Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Nongenetic Factors On Calf Birth Weight And Growth Performance In Anatolian Buffaloes, Kürşat Alkoyak, Sezer Öz

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

The aim of the current study is to determine the growth performances of Anatolian buffaloes such as birth weight (BW$_{0}$), body weight at 6 months (BW$_{6}$), body weight at 12 months (BW$_{12}$), average daily weight gain from birth to 6 months (ADG$_{0 - 6}$), average daily weight gain from birth to 12 months (ADG$_{0 - 12}$) and average daily weight gain from 6 to 12 months (ADG$_{6 - 12}$), and to identify various nongenetic factors affecting these traits. In the study, the data of 2821 head buffalo calves born from buffaloes bred from the Anatolian Buffalo Breeding Project in Bartın …

Computed Tomography And Osteological Examination Of The Nuchal Perforations In Byzantine Cattle Skulls, Vedat Onar, Aleksander Chroszcz, Dominik Poradowski, Nazan Gezer İnce, Mehmet Ali̇ Polat, Rahmi̇ Asal

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

This study presents computed tomography (CT) and osteological observations of nuchal perforations in the Middle-Late Byzantine cattle skulls, unearthed from Yenikapı Metro and Marmaray excavations (ancient Theodosius harbour), İstanbul, Türkiye. A total of 17 skulls with perforations of various size, ranging from elliptical to triangular, located in the nuchal (posterior) region of protuberantia intercornualis were examined. Rounded edges and smooth inner walls of these perforations indicated that they were formed when the animals were alive (ante mortem). The CT helped to understand the details of the caudal and dorsal part of head as well as the relationships between these perforations …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

No abstract provided.

Pathological And Immunohistochemical Changes In The Liver Of Monocrotaline-Treated Rats, Şevket Soylu, Aydin Çevi̇k, Necati̇ Ti̇murkaan

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

Pathological and immunohistochemical changes in livers were investigated in monocrotaline-treated rats. Eighty adult-male Wistar rats were distributed in 5 groups, each containing 16 animals according to monocrotaline dose (Group I: 50 mg/kg, Group II: 100 mg/kg, Group III: 150 mg/kg, and Group IV: 200 mg/kg). The control group was administered with physiological saline. Half of the animals in each group were euthanized at the 18th hour while the remaining half at the 6th week postinoculation. At the end of the 18th hour, the most prominent lesion was hepatocytic apoptosis which was dose-dependent. Apoptotic cells were mostly located in periportal and …

Private Student Loans May Be Dischargeable In Bankruptcy Without Meeting The Undue Hardship Requirement And If Not, There Are Two Ways To Prove Undue Hardship, Kimberly Lee

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Section 523 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) prevents former students from discharging certain educational debts in bankruptcy, unless the failure to discharge “would impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor’s dependents.” Typically, it is a debtor’s burden to show that their loans may be discharged on the grounds of “undue hardship.” However, Congress has not defined “undue hardship” leaving jurisdictions divided regarding the appropriate test. Most courts have followed the Brunner three-prong test, while only the First and Eighth Circuits use the totality of the circumstances test.

Additionally, section 523(a)(8) …

A Comparative Study Of Immigration Integration Programs For Selected City Governments In California, Oregon, Washington, And Texas, Christelle Lorenzana

Master's Projects

Over the last eight decades, immigration into the United States has increased and has become a prominent political issue in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2015). Although the federal government is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, municipalities work with immigrants directly in a more supportive role. Currently, no national policy focuses on integration or welcoming immigrants to the urban community. In recent decades, the federal government has focused on immigration enforcement, border control, and what to do about the influx of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. However, cities are working to develop their own programs, tools, and policies to …

Peripherally Restricted Opioid Conjugates And Its Use As Pharmacological Probes And Potential Therapeutics, Md Tariqul Haque Tuhin

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Opioid-induced constipation (OIC) is one of the major adverse effects of opioid analgesics used by millions of patients each year. While progress has been made, there remains a significant unmet medical need in the treatment of OIC. Major gaps remain in our understanding of the role of the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system (CNS) in precipitating OIC. For the last four decades, numerous investigations to study the sites of action of opioid analgesics have utilized peripherally acting mu-opioid receptor antagonists (PAMORAs), which have been incorrectly believed to have limited penetration across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Several preclinical and clinical …

Abl2 Promotes Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease Via Ppar Gamma Regulation, Gregory Malnassy

Dissertations

Alcohol-associated liver disease (AALD) is an umbrella term for a spectrum of diseases resulting from chronic alcohol (e.g. ethanol) abuse ranging in severity from reversible conditions such as alcohol-induced steatosis to advanced and largely irreversible liver pathologies including alcoholic steatohepatitis (ASH), alcoholic hepatitis (AH), fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). AALD is one of the primary causes of chronic liver disease worldwide and accounts for 44% of liver disease deaths in the United States. Drinking rates, both in the United States and globally, have increased year over year for the past three decades, a trend which has resulted in significantly …

Imagining Otherwise: Designing And Implementing A High School Writing Center, Sheldon Cale Krieger

Dissertations

This study explored the work of planning and opening a new high school writing center in a school with a student population predominantly of students of color. The action research study occurred over the first twelve weeks of the writing center opening to better understand how such work might begin to disrupt oppressive systems and structures inherent in the school site as well as education at large. The arts-based methodology included daily reflective journals, a series of four collages, and document analysis. The study utilized critical imagining as its theoretical framework by combining tenets of critical race theory (CRT) with …

Elucidating The Role Of Kmt2d In Her2+ Breast Cancer, Emily Ma

Dissertations

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the US. Histone modifications are common epigenetic changes that have been implicated in several breast cancers, including HER2+ breast cancers. Current therapies, such as trastuzumab, block the HER2 receptor to reduce tumor growth. Unfortunately, HER2+ breast cancers have found ways to overcome these therapies, leading to tumor resistance, metastases, and poor survival outcomes. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms contributing to HER2+ breast cancer resistance may lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies to improve patient outcomes.One prognostic marker for poor survival in women with …

Fatigue In Aircraft Maintenance Technician Schools, Natalie Zimmermann, Peng Hao Wang, Keegan Pullen

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Fatigue has long been identified as a human factor in aviation. Subsequently, a series of studies have highlighted fatigue-related elements within the context of the aviation industry, focusing on the flight deck – with some extension to flight students – and aviation maintenance activities. However, the latter has not been as deeply examined as its flight crew-centered counterpart. Similarly – if not more significantly – fatigue experienced by aircraft maintenance technician (AMT) students is scarcely explored, especially in comparison to the research conducted to understand fatigue in flight schools. AMT students are subject to comparable, but not the same, experiences …

Comparison Of Schedules, Stress, Sleep Problems, Fatigue, Mental Health And Well-Being Of Low Cost And Network Carrier Pilots, Marion Venus

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Objective

This research investigates and compares working-conditions, duty rosters, stress, sleep problems, fatigue levels, mental health, and well-being of pilots working for network (NWCs), and low-cost carriers (LCCs). This study extends previous research by investigating working conditions, pilots’ actual rosters, fatigue and mental health of two groups of pilots flying for LCC or NWC.

Method

A comprehensive cross-sectional online survey was completed by N=338 pilots (185 NWC, 153 LCC pilots). All pilots reported their roster data of the last 2 months during peak flight season, psychosocial and work-related stress (e.g., high job insecurity, less total flight-experience, lower income, more time …

Nurses’ Perceptions Of Using Volunteer Support In Health Care Settings: A Systematic Scoping Review, Kate Crookes, Rosemary Saunders, Vivien Kemp, Olivia Gallagher, Manonita Ghosh, Caroline Bulsara, Karen Gullick, Bev O'Connell

IHR Papers and Journal Articles

Aims

To understand nurses’ perceptions of volunteer support in health care settings.

Background

Increasingly, volunteers provide specialised support to health care service users, requiring volunteers and nurses to work closely together. However, little is known about nurses’ perceptions of volunteer support.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA-ScR checklist. A mixed-methods convergent integrative approach was taken guided by the JBI framework. Quantitative data were transformed into qualitative data for synthesis and descriptive thematic analysis. Six databases were searched (CINHAL+, EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, PsycInfo, ProQuest Health and Medical Collection) on 24 January 2022 using terms related to nurses, perceptions, …

The Developing Brain: Considering The Multifactorial Effects Of Obesity, Physical Activity & Mental Wellbeing In Childhood And Adolescence, Nicole E. Logan, Christie L. Ward-Ritacco

Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Obesity during childhood has been associated with many important physiological and neurological health considerations. Specifically concerning are the associations between youth obesity and declines in mental health, as shown with increasing rates of adolescent depression and anxiety worldwide. The emergence of mental health disorders commonly arises during adolescent development, and approximately half the global population satisfy the criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder in their lifetime, suggesting a need for early intervention. Adolescence is critical time whereby brain structure and functions are not only negatively associated with obesity and declines in mental health, while also coinciding with significant declines …

Nitrite And Insulin Lower The Oxygen Cost Of Atp Synthesis In Skeletal Muscle Cells By Pleiotropic Stimulation Of Glycolysis, Rosie Donnell

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Dietary nitrate lowers the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise, but precise mechanistic insight into how this occurs is lacking. Research suggests that dietary nitrate may render oxidative ATP synthesis more efficient, but evidence is inconclusive at present. This thesis aimed to establish how nitrite (a reduced form of nitrate) affects the bioenergetics of cultured skeletal muscle cells. Comparison between the acute effects of nitrite and insulin, a hormonal regulator of muscle function that increases mitochondrial efficiency, was explored to assess possible mechanistic overlap. Calculation of real-time intracellular ATP synthesis rates from simultaneous oxygen consumption and medium acidification measurements revealed the …

Prediction Of Cardiometabolic Risk In Children, Olubukola Ajala

Other Faculty of Health Theses

Background: Three decades of clinical research have demonstrated that the risks of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD: coronary disease and ischaemic stroke), and the closely related type 2 diabetes (T2D) are established and influenced by events during childhood. This is at least partly because childhood obesity usually leads to adult adiposity; so, the currently high prevalence of adult cardiometabolic disease, means that obesity needs to be identified as early as possible, ideally in childhood. Screening for obesity largely relies on anthropometric measurements like body mass index (BMI), however this has many limitations including its inability to distinguish lean from fat mass. …

Physical Activity And Sedentary Behaviour Among Children And Adolescents With Intellectual Disabilities During The Covid-19 Lockdown In China, Y. Q. Yuan, J. N. Ding, N. Bi, M. J. Wang, S. C. Zhou, X. L. Wang, S. H. Zhang, Y. Liu, G. Roswal

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Background: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary research has reported a significant decline in physical activity (PA) and an increase in sedentary behaviour (SB) among typically developed children and adolescents. Limited research has looked at the current situation of PA and SB during this pandemic among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID). This study investigated the situations about PA and SB among school-aged children and adolescents with ID on China’s mainland during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods: In total, 837 parents of children and adolescents (ages 6–18 years) with ID from 15 special education schools of Shandong Province …

Unveiling Bacterial Hitchhikers In The Urobiome, Genevieve Baddoo

Master's Theses

Microbial communities of bacteria, viruses, and fungi form complex interactions in nature. However, our understanding of these communities is limited to those that can be cultured in the lab. Enhanced culture methods have enabled the isolation of numerous fastidious species from urinary tract, definitively proving that the urinary tract of asymptomatic individuals is not sterile. In working with these isolates, our group has observed several instances in which a “purified” isolate actually harbors more than one species. We refer to these additional members as bacterial hitchhikers, a term previously used to describe similar occurrences in soil communities. I hypothesized that …

Utah State University Graduate & Professional Student Survey: Report Of Findings, Merrill-Cazier Library, Ithaka S+R Survey

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

The Utah State University implementation of the Ithaka S+R Graduate & Professional Student Survey was launched on November 8^th, 2021, and was closed to new responses on December 13^th, 2021, with a total of 365 complete responses. The questionnaire covers topics in several key areas including: students’ use of assigned course materials; practices and preferences for curricular and non-curricular information discovery; the role of the library; use of library space; objectives in obtaining an advanced degree; and understanding of and interest in conducting or contributing to original research. The following report provides a high-level overview of …

Serglycin Is Involved In Tgf-Β Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition And Is Highly Expressed By Immune Cells In Breast Cancer Tissue, Marta Tellez-Gabriel, Xavier Tekpli, Trine M Reine, Beate Hegge, Stephanie R Nielsen, Meng Chen, Line Moi, Lisa Svartdal Normann, Lill-Tove R Busund, George A Calin, Gunhild M Mælandsmo, Maria Perander, Achilleas D Theocharis, Svein O Kolset, Erik Knutsen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Serglycin is a proteoglycan highly expressed by immune cells, in which its functions are linked to storage, secretion, transport, and protection of chemokines, proteases, histamine, growth factors, and other bioactive molecules. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that serglycin is also expressed by several other cell types, such as endothelial cells, muscle cells, and multiple types of cancer cells. Here, we show that serglycin expression is upregulated in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Functional studies provide evidence that serglycin plays an important role in the regulation of the transition between the epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes, …

Cancer Prevention Behaviors In Workers Of A Referral Cancer Center In Mexico City: A Pilot Study On Early Detection Awareness For Cancer, Nancy Reynoso-Noverón, Shine Chang, Luis Alonso Herrera-Montalvo, Abelardo Meneses-García

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Prevention strategies for cancer are necessary. Health workers who often serve as role models bear responsibility for prevention counseling and programs. However, whether their habits and behaviors reflect prevention goals are unknown. We describe the prevalence of cancer risk factors and prevention behaviors in health workers of a referral cancer center in Mexico City.

Methods: Cross-sectional study in which workers of the National Cancer Institute were invited to participate in a prevention program, risk factor survey, and nutrition, psychological, and genetic counseling were included. The likelihood of cancer was calculated based on the presence of risk factors. Factors associated …

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Related Gastrointestinal Toxicity In Patients With Malignancy Involving The Luminal Gastrointestinal Tract And Its Impact On Cancer Outcomes, Kevin Yu, Antony Mathew, Fiyinfoluwa Abraham, Rajan Amin, Miho Kono, Michael Overman, Dan Zhao, Anam Khan, Muhammad A Khan, Anusha S Thomas, Yinghong Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are known to cause immune-related adverse events (irAE) with the gastrointestinal (GI) tract among the most affected. Our knowledge of GI irAE in patients with luminal GI malignancies is poor. We aimed to characterize the incidence, clinical features, treatment, and outcomes of these GI irAEs.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients with malignancies involving the luminal GI tract and GI irAEs at MD Anderson Cancer Center from January 2010 to June 2020. Clinical data were collected and analyzed.

Results: Eighteen patients with luminal GI tract malignancies treated with ICIs had evidence of GI …

High-Resolution Metabolomics Of Exposure To Tobacco Smoke During Pregnancy And Adverse Birth Outcomes In The Atlanta African American Maternal-Child Cohort, Youran Tan, Dana Boyd Barr, P Barry Ryan, Veronika Fedirko, Jeremy A Sarnat, Audrey J Gaskins, Che-Jung Chang, Ziyin Tang, Carmen J Marsit, Elizabeth J Corwin, Dean P Jones, Anne L Dunlop, Donghai Liang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy has been associated with a series of adverse reproductive outcomes; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well-established. We conducted an untargeted metabolome-wide association study to identify the metabolic perturbations and molecular mechanisms underlying the association between cotinine, a widely used biomarker of tobacco exposure, and adverse birth outcomes. We collected early and late pregnancy urine samples for cotinine measurement and serum samples for high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) profiling from 105 pregnant women from the Atlanta African American Maternal-Child cohort (2014-2016). Maternal metabolome perturbations mediating prenatal tobacco smoke exposure and adverse birth outcomes were assessed …

Establishment And Validation Of Pre-Therapy Cervical Vertebrae Muscle Quantification As A Prognostic Marker Of Sarcopenia In Patients With Head And Neck Cancer, Brennan Olson, Jared Edwards, Catherine Degnin, Nicole Santucci, Michelle Buncke, Jeffrey Hu, Yiyi Chen, Clifton D Fuller, Mathew Geltzeiler, Aaron J Grossberg, Daniel Clayburgh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Sarcopenia is prognostic for survival in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). However, identification of this high-risk feature remains challenging without computed tomography (CT) imaging of the abdomen or thorax. Herein, we establish sarcopenia thresholds at the C3 level and determine if C3 sarcopenia is associated with survival in patients with HNC.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted in consecutive patients with a squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with cross-sectional abdominal or neck imaging within 60 days prior to treatment. Measurement of cross-sectional muscle area at L3 and C3 levels was performed from CT …

Chap-Adult: A Reliable And Valid Algorithm To Classify Sitting And Measure Sitting Patterns Using Data From Hip-Worn Accelerometers In Adults Aged 35+, John Bellettiere, Supun Nakandala, Fatima Tuz-Zahra, Elisabeth A.H. Winkler, Paul R. Hibbing, Genevieve N. Healy, David W. Dunstan, Neville Owen, Mikael Anne Greenwood-Hickman, Dori E. Rosenberg, Jingjing Zou, Jordan A. Carlson, Chongzhi Di, Lindsay W. Dillon, Marta M. Jankowska, Andrea Z. Lacroix, Nicola D. Ridgers, Rong Zablocki, Arun Kumar, Loki Natarajan

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: Hip-worn accelerometers are commonly used, but data processed using the 100 counts per minute cut point do not accurately measure sitting patterns. We developed and validated a model to accurately classify sitting and sitting patterns using hip-worn accelerometer data from a wide age range of older adults. Methods: Deep learning models were trained with 30-Hz triaxial hip-worn accelerometer data as inputs and activPAL sitting/nonsitting events as ground truth. Data from 981 adults aged 35–99 years from cohorts in two continents were used to train the model, which we call CHAP-Adult (Convolutional Neural Network Hip Accelerometer Posture-Adult). Validation …

Emerging Current Trends And Research Focus Related To Pancreatic Cancer Metabolism: A Bibliometric And Visualized Analysis, Qian Shen, Chuanlong Zhang, Xiaochen Jiang, Junchen Li, Fudong Liu, Xiyuan Zhang, Ge'er En, Bo Pang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: As a malignant digestive system tumor, pancreatic cancer has unique metabolic characteristics. In recent years, the study of pancreatic cancer metabolism is in full swing, which provides a new direction for the treatment of pancreatic cancer patients. However, there is no systematic report of pancreatic cancer metabolism. In this paper, bibliometrics and visualization methods were used to analyze the number of publications, countries/regions, authors, institutions, journals, co-cited references, and keywords of pancreatic cancer metabolism articles, to summarize the research trends and predict research hotspots.

METHODS: We searched, screened and downloaded articles on pancreatic cancer metabolism through the Web of …

The Ecological And Social Effects Of Open Ocean Mussel Farming, Danielle Bridger

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Mussel aquaculture installations located in inshore waters have been shown to have a wide range of impacts on the surrounding environment and marine organisms, while also presenting a problem to other marine users. However, there is some evidence that moving these installations further offshore into the open ocean could mitigate these impacts. This thesis aimed to develop and pilot a robust monitoring programme that could be used to inform future management of aquaculture installations. A further aim was to assess the effects of mussel headlines at an open ocean long-line mussel farm, currently under development in Lyme Bay, southwest UK, …

Andrews University’S Thought Leadership Communication On Linkedin: A Textual Analysis, Nana Ama O. Akoto-Boateng

Master's Theses

Thought leadership is fast becoming a powerful communication tool for most industries and sectors including higher education institutions (HEIs). This study employed textual analysis to determine how Andrews University's thought leadership on LinkedIn compares with four other top-ranking Adventist universities, namely Loma Linda University, Pacific Union College, Southern Adventist University and Walla Walla University. The text elements that were analyzed during the study were image posts and video posts on the respective LinkedIn pages of these institutions, spanning from January 2021 to June 2021. Among other findings, the results of the study revealed that Andrews University compares as the least …

Conceptualising Early Career Teachers’ Agency And Accounts Of Social Action In Disadvantaged Schools, Margaret Kettle, Bruce Burnett, Jo Lampert, Barbara Comber, Naomi Barnes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article examines the accounts of actions undertaken by Early Career Teachers (ECTs) recently graduated from a social justice-oriented Initial Teacher Education (ITE) program and employed in complex school settings with high levels of student diversity, disadvantage, and poverty. The study drew on theories of teacher agency and agency more broadly to examine the workshadowing observations of the teachers’ practice in classrooms augmented by their reflective accounts in interviews. The study found that the ECTs’ agency, or contextualised social action, can be conceptualised as temporally embedded social engagement directed at addressing their students’ cultural, social and academic needs. The teachers …

Comprehensive Assessment Of Heat Pump Dryers For Drying Agricultural Products, Alde Belgard Loemba Tchicaya, Baraka Kichonge, Thomas Kivevele

All Rsif Scholars' Publications

Fruits and vegetables are agricultural products that require preservation toenhance and protect shelf life, encapsulate natural flavour, and retainnutritional content. Globally, agricultural products are preserved by a rangeof means, the most prevalent of which is the heat pump dryer, which producesthe best results even in unfavourable climatic conditions. Heat pump dryerscome in different types and their performance varies depending on the type.This study aims to evaluate recently developed heat pump dryers based on keyperformance indicators, impacts on food colour and nutritional content,techno‐economic, exergoeconomic, and environmental issues associated withthe development of heat pump dryers, which are underrepresented in most ofthe existing …