Digital Commons Network^™

Mental Health, Racism, And Contemporary Challenges Of Being Black In America, Michael Mcclam

Staff and Researcher Publications

No abstract provided.

Advanced Biodegradable Antimicrobial Coatings By Combining Biopolymers And Natural Antimicrobials For The Active Packaging And Extending The Shelf-Life Of Fish And Other Seafood Products: A Review, Hariharan S. Melarcode, Onur Ertugrul, Paola C. Alzate Calderon, Joseph P. Kerry, Michael A. Morris

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Fish and other seafood products are an integral and valuable part of human diets. In advanced nations, the transportation of fish and other seafood products to customers requires packaging and display. Due to their intrinsic physicochemical properties, seafood products are particularly susceptible to microbial growth, resulting in shorter shelf lives and higher spoilage rates compared to other animal-derived proteins, such as meat. To prevent microbial spoilage and preserve the freshness and quality of fish and other seafood products, petroleum-based plastic materials are commonly used in combination with packaging technologies, such as vacuum packaging and modified atmosphere packaging. However, as these …

Advances In Noninvasive Imaging For Detecting Radiation-Induced Lung Injury (Rili), Austen Nissen, Said H. Audi, Anne V. Clough, Brian Fish, Amit Joshi, Meetha Medhora, Jason Walter Sidabras, Heather A. Himburg

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose: Dr. Richard Hill performed pioneering work in the field of radiation-induced normal tissue injury to the lung including noninvasive imaging studies aimed at identifying imaging biomarkers of radiation-induced lung injury (RILI). RILI is a life-threatening toxicity of radiation exposure relevant to both cancer patients undergoing thoracic radiation therapy (RT) and victims of accidental radiation exposure. The ability to detect RILI noninvasively has the potential to guide treatment planning for RT and, in the case of victims of acute radiation exposures, inform the decision to start mitigative therapies. As part of this special issue of IJRB honoring Dr. Hill’s many …

Designing A Portable And Accessible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy System For Real-Time Detection Of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia, Allison Scarbrough, Diana Moses, Tongtong Lu, Bing Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Significance: Over 80% of cervical cancer cases occur in lower-to-middle income countries (LMIC’s). This is partly because current screening techniques lack affordability, accessibility, and/or reliability for use in LMIC’s.

Aim: To develop an optical technique for cervical cancer screening that is affordable, accessible, and reliable for use in LMIC’s.

Approach: We developed a portable diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) system, which costs < $2500 USD to manufacture, and employs a Raspberry Pi to extract the absorption (μ_a) and reduced scattering (μ'_s) coefficients of biological tissue. The system was subject to travel and intentional rough handling. It was further used to capture 320 DRS spectra taken from 64 tissue-mimicking phantoms. Two …

What Approaches Can A Preschool Teacher Use To Support Their Students’ Emotional Regulation Skills?, Lydia Caldwell

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Emotional regulation is a foundational skill in early childhood, closely linked to social skill development, mental well-being, and long-term academic success. Throughout this paper, researcher Lydia Caldwell explores the following question: what approaches can a preschool teacher use to support their students’ emotional regulation skills? Drawing from both literature and personal classroom experiences, this project was created with the author’s profession in mind. As a special educator who works with preschool students, Caldwell sees firsthand the amount of children struggling with emotional regulation, also referred to as self-regulation. The project will result in a series of flyers which serve as …

Solid Waste Education For Fourth Grade Students In Washington County, Minnesota, Jessica Hall

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The topic of environmental education has grown in recent years, but this study discovered that there is a lack of education focused on solid waste. Four key themes were explored in the current literature: climate anxiety, place-based education, social-emotional learning, and behavior change. This paper is not a research study, but rather a summary of previous research with a discussion of the current situation supporting the need for, and process of, this project’s development. The guiding questions for developing this project are: How can 4th-grade students and teachers in Washington County, Minnesota, perceive the impact of solid waste education lessons …

Incorporating Cooperative Learning And Active Listening Skills In Secondary-Level Science Classrooms, Kaveri Kamatgi

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Middle school students are in a key stage of developing their social and emotional skills. Research emphasizes the importance of focusing on effective instructional strategies to support and enhance that development. In science classrooms, this means providing opportunities for cooperative learning and active listening skills, enabling students to interact and consider diverse perspectives while working in lab investigations, problem-based activities, or research projects. According to the NGSS framework for K-12 science education, students are expected to engage in scientific practices that foster scientific thinking skills. To support the development of these skills, this capstone project explored the question: How can …

Not Lost In Translation: Bridging Life Science And Language Acquisition For El Learners, Marlene Gutierrez Becerra

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project seeks to answer the question: How can science educators meet the demands of English language (EL) learners by pairing science instruction with language learning strategies? This project was developed out of the author’s own experience working with EL populations in a science setting and with the goal to provide multilingual students with language learning opportunities that also challenge them and guide them to achieving the MN State Science Standards. The author consulted research that focused on language learning strategies, culturally relevant teaching, and storytelling - based units. Using the information gathered, a website was created containing an introductory …

The Literary Games We Play: Science Fiction In The Teaching Of Secondary Science, Luiza Roos

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project responds to a need for interdisciplinary approaches that merge literacy development with scientific inquiry, recognizing the challenges of engaging diverse learners in complex ecological and evolutionary content. Drawing from research in fiction-based learning (Wong et al., 2024), science fiction and science pedagogy (Bixler, 2007), role-playing games in education (Cheville, 2016), and culturally responsive teaching (Rodriguez & Morrison, 2019), the project aims to make science more accessible, inclusive, and relevant to students’ lived experiences. This capstone explores how science fiction novels, specifically The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, can be effectively integrated into a secondary science curriculum to …

Exploring The Clinical Utility Of Neurofilament Light Chain Assays In Multiple Sclerosis Management., Amit Bar-Or, Jacqueline Nicholas, Jenny Feng, Francesca Sorrell, Mark Cascione

Neuroscience Articles

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease that affects nearly 1 million adults in the United States. Owing to its unpredictable disease course, diverse phenotypes, and an array of currently available disease-modifying therapies, a personalized approach to MS management is required. There is an unmet need to identify, validate, and incorporate prognostic, monitoring, and predictive biomarkers into routine clinical practice for MS. A mounting body of evidence supports the use of blood biomarkers, such as neurofilament light chain (NfL), in predicting disease activity and monitoring treatment response. Previous hurdles for the widespread use of NfL in the …

Sex-Based Differences In The Representation Of Top Youth Athletes, Jessica J. James, Sandra K. Hunter, Elizabeth P. Bueckers, Michael J. Joyner, Jonathon W. Senefeld

Exercise Science Faculty Research and Publications

Although emerging research demonstrates that male athletes outperform female athletes before puberty, the effect of these sex-related advantages on ordinal ranking of top performances remains unclear.

Objectives

Among overall top performances of youth track and swimming athletes, we aimed to determine 1) the proportional number of male compared with female athletes represented and 2) at what age females are no longer represented.

Methods

Finishing times and sex of the top 10 and top 100 performances of youth runners and swimmers between 5 and 18 yr were abstracted from online U.S.-based databases for four running (100 m–800 m) and six freestyle …

Being And Becoming In The Algorithmic Age, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

To change the world: the prerequisite, most often, is to change our experience of the world, to experience the world differently, to be shaken to our foundations, to have one’s sense of self shattered. That is a process of both being and becoming. In order to turn that process in our favour, in this age of artificial intelligence, it will be crucial to transform data and algorithms into bits of justice.

The Relationships Between Expectancy-Value Beliefs, Communal Value Beliefs, Family Identity, And Academic Persistence Among First- And Continuing-Generation College Students, Douglas W. Snuffer

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students (students for whom neither parent has a 4-year college degree) have lower college graduation rates than their continuing-generation peers (Cahalan et al., 2021; Fry, 2021). First-generation students may experience barriers to higher education, leading to lower levels of academic achievement motivation for college. Two of these barriers may include 1) cultural mismatch (Stephens, Fryberg, et al., 2012) with colleges via communal value (a value set that emphasizes community and family over the self) and 2) a strong sense of family identity, which lends itself to perceived family obligations (Fuligni et al., 2007). To examine the relationships between …

Using Radium Isotopes To Compare Nutrient Inputs Via Submarine Groundwater Discharge To Offshore Export On The West Florida Shelf, Andrew L. Lindgren

OES Theses and Dissertations

Radium isotopes have been used to trace submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and associated nutrient and metal inputs into the coastal ocean. They have also been used to estimate rates of diffusive mixing and export fluxes of dissolved constituents offshore. However, use of both approaches in tandem to determine the fate of groundwater inputs after they enter the coastal ocean is still relatively unexplored. Radium isotopes and nutrients were measured in two cross-shelf cruises on the West Florida Shelf in different seasons and in quarterly sampling of offshore wells. Through 226Ra mass balance and 223Ra-derived diffusive mixing rates, inputs of nutrients …

Examination Of An Experimental Paradigm Of Impaired Control Over Alcohol Use, Emily K. Junkin

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Alcohol use disorders peak during young adulthood with nearly 27% of individuals aged 18 to 30 meeting diagnostic criteria. Impaired control, or difficulty limiting alcohol use, has been identified as one of the earliest symptoms of an alcohol use disorder and is predictive of alcohol use severity. Despite the relevance of impaired control for identifying and preventing hazardous drinking behaviors, there is a dearth of research that exists on this critical risk factor. The current study tested an experimental paradigm of impaired control whereby participants self-administered alcohol following guidelines to limit consumption to a low level. It was hypothesized that …

Landscape Of Cancer Associated Epcam Mutations: Molecular Modeling, Predictive Insights And Impact On Patient Survival, Priyanka S Dhotare, Audrey C Bochi-Layec, Timothy P Fleming, William E Gillanders, Ross M Bremner, Kailas D Sonawane, Narendra V Sankpal

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) is a key regulator of epithelial cell-cell adhesion, signal transduction, tissue regeneration, and serves as a stem cell marker. It is frequently overexpressed in epithelial cancers and is linked to tumor progression, survival, and metastasis. However, the functional impact of EpCAM mutations in cancer remains poorly understood.

METHODS: To investigate the role of EpCAM mutations, we performed a comprehensive analysis of cancer cohorts from multiple genomic datasets, identifying novel somatic EpCAM mutations across diverse epithelial cancers. Using bioinformatics tools (SIFT, PolyPhen-2, Mutation Assessor) and molecular modeling, we assessed the potential impact of these mutations. …

Sequencing-Based Detection Of Measles In Wastewater: Texas, January 2025, Sara Javornik Cregeen, Michael J Tisza, Blake Hanson, Marissa Cook, Anil Surathu, Rebecca Schneider, Jingjing Wu, Kirstin Short, Kaavya Domakonda, Loren Hopkins, Matthew C Ross, Joseph F Petrosino, Jennifer Deegan, Lauren B Stadler, Eric Boerwinkle, Anthony Maresso

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Measles is a potentially deadly viral infection spread via respiratory droplets from infected individuals. Outbreaks occur when vaccine coverage drops below the threshold of herd, or community, immunity. Using a sequencing-based approach, we report the prospective (January 7, 2025) detection of measles in nucleic acid extracts from 2 wastewater treatment plants in Houston, Texas, with a population of more than 218 000 residents. The sequencing data from 2 samples contained 53 unique reads mapping to 11 different regions of the measles virus genome with a 99.4% match to genotype B3. Importantly, no detections were observed from 821 previous samples from …

Utility Of The Us Preventive Services Task Force For Preeclampsia Risk Assessment And Aspirin Prophylaxis, Thomas F Mcelrath, Antonina I Frolova, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines on preeclampsia risk assessment and aspirin prophylaxis (AP) have not been evaluated for clinical utility.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate which characteristics in the USPSTF guidelines identify risk status and the association of preeclampsia risk with AP recommendations.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This observational cohort study enrolled from July 2020 to March 2023 with data analysis performed from October to December 2024. Enrollment occurred at 11 centers throughout the US or via direct-to-participant recruitment. Pregnant participants aged 18 years or older with a singleton pregnancy less than 22 weeks' gestation were selected via …

Phospho-Rpa2 Predicts Response To Platinum And Parp Inhibitors In Homologous Recombination-Proficient Ovarian Cancer, Angela Schab, Amanda Compadre, Rebecca Drexler, Megan Loeb, Kevin Rodriguez, Joshua Brill, Carmen Sandoval, Brooke Sanders, Lindsay Kuroki, Carolyn Mccourt, Andrea R. Hagemann, Premal Thaker, David Mutch, Matthew Powell, Ian S. Hagemann, Lulu Sun, Priyanka Verma, Elena Lomonosova, Dineo Khabele, Mary M. Mullen, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUNDTreatment of tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) includes cytoreductive surgery, platinum-based chemotherapy, and often poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. While homologous recombination (HR) deficiency is a well-established predictor of therapy sensitivity, over 50% of HR-proficient HGSCs also exhibit sensitivity. Currently, there are no biomarkers to identify which HR-proficient HGSCs will be sensitive to standard-of-care therapy. Replication stress may serve as a key determinant of response.METHODSWe evaluated phospho-RPA2-T21 (p-RPA2) foci via immunofluorescence as a biomarker of replication stress in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded HGSC samples collected at diagnosis from patients treated with platinum chemotherapy (discovery cohort, n = 31; validation cohort, n = 244) …

Genetic Structuring And Estimation Of Reproductive Adults In Onchocerca Volvulus: A Genome-Wide Analysis Across Hosts And Regions, Pawan Kumar, Young-Jun Choi, Kerstin Fischer, Shannon M. Hedtke, Anusha Kode, Nicholas Opoku, Lincoln Gankpala, Tony O. Ukety, Jöel Lonema Mande, Timothy J. C. Anderson, Warwick N. Grant, Peter U. Fischer, Makedonka Mitreva

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genomic analysis of parasites can deepen our understanding of their transmission, population structure, and important biological characteristics. Onchocerciasis (river blindness), caused by the parasitic nematode Onchocerca volvulus, involves adult worms residing in subcutaneous nodules that produce larval-stage microfilariae (mf), which are routinely detected in the skin for diagnosis. Whole-genome studies of mf are limited; most analyses have focused on the mitochondrial genome. We conducted a genome-wide analysis with 94% median nuclear genome coverage, analyzing 171, 37, and 98 mf from 16, 3, and 5 individuals from Ghana, Liberia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively. These data were used to …

Bispecific Antibodies In Follicular Lymphoma, Imran A. Nizamuddin, Nancy L. Bartlett

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Bispecific antibodies, specifically anti-CD20 T-cell engaging constructs, are poised to alter the treatment paradigm for multiple B-cell malignancies, including follicular lymphoma. Two CD20xCD3 bispecific antibodies, mosunetuzumab and epcoritamab, are now approved in the United States for third-line or later treatment of follicular lymphoma. A third agent, odronextamab, remains under review by regulatory agencies. In pivotal phase II trials, these bispecific antibodies demonstrated overall response rates of approximately 80%, with complete response rates of 60-70%, the majority of which have been durable at 2 years. Important safety signals included risk of infections, neutropenia, and cytokine release syndrome, which occurred in approximately …

The Loss Of Opa1 Accelerates Intervertebral Disc Degeneration And Osteoarthritis In Aged Mice, Vedavathi Madhu, Miriam Hernandaz-Meadows, Ashley Coleman, Kimheak Sao, Kameron Inguito, Owen Haslam, Paige K Boneski, Hiromi Sesaki, Ruteja A Barve, John A Collins, Makarand V Risbud

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of mitochondria in NP cells and articular chondrocyte health. Since the understanding of mechanisms governing mitochondrial dynamics in these tissues is lacking, we investigated the role of OPA1, a mitochondrial fusion protein, in their homeostasis. OPA1 knockdown in NP cells altered mitochondrial size and cristae shape and increased the oxygen consumption rate. OPA1 governed the morphology of multiple organelles, including peroxisomes, early endosomes and cis-Golgi and loss resulted in the dysregulation of autophagy. Metabolic profiling and

Exploitable Mechanisms Of Antibody And Car Mediated Macrophage Cytotoxicity, Tianyi Liu, Alexander B Kim, Young Ah Goo, Minsoo Son, Jaenyeon Kim, Carl J Deselm, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Macrophages infiltrate solid tumors and either support survival or induce cancer cell death through phagocytosis or cytotoxicity. To uncover regulators of macrophage cytotoxicity towards cancer cells, we perform two co-culture CRISPR screens using CAR-macrophages targeting different tumor associated antigens. Both identify ATG9A as an important regulator of this cytotoxic activity. In vitro and in vivo, ATG9A depletion in cancer cells sensitizes them to macrophage-mediated killing. Proteomic and lipidomic analyses reveal that ATG9A deficiency impairs the cancer cell response to macrophage-induced plasma membrane damage through defective lysosomal exocytosis, reduced ceramide production, and disrupted caveolar endocytosis. Depleting non-cytotoxic macrophages using CSF1R inhibition …

Robust Photogrammetric Scalp Morphology Estimation For Functional Optical Neuroimaging, Abigail L Magee, Calamity Svoboda, Tessa G George, Alvin A Agato, Edward J Richter, Joseph P Culver, Adam T Eggebrecht

2020-Current year OA Pubs

SIGNIFICANCE: Optical functional neuroimaging relies upon accurate anatomical models to provide optimal data registration and image reconstruction.

AIM: We establish and validate a robust photogrammetric algorithm for scalp morphology that utilizes 3-dimensional (3D) imaging with a photogrammetric cap to provide individualized scalp morphology estimation through hair in the absence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

APPROACH: The scalp morphology estimation uses a flexible, neoprene cap and 3D-printed photogrammetric modules with fiducials. We create a sparse scalp sampling and align the MNI152 atlas to generate the scalp morphology estimation. We used the international 10 to 20 electroencephalogram positions for alignment and calculated …

Dna Methylation Epitypes Of Burkitt Lymphoma With Distinct Molecular And Clinical Features, Nicole Thomas, Nancy L Bartlett, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

UNLABELLED: The genetic subtypes of Burkitt lymphoma have been defined, but the role of epigenetics remains to be comprehensively characterized. We searched genomic DNA from 218 patients across four continents for recurrent DNA methylation patterns and their associations with clinical and molecular features. We identified DNA methylation patterns that were not fully explained by the Epstein-Barr virus status or mutation status, leading to two epitypes described here as HypoBL and HyperBL. Each is characterized by distinct genomic and clinical features including global methylation, mutation burden, aberrant somatic hypermutation, and survival outcomes. Methylation, gene expression, and mutational differences between the epitypes …

History Of Hypoxia Exposure Aids Future Cell Invasion According To Cell Type And Collagen Density, José A Almeida, Diego B Avila, Gregory D Longmore, Amit Pathak

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In cancer progression, tumor microenvironments (TME) progressively become denser and hypoxic, and cell migrate toward higher oxygen levels as they invade across the tumor-stromal boundary. Although cell invasion dependence on optimal collagen density is well appreciated, it remains unclear whether past oxygen conditions alter future invasion phenotype of cells. Here, we show that normal human mammary epithelial cells (MCF10A) and leader-like human breast tumor cells (BT549) undergo higher rates of invasion and collagen deformation after past exposure to hypoxia, compared with normoxia controls. Upon increasing collagen density by ∼50%, cell invasion under normoxia reduced, as expected due to the increased …

Liger-Hn Phase Iii Trials Of Petosemtamab + Pembrolizumab And Petosemtamab Monotherapy In Recurrent Or Metastatic Hnscc, Jean-Pascal Machiels, Douglas Adkins, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Patients with recurrent/metastatic (r/m) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have limited treatment options and a dismal prognosis, especially when their cancer is resistant to standard treatments like anti-programmed cell death protein 1 and platinum-based therapies. Petosemtamab - a human, common light chain, bispecific antibody with enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) - demonstrated antitumor activity in r/m HNSCC. In many tumor types, including HNSCC, EGFR is an oncogenic driver, while LGR5 is upregulated. LGR5 can potentiate the wingless-type integration site (WNT)/β-catenin signaling pathway in response to …

Mayo Normative Studies: Regression-Based Normative Data For Remote Self-Administration Of The Stricker Learning Span, Symbols Test, And Mayo Test Drive Screening Battery Composite And Validation In Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment And Dementia, Nikki H Stricker, Jason Hassenstab, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Projection-Tags Enable Multiplex Projection Tracing And Multi-Modal Profiling Of Projection Neurons, Lite Yang, Fang Liu, Hannah Hahm, Takao Okuda, Xiaoyue Li, Yufen Zhang, Vani Kalyanaraman, Monique R Heitmeier, Vijay K Samineni

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Single-cell multiomic techniques have sparked immense interest in developing a comprehensive multi-modal map of diverse neuronal cell types and their brain-wide projections. However, investigating the complex wiring diagram, spatial organization, transcriptional, and epigenetic landscapes of brain-wide projection neurons is hampered by the lack of efficient and easily adoptable tools. Here we introduce Projection-TAGs, a retrograde AAV platform that allows multiplex tagging of projection neurons using RNA barcodes. By using Projection-TAGs, we performed multiplex projection tracing of the cortex and high-throughput single-cell profiling of the transcriptional and epigenetic landscapes of the cortical projection neurons in female mice. Projection-TAGs can be leveraged …

Against The Phrase "Aggressive Care", Trevor M Bibler

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

Language is the primary technology clinical ethicists use as they offer guidance about norms. Like any other piece of technology, to use the technology well requires attention, intention, skill, and knowledge. Word choice becomes a matter of professional practice. The Brief Report offers clinical ethicists several reasons for rejecting the phrase "aggressive care." Instead, ethicists should consider replacing "aggressive care" with the adjacent concept of a "recovery-focused path." The virtues of this neologism include: the opportunity to set aside the emotion of "aggression," the phrase's accuracy when capturing the intention of the patient or their representative, and an unappreciated rhetorical …