (293-F cells), which offers advantages for performing large-scale protein purification. To isolate …

Membrane Lipids Augment Cell Envelope Stress Signaling Via The Madrs System To Defend Against Antimicrobial Peptides And Antibiotics In Enterococcus Faecalis, William R Miller, April Nguyen, Kavindra V Singh, Samie Rizvi, Ayesha Khan, Sam G Erickson, Stephanie L Egge, Melissa Cruz, An Q Dinh, Lorena Diaz, Philip C Thornton, Rutan Zhang, Libin Xu, Danielle A Garsin, Yousif Shamoo, Cesar A Arias

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Enterococci have evolved resistance mechanisms to protect their cell envelopes against bacteriocins and host cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) produced in the gastrointestinal environment. Activation of the membrane stress response has also been tied to resistance to the lipopeptide antibiotic daptomycin. However, the actual effectors mediating resistance have not been elucidated. Here, we show that the MadRS (formerly YxdJK) membrane antimicrobial peptide defense system controls a network of genes, including a previously uncharacterized 3-gene operon (madEFG) that protects the Enterococcus faecalis cell envelope from antimicrobial peptides. Constitutive activation of the system confers protection against CAMPs and daptomycin in the absence of …

Preserving Diversity In The Wake Of Students For Fair Admissions, Inc.: Historical Lessons From The United States And India, Tyler Dunne

San Diego International Law Journal

Following the ban on considering race in higher education admissions under Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, concerns have emerged over maintaining racial diversity in college classrooms. This analysis offers a comparative perspective, exploring the history and methodologies of affirmative action in the United States and India to identify effective strategies for promoting diversity in U.S. universities. Recommended approaches include top percent programs, socioeconomic-based affirmative action, test-optional or test-blind policies, race-based recruiting, removing legacy preferences, and holistic student reviews. By implementing these strategies, universities can still work toward their diversity goals despite the …

Generative Ai And Disinformation: Analyzing China’S Strategy Amidst U.S. Investment And Export Controls, Liana Edgar

San Diego International Law Journal

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has ushered in a new era of technological, economic, and legal transformation. As economies expand and technology continues to evolve, AI has ignited a competition for technological supremacy, commonly known as the “AI Race.” China and the United States have taken center stage, amplifying their longstanding technological rivalry within the realm of AI. This analysis delves into China’s regulatory approach to generative AI, its strategic positioning in the ongoing AI race, and its influence operations, specifically the dissemination of disinformation. It also examines U.S. strategies for controlling AI technological advancement in China …

A Comprehensive Survey Of Data-Driven Solutions For Lorawan: Challenges And Future Directions, Poonam Maurya, Abhishek Hazra, Preti Kumari, Troels Bundgaard Sørensen, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Long-range Wide-area Network (LoRaWAN) is an innovative and prominent communication protocol in the domain of Low-power Wide-area Networks (LPWAN), known for its ability to provide long-range communication with low energy consumption. However, the practical implementation of the LoRaWAN protocol, operating at the Medium Access Control layer and specially built to work upon the LoRa physical layer, presents numerous research challenges, including network congestion, interference, optimal resource allocation, collisions, scalability, and security. To mitigate these challenges effectively, the adoption of cutting-edge data-driven technologies such as Deep Learning (DL) and Machine Learning (ML) emerges as a promising approach. Interestingly, very few existing …

Cmsi Note #12: Finally, A Pla Navy Missile Gap?, Ian Easton

CMSI Notes

This month a PRC government-owned defense magazine published a special report on one of the U.S. Navy’s newer missiles, calling it a “huge threat” and predicting it will “massively change” the future of naval warfare. The missile? The AIM-174B, an air launched variant of the Navy’s Standard Missile 6 (SM-6). What is it about this weapon that warranted a special report by PRC experts?

CMSI’s Perspectives and Key Takeaways:

• A PRC government-owned defense magazine has called the U.S. Navy’s AIM-174B missile a “huge threat” and game-changer for the future of naval warfare.
• The PRC source says the American missile could …

Oral Inflammation And Microbiome Dysbiosis Exacerbate Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease, Yui Kambara, Hideaki Fujiwara, Akira Yamamoto, Kazuyoshi Gotoh, Shuma Tsuji, Mari Kunihiro, Tadashi Oyama, Toshiki Terao, Ayame Sato, Takehiro Tanaka, Daniel Peltier, Keisuke Seike, Hisakazu Nishimori, Noboru Asada, Daisuke Ennishi, Keiko Fujii, Nobuharu Fujii, Ken-Ichi Matsuoka, Yoshihiko Soga, Pavan Reddy, Yoshinobu Maeda

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The oral microbiota, second in abundance to the gut, is implicated in chronic systemic diseases, but its specific role in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) pathogenesis has been unclear. Our study finds that mucositis-induced oral dysbiosis in patients after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) associated with increased chronic GVHD (cGVHD), even in patients receiving posttransplant cyclophosphamide. In murine HCT models, oral dysbiosis caused by bilateral molar ligatures exacerbated cGVHD and increased bacterial load in the oral cavity and gut, with Enterococcaceae significantly increasing in both organs. In this model, the migration of Enterococcaceae to cervical lymph nodes both before and after transplantation activated …

Understanding The Relationship Between Pm2.5 And Aerosol Optical Depth, Haihui Zhu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is the leading global environmental determinant of health, with millions of attributable deaths annually. However, large gaps exist in ground-based PM2.5 monitoring. Satellite remote sensing offers information to fill these gaps worldwide when augmented with information from a chemical transport model. More specifically, this satellite-derived PM2.5 is obtained from satellite retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) by applying the modeled PM2.5 to AOD relationship (η). Uncertainties, however, exist in the estimation of PM2.5, particularly from the modeled η. This dissertation focuses on understanding the spatial distribution of η and model developments for improved simulation of it. …

Coastal And Rural Digital Exclusion - The Case For Voice Ai, Rory Baxter, Oksana Hagen, Amir Aly, Ray Jones, Katharine Willis

School of Nursing and Midwifery

The adoption of digital platforms for health and social resources disadvantages vulnerable populations, including older adults and those living in remote or deprived areas. This could be remediated using voice-based conversational AI (Voice AI) systems delivered via landline phone, bypassing the requirement for digital device access or digital skills. British rural and coastal regions often have poorer digital infrastructure and pockets of deprivation, and consequently higher levels of digital exclusion. This study explores digital exclusion in Southwest England and the suitability of Voice AI systems for supporting digital inclusion. Seventeen participants aged 50 years or over were interviewed by telephone …

“Where War Is God And God Is War:” Women’S Religious Great War Poetry And Homefront Lines, Faith Ellington

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project seeks to redefine war’s poetic landscape. Through a focus on women’s Great War poetry, I argue against a dichotomous home front | front line poetic barrier and instead explore the intermingling of wartime spaces. Women’s WWI poetry, I argue, exists within a space I call the homefront lines, a space in which women produce writing from their full experiences of war regardless of combatant status. The homefront lines must be included in World War I literary canons in order to fully recognize the humanity of women during wartime and to fully grasp the war’s impact on poetry …

Spectator 2025-02-20, Editors Of The Spectator

The Spectator

No abstract provided.

Kenyon Collegian - February 20, 2025

The Kenyon Collegian

No abstract provided.

Approaches To Engaging Faith Communities In Public Health Efforts Regarding Vaccination, Genetics, And Colorectal Cancer: A Systematic Review, Ana S Iltis, Lauren L Baker, Kari Baldwin, Lucas Cruz, Lauren H Yaeger, James M Dubois

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Public health professionals regularly engage faith communities to improve public health. This systematic review characterizes approaches that public health professionals have used to engage faith communities and evaluates them using the Theory of Planned Behavior. It examines engagement regarding vaccination and genetic and genomic healthcare, which have generated significant controversy within religious groups and, for comparison, colorectal cancer screening, which has not.

METHODS: This systematic review followed PRISMA reporting guidelines. We searched 8 online databases (e.g., Medline, Embase, Scopus). Publications in English that reported engaging a faith community on genetics, vaccination, or colorectal cancer screening were included. We screened …

Does Adiponectin Inform Cardiovascular Risk In Older Adults?: The Aric Study, Layla A Abushamat, Xiaoming Jia, Lu Xu, Chao Cheng, Chiadi E Ndumele, Caroline Sun, B Gwen Windham, Kunihiro Matsushita, Bing Yu, Vijay Nambi, Biykem Bozkurt, Jane E B Reusch, Casey M Rebholz, Elizabeth Selvin, Christie M Ballantyne, Ron C Hoogeveen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin, an atheroprotective adipokine, is associated with adverse outcomes in older age. It is unclear whether this is due to overlapping pathophysiological pathways with N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP).

OBJECTIVES: The authors investigated adiponectin's associations with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in older adults.

METHODS: Among Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities prospective cohort study participants without baseline CVD at visit 5 (n = 4,729, mean age 75), adiponectin and adiponectin/NT-proBNP category associations with incident CVD events (heart failure [HF], atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and death during median follow-up of 5.5 years) and echocardiographic parameters were assessed. Metabolomic signatures of adiponectin/NT-proBNP categories were …

Shalom: A Judeo-Christian Response To Greed, Kwok Tung Cheung

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

In my recent conceptual analysis of greed, I argue that there are three different conceptual aspects, namely, a consuming desire to acquire more and more (the psychological), an inordinate love for material possession and power (the metaphysical), and an action of acquiring more than one’s share by taking what belongs to one’s fellow citizens, essentially with a calculating indifference toward others (the socio-historical). The aim of that analysis, as a foundational work, is to make sense of the vice or the moral mistake of greed in the contemporary world, especially by reviving the socio-historical aspect which is about justice. Building …

The Arc From Non-Justiciable To Fundamental: The History Of School Funding Challenges In Pennsylvania, Claudia De Palma, Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg

Widener Commonwealth Law Review

Pennsylvania has recognized the importance of public education since the Commonwealth’s inception in 1776. Although early versions of the Pennsylvania Constitution only contemplated a discretionary system of schools for poor children, in 1834 the state’s public education system was expanded through statute to provide schooling to all children. Thaddeus Stevens, one of the founding fathers of this expansion, explained that the purpose of a universal public education system was to ensure that “the blessing of education shall be conferred on every son of Pennsylvania—shall be carried home to the poorest child of the poorest inhabitant of the meanest hut of …

An Illusion Of Choice: An Analysis Of Geoffrey Chaucer's Gender Politic, Katelyn Dunn

JSU Student Symposium 2025

Please note: no video is available for this video.

Male anxieties are the culmination of reactions that men project upon women when the patriarchy is subverted by female means. In The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer illustrates how patriarchal rule determines the interactions between both men and women by developing complex figures who submit or rebel to the overwhelming societal expectations that dictate the performance of gender. Whereas characters such as Emilye of “The Knight’s Tale” are rewarded for their virtuousness and willingness to obey the demands of masculine society, characters such as the Wife of Bath in “The Wife of …

Media Literacy: College Admissions Standards And Covid-19, Greenlee Orman

JSU Student Symposium 2025

This presentation describes how admission standards have changed after COVID-19 and the impact of those changes for community colleges, four-year universities, and students. Looking at the admission standards for colleges in the State of Alabama pre-COVID, during COVID, and post-COVID-19 to illustrate how the relaxed admission standards have leveled the playing field for all students. Hard work has become the priority over ACT test scores. The focus is more on how the skills learned through the media literacy courses, student events, and resources offered at JSU allows one to develop the skill set to understand what sources are credible and …

Eng 3806-001 British Romantic Literature, Randall Beebe

Fall 2024

No abstract provided.

Fs Agenda 2025-02-19, Northern Illinois University

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Instructional Effectiveness Of High-Growth K-2 Teacher Teams In Foundational Reading, Jake Downs, Katie Martz, Kathleen Mohr

Teacher Education and Leadership Student Research

This study examined high-performing teacher teams in Title I elementary schools that demonstrated significant student growth in foundational reading skills. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, we identified K-2-grade-level teams within a district with the highest growth on Acadience Reading. The study explored (1) student growth and proficiency outcomes in these high-growth teams and (2) how teachers described their instructional practices and outcomes. Focus group interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis revealed key factors, including collaboration, data responsiveness, professional development, and content/pedagogical knowledge. Recommendations and directions for future research are discussed.

The Correlation Between Temporomandibular Disorder (Tmd) And Vitamin D Deficiency, Iris Kim, Claudia Freitas

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Potential Of Oncolytic Viruses As A Novel Therapeutic Approach For Breast Cancer Treatment, Renad Alsayyad, Claudia M. Tellez Freitas

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

1 Studying The Determinants Of Successful Aging: Diet, Lifestyle, And Social Relations In Egypt, Fayrouz Shaltout

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Background

The global population is aging rapidly, with projections indicating that by 2050, one in six people will be over the age of 65. In Egypt, the aging population, particularly those aged 60 and above, is expected to grow significantly, posing a growing public health concern. Unhealthful diets (that are associated with overweight and obesity), are one of the main reasons associated with non-communicable diseases (e.g., diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) are major risk factors for poor aging outcomes. Despite this, there is limited research on the specific determinants of successful aging (SA) in Egypt, especially among individuals aged 50 …