Digital Commons Network^™

Loss Of Twist1 Leads To Disruption Of Ciliary Length, Endocytic Vesicle Dynamics, And Cell-Cell Junctions During Neural Tube Formation, Derrick Thomas, Brittany M Hufft-Martinez, Zarna Lalwani, Vi Pham, Mary Elmeniawi, An J Tran, Jianming Xu, Irfan Saadi, Walid D Fakhouri

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Endocytosis constitutes a fundamental cellular process governing development through coordinated regulation of plasma membrane remodeling and ciliogenesis, processes essential for cell shape changes and tissue development. Although Twist1 null embryos display complete cranial neural tube (NT) closure defects and conditional knockout in neuroectoderm disrupts cranial neural crest cell fate determination and delamination, the function of TWIST1 in NT morphogenesis remains unknown. We investigated the basis underlying neuroectodermal morphological abnormalities in TWIST1 mutant embryos, specifically the formation of ectopic lateral bending points and cellular disorganization, by examining Twist1's role in cilia formation, adherens junction integrity, and endocytic vesicle dynamics.

Results: …

Identifying Over- And Underfunded Diseases By Comparing National Institutes Of Health Funding For Skin Disease Research With Us Skin Disease Burden According To 2021 Global Burden Of Disease Data: Cross-Sectional Analysis, Aileen Park, Emily Woolhiser, Hannah Riva, Leo Wan, Haaris Kadri, Elizabeth Lamberty, Parks Juels, Sandra Jaroonwanichkul, Madison Reed, Catherine Hegedus, Dana Chen, Danielle Duffle, Jessica Kirk, Sydney Christensen, Emma Shelby, Robert Dellavalle

Student Publications

Background: Understanding the burden of various skin diseases can help guide funding allocation for skin disease research. A 2015 cross-sectional study found a partial correlation between US skin disease burden according to the 2010 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in 2012-2013.

Objective: This study aims to identify trends, correlations, and disparities in US skin disease burden and NIH research funding allocation using the latest data from the GBD 2021 and NIH funding data from the fiscal years 2021-2022.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to compare the disability-adjusted life years for 15 …

Cognitive Warfare 2026: Nato’S Chief Scientist Report As Sentinel Call For Operational Readiness, James Giordano

Strategic Insights

This commentary examines emerging concepts in cognitive warfare, the use of information, perception shaping, and psychological influence as instruments of strategic competition. It also highlights insights from the 2026 NATO Chief Scientist Report. Dr. Giordano explains that cognitive effects extend traditional information operations by targeting how people think, make decisions, and act in complex environments. Drawing from NATO analysis, he argues that military organizations must integrate cognitive considerations into doctrine, planning, and training to enhance resilience and competitive advantage. Improved operational frameworks, interdisciplinary research, and ethical governance could help allied forces recognize, anticipate, and counter cognitive threats while preserving human …

Environmental Factors Associated With Heatwaves Affecting The Growth Of Harmful Algal Bloom Species Pyrodinium Bahamense, Ketzia Garcia, Camiyah Blanchard, Lydia Ruggles, Lauren D' Amore, Margaret Mars Brisbin

Making Waves REU

• Pyrodiniumbahamenseis a harmful algal bloomdinoflagellate that forms blooms in subtropical and tropical estuarine waters, includingalong Florida's coasts
• The species formsintense harmful algal blooms in theOld Tampa Bayand Indian River Lagoon regions, producing toxins that cause paralytic shellfishpoisoning (PSP)
• Marine heatwaves (MHW), periods of time where ocean temperatures rise 1–3°C or more above the normal, have intensified over the years
• Marine heatwaves may influence microbial interactions and harmful algal blooms (HABS)

Acoustic Analysis Of Prosodic Speech Pause In Autistic And Neurotypical Adults, Rachel Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine prosodic speech pause across two groups: neurotypical and autistic young adults. Conversational speech samples were collected from 11 neurotypical and 11 autistic young adults between the ages of 18 and 26. Speech samples were subsequently transcribed and analyzed using Praat Software. The boundaries of between- and within-utterance pauses were identified, as well as acoustically determining if the pause was filled, silent, or a combination of both. Results found a significant difference in the frequency of pauses as a function of location, pause type, and neurological status. As expected, combination pauses were the …

A Phase 1, First-In-Human, Dose Escalation Study Of Jnj-80038114, A Psmaxcd3 Bispecific Antibody, In Participants With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer, Andrew Hudson, Anuradha Jayaram, Benjamin Garmezy, Nicholas Zorko, Kevin Zarrabi, Ligi Mathews, Brent Rupnow, Mengjie Li, Debopriya Ghosh, Karen Urtishak, Peter Francis, Sherry Wang, Edward Attiyeh, Johann De Bono

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) has been identified as a therapeutic target for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The recent success of radioligands targeting PSMA spurred development of new PSMA-targeting agents including immunotherapy. JNJ-80038114 is a bispecific antibody that binds PSMA on tumor cells and CD3 on T cells to induce anti-tumor activity.

METHODS: This was a phase 1, open-label, multicenter study of JNJ-80038114 in participants with mCRPC and ≥ 1 prior systemic therapy. JNJ-80038114 was administered subcutaneously every 3 weeks (Q3W), starting at 0.1 mg. The primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included pharmacokinetics (PK), immunogenicity, and prostate-specific antigen …

Music Therapy Versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Via Telehealth For Anxiety In Survivors Of Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial, Kevin T. Liou, Joke Bradt, M. Beatriz Currier, Raymond Baser, Katherine Panageas, Jodi Macleod, Desiree Walker, Susan Q. Li, Ana Maria Lopez, Kelly Mcconnell, Jun J. Mao

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: Anxiety is prevalent, disruptive, and undertreated among survivors of cancer. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the first-line treatment, but not all individuals have access, respond to treatment, or prefer this option because of stigma. Music therapy is effective for short-term anxiety reduction, but it is unknown whether it is noninferior to first-line CBT for long-term anxiety reduction.

METHODS: This comparative effectiveness trial randomly assigned English- or Spanish-speaking survivors of cancer to seven weekly telehealth sessions of music therapy or CBT. The coprimary end points were changes in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety score at weeks 8 …

Knockrbp: An Integrated Multi-Omics Database Of Functional Perturbation Profiles For Rna-Binding Proteins, Mengyuan Yang, Jiawei Li, Jiajia Liu, Xingzheng Lu, Xiaobo Zhou, Yungang Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) regulate diverse post-transcriptional processes, yet their functional impacts across multiple molecular layers remain incompletely characterized. KnockRBP (https://knockrbp.xu-bioinfo.com) is presented as a comprehensive, multi-omics database systematically cataloging regulatory changes resulting from genetic perturbation of RBPs. The resource integrates 1453 datasets from GEO, ENA, and ENCORE, encompassing RNA-seq, Ribo-seq, microRNA (miRNA)-seq, and 3'RACE-seq across 639 RBPs, 182 cell lines, and 61 diseases. Regulatory outcomes covered include alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, RNA editing, transcript abundance, translation efficiency, and miRNA expression, with all events processed through standardized analytical pipelines and annotated with open reading frame consequences, predicted loss-of-function impacts, and established …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of The One Paleopathology Workshop, Julianne R. Stamer, Mario Apata Mamani, Bernardo Arriaza, Robin Bendrey, Kelly Blevins, Tessa Campbell, Nicole Gottdenker, Rebecca Gowland, Haagen Klaus, Carina Marques

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Background and objectives: One Paleopathology is a novel concept in Paleopathology that extends the One Health paradigm into the past. A workshop at the University of Durham, UK, was held prior to the 2024 International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health (ISEMPH) meeting, firstly to define and expand the concept of One Paleopathology and secondly to generate transdisciplinary research and outreach under this framework. This article presents a logic model to evaluate how effectively the workshop met its goals.

Methodology: Two surveys were conducted, one immediately following the workshop and at the 1-year mark. These surveys assess the direct …

Peripheral Nerve Injury Reduces Macrophage Efferocytosis To Facilitate Neuropathic Pain, Vipul K Pandey, Tusar K Acharya, Kendal F Willcox, Sandeep Dembla, Ajeena Ramanujan, Anamaria R Grieco, Younus A Zuberi, Rajasekaran Mahalingam, Andrew J Shepherd, Cobi J Heijnen, Peter M Grace

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

For reasons not fully understood, proresolving immune processes sometimes fail to engage after peripheral nerve injury (PNI), leading to enhanced neuropathic pain and inflammation. Here, we implicate reduced efferocytosis due to proteolytic cleavage of surface MER tyrosine kinase (MERTK) from macrophages at the site of PNI. After PNI, the proportion of macrophages expressing MERTK progressively decreased, while soluble (cleaved) MER increased. Using male and female knock-in mice encoding cleavage-resistant Mertk, we demonstrated that cleavage of MERTK from macrophages at the PNI site led to exaggerated pain-related behaviors. PNI-induced hyperactivity of TRPV1+ sensory neurons and damage to myelin and myelinated …

Spatial2gwas: A Database For Linking Spatial Transcriptomic Regions With Gwas Traits, Xi Hu, Aoqi Wang, Huan Yu, Pora Kim, Xiaobo Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spatial heterogeneity of gene expression within tissue regions has a critical influence on biological functions, thereby affecting disease pathogenesis. However, systematic associations between spatially resolved transcriptomes and phenotypes, especially in complex diseases, remain underexplored. Here, we developed spatial2GWAS (http://www.spatial2gwas.cn), a comprehensive resource linking spatial transcriptomic (ST) regions with GWAS traits. In the database, we collected 1196 ST slices (human and mouse) from five technologies and 812 GWAS traits spanning 18 phenotype categories and identified 29 701 ST slice-GWAS trait pairs containing 47 492 significant regions. Functional analyses reveal distinct patterns of cell type composition, gene expression, GO/KEGG pathway activation, and …

Modality-Agnostic, Patient-Specific Digital Twins Modeling Temporally Varying Digestive Motion, Jorge Tapias Gomez, Nishant Nadkarni, Lando S Bosma, Jue Jiang, Ergys D Subashi, William P Segars, James M Balter, Mert R Sabuncu, Neelam Tyagi, Harini Veeraraghavan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Predicting Sepsis In Heart Failure Patients Supported By Left Ventricular Assist Devices: The Role Of Ve-Cadherin And Adam10, Shiyi Li, Iván Murrieta-Álvarez, Ismael Garcia, Katherine V Nordick, Rishav Bhattacharya, Shreyo Ghosh, Ronald A Shaju, Adel M Hassan, Carl P Walther, Camila Hochman-Mendez, Alexis E Shafii, Kenneth K Liao, Nandan K Mondal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-Cadherin) is a major endothelial adhesion molecule and can be cleaved explicitly by metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 10 (ADAM10). Vascular hyperpermeability may contribute to a greater susceptibility to sepsis in left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support patients. We aim to evaluate the efficacy of VE-Cadherin and ADAM10 for predicting sepsis in LVAD patients. We prospectively recruited 50 patients with advanced heart failure receiving LVAD therapy. Baseline and weekly postoperative blood samples (weeks 1-4) were collected, and plasma VE-cadherin and ADAM10 levels were measured. Sepsis occurred in 9 of 50 patients (18.0%). Across all sampling points, plasma VE-cadherin and …

Bio-Adrenomedullin Predicts Death And Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events In Cardiac Amyloidosis: A Cross-Continental Multicenter Study, Maximilian L Müller, Fabian Knebel, Katrin Hahn, Janin Schulte, Birte Arlt, Oliver Hartmann, Kaitlin M S Moore, Seiji Takashio, Yasuhiro Izumiya, Joshua D Mitchell, Kenichi Tsujita, Ulf Landmesser, Bettina Heidecker

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Bio-ADM (bioactive adrenomedullin) is a vasoactive peptide hormone that predicts clinical outcomes in heart failure-the main driver of adverse outcomes in cardiac amyloidosis (CA). This prospective observational study sought to assess the prognostic role of bio-ADM in CA.

METHODS: Patients with CA were enrolled from amyloid centers in Germany (observation cohort), Japan, and the United States (combined validation cohort). Bio-ADM was quantified using the sphingotest bio-ADM assay. Associations of bio-ADM with all-cause death and major adverse cardiovascular events over 2 years were assessed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses. Likelihood ratio chi-square tests for nested models evaluated whether adding …

The Igvf Catalog-From Genetic Variation To Function, Daofeng Li, Shane Liu, Wenjin Zhang, Juan F Macias-Velasco, Tianjie Liu, Sarah Cody, Lucinda Antonacci-Fulton, Ting Wang, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genomic variation between individuals is essential for understanding how differences in the genome sequence affect molecular and cellular processes. The Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium aims to uncover the relationships among genomic variation, genome function, and phenotypes by combining experimental techniques, such as single-cell mapping and genomic perturbation assays, with computational approaches such as machine learning-based predictive modeling. The IGVF Data and Administrative Coordinating Centers collect, analyze, and disseminate data and results from across the consortium through an open-source platform called the IGVF Catalog. This resource includes, but is not limited to, data on the effects of …

Intravenous Thrombolysis In Patients On Direct Oral Anticoagulants: Analysis Of The Get With The Guidelines Stroke Registry, Shadi Yaghi, Opeolu Adeoye, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is a proven effective treatment. Whether thrombolysis in patients with AIS with recent direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) use is safe and efficacious is not well established. We aimed to compare outcomes of patients with AIS and recent DOAC use who received thrombolysis to those otherwise eligible but excluded due to recent DOAC use.

METHODS: This study included patients for the GWTG (Get With The Guidelines) registry with a diagnosis of AIS within 4.5 hours from last known normal, on a DOAC, and either (1) received intravenous thrombolysis, or (2) were excluded from …

Association Between Monoclonal Gammopathy Of Undetermined Significance And Cardiovascular Disease Risk: A Veterans Health Administration Study, Tzeyu L Michaud, Mei Wang, Daphne R Friedman, Lawrence Liu, Theodore S Thomas, Kristen M Sanfilippo, Graham A Colditz, Martin W Schoen, Su-Hsin Chang

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, its potential to provide additional prognostic information beyond traditional CVD risk assessments remains unknown. This study aimed to examine the association between MGUS and incident CVD and to determine whether MGUS status offers additional prognostic value beyond the established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk calculation.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, matched observational study using 2010 to 2021 Veterans Health Administration data. MGUS status, confirmed through a validated natural language processing algorithm, were 1:5 matched to individuals without MGUS. The outcome of interest was …

Mass Spectrometry Footprinting Reveals How Kinetic Stabilizers Counteract Transthyretin Dynamics Altered By Pathogenic Mutations, Francisca Pinheiro, Ravi Kant, Saketh Chemuru, Nathalia Varejão, Adrián Velázquez-Campoy, David Reverter, Irantzu Pallarès, Michael L Gross, Salvador Ventura

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The aggregation of transthyretin (TTR) results in life-threatening transthyretin amyloidosis. Familial forms of the disease arise from point mutations that destabilize the TTR tetramer, leading to its dissociation and/or monomer unfolding and subsequent formation of amyloid fibrils. Small molecules that kinetically stabilize the native tetramer effectively inhibit this aggregation. Although over 300 X-ray crystal structures of TTR have been determined, these data refer to a static structure and do not capture the conformational effects of mutations and ligand binding. Here, we demonstrate that hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) and fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) offer critical …

Polymer Conformational Entropy As The Driver Of Complex Coacervation, Tommaso Inzani, Giovanni Nava, Marco Buscaglia, Andrea Soranno, Alessandro Gori, Greta Bergamaschi, Samir Suweis, Amos Maritan, Tommaso Bellini

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Understanding the mechanisms leading to complex coacervation is a fundamental challenge in biomolecular sciences. Here, we explored the condensation transition and pretransitional behavior of an archetypal system consisting of polyuridylic acid chains (PolyU) and short cationic peptides in buffered aqueous solutions. By combining static and dynamic light scattering with confocal microscopy, we determined the location of the transition and the partitioning of PolyU and peptides between the coexisting phases as a function of the total peptides/PolyU ratio. We find that upon adding peptides in the system, the size of PolyU coils in the single-phase region is progressively reduced by peptide-mediated …

What Is The Psychological And Cognitive Impact Of Returning Alzheimer Disease Dementia Research Results To Healthy Research Participants? A Delayed-Start Randomised Clinical Trial Protocol For The Weshare Study (Washington University Study Of Having Alzheimer Disease), Sarah M Hartz, Spondita Goswami, Amy Oliver, Alissa Evans, Sacha Jackson, Erin Linnenbringer, Krista M Moulder, John C Morris, Jessica Mozersky

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Returning research results that indicate risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia-a disease for which no meaningful treatments or cure exist-to cognitively normal participants is controversial. AD is thought to begin many years before clinical signs and symptoms begin. During this time, individuals are cognitively normal but have biomarkers that indicate pathophysiological changes in the brain. With this study, we aim to evaluate the impact of returning research results on cognitively normal participants recruited from a longitudinal observational cohort on ageing at the Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Centre (Knight ADRC) at Washington University in St. Louis.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Our …

Forging Pathways: How Low-Income Stem Students Navigate College On A Free Tuition Program, Taylor Wilby, Sarah Madsen, Nathan F. Alleman

Journal of Student Financial Aid

In light of the ever-increasing cost of tuition, colleges and universities are turning to free tuition programs to make college more affordable – especially for those students demonstrating the most financial need. Concurrently, students from low-income backgrounds continue to enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors, navigating rigorous fields of study and anticipating highly lucrative career opportunities following graduation. This project, therefore, sought to answer the following question: How and in what ways is the college-going navigation of low-income STEM students influenced by a free tuition pathway in a selective, affluent university? Utilizing a qualitative, symbolic interactionist …

The Illusion Of Sex-Ed As Panacea: Addressing Adolescent Sexual And Reproductive Health Disparities In Minnesota, Bernadette E. Whitely

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Although many praise Minnesota for its strong healthcare system, the state still faces significant disparities in access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and comprehensive sexuality education (CSE). These disparities in access are compounded by geographic location, socioeconomic status (SES), and race, with barriers across transportation, cost, and clinic availability further complicating these issues. Based on this understanding, this paper examines adolescent SRH disparities between the Twin Cities metropolitan area and northern rural regions in Minnesota, focusing specifically on unintended adolescent pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Building on this foundation, I apply Dr. Vanessa Voller’s “CSE-as-panacea” framework, which …

Noda News January 2026

New Orleans Dental Association News

New Orleans Dental Association (NODA) News includes regular columns with regional news impacting the New Orleans membership including: columns from the President and Executive Director, feature articles relating to the field of dentistry, association events and upcoming activities, component news, continuing education opportunities, and classifieds.

This issue welcomes a new president, Dr. Claudia Cavallino.

Saudi Heart Association Position Statement On Early Detection Of Subclinical Atherosclerosis In Clinical Practice, Waleed Alhabeeb, Abdelrahaman Almoghairi, Abdulhalim Kinsara, Abdullah Khoja

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Background: Atherosclerosis is the leading underlying cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which remains the primary cause of mortality in Saudi Arabia. Saudi patients experience CVD events nearly a decade earlier than their Western counterparts. Given the limitations of traditional risk assessment tools, there is a growing need to detect subclinical atherosclerosis to refine risk stratification and improve primary prevention strategies, particularly in younger and asymptomatic individuals.

Methods: The Saudi Heart Association (SHA) developed this position statement through a structured, multistep process that included a comprehensive literature review and two expert panel meetings. Recommendations were formulated based on current evidence, expert …

Prevalence And Characteristics Of Prescription Errors In Community Pharmacies In Mbarara City, South Western Uganda, Tadele Mekuriya Yadesa, Ashaba Comfort, Komukyeya Esther Marvel, Namakula Angela, Tikolu Hope Nancy, Narayana Goruntla, Sarad Pawar Naik Bukke, Bontu Aschale Abebe, Efrata Ashuro Shegena

AUIQ Complementary Biological System

A prescription error is a failure in the prescription writing process that results in a wrong instruction about one or more of the standard features of a prescription. Most adverse drug events are preventable through promoting rational drug use; primarily by mitigating the outstanding high burden of prescribing errors. The main aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and characteristics of prescription errors in the community pharmacies in Mbarara, Uganda. A cross-sectional study was conducted in selected community pharmacies in Mbarara City, South Western Uganda. Consecutive sampling of all prescriptions availed at the selected pharmacies was conducted until …

Hybrid Warfare: A Collection Of Scenarios, Adrian Borbély

DRI Press

Hybrid Warfare is nothing new but it has increasingly made the news - even if most of it remains beyond our awareness. Hybrid Warfare gathers all methods through which countries wage war against each other beyond traditional military, diplomatic and economic battlefields (cyber attacks, disinformation, transnational organized crime, appropriation of natural resources, lawfare, corruption, etc.). Such below-the-surface foreign aggressions are not limited to localized regions where armed forces shoot at each other trying to take each other’s positions. In hybrid warfare, society as a whole is the battlefield. In other words, hybrid warfare is not the concern of a few, …

Faculty Senate Agenda January 5, 2026, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• 3:00 Call To Order
• Approval of Minutes December 1, 2025
• Approval of Amended Minutes November 3, 2025
• 3:05 University Business
• 3:20 Faculty Senate Business
• 3:35 Reports
• Council on Teacher Education
• Scholarship Annual Report
• University Studies Report
• 3:50 Old Business
• 3:55 New Business
• Commencement
• 4:00 Information
• EPC Report - December 4, 2025
• Adjourn: 4:30 pm

2026-06-05 Minutes & Appendices, Longwood University

Board of Visitors Meeting Minutes 1964-

No abstract provided.

Community Engagement And Experiential Learning To Understand Food Insecurity In Georgia’S Urban Environments, Gregory Gullette, Jenna Andrews-Swann, Nicole Villamil, Christin Cain

Southern Anthropologist

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Cellular Contributors And Consequences Of Protein Misfolding And Aggregation, Anoop Arunagiri, Emily M. Sontag, Verena Kohler, Arunkumar Venkatesan

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.