Digital Commons Network^™

Strategies And Challenges For The Recruitment Of Young Healthy Participants In The Dietary Approaches To Longevity And Health (Dial Health) Pilot Trial, Hannah E Cabre, Courtney M Peterson, Gareth R Dutton, Kimberly L Drews, Stephanie T Broyles, Robert Dubin, Laura Q Rogers, Catherine Champagne, Dennis T Villareal, Daniel S Hsia, Leanne M Redman, Corby K Martin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Background: Understanding the impact of nutrition on human aging requires long-term trials in young, healthy, unmedicated adults. As part of the Dietary Approaches for Longevity and Health (DiAL Health) pilot project, we evaluated strategies for recruiting this population for aging-related dietary intervention studies.

Methods: We analyzed recruitment costs to enroll 70 participants (ages 25-49, BMI 22.0-29.9 kg/m2) across two DiAL Health sites and used NHANES data (2017-March 2020) to estimate the proportion of U.S. adults meeting partial trial eligibility. Additionally, a formative study surveyed 492 U.S. adults (≥18 years) to assess interest in aging-focused dietary trials.

Results: Of 2049 applicants …

The All Of Us Evenings With Genetics Research Program, Stacy M Lloyd, Jasmine Baker, Carolina Jorgez, Julie Coleman, Laterrica Williams, April Adams, Ashley Butler, Elizabeth Atkinson, Shamika Ketkar, Steven Scherer, Kim Worley, Susan Fernbach, Keasia Daniels, Latanya Hammonds-Odie, Laura Rosales, Brendan Lee, Debra Murray

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The All of Us Evenings with Genetics (All of Us EwG) Research Program, funded in part by the National Institute of Health’s All of Us Research Program, engages researchers to utilize the All of Us Researcher Workbench to advance precision medicine. The All of Us EwG program has two core aims: (1) address barriers to research productivity for minorities, disadvantaged, and persons with disabilities aspiring to enter STEM fields; and (2) promote the use of the All of Us Researcher Workbench to develop research focused on health equity. To achieve these goals, the program implements three key activities: (1) …

Case Report: Primed Dendritic Cell Immunotherapy For Multiple Solid Tumors, Jeffrey Jones, Aly Alrabaa, William Decker, Luis Ferbeyre, Gregorio Viramontes, Rafael Gonzalez, Elideth Angulo, Antonio Zamudio, Raul Hernandez, Stephen Noga, Susana Hernandez-Reyes, Paul Zhang, Darryl Smith, Ara Karamanian, Luis Tamara, Dalton Greenwood, Matthew Halpert

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Many patients with advanced solid tumors ultimately develop resistance to conventional therapies, with especially limited options for those experiencing rapid progression or poor performance status, highlighting the need for personalized immunotherapies capable of inducing durable responses. In this retrospective case series, we describe the clinical course and outcomes of five adults (4 male, 1 female; median age 51 years [range, 39-62]) with metastatic solid tumors who achieved complete and durable remission following doubly loaded autologous dendritic cell therapy after failure of standard treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibition, radiation, surgery, or endocrine therapy. Five patients, including prostate adenocarcinoma (n=1), malignant …

Tau In Alzheimer’S Disease: Shaping The Future Patient Journey, Catherine J Mummery, Christopher Chen Li-Hsian, Cristian A Lasagna-Reeves, Rik Ossenkoppele, Christopher C Rowe, Douglas W Scharre, Huali Wang, Simon Kyaga, Jeffrey L Cummings

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Alzheimer's disease is a complex and multifactorial disease characterized by two key pathological hallmarks: amyloid-beta plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles. Recent progress has led to the development and approval of disease-targeted therapies for Alzheimer's disease in the form of anti-amyloid-beta monoclonal antibodies. However, findings suggest that amelioration of multiple pathological drivers may be required to maximize clinical effect. An increasing body of evidence suggests that tau is a critical player in Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology, contributing significantly to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. There are now several tau-targeting drugs in clinical development. In this review, we build on research and advancements in …

Surface Marker Identification To Capture Live Circulating Tumor Cells In Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Bree M Lege, Khushali J Patel, Brendan Panici, Ping Gong, Michael T Lewis, Matthew J Ellis, Chonghui Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is highly aggressive and lacks targeted therapies. Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are invaluable for monitoring metastatic tumor progression and treatment response but are difficult to capture because of their rarity and heterogeneity. Surface-based staining for live CTCs is essential to preserve RNA quality in single cells, but current markers tend to perform poorly on more mesenchymal tumor cells such as TNBCs. To enhance live TNBC CTC detection, we developed a workflow for live CTC capture and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Using a mouse model of metastatic TNBC, we identified four new CTC surface markers, AHNAK2, …

Pd-L1-Centric Whole Blood-Based Immune Signature Profiles Of Tuberculosis Patients During Therapy, Johanna Eggeling, Martina Sester, Christoph Lange, Jan Heyckendorf, Barbara Kalsdorf, Anna M Mandalakas, Andrew R Dinardo, David Lewinsohn, Dagmar Schaub, Tina Schmidt, Eva Tolosa, Maja Reimann, Patricia M Sánchez Carballo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This prospective study investigated whole blood-based immune cell biomarkers for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) immunoprofiling. Blood samples from 34 healthy controls and 51 tuberculosis patients were analyzed at three timepoints: Prior to therapy (T0), after 14 days of therapy (T1), and at the end of treatment (Te). Using multiparameter flow cytometry, 386 immune cell populations were analyzed. Predictive models were developed using two machine learning algorithms. A TB5LF change score, which was based on five cell populations, effectively distinguished tuberculosis patients from controls (AUC = 0.89) and tuberculosis patients before and at the end of treatment (AUC = 0.92). Similarly, the …

Organ Chips And Translational Research: Identifying And Examining New Ethical Issues, Melanie Jeske

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Organ chips, also known as organ-on-a-chip devices, tissue chips, or microphysiological systems, have emerged over the last decade as a promising translational technology amidst growing concern about the translational crisis between laboratory research and patient bedside. Pointing to high rates of failure between nonhuman animal models and safety and efficacy in humans, organ chips and similar new approach methods have attracted substantial public and private investment. As human-cell-based alternatives to animal models, organ chips promise more predictive, efficient, and ethical platforms for pharmaceutical and toxicity testing. Engineered cultivation systems that enable cells to assemble into tissue-like structures (e.g. kidney, brain, …

Anything But Endo: Diagnostic Buck-Passing In Endometriosis Diagnosis, Rita Dexter, Megan Kitts, Heather Welty, Melanie Jeske

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

People living with endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere in the body, often experience prolonged diagnostic journeys because of symptom variability, normalisation of period pain and other symptoms, and lack of awareness of the condition. In this article, we analyse the endometriosis diagnostic journey through the lens of epistemic injustice. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 52 people living with endometriosis in the United States, we introduce the concept of diagnostic buck-passing to characterise the phenomenon wherein individuals who seek treatment for their symptoms end up stuck in a cycle of seeing …

Access To Digital Health Technologies: Personalized Framework And Global Perspectives, Sanjiv M Narayan, Mina K Chung, Demilade Adedinsewo, Luisa C C Brant, Leslie L Davis, David Duncker, Jennifer L Hall, Janet K Han, Carolyn S P Lam, Eldrin Lewis, Joseph Loscalzo, Manlio F Márquez, Vasiliki Rahimzadeh, Fatima Rodriguez, Prashanthan Sanders, Emma Svennberg, Kenneth Stein, Mintu Turakhia, Clyde Yancy, Antonis A Armoundas

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

The emergence and rapid adoption of digital health technologies (DHT) present unprecedented opportunities to democratize and reduce disparities in health care by monitoring health and disease at the point of care in all patients. However, limited access to DHT is becoming a major obstacle to realizing these goals. Access to DHT is influenced not only by well-recognized social determinants of health, but also by digital determinants of health, such as digital literacy and the need for broad access to digital infrastructure, as well as commercial and economic factors. Addressing these challenges and designing unbiased systems of care are essential to …

Broadening Replication Standards For Vignette Studies: Introducing Contextually Appropriate Replications, Birgit Schyns, Gretchen Vogelgesang Lester, Michelle M. Hammond

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Vignette studies present specific challenges for replications, yet vignettes are a popular choice for replication studies in leadership. In our review of eight vignette-based leadership publications, only two were able to fully replicate the original study's findings. We suggest that part of the failure to replicate the results of vignette studies may be due to a misalignment between the vignettes and social reality at the time of data collection. This paper highlights the challenges vignettes present due to societal progression and includes recommendations regarding potential methodological artifacts including the appropriateness of the sample, vignette content, and modality. We first discuss …

Multi-Resolution Feature Stem For Diabetic Retinopathy Lesion Segmentation, Indranil Dutta, Taehee Jeong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide, requiring automated lesion segmentation using deep learning models for early detection and monitoring. However, DR lesions vary dramatically in size from tiny microaneurysms to large hemorrhages and exudates. This variability creates conflicting demands on the model architecture and input resolution, posing a challenge for effective design. This work investigates the impact of input resolution on different lesion types. Through systematic experimentation with multiple architectures (U-Net, UNet++, Vision Transformers, DeepLabV3+) at 512 × 512 and 1024 × 1024 resolutions, we identify a critical, counter-intuitive phenomenon where increasing input resolution has …

Nevis Digital Twin: Photogrammetry And Immersive Visualization Of Historical Sites, Alex Apffel, Huy Tran, Vuthea Chheang

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

In this work, we present a multimodal data acquisition workflow for the digital preservation and virtual reconstruction of at-risk historical sites in the island of Nevis. Facing threats from coastal erosion, rising sea levels, and aggressive vegetation, the archaeological heritage of Nevis requires documentation strategies that bridge the gap between high-cost professional surveying and consumer accessibility. Experimental test compared acquisition variables, specifically camera height (1 m vs. 3 m) and operator trajectory against highresolution control data. Moreover, we explore the virtual reconstruction between mesh reconstruction and 3D gaussian splatting to serve as different modalities for documentation. The resulting data is …

Pattern-Aware Graph Neural Networks For Handling Missing Data, Minett Tran, Taehee Jeong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Missing data is ubiquitous in real-world datasets. Traditional methods either discard incomplete samples or apply imputation techniques that ignore potentially informative missingness patterns, implicitly assuming that missingness occurs randomly. However, missingness patterns might provide additional information. We propose pattern-aware graph neural networks that explicitly encode which features are missing alongside observed values. We used four encoding strategies-learned embeddings, frozen random embeddings, statistical features, and hierarchical representations-across seven UCI datasets with naturally occurring missingness. Our Pattern-aware methods achieve substantial improvements over baselines, with an average improvement of 17% in balanced accuracy and 22% in F1-macro across all datasets. Our code and …

Pharmaceutical Mergers: Do We Have The Right Cure?, Robin Feldman, Gideon Schor, Yaniv Konchitchki, Tanziuzzaman Sakib

Faculty Scholarship

Few federal agencies wield tools more powerful than the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to review—and deny—proposed mergers between companies. This authority is powerful for a reason: Large mergers can be uniquely harmful to the United States economy, potentially reducing competition, undercutting consumer choice, and inflating prices.

The pharmaceutical industry is particularly sensitive to merger harms, given the limited number of competitors and the inelasticity of demand for prescription drugs. As a result, when pharmaceutical companies seek to merge, the FTC often requires that one of the companies divest ownership of certain drugs not yet on the market—so-called “pipeline” drugs––to a …

Howell Thomas Heflin Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

The Howell Thomas Heflin Collection documents Heflin's years as legal reformer and Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice, as well as his tenure as United States Senator through press clippings, scrapbooks, speech files, audiotapes, videotapes, press releases and statements, newsletters and various printed materials, photographs, negatives, campaign materials, and memorabilia.

Thomas W. Christopher Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

This collection includes administrative items regarding UA's School of Law and various personal items and notes from Dean Thomas W. Christopher.

Mirza Anwer Beg Collection, University Of Alabama School Of Law

Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a large number of books, files, photographs, and notebooks on topics ranging from Islam and Islamic/Arabic themes to poetry and art as well as topics on law, diplomacy, history, and philosophy.

Study Of Access Region Sheet Resistance In Superlattice U-Gan Hemt And Its Compact Modeling, Vikram Magendar, Hiu Yung Wong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Superlattice GaN structures are expected to have reduced on-state resistance due to the formation of multiple twodimensional electron gas (2DEG) channels in the access regions. The U-GaN structure, which has one channel in the gate region for normally-off operation, employs regrown Si-doped vertical GaN sidewalls to electrically connect multiple channels in the access regions. In this paper, an access region with thin superlattice layers, which is expected to have less relaxation and dislocations than the thicker one, is studied. Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulations confirm the formation of multiple polarization-induced 2DEG channels. It is found that the equivalent access-region sheet …

Statistical Cryogenic Characterization Of Commercial 14nm Finfets For Analog Applications, Wesley Xi, Le Minh Long Nguyen, Vikram Magendar, Hiu Yung Wong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Cryogenic devices at 4.2K are indispensable in the control electronics for large-scale quantum computers. Due to its small manufacturing volume, a standard commercial foundry process is likely to be used in the near and medium terms. Moreover, 77K electronics are promising for high-speed server applications. Besides digital circuits, analog circuits with non-minimal channel length are particularly important in quantum computing control. In this paper, special structures are designed to characterize the device properties of medium- and long-channel length devices at 292K, 77K, and 4.2K in a commercial 14nm FinFET process. About 100 structures were measured for both NMOS and PMOS. …

Don’T Do-It-Yourself: The Exquisite Corpse And Collaborative Play In Undergraduate Electronic Music Pedagogy, Josh Biggs

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

In this demonstration, I focus on the Exquisite Corpse as a pedagogical tool for undergraduate electronic music production courses, and more broadly argue for the practical and theoretical value of integrating collaborative and iterative improvisational tools in undergraduate electronic music curricula. I share a four-week module that applies the Exquisite Corpse method as a way to reduce student overwhelm and to encourage community-oriented learning and making, while introducing simple subtractive synthesis and MIDI composition in the DAW. The audience will benefit both from the specificity of the teaching methods I outline as well as the motivating premise that electronic music …

Free Code-Based Software Music Classes As An Invitation To Fuel Students' Sonic Creativity, Problem Solving, And Community Building, Jorge E. Variego

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

This workshop proposes the integration of free code-based programming software into music classes to expand students' sonic creativity, problem-solving skills, and community-building opportunities.

Sonic Ecosystems And Natural Cycles: An Immersive Multimedia Improvisation, Jorge E. Variego

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

This proposal presents a 20-minute free improvisation based on the concept of natural cycles, performed by a student-led electroacoustic ensemble. The multimedia improvisation explores the ensemble as a creative sonic ecosystem where sounds emerge, dissipate, and reconstruct in altered forms, mimicking natural processes like growth, decay, and regeneration.

This performance proposal is deeply rooted in the collaboration between Brian Eno and John Hassel in Possible Musics, where acoustic and electronic elements interweave, creating music that is simultaneously otherworldly and rooted in global sonic traditions. As Brian Eno noted, “Music is a process, not a thing.” This performance proposal situates music …

Electro-Acoustic Dance Composition: Practicality And Pragmatism, Ian Evans Guthrie

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

“Efficiency, expediency, and experimentation in Dance Compositions.”

In this presentation, I want to describe the practical difficulties in composing for dance and using live electronics, and how I have found a happy medium. The presentation will begin with an overview of common dance approaches as I have experienced at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Kansas City Ballet, and the Florida State University School of Dance, and other institutions. Then, I will discuss the limitations for elaborate electroacoustic setups, particularly in the “black box” theatres and variety of dance studios used at these places. I will defend my thesis …

Sound Of NangqêN, Jiayue Cecilia Wu

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

Tape Piece is part of a series of single-sound-source daydream pieces, where a solitary object or family of objects is repurposed to create an otherworldly soundscape. This work uses tape--masking, scotch, aluminum, packing, and duct--sometimes recognizable, and sometimes heavily processed. The familiar is juxtaposed with the fresh, and what starts out with unrolling and tearing quickly unravels as sounds evocative of gunfire, of bombs and explosions, and of Geiger counters suggesting the downfall of civilization. New creatures emerge throughout, each trying to find their place in a world that has come unglued.

Tape Piece, Kyle Vanderburg

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

Tape Piece is part of a series of single-sound-source daydream pieces, where a solitary object or family of objects is repurposed to create an otherworldly soundscape. This work uses tape--masking, scotch, aluminum, packing, and duct--sometimes recognizable, and sometimes heavily processed. The familiar is juxtaposed with the fresh, and what starts out with unrolling and tearing quickly unravels as sounds evocative of gunfire, of bombs and explosions, and of Geiger counters suggesting the downfall of civilization. New creatures emerge throughout, each trying to find their place in a world that has come unglued.

Human Vs. Transhuman: Act One, Cecilia Suhr

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

This work investigates the conflict between human and transhuman; to that end, the performance employs visual representations of human and transhuman interaction. The music and visual realms interact in real time to enhance the immersive experience of understanding the tension between machines and humans. Voice improvisation also interacts with live processing to create a unique sonic landscape. Overall, this is a multimedia, experimental contemporary performance at the intersection of technology and acoustic music.

Dreamcatcher, Ian Evans Guthrie

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

Dreamcatcher is a composition for piano and fixed media. Dreamcatcher is the organic result of a commission from and collaboration with a contemporary choreographer. Approached at a recent summer camp about composing music for a “dreamy” choreography, it became a work that synthesizes the sounds of our environment, the subconscious of sleep, the nostalgia of a cleaner world, and the hope of a better future.

Drawing Noise, Ivan Elezovic

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

DRAWING NOISE is a collaboration between a painter, a composer, and a photographer-video artist. The main intention is to further explore the ambient music that painting and drawing produce. The approach of audio is correlated with the sounds of various hand-movements by color pens on textured drywall. The method of making and designing audio and visual documentation of the creation of the wall drawings serve as the raw material for the final video. The audio in the project originates from recorded artistic performance that portrays a series of circle-shape objects in real time. Furthermore, various layers of sounds are added …

Out Of The Ground (Into The Sky), Brad Decker

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

Out of the Ground (Into the Sky) is written for clarinetist, with computer processing in combination with fixed audio. It is a multilayered performance project, that aims to memorialize a loved one. The performance (by both clarinetist, and the computer) is nuanced and visceral. This is intended to be a memorable concert piece.

Quietly, Kyong Mee Choi

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

The composition Quietly is designed to incorporate music, poem, and 3-D animation.