Digital Commons Network^™

Discovery And Functional Characterization Of Biomarkers In Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma, Wagma Caravan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Not all tumors are created equally, nor should they be treated as such. Modern research has uncovered a multitude of genetic aberrations, genomic dysregulation, and epigenetic modifications that contribute to cancer. While cancers are classified based on their tissue of origin and may share common features or pathways, the tumor microenvironment is far from uniform. It comprises a dynamic network of cell populations with divergent genomic profiles, all of which collectively drive tumor progression—with some tumors more efficient and aggressive than others. The heterogeneity within these tumors makes it notoriously harder to treat, as standard therapies fail to address the …

Theranostic Nanoemulsions Suppress Macrophage-Mediated Acute Inflammation In Rats, Riddhi Vichare, Yalcin Kulahci, Rebecca Mccallin, Fatih Zor, Fatma Nurefsan Selek, Lu Liu, Caitlin Crelli, Anneliese Troidle, Michele Herneisey, James M Nichols, Andrew J Shepherd, Vijay S Gorantla, Jelena M Janjic

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In inflammatory diseases or following an injury, dysregulated inflammation is a common driver of pain and tissue damage. Macrophages are immune cells that contribute to the initiation, maintenance, and resolution of inflammation due to their phenotypic plasticity in response to signals from inflammatory microenvironments. Macrophages infiltrate and polarize toward a pro-inflammatory phenotype (M

Anatomy And Variations Of The Carina And Its Cartilaginous Makeup: A Cadaveric Study, Chung Yoh Kim, Kristen Rizzuto, Daniel Tahan, Devendra Shekhawat, Rarinthorn Samrid, Yoko Tabira, Stephen J. Bordes, Joe Iwanaga, R. Shane Tubbs

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose: The carina, located at the bifurcation of the trachea, has been regarded as a part of the trachea. Although clinically useful as an anatomical landmark, studies of its detailed morphology are lacking in the literature. Methods: The distal trachea and left and right main bronchi were harvested from 32 cadavers and the carina studied using microsurgical dissection, endoscopy, micro-CT, and histology. Results: The right bronchial cartilages were most commonly involved in forming the carina (72.41%), and the left bronchial cartilages were the second most commonly involved (37.93%). The carinal cartilages were slightly deviated to the left of midline in …

Exenatide Once A Week Versus Placebo As A Potential Disease-Modifying Treatment For People With Parkinson's Disease In The Uk: A Phase 3, Multicentre, Double-Blind, Parallel-Group, Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trial, Nirosen Vijiaratnam, Christine Girges, Grace Auld, Rachel Mccomish, Alexa King, Simon S Skene, Steve Hibbert, Alan Wong, Sabina Melander, Rachel Gibson, Helen Matthews, John Dickson, Camille Carroll, Abigail Patrick, Jemma Inches, Monty Silverdale, Bethan Blackledge, Jessica Whiston, Michele Hu, Jessica Welch, Gordon Duncan, Katie Power, Sarah Gallen, Jacqueline Kerr, K Ray Chaudhuri, Lucia Batzu, Silvia Rota, Edwin Jabbari, Huw Morris, Patricia Limousin

Peninsula Medical School

Background: GLP-1 receptor agonists have neurotrophic properties in in-vitro and in-vivo models of Parkinson's disease and results of epidemiological studies and small randomised trials have suggested possible benefits for risk and progression of Parkinson's disease. We aimed to establish whether the GLP-1 receptor agonist, exenatide, could slow the rate of progression of Parkinson's disease. Methods: We did a phase 3, multicentre, double-blind, parallel-group, randomised, placebo-controlled trial at six research hospitals in the UK. Participants were aged 25–80 years with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, were at Hoehn and Yahr stage 2·5 or less when on dopaminergic treatment, and were on …

Metabolites And Lipid Species Mediate The Associations Of Adiposity In Childhood And Early Adulthood With Mammographic Breast Density In Premenopausal Women, Kayla R Getz, Myung Sik Jeon, Lili Liu, Lei Liu, Haixiang Zhang, Chongliang Luo, Jingqin Luo, Adetunji T Toriola

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Mammographic breast density (MBD), a strong predictor of breast cancer, is highly influenced by body mass index (BMI) in childhood and early adulthood, but the mechanisms underlying these associations are not fully understood. Our goal is to identify biomarkers that mediate the associations of BMI at ages 10 and 18 with MBD in premenopausal women.

METHODS: This study consists of 705 premenopausal women who had their screening mammogram at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and provided a fasting blood sample. Our comprehensive metabolomic and lipidomic profiling yielded complete data for 828 metabolites and 857 lipid species after imputation. …

Toxoplasma Chitinase-Like Protein Orchestrates Cyst Wall Glycosylation To Facilitate Effector Export And Cyst Turnover, Yong Fu, Tadakimi Tomita, Louis M Weiss, Christopher M West, L David Sibley

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Displaced: An Ethnography Of Language And Identity Loss, Ariel Caroline Wilsey-Gopp

Dissertations and Theses

Through ethnography and personal narrative, I explore the language and identity loss of one person, my father, in order to understand the complex issues surrounding the effects of symbolic and structural violence on language and identity development. Through personal narrative, fieldwork, and interviews, I tell the story of one person, born in wartime during Nazi occupied Serbia, and follow the guiding questions: how does language get lost and what are the effects? Drawing on methodology set forth by empirical ethnographical work as well as more recent theory around epigenetics and trauma, my research synthesizes into focus three pillars of understanding …

Retinoic Acid Antagonizes Estrogen Signaling To Maintain Adult Uterine Cell Fate, Yan Yin, Meade Haller, Lauren Goldinger, Shivani Bharadwaj, Emily So, Vivian Robles-Pinos, David Chen, Liang Ma

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Classical tissue recombination experiments demonstrate that cell-fate determination along the anterior-posterior axis of the Müllerian duct occurs prior to postnatal day 7 in mice. However, little is known about how these cell types are maintained in adults. In this study, we provide genetic evidence that a balance between antagonistic retinoic acid (RA) and estrogen signaling activity is required to maintain simple columnar cell fate in adult uterine epithelium. Transdifferentiation of simple columnar uterine epithelium into stratified cervicovaginal-like epithelium was observed in three related mouse genetic models, in which RA signaling was perturbed in the postnatal uterus. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis …

Characterization Of The Vaginal Microbiome Of Postmenopausal Patients Receiving Chemoradiation For Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer, Brett A. Tortelli, Jessika Contreras, Stephanie Markovina, Li Ding, Kristine M. Wylie, Julie K. Schwarz

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The standard-of-care treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer includes pelvic radiation therapy with concurrent cisplatin-based chemotherapy and is associated with a 30%-50% failure rate. New prognostic and therapeutic targets are needed to improve clinical outcomes. The vaginal microbiome has been linked to the pathogenesis of cervical cancer, but little is known about the vaginal microbiome in locally advanced cervical cancer as it relates to chemoradiation. In this pilot study, we utilized 16S rRNA gene community profiling to characterize the vaginal microbiomes of 26 postmenopausal women with locally advanced cervical cancer receiving chemoradiation. Our analysis revealed diverse anaerobe-dominated communities whose taxonomic …

Sleep-Wake Variation In Body Temperature Regulates Tau Secretion And Correlates With Csf And Plasma Tau, Geoffrey Canet, Brendan P. Lucey, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Sleep disturbance is bidirectionally associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. While the sleep-wake cycle regulates interstitial and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau levels, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial, given the evidence that tau pathology spreads through neuron-to-neuron transfer, involving the secretion and internalization of pathological tau forms. Here, we combined in vitro, in vivo, and clinical methods to reveal a pathway by which changes in body temperature (BT) over the sleep-wake cycle modulate extracellular tau levels. In mice, a higher BT during wakefulness and sleep deprivation increased CSF and plasma tau …

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial Of Il-7 In Critically Ill Patients With Covid-19, Manu Shankar-Hari, Kenneth E. Remy, Jane Blood, Andrew H. Walton, Teresa Blood, Richard Hotchkiss, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Lymphopenia and failure of lymphocytes to mount an early IFN-γ response correlate with increased mortality in COVID-19. Given the essential role of CD4 helper and CD8 cytotoxic cells in eliminating viral pathogens, this profound loss in lymphocytes may impair patients' ability to eliminate the virus. IL-7 is a pleiotropic cytokine that is obligatory for lymphocyte survival and optimal function.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of CYT107, recombinant human IL-7, in 109 critically ill, patients with lymphopenia who have COVID-19. The primary endpoint was to assess CYT107's effect on lymphocyte recovery with secondary clinical endpoints including …

Contextualized Graph Neural Network For Node Classification

Defensive Publications Series

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have been widely adopted for graph-structured data analysis. However, the performance of standard GNN models often suffers when applied to heterophilous graphs, where connected nodes tend to have dissimilar labels. This paper introduces the Contextualized Graph Neural Network (CGNN), a novel GNN architecture that enhances node representation learning by explicitly modeling the context of each node. CGNN uses a context encoding module to capture contextual information, followed by an adaptive message-passing mechanism, and finally a context-aware aggregation module. We provide a detailed algorithm and a Python implementation using PyTorch. Experimental results on benchmark heterophilous graph datasets …

Adaptive Relational Graph Network

Defensive Publications Series

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have demonstrated significant potential for learning from graphstructured data. However, their performance often degrades on heterophilous graphs, where linked nodes exhibit dissimilar features. In this paper, we introduce the Adaptive Relational Graph Network (ARGN), a novel GNN architecture designed specifically to handle heterophily. ARGN utilizes a relational attention mechanism to capture complex relationships between nodes, coupled with an adaptive neighborhood selection strategy to dynamically identify relevant neighbors. Multi-hop information propagation is then used to enhance the node representations. We provide a detailed algorithm and implementation of ARGN using PyTorch. Our experiments on several benchmark heterophilous datasets …

Adaptive Neighborhood Graph Neural Network For Graph Learning

Defensive Publications Series

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have become a powerful tool for processing graph-structured data. However, standard GNNs struggle when applied to heterophilous graphs, where connected nodes tend to have dissimilar features. In this paper, we introduce the Adaptive Neighborhood Graph Neural Network (ANGNN), a novel GNN architecture that learns to adaptively select neighbors for each node based on their feature similarity. ANGNN uses a weighted aggregation mechanism after neighborhood selection for robust representation learning on heterophilous graphs. We provide a detailed algorithm and implementation of ANGNN using PyTorch. Experimental results on several benchmark heterophilous datasets demonstrate that ANGNN significantly outperforms standard …

Faith And Science In Harmony: Reconciling Evolution With Biblical Inerrancy, Kristy Azzam

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This presentation explores how Christians can reconcile the concept of evolution with the inerrancy of the bible from a faith-based worldview.

Investigating The Intersection Of ‘God Of The Gaps’ And Noma, Francesca Hammerstein

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This study explores the intersection between God-of-the-gaps arguments and whether these arguments cooperate with the guidelines of Stephen Jay Gould’s view of “non-overlapping magisteria” (NOMA). God-of-the-gaps arguments are used to explain current unexplained scientific phenomena by crediting God. If new scientific discoveries can eventually explain these phenomena, this would decrease the evidence for God. Three perspectives on this argument are explored: both theological and scientific arguments against God-of-the-gaps and an argument in favor of God-of-the-gaps. Through reading these perspectives, the findings suggest that each point of view presents an argument showing that God-of-the-gaps does not cooperate with the NOMA guidelines.

Science Communication And Religious Tensions In Healthcare, Emily Ngo

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

This research aims to explain the Christian healthcare professionals' experience of dealing with tension caused by their religious beliefs with scientific knowledge. This emphasizes the importance of science communication in dealing with such challenges. Studies show that among healthcare professionals, religiosity influences clinical decision-making and interaction with patients affecting how they respond to the moral and ethical dilemmas they encounter within practice (Dillard et al., 2023). Stahl (2021) claims that healthcare providers confront hurdles in managing religious plurality and lack the training to deal with a patient's religion without compromising scientific integrity. Harrison et al. further assess the effect of …

Characterization Of Enzyme Function After Proline To Leucine Amino Acid Mutation At Location 41 In Β-Glucosidase Enzyme, Skyler Yates-Johnson, Gabriella Rant

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

Our work is part of a research project led by the Seigel lab at University of California–Davis called Design to Data. Collaborating with undergraduate labs across the country, the goal of this project is to create large datasets that will be able to train and improve the predictive abilities of artificial intelligence protein modeling software. For our project, we generated a mutant of the enzyme β-glucosidase (BglB), characterized it, and uploaded our data to the national database. As specific amino acid mutations are characterized, the database will be able to improve the understanding of mutational effects in proteins. β-glucosidase is …

Phonological Awareness Abilities Of Undergraduate College Students: A Comparison Of Students In Related And Unrelated Majors, Jennifer Binkley, Jessica Mchugh Conlin, Terry W. Baggs, Whitney Lucas Molitor, William Schweinle

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

An observational study was conducted to evaluate the differences in the phonological awareness (PA) abilities of undergraduate college students in majors related versus unrelated to PA. In order to participate, students must not have had any formal PA or phonetics instruction at the college level. A total of 116 undergraduate students voluntarily participated in an PA assessment, with results analyzed based upon the following three categories: Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) major, education major, and other major. Using non-parametric statistical analysis, there were statistically significant differences in CSD majors, in multiple categories of PA skills, compared to both education majors …

Effectiveness Of An Informational Video For Establishing Students' Basic Knowledge Of Post-Stroke Aphasia, Savannah H. Cliatt, Hannah Krimm

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in knowledge of post-stroke aphasia among students who watched an informational video (Kennedy et al., 2012a) created for this study compared to students who read an informational text (National Aphasia Association, n.d.). Participants included 136 undergraduate and graduate students who completed a pre-test, watched an informational video or read an informational text, completed a post-test, and then completed a maintenance test approximately four weeks later. Results of a one-way mixed ANOVA showed a statistically significant main effect of time, no statistically significant main effect of group, and no statistically significant time-by-group …

Insilico Evaluation Of The Therapeutic Effects Of N1-(5-(3-Imino-2,4a-Dihydro-3h-Benzo[F]Chromen-2-Yl)-1,3,4-Thiadiazol-2-Yl)-N10-(5-(3-Imino-3h-Benzo[F]Chromen-2-Yl)-1,3,4-Thiadiazol-2-Yl)Decanediamide As Anti-Hepatitis B And C Agent, Moses M. Edim, Njok N. Okam, Nguuma I. Gber, Jessica E. Egbelo, Israel E. Okon, Chiemerie P. Ogbonna, Emmanuel K. Aidoo, Kenneth N. Chisom, Emmanuel Samuel

Polytechnic Journal

Hepatitis B and C viruses are a major cause of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, with significantly increasing mortality and morbidity worldwide. This study provides a detailed analysis of the therapeutic effects of N1-(5-(3-imino-2,4a-dihydro-3H-benzo[f]chromen-2-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)-N10-(5-(3-imino-3H-benzo[f]chromen-2-yl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl) decan diamide (PRO_16) as an anti-hepatitis B and C virus. A computational DFT was applied via the ωB97XD method of theory and a basis set of 6-311G++ (2d, 2p) to evaluate the quantum mechanics of the compound. A time-dependent self-consistent field DFT method with the aforementioned functional and basis set was utilized for UV‒visible evaluation. Additionally, a molecular docking technique and ADMET prediction were used to elucidate …

Gc Minutes 2024-12-02, Northern Illinois University

Graduate Council Archives

No abstract provided.

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 11, January 20, 2025, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Crisis Counseling For Individuals, Couples, And Families, Virginia (Toddy) Holeman

Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Science And Christian Faith, Michael Peterson

Syllabi

No abstract provided.

The Human Person: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Joel Chopp

Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Psychopathology: Theory And Assessment, Russell Hall

Syllabi

No abstract provided.

The Rider (2025-02-03), Rebeca Salinas

The Rider Archives

Vol.10 No.17

A Barley Pan-Transcriptome Reveals Layers Of Genotype-Dependent Transcriptional Complexity, Wenbin Guo, Miriam Schreiber, Vanda B. Marosi, Paolo Bagnaresi, Morten Egevang Jorgensen, Katarzyna B. Braune, Ken J. Chalmers, Brett Chapman, Viet Hoang Dang, Christoph Dockter, Anne Fiebig, Geoffrey B. Fincher, Agostino Fricano, John Fuller, Allison Haaning, Georg Haberer, Axel Himmelbach, Murukarthick Jayakodi, Yong Jia, Nadia Kamal, Peter Langridge, Chengdao Li

Grain and Other Field Crops Research Articles

A pan-transcriptome describes the transcriptional and post-transcriptional consequences of genome diversity from multiple individuals within a species. We developed a barley pan-transcriptome using 20 inbred genotypes representing domesticated barley diversity by generating and analyzing short- and long-read RNA-sequencing datasets from multiple tissues. To overcome single reference bias in transcript quantification, we constructed genotype-specific reference transcript datasets (RTDs) and integrated these into a linear pan-genome framework to create a pan-RTD, allowing transcript categorization as core, shell or cloud. Focusing on the core (expressed in all genotypes), we observed significant transcript abundance variation among tissues and between genotypes driven partly by RNA …

Usa V. Corrigan Clay

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania