Digital Commons Network^™

Biocompatible Fepo4 Nanoparticles: Drug Delivery, Rna Stabilization, And Functional Activity, Sagar Rayamajhi, Sarah Wilson, Santosh Aryal, Robert Delong

Pharmacy Faculty Publications and Presentations

FePO4 NPs are of special interest in food fortification and biomedical imaging because of their biocompatibility, high bioavailability, magnetic property, and superior sensory performance that do not cause adverse organoleptic effects. These characteristics are desirable in drug delivery as well. Here, we explored the FePO4 nanoparticles as a delivery vehicle for the anticancer drug, doxorubicin, with an optimum drug loading of 26.81%±1.0%. This loading further enforces the formation of Fe3+ doxorubicin complex resulting in the formation of FePO4-DOX nanoparticles. FePO4-DOX nanoparticles showed a good size homogeneity and concentration-dependent biocompatibility, with over 70% biocompatibility up to 80 µg/mL concentration. Importantly, cytotoxicity …

Evaluation Of Deep Neural Network Prospr For Accurate Protein Distance Predictions On Casp14 Targets, Jacob A. Stern, Bryce Eric Hedelius, Olivia Fisher, Wendy M. Billings, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

The field of protein structure prediction has recently been revolutionized through the introduction of deep learning. The current state-of-the-art tool AlphaFold2 can predict highly accurate structures; however, it has a prohibitively long inference time for applications that require the folding of hundreds of sequences. The prediction of protein structure annotations, such as amino acid distances, can be achieved at a higher speed with existing tools, such as the ProSPr network. Here, we report on important updates to the ProSPr network, its performance in the recent Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14) competition, and an evaluation of its …

Revisiting The Inner Self In Times Of Debilitating Distress: Gateways For Wellness Through Spiritual Tourism, Manpreet Arora, Roshan Lal Sharma, Sandeep Walia

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on our bodies, minds and souls. Having suffered it for more than a year now we know how crucial it is to tackle the pandemic at physical, psychological and spiritual levels. We have well-established Standard Operating Procedures alongside vaccines to deal with it at physical level, but equally crucial are mental and spiritual problems caused by COVID-19 (Chopra, 2020).

This paper seeks to explore certain gateways and possibilities of dealing with distress, despair, anxiety, angst, trauma and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in diverse arenas of human activities to ascertain how crucial …

Women’S Experiences In Religious Tourism: An Investigation Into Women’S Involvement In Sabarimala Pilgrimage, Kerala, Shyju P.J., A. Vinodan, S. Meera, Jithendran Kokkranikal

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Preparations for the Sabarimala pilgrimage involves devotees observing a 41 day period of austerity (vrata) during which they practice an ascetic life. Women between the age of 10 and 50 do not visit the shrine at Sabarimala due to long-established customs. However, women do play an important role during the 41-day austerity observed by family members preparing for the pilgrimage, which could be described as a non-participant involvement in the pilgrimage. While there have been many studies on the spiritual and secular experiences of pilgrims, research on this unique form of non-participant involvement in pilgrimages is not found especially in …

An Adaptive Hybrid Genetic-Annealing Approach For Solving The Map Problem On Belief Networks, Manar Hosny

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Deciphering The Unique Microrna Signature In Human Esophageal Adenocarcinoma: Dissecting Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Progressive Profile And Its Distinctions From Gastric Cancer, Rama Ahmed Saad Ahmed Ali

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Egyptian Film In Stereotyping Single Women, Heba Metwally

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Legality Of The International Criminal Court Investigations In Kenya, Mgugua Robert Chege

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Nucleic Acid-Sensing And Interferon-Inducible Pathways Show Differential Methylation In Mz Twins Discordant For Lupus And Overexpression In Independent Lupus Samples: Implications For Pathogenic Mechanism And Drug Targeting., Miranda C Marion, Paula S Ramos, Prathyusha Bachali, Adam C Labonte, Kip D Zimmerman, Hannah C Ainsworth, Sarah E Heuer, Robert D Robl, Michelle D Catalina, Jennifer A Kelly, Timothy D Howard, Peter E Lipsky, Amrie C Grammer, Carl D Langefeld

Faculty Research 2021

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, multisystem, autoimmune inflammatory disease with genomic and non-genomic contributions to risk. We hypothesize that epigenetic factors are a significant contributor to SLE risk and may be informative for identifying pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic targets. To test this hypothesis while controlling for genetic background, we performed an epigenome-wide analysis of DNA methylation in genomic DNA from whole blood in three pairs of female monozygotic (MZ) twins of European ancestry, discordant for SLE. Results were replicated on the same array in four cell types from a set of four Danish female MZ twin pairs discordant …

Rapid And Direct Action Of Lipopolysaccharide (Lps) On Skeletal Muscle Of Larval Drosophila, Rachel Potter, Alexis Meade, Samuel Potter, Robin L. Cooper

Biology Faculty Publications

The endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria exerts a direct and rapid effect on tissues. While most attention is given to the downstream actions of the immune system in response to LPS, this study focuses on the direct actions of LPS on skeletal muscle in Drosophila melanogaster. It was noted in earlier studies that the membrane potential rapidly hyperpolarizes in a dose-dependent manner with exposure to LPS from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens. The response is transitory while exposed to LPS, and the effect does not appear to be due to calcium-activated potassium channels, activated nitric oxide synthase …

Ncs Assessments Of The Motor, Sensory, And Physical Health Domains, Jane E. Clark, Russell Pate, Rose Marie Rine, Jennifer Christy, Pamela Dalton, Diane L. Damiano, Stephen Daniels, Jonathan M. Holmes, Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Susan Magasi, Ryan Mccreery, Kerry Mciver, Karl M. Newell, Terence Sanger, David Sugden, Elsie Taveras, Steven Hirschfeld

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

As part of the National Children's Study (NCS) comprehensive and longitudinal assessment of the health status of the whole child, scientific teams were convened to recommend assessment measures for the NCS. This manuscript documents the work of three scientific teams who focused on the motor, sensory, or the physical health aspects of this assessment. Each domain team offered a value proposition for the importance of their domain to the health outcomes of the developing infant and child. Constructs within each domain were identified and measures of these constructs proposed. Where available extant assessments were identified. Those constructs that were in …

Amilorides Inhibit Sars-Cov-2 Replication In Vitro By Targeting Rna Structures, Martina Zafferani, Christina Haddad, Le Luo, Jesse Davila-Calderon, Liang-Yuan Chiu, Christian Shema Mugisha, Adeline G. Monaghan, Andrew A. Kennedy, Joseph D. Yesselman, Robert J. Gifford, Andrew W. Tai, Sebla B. Kutluay, Mei-Ling Li, Gary Brewer, Blanton S. Tolbert, Amanda E. Hargrove

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and the likelihood of future coronavirus pandemics, emphasized the urgent need for development of novel antivirals. Small-molecule chemical probes offer both to reveal aspects of virus replication and to serve as leads for antiviral therapeutic development. Here, we report on the identification of amiloride-based small molecules that potently inhibit OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 replication through targeting of conserved structured elements within the viral 5′-end. Nuclear magnetic resonance–based structural studies revealed specific amiloride interactions with stem loops containing bulge like structures and were predicted to be strongly bound by the lead amilorides in retrospective docking studies. Amilorides represent the …

Genome-Scale Data Reveal Deep Lineage Divergence And A Complex Demographic History In The Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma Cornutum) Throughout The Southwestern And Central Us, Nicholas Finger, Keaka Farleigh, Jason T. Bracken, Adam D. Leaché, Olivier François, Ziheng Yang, Tomas Flouri, Tristan Charran, Tereza Jezkova, Dean A. Williams, Christopher Blair

Publications and Research

The southwestern and central US serve as an ideal region to test alternative hypotheses regarding biotic diversification. Genomic data can now be combined with sophisticated computational models to quantify the impacts of paleoclimate change, geographic features, and habitat heterogeneity on spatial patterns of genetic diversity. In this study we combine thousands of genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) loci with mtDNA sequences (ND1) from the Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) to quantify relative support for different catalysts of diversification. Phylogenetic and clustering analyses of the GBS data indicate support for at least three primary populations. The spatial distribution of populations appears concordant …

Development Machine Learning Techniques To Enhance Cyber Security Algorithms., Ghada Mohamed Amer, Ehab Abd El Hay, Ibrahim Abdel-Baset, Mohamed Abd El Azim Mohamed

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Nowadays, Cyber security threats are a growing global problem. As technology evolves, cyber threats, including cyber-hacking threats, and cybercrime organizing groups, are on the rise. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is one of the most serious attacks faced by Cloud computing. This attack aims to make cloud services unavailable to end-users by exhausting system resources, resulting in heavy losses that pose a threat to national security and information security assets, and thus making the development of defensive solutions against such attacks necessary to expand the use of Cloud computing technology. Machine learning (ML) has promising results in detecting cyber-attacks including …

Predicting Master Transcription Factors From Pan-Cancer Expression Data, Jessica Reddy, Marcos A.S. Fonseca, Rosario I. Corona, Robbin Nameki, Felipe Segato Dezem, Isaac A. Klein, Heidi Chang, Daniele Chaves-Moreira, Lena K. Afeyan, Tathiane M. Malta, Xianzhi Lin, Forough Abbasi, Alba Font-Tello, Thais Sabedot, Paloma Cejas, Norma Rodríguez-Malavé, Ji-Heui Seo, De-Chen Lin, Ursula Matulonis, Beth Y. Karlan, Simon A. Gayther, Bogdan Pasaniuc, Alexander Gusev, Houtan Noushmehr, Henry Long, Matthew L. Freedman, Ronny Drapkin, Richard A. Young, Brian J. Abraham, Kate Lawrenson

Neurosurgery Articles

No abstract provided.

Design And Evaluation Of Unmanned Aerial System-Based Wireless Sensor Network For Irrigation Management, Jasreman Singh

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing pressure on food production, both in terms of quantity and quality, has called for intensification and modernization of the agricultural sector. The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is a highly promising technology capable of advancing agricultural operations. The IoT-based real-time monitoring of soil water status and crop canopy temperature in maize and soybean could potentially improve irrigation efficiency, leading to the profitability of field crop production and conservation of natural resources. The overall goal of the work presented here is to design, develop, and evaluate the unmanned aerial system-based wireless sensor system (UWSN) for the purpose of irrigation management by …

Integration Of Neural Architecture Within A Finite Element Framework For Improved Neuromusculoskeletal Modeling, Victoria L. Volk, Landon D. Hamilton, Donald R. Hume, Kevin B. Shelburne, Clare K. Fitzpatrick

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) models can aid in studying the impacts of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems on one another. These computational models facilitate studies investigating mechanisms and treatment of musculoskeletal and neurodegenerative conditions. In this study, we present a predictive NMS model that uses an embedded neural architecture within a finite element (FE) framework to simulate muscle activation. A previously developed neuromuscular model of a motor neuron was embedded into a simple FE musculoskeletal model. Input stimulation profiles from literature were simulated in the FE NMS model to verify effective integration of the software platforms. Motor unit recruitment and rate coding …

Independent And Combined Associations Between Multiple Lifestyle Behaviours And Academic Grades Of Inner Urban And Peri-Urban High School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study In Chongqing, China, Zhengjie Cai, Jinli Xian, Camila Araujo, Ziwei Zhang, Hongyu Zhou, Huan Peng, Manoj Sharma, Yong Zhao

Social and Behavioral Health Faculty Research

Objectives This study aims to assess the independent and combined associations between multiple lifestyle behaviours and academic grades of inner urban high school students (IUHSSs) and peri-urban high school students (PUHSSs). Design A cross-sectional study was conducted. Participants There are 1481 high school students (49.9% boys) in this study, who were enrolled from one inner urban and two peri-urban schools in Chongqing, China. Outcome measures Academic grades were assessed based on the students’ self-reported grade ranking in the last cumulative examination. Results In IUHSSs and PUHSSs, high frequency of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption was unlikely to obtain high academic grades (OR …

A Real-Time Double Emulsion Droplets Detection System Using Hough Circle Transform And Color Detection, Shuo Zhu, Chunxu Li, James Rogers, Mario Gianni, Ian Howard

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Examining The Role Of Buzzing Time And Acoustics On Pollen Extraction Of Solanum Elaeagnifolium, Mandeep Tayal, Rupesh R. Kariyat

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Buzz pollination is a specialized pollination syndrome that requires vibrational energy to extract concealed pollen grains from poricidal anthers. Although a large body of work has examined the ecology of buzz pollination, whether acoustic properties of buzz pollinators affect pollen extraction is less understood, especially in weeds and invasive species. We examined the pollination biology of Silverleaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium), a worldwide invasive weed, in its native range in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) in south Texas. Over two years, we documented the floral visitors on S. elaeagnifolium, their acoustic parameters (buzzing amplitude, frequency, and duration of buzzing) and …

Best Practices For Monitoring And Assessing The Ecological Response To River Restoration, Judy England, Natalie Angelopoulos, Susan Cooksley, Jennifer Dodd, Andrew Gill, David Gilvear, Matthew Johnson, Marc Naura, Matthew O’Hare, Angus Tree, Jennifer Wheeldon, Martin A. Wilkes

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Nature-based solutions are widely advocated for freshwater ecosystem conservation and restoration. As increasing amounts of river restoration are undertaken, the need to understand the ecological response to different measures and where measures are best applied becomes more pressing. It is essential that appraisal methods follow a sound scientific approach. Here, experienced restoration appraisal experts review current best practice and academic knowledge to make recommendations and provide guidance that will enable practitioners to gather and analyse meaningful data, using scientific rigor to appraise restoration success. What should be monitored depends on the river type and the type and scale of intervention. …

Methodological Challenges In Studying Trust In Natural Resources Management, Antonia Sohns, Gordon M. Hickey, Jasper R. De Vries, Owen Temby

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Trust has been identified as a central characteristic of successful natural resource management (NRM), particularly in the context of implementing participatory approaches to stakeholder engagement. Trust is, however, a multi-dimensional and multi-level concept that is known to evolve recursively through time, challenging efforts to empirically measure its impact on collaboration in different NRM settings. In this communication we identify some of the challenges associated with conceptualizing and operationalizing trust in NRM field research, and pay particular attention to the inter-relationships between the concepts of trust, perceived risk and control due to their multidimensional and interacting roles in inter-organizational collaboration. The …

A Spatial Model Of Hepatic Calcium Signaling And Glucose Metabolism Under Autonomic Control Reveals Functional Consequences Of Varying Liver Innervation Patterns Across Species, Aalap Verma, Alexandra Manchel, Rahul Narayanan, Jan B. Hoek, Babatunde A Ogunnaike, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Rapid breakdown of hepatic glycogen stores into glucose plays an important role during intense physical exercise to maintain systemic euglycemia. Hepatic glycogenolysis is governed by several different liver-intrinsic and systemic factors such as hepatic zonation, circulating catecholamines, hepatocellular calcium signaling, hepatic neuroanatomy, and the central nervous system (CNS). Of the factors regulating hepatic glycogenolysis, the extent of lobular innervation varies significantly between humans and rodents. While rodents display very few autonomic nerve terminals in the liver, nearly every hepatic layer in the human liver receives neural input. In the present study, we developed a multi-scale, multi-organ model of hepatic metabolism …

Use Of Supplements For Maintenance Of Nelore Bullocks In Brachiaria Decumbens, During The Dry Season In Acre, Brazilian Amazon, J. C. Carneiro, Judson F. Valentim, L. A. R. Valle

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

This study had the objective of evaluating animal performance and net economic returns of Nelore bullocks receiving: 1) mineral mixture (MM), 2) mineral mixture + urea (MMU), and 3) multiple supplement (MS), during the dry season of 1999 in Acre, Brazilian Amazon. The animals were maintained in pastures of Brachiaria decumbens, and liveweight gains, forage availability and chemical composition were assessed during the experimental period. Liveweight gains of 0.58, 0.65 and 0.60 kg/day, respectively, for MM, MMU and MS, were not different (P> 0.05). The use of MMU provided additional net economic return of 10.8% in comparison with the …

Roots And Potatoes As Supplements To An Alfalfa – Grass Diet To Dairy Cows, T. Eriksson, P. Ciszuk, E. Burstedt

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Fourteen multiparous dairy cows were used in 3 x 3 change-over experiment designed to study effects of replacing barley by roots and potatoes in diets based on leguminous forage on feed intake, milk production and utilisation of feed nitrogen. The cows received a mixture of alfalfa (Medicago L.) and grass silage ad libitum and an isoenergetic quantity of a supplement based on either barley and potatoes (Ba/P), fodder beets (Beta vulgaris L.) and potatoes (Be/P) or barley (Ba). The grass in grass silage was dominated by timothy (Phleum pratense L.). Total DM intake as well as yield …

Agronomic Evaluation Of Forage Grasses Under Mature Rubber Plantation, N. L. Costa, Valdinei T. Paulino, A. C. M. Igreja, C. R. Townsend, J. A. Magalhães, R. G. De A Pereira, T. S. Paulino

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The agronomic performance of seven forage grasses, under a mature rubber plantation, was assessed in a cutting trial carried out at Porto Velho, Rondônia. During the rainy season, the higher dry matter yields were obtained with B. brizantha, P. atratum BRA-9610 and B. humidicola. During the dry season, the grasses more productive were B. brizantha and P. atratum BRA-9610. In both seasons, magnesium and potassium contents did not vary among grasses. During the rainy season, the higher nitrogen and phosphorus contents were obtained with P. regnelli BRA-0159 and, P. guenoarum BRA-3824 and B. humidicola, respectively, while P. atratum …

Constraints And Opportunities For Development Of Grasslands In Urban Areas Of The Niayes Zone In Senegal, S. T. Fall, I. Cissé

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

A survey was carried out in urban areas of the Niayes zone in Senegal to explore grasslands development in agropastoral systems around towns. Rapid rural appraisal and farms multiple visits were done to describe the forage cropping system, identify constraints and opportunities of developing grasslands in urban areas. In Niayes urban areas, forage production system is being developed based on the cropping of several grass and tree species. Only a minority of farmers is involved in that activity. Level of grass production is rather low. Weak development of grasslands is observed. Main reasons are: farmer poor willingness to crop for …

Semiarid Grassland And Winter Cereals For Lamb Production In Northeast Patagonia, Argentina, D. P. Miñón, G. G. Durañona, J. C. García Vinent, H. D. Giorgetti, G. D. Rodríguez

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In northeastern Patagonia where grain crops often led to harvest failure, low yields and a high drought risk, a lamb production system was established. On a 10 years old agriculture wheat cropping was interrupted in 1996, allowing re-vegetation through exclusion of grazing. Natural grassland recovered, prevailing the species Stipa tenuis, Piptochaetium napostaense, Stipa ambigua. Part of the plot was sown to wheat grass (Thinopyrum ponticum). In 1999, to improve sheep feeding, oat (Avena sativa) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) were sown for grazing during winter-spring season. In this system Corriedale sheep, Texel x australian …

Study Of The D-Dimer, C-Reactive Protein, And Autoantibodies Markers Among Hbv Infected Patients In Babylon Province, Iraq, Ahmed Abdul-Abbas Bayram, Hussein O.M. Al-Dahmoshi, Noor S.K. Al-Khafaji, Raheem Tuama Obayes Al Mammori, Ali Husain Shilib Al-Shimmery, Morteza Saki

BioMedicine

Background: Hepatitis B can be defined as one of the dangerous diseases caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV), which infects the liver and causes liver failure, cirrhosis, and death.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), and autoantibodies markers among HBV- infected patients in Babylon province, Iraq, compared to a healthy control group.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all patients referred to GIT and liver centers in Merjan Medical City, Babylon, Iraq from January 2016 to January 2018 were screened for HBV infection by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Antinuclear antibody (ANA), dsDNA, D-dimer, …

The Association Of Rs187238, Rs19465518 And Rs1946519 Il-8 Polymorphisms With Acute Kidney Injury In Preterm Infants, Fiva Aprilia Kadi

BioMedicine

ABSTRACT

Background: Interleukin 18 (IL-18) promoter polymorphisms (-656G>T, -607C>A, and -137G>C) affect serum IL-18 (sIL-18) levels and are associated with renal injury.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the diagnostic utility of sIL-18 and urine IL-18 (uIL-18) as biomarkers for acute kidney injury (AKI) and analyse the association of IL-18 polymorphisms to AKI in preterm infants.

Methods: Blood and urine samples were collected from 56 preterm infants with AKI and 56 without AKI to measure serum creatinine (SCr), sIL-18, and uIL-18. Genotyping of polymorphisms was performed and analysed, with AUC-ROCs analysis used to evaluate …