Digital Commons Network^™

Fp-25-02 First Divorce Rate, 2023, Natalie Bankey

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-03 Remarriage Rate, 2023, Natalie Bankey

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-07 Same-Sex Married And Cohabiting Couples Raising Children, 2023, Christopher A. Julian

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

Using data from the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS), this Family Profile estimates the proportion of same- and different-sex couples raising children, disaggregated by relationship type (i.e., cohabiting or married) and age (i.e., 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59). For this analysis, children are defined as biological, adopted, or stepchildren of the household head1 under the age of eighteen. Couples’ sex composition is coded directly using the recently revised household roster (Kreider & Gurrentz, 2019). To focus on couples raising minor children, we restrict our sample to those in which the younger member is under the age of sixty. This report …

Fp-25-11 Number Of Children Ever Born To Women Aged 45-50, 2024, Christopher A. Julian, Wendy D. Manning

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-09 Median Age At First Marriage: Geographic Variation, 2023, Natalie Bankey

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

In this profile we provide estimates of the median age at first marriage for the nation and each state by sex among those aged 15-54, using 2023 1-year estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) (Table B12007). Direct estimates of the age at which half of males and females (who in the last year) married for the first time as well as the associated margins of error are provided. The ACS has been collecting data on marriage since 2008. This profile is an update to previous research on the median age at first marriage (FP-24-08).

Fp-25-13 Crossover In The Median Age At First Marriage And First Birth: Forty-Three Years Of Change, Krista K. Westrick-Payne, Susan L. Brown, Wendy D. Manning

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-14 Forty-Five Years Of Change In Marriage And Motherhood Among Women, 1979 & 2024, Krista K. Westrick-Payne

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-16 Age Composition Of Same-Sex & Different-Sex Couples, 2023, Christopher A. Julian

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-21 Marriages To Same-Sex And Different-Sex Couples: 2019, 2021, & 2023, Christopher A. Julian, Krista K. Westrick-Payne, Wendy D. Manning

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Fp-25-24 Age Variation In The Refined Divorce Rate, 1990 & 2023, Krista K. Westrick-Payne

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Identifying Early Warning Signs Of Construction Labor Shortages, Ahmed Shiha, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Construction labor shortages constrain project-level objectives and national development plans. The goal of this study is to utilize the lagged effects of macroeconomic conditions as early warning signs of construction labor shortages. To this end, the authors adopted a methodology, encompassing (1) retrieval of publicly available data and preprocessing of construction labor shortage as the target variable and macroeconomic measures as the explanatory variables, (2) identification of short-term associations between shortages and economic cycles using the Granger causality test, (3) examination of long-term relationships between labor shortages and economic conditions using the Johansen cointegration test, and (4) estimation of the …

Deep Learning-Based Ensemble Two-Step Classification Of Medical Images Using Cnn Architectures And Ensemble Methods, Noreliz Alorico

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Breast cancer remains one of the most common cancers amongst women globally. Early detection is crucial for improving survival rates. While mammography is widely used and an effective imaging technique, it can sometimes yield false positive or false negatives. Mammogram interpretation is highly operator-dependent, introducing variability and the potential for diagnostic errors. Additionally, mammographic images have limitations, such as low contrast in breast tissue and overlapping structures that can obscure lesions or mimic abnormalities. These limitations can lead to unnecessary biopsies or delayed diagnosis. These challenges highlight the needs for advanced and data driven diagnostic tools to support and enhance …

Towards Smart Farming: Image-Based Crop Health Assessment And Disease Diagnosis Using Deep Learning Techniques, Kristina Botova

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Accurate crop monitoring is essential for optimizing agricultural productivity and ensuring food security. This study presents a comprehensive deep learning framework for image crop type recognition, health status prediction, and disease detection using multiple Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models. The proposed approach uses open-source datasets consisting of five crop types (apple, corn, grape, potato, tomato), varying health conditions, and common diseases. By deploying specialized CNN architecture focused on each task, the system achieves a high accuracy of 99.25% in classifying crop types, identifying health status, and detecting specific diseases. Compared to a single CNN model, the use of the proposed …

Survivorship From Pediatric And Adult Brain Tumors: The 2024 Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium Meeting Report., Scott L Coven, Roberta Mckean-Cowdin, Michael E Scheurer, Kimberly J Johnson, Luc Bauchet, Carol Kruchko, Ching C Lau, Quinn T Ostrom, John Villano, Yan Yuan, Friederike Erdmann

Faculty Research 2025

The Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium (BTEC) is an international organization with membership of individuals from the scientific community with interests related to brain tumor epidemiology, including surveillance, classification, methodology, etiology, and factors associated with morbidity and survival. The 2024 annual BTEC meeting entitled "

Spectral Divergence Prioritizes Key Classes, Genes, And Pathways Shared Between Substance Use Disorders And Cardiovascular Disease., Everest Castaneda, Elissa J Chesler, Erich Baker

Faculty Research 2025

Introduction: Substance use disorders (SUDs) are heterogeneous diseases with overlapping biological mechanisms and often present with co-occurring disease, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Gene networks associated with SUDs also implicate additional biological pathways and may be used to stratify disease subtypes. Node and edge arrangements within gene networks impact comparisons between classes of disease, and connectivity metrics, such as those focused on degrees, betweenness, and centrality, do not yield sufficient discernment of disease network classification. Comparatively, the graph spectrum's use of comprehensive information facilitates hypothesis testing and inter-disease clustering by using a larger range of graph characteristics. By adding a …

Employee Perspectives On Genetic Testing In The Workplace: Results From A National Survey., J Scott Roberts, Wendy R Uhlmann, Drew Blasco, Anya E R Prince, Sarah Mccain, Subhamoy Pal, Kunal Sanghavi, Elizabeth Charnysh, Charles Lee

Faculty Research 2025

INTRODUCTION: Genetic testing for health-related purposes is now offered in some workplace wellness programs, with notable ethical, legal, and social implications. However, little is known about employee perspectives on workplace genetic testing (wGT).

METHODS: We surveyed a large, diverse national sample of 2,000 employed adults (mean age = 43 years; 51% female). Survey measures assessed respondents' wGT beliefs, perceptions of employer motivations for offering wGT, and privacy concerns.

RESULTS: Most respondents (57.4%) agreed that wGT would improve employees' health, and 46.7% agreed it could aid recruitment and retention of employees. Many respondents attributed legally prohibited motivations to employers offering wGT, …

Opportunities And Considerations For Using Artificial Intelligence In Bioinformatics Education., Stephen R Piccolo, Aparna Nathan, Michelle D Brazas, Manoj Kandpal, Aida T Miró-Herrans, Adam J Kleinschmit, Susan Mcclatchy, Pertunia Mutheiwana, Dusanka Nikolic, Luciana I Gallo, Rolanda Sunaye Julius, Marta Lloret-Llinares, Nicola Mulder, Danielle Presgraves, Sonal Shewaramani, Jorge Xool-Tamayo, Frédéric J J Chain, Silvia Arantza Sanchez Guerrero

Faculty Research 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and techniques are undoubtedly being used in bioinformatics education, reflecting broader trends in education. However, many instructors and learners may be unaware of the full scope of potential uses for these tools within bioinformatics education, as well as effective practices for using them. Building on discussions held at the 6th Global Bioinformatics Education Summit, this perspective article provides insights about ways that AI might be used to generate or adapt instructional content, provide personalized help for learners, and automate assessment and grading. Additionally, we highlight AI skills that are important for bioinformatics learners to develop in …

Neurological, Metabolic And Inflammatory Phenotypes In A Mouse Model Of Echs1 Deficiency., Meghan M Eller, Aamir Zuberi, Xiaorong Fu, Alina P Montalbano, Felix Nitschke, Shawn C Burgess, Cathleen Lutz, Rachel M Bailey

Faculty Research 2025

ECHS1 deficiency (ECHS1D) is a rare and devastating neurometabolic disease that currently has no defined treatments. This disorder results from missense loss-of-function mutations in the ECHS1 gene that results in severe developmental delays, encephalopathy, hypotonia and early death. ECHS1 enzymatic activity is necessary for the beta-oxidation of fatty acids and the oxidation of branched-chain amino acids within the inner mitochondrial matrix. The pathogenesis of disease remains poorly understood. To expand our knowledge on disease mechanisms, we generated a novel mouse model of ECHS1D that possesses a disease-associated variant knocked-in (KI) the Echs1 allele and a knock-out (KO) of the other …

Harnessing The Human Gut Microbiota: An Emerging Frontier In Combatting Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria., Wenwen Ding, Yiwen Cheng, Xia Liu, Zhangcheng Zhu, Lingbin Wu, Jie Gao, Wenhui Lei, Yating Li, Xin Zhou, Jian Wu, Yongtao Gao, Zongxin Ling, Ruilai Jiang

Faculty Research 2025

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a major and escalating global health threat, undermining the effectiveness of current antibiotic and antimicrobial therapies. The rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria has led to increasingly difficult-to-treat infections, resulting in higher morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Tackling this crisis requires the development of novel antimicrobial agents, optimization of current therapeutic strategies, and global initiatives in infection surveillance and control. Recent studies highlight the crucial role of the human gut microbiota in defending against AMR pathogens. A balanced microbiota protects the body through mechanisms such as colonization resistance, positioning it as a key ally in the fight …

From Gene Modules To Gene Markers: An Integrated Ai-Human Approach Selects Cd38 To Represent Plasma Cell-Associated Transcriptional Signatures., Basirudeen Syed Ahamed Kabeer, Bishesh Subba, Darawan Rinchai, Mohammed Toufiq, Taushif Khan, Marina Yurieva, Damien Chaussabel

Faculty Research 2025

BACKGROUND: Knowledge-driven prioritization of candidate genes derived from large-scale molecular profiling data for targeted transcriptional profiling assays is challenging due to the vast amount of biomedical literature that needs to be harnessed. We present a workflow leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) to prioritize candidate genes within module M12.15, a plasma cell-associated module from the BloodGen3 repertoire, by integrating knowledge-driven prioritization with data-driven analysis of transcriptome profiles.

METHODS: The workflow involves a two-step process: (1) high-throughput screening using LLMs to score and rank the 17 genes of module M12.15 based on six predefined criteria, and (2) prioritization employing high-resolution scoring and …

Ct-Derived Fat Density As A Predictor Of Cause-Specific Mortality In Patients Undergoing Tavi: Findings From A Large Registry Subanalysis., Matej Pekař, Piotr Branny, Radim Špaček, Otakar Jiravský, Jan Novák, Jakub Balušík, Daniel Daniš, Jan Hečko, Marek Kantor, Bogna Jiravská Godula, Lubomír Blaha, Radek Neuwirth, Martin Šimek

Faculty Research 2025

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is increasingly performed in older and frailer patients with severe aortic stenosis. Pre-procedural computed tomography (CT) scans at the third lumbar vertebra (CTL3) can estimate overall patient survival after TAVI [1, 2]. This subanalysis investigated whether CTL3 parameters can predict specific causes of death, potentially allowing for more tailored post-operative therapy.

Marmosets As Model Systems For The Study Of Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementias: Substantiation Of Physiological Tau 3r And 4r Isoform Expression And Phosphorylation., Hasi Huhe, Sarah M Shapley, Duc M Duong, Fang Wu, Seung-Kwon Ha, Sang-Ho Choi, Julia Kofler, Yongshan Mou, Thais Rafael Guimaraes, Amantha Thathiah, Caroline M Watson, Lauren K H Schaeffer, Gregory W. Carter, Nicholas T Seyfried, Afonso C Silva, Stacey J Sukoff Rizzo

Faculty Research 2025

INTRODUCTION: Marmosets spontaneously develop pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) including amyloid beta plaques. However, tau expression in the marmoset brain has been understudied.

METHODS: Isoforms of tau were examined by western blot, mass spectrometry, immunofluorescence, and immunohistochemical staining.

RESULTS: 3R and 4R tau isoforms are expressed in marmoset brains at both the transcript and protein levels across ages. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed that tau peptides in marmoset corresponded to the 3R and 4R peptides in human brain, with 3R predominating at birth and an ≈40%:60% 3R:4R ratios in adolescents and adults; tau was distributed widely in neurons, with localization …

Biological Databases In The Age Of Generative Artificial Intelligence., Mihai Pop, Teresa K Attwood, Judith A. Blake, Philip E Bourne, Ana Conesa, Terry Gaasterland, Lawrence Hunter, Carl Kingsford, Oliver Kohlbacher, Thomas Lengauer, Scott Markel, Yves Moreau, William S Noble, Christine Orengo, B F Francis Ouellette, Laxmi Parida, Natasa Przulj, Teresa M Przytycka, Shoba Ranganathan, Russell Schwartz, Alfonso Valencia, Tandy Warnow

Faculty Research 2025

SUMMARY: Modern biological research critically depends on public databases. The introduction and propagation of errors within and across databases can lead to wasted resources as scientists are led astray by bad data or have to conduct expensive validation experiments. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence systems threatens to compound this problem owing to the ease with which massive volumes of synthetic data can be generated. We provide an overview of several key issues that occur within the biological data ecosystem and make several recommendations aimed at reducing data errors and their propagation. We specifically highlight the critical importance of improved …

Replacing Non-Biomedical Concepts Improves Embedding Of Biomedical Concepts., Enock Niyonkuru, Mauricio Soto Gomez, Elena Casarighi, Stephan Antogiovanni, Hannah Blau, Justin T Reese, Giorgio Valentini, Peter N Robinson

Faculty Research 2025

Embeddings are semantically meaningful representations of words in a vector space, commonly used to enhance downstream machine learning applications. Traditional biomedical embedding techniques often replace all synonymous words representing biological or medical concepts with a unique token, ensuring consistent representation and improving embedding quality. However, the potential impact of replacing non-biomedical concept synonyms has received less attention. Embedding approaches often employ concept replacement to replace concepts that span multiple words, such as non-small-cell lung carcinoma, with a single concept identifier (e.g., D002289). Also, all synonyms of each concept are merged into the same identifier. Here, we additionally leveraged WordNet to …

Merritt-Putnam Symposium | Developmental And Epileptic Encephalopathies-Current Concepts And Novel Approaches., Rodney C Scott, Jenny Hsieh, Amy Mctague, J Matthew Mahoney, Catherine A Christian-Hinman

Faculty Research 2025

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) are among the most severe and difficult to treat epilepsies. Two broad strategies for understanding the etiology and impacts of DEEs include genetic and complex adaptive systems approaches. This review, inspired by the 2024 Merritt-Putnam Symposium, describes current perspectives of DEE, identifies limitations of current views, and discusses potential novel ways forward. First, we discuss the rationale for a reevaluation of the role of seizures in the pathogenesis of cognitive and behavioral impairments in DEE. Second, we discuss newly emerging methods employing neural organoids to study brain development and DEE in vitro. Third, we present …

Comprehensive Single-Cell Aging Atlas Of Healthy Mammary Tissues Reveals Shared Epigenomic And Transcriptomic Signatures Of Aging And Cancer., Brittany Lynn Angarola, Siddhartha Sharma, Neerja Katiyar, Hyeon Gu Kang, Djamel Nehar-Belaid, Sunghee Park, Rachel Gott, Giray N Eryilmaz, Mark A Labarge, Karolina Palucka, Jeffrey Chuang, Ron Korstanje, Duygu Ucar, Olga Anczuków

Faculty Research 2025

Aging is the greatest risk factor for breast cancer; however, how age-related cellular and molecular events impact cancer initiation is unknown. In this study, we investigated how aging rewires transcriptomic and epigenomic programs of mouse mammary glands at single-cell resolution, yielding a comprehensive resource for aging and cancer biology. Aged epithelial cells exhibit epigenetic and transcriptional changes in metabolic, pro-inflammatory and cancer-associated genes. Aged stromal cells downregulate fibroblast marker genes and upregulate markers of senescence and cancer-associated fibroblasts. Among immune cells, distinct T cell subsets (Gzmk⁺, memory CD4⁺, γδ) and M2-like macrophages expand with age. …

Cell-Based High-Content Approach For Sars-Cov-2 Neutralization Identifies Unique Monoclonal Antibodies And Pi3k Pathway Inhibitors., Carly R Cabel, Briana A Guzman, Elaheh Alizadeh, Shuaizhi Li, Cameron Holberg, Chonlarat Wichaidit, Darren A Cusanovich, Andrew L Paek, Gregory R J Thatcher, Koenraad Van Doorslaer, Rachel S Nargi, Rachel E Sutton, Naveenchandra Suryadevara, James E Crowe, Robert H Carnahan, Samuel K Campos, Curtis A Thorne

Faculty Research 2025

The sudden rise of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the delay in development of effective therapeutics for mitigation made evident a need for ways to screen compounds that can block infection and prevent further pathogenesis and spread. However, identifying effective drugs that are efficacious against viral infection and replication with minimal toxicity for the patient can be difficult. Monoclonal antibodies were shown to be effective, but as the SARS-CoV-2 mutated, these antibodies became ineffective. Small-molecule antivirals were identified using pseudovirus constructs to recapitulate infection in nonhuman cells, such as Vero E6 cells. However, the impact was limited due to poor translation …

A Feasibility Study Of Enzymatic Methylation Sequencing Of Cell-Free Dna From Cerebrospinal Fluid Of Pediatric Central Nervous System Tumor Patients For Molecular Classification., Aaron M Taylor, Jody T Lombardi, Areeba Patel, Ariella Tamariz, Jonathan Martin, Markus J Bookland, David S Hersh, Evan Cantor, Xianyuan Song, Felix Sahm, Patrick Ks Ng, Joanna J Gell, Ching C Lau

Faculty Research 2025

BACKGROUND: Array-based DNA methylation profiling is the gold standard for central nervous system (CNS) tumor molecular classification, but requires over 100 ng input DNA from surgical tissue. Cell-free tumor DNA (cfDNA) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) offers an alternative for diagnosis and disease monitoring. This study aimed to test the utilization of enzymatic DNA methylation sequencing (EM-seq) methods to overcome input DNA limitations.

METHODS: We used the NEBNext EM-seq v2 kit on various amounts of cfDNA, as low as 0.1 ng, extracted from archival CSF samples of 10 patients with CNS tumors. Tumor classification was performed via MNP-Flex using CpG sites …

The Cd123 Antibody-Drug Conjugate Pivekimab Sunirine Exerts Profound Activity In Preclinical Models Of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia., Ben Watts, Christopher M Smith, Kathryn Evans, Andrew J Gifford, Sara M A Mohamed, Stephen W Erickson, Eric J Earley, Steven Neuhauser, Timothy M Stearns, Vivek M. Philip, Jeffrey Chuang, Patrick A Zweidler-Mckay, Sribalaji Lakshmikanthan, Emily L Jocoy, Carol J Bult, Beverly A Teicher, Malcolm A Smith, Richard B Lock

Faculty Research 2025

Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) combining monoclonal antibodies with cytotoxic payloads are a rapidly emerging class of immune‐based therapeutics with the potential to improve the treatment of cancer, including children with relapse/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). CD123, the α subunit of the interleukin‐3 receptor, is overexpressed in ALL and is a potential therapeutic target. Here, we show that pivekimab sunirine (PVEK), a recently developed ADC comprising the CD123‐targeting antibody, G4723A, and the cytotoxic payload, DGN549, was highly effective in vivo against a large panel of pediatric ALL patient‐derived xenograft (PDX) models (n = 39). PVEK administered once weekly for 3 weeks resulted …

Exploring The Composition Of Placental Microbiome And Its Potential Origin In Preterm Birth., Marwa Saadaoui, Mohamed Nadhir Djekidel, Selvasankar Murugesan, Manoj Kumar, Duaa Elhag, Parul Singh, Basirudeen Syed Ahamed Kabeer, Alexandra Katharina Marr, Tomoshige Kino, Tobias Brummaier, Rose Mcgready, François Nosten, Damien Chaussabel, Annalisa Terranegra, Souhaila Al Khodor

Faculty Research 2025

INTRODUCTION: For years, the placenta was believed to be sterile, but recent studies reveal it hosts a unique microbiome. Despite these findings, significant questions remain about the origins of the placental microbiome and its effects on pregnancy and fetal health. Some studies suggest it may originate from the vaginal tract, while others indicate that oral bacteria can enter the maternal bloodstream and seed the placenta. However, research analyzing the vaginal, oral, and placental microbiomes within the same cohort is lacking. Additionally, it's unclear whether the placental microbiome differs between healthy pregnancies and those with complications like preterm birth (PTB), which …