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Increased Hif-2Α Activity In The Nucleus Pulposus Causes Intervertebral Disc Degeneration In The Aging Mouse Spine, Shira N Johnston, Maria Tsingas, Rahatul Ain, Ruteja A Barve, Makarand Risbud

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are essential to the homeostasis of hypoxic tissues. Although HIF-2α, is expressed in nucleus pulposus (NP) cells, consequences of elevated HIF-2 activity on disc health remains unknown. We expressed HIF-2α with proline to alanine substitutions (P405A; P531A) in the Oxygen-dependent degradation domain (HIF-2αdPA) in the NP tissue using an inducible, nucleus pulposus-specific K19^CreERT allele to study HIF-2α function in the adult intervertebral disc. Expression of HIF-2α in NP impacted disc morphology, as evident from small but significantly higher scores of degeneration in NP of 24-month-old K19^CreERT; HIF-2α^dPA (K19-dPA) mice. Noteworthy, comparisons of grades …

Assessing The Relationship(S) Between Efficiency And Total Performance Scores For Hospitals In Miami, Florida, Latasha Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The U.S. health care system is faced with the need to reduce costs and improve clinical outcomes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program ensures that health care delivery is value-based rather than volume-based. In this quantitative study, the relationship(s) between efficiency and total performance scores (TPS) for hospitals in Miami, Florida participating in the CMS HVBP in 2021 were examined. Using the Donabedian model, the research question focused on assessing the correlation between total performance hospital efficiency scorse. The sampls included for-profit and nonprofit government and private-owned hospitals. A partial correlation was used to …

Cybersecurity Strategies Information Technology Leaders Use To Protect Healthcare Information Systems From Ransomware, Alejandro Ruiz-Caino

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Healthcare organizations’ (HCOs’) information systems (IS) are prone to increasing ransomware cyberattacks. For HCO information technology (IT) leaders, protecting IS from ransomware attacks is vital because these systems manage large amounts of confidential and sensitive data. Grounded in general systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry study was to explore strategies used by IT leaders in HCOs to protect IS from ransomware attacks. Participants included eight IT leaders from HCOs in the United States responsible for IS protection against ransomware cyberattacks. Data sources included semistructured interviews conducted with the participants via videoconferencing, the researcher’s field notes, and 10 …

Factors Impacting Genetic Test Result Recall And Adherence To Cancer Risk Management Recommendations Among Patients With Germline Pathogenic Variants, Karishma Prakash Bharwani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Only 20-60% of information from medical appointments is estimated to be retained of which about half is recalled accurately; however there remains limited information about recall following disclosure of inherited cancer genetic test results (GTR). We sought to evaluate recall of GTRs and the association of recall with adherence to recommended cancer risk management (CRM). Study participants were consented individuals with a confirmed germline pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant (GPV) in an inherited cancer predisposing genes for which there are CRM guidelines per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Through information collected through self-reported surveys, adherence to CRM was defined …

Chimeric Oncolytic Adenovirus Evades Neutralizing Antibodies From Human Patients And Exhibits Enhanced Anti-Glioma Efficacy In Immunized Mice, Dong Ho Shin, Hong Jiang, Andrew G Gillard, Debora Kim, Xuejun Fan, Sanjay K Singh, Teresa T Nguyen, Sagar S Sohoni, Andres R Lopez-Rivas, Akhila Parthasarathy, Chibawanye I Ene, Joy Gumin, Frederick F Lang, Marta M Alonso, Candelaria Gomez-Manzano, Juan Fueyo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Oncolytic viruses are a promising treatment for patients with high-grade gliomas, but neutralizing antibodies can limit their efficacy in patients with prior virus exposure or upon repeated virus injections. Data from a previous clinical trial using the oncolytic adenovirus Delta-24-RGD showed that generation of anti-viral neutralizing antibodies may affect the long-term survival of glioma patients. Past studies have examined the effects of neutralizing antibodies during systemic virus injections, but largely overlooked their impact during local virus injections into the brain. We found that immunoglobulins colocalized with viral proteins upon local oncolytic virotherapy of brain tumors, warranting a strategy to prevent …

Immuno-Molecular Targeted Therapy Use And Survival Benefit In Patients With Stage Ivb Cervical Carcinoma In Commission On Cancer, Collin A Sitler, Chunqiao Tian, Chad A Hamilton, Michael T Richardson, John K Chan, Daniel S Kapp, Charles A Leath, Yovanni Casablanca, Christina Washington, Nicole P Chappell, Ann H Klopp, Craig D Shriver, Christopher M Tarney, Nicholas W Bateman, Thomas P Conrads, George Larry Maxwell, Neil T Phippen, Kathleen M Darcy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To investigate IMT use and survival in real-world stage IVB cervical cancer patients outside randomized clinical trials.

METHODS: Patients diagnosed with stage IVB cervical cancer during 2013-2019 in the National Cancer Database and treated with chemotherapy (CT) ± external beam radiation (EBRT) ± intracavitary brachytherapy (ICBT) ± IMT were studied. The adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for risk of death were estimated in patients treated with vs. without IMT after applying propensity score analysis to balance the clinical covariates.

RESULTS: There were 3164 evaluable patients, including 969 (31%) who were treated with IMT. The use …

Caldendrin Is A Repressor Of Piezo2 Channels And Touch Sensation In Mice, Josue A Lopez, Luis O Romero, Wai-Lin Kaung, J Wesley Maddox, Valeria Vásquez, Amy Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The sense of touch is crucial for cognitive, emotional, and social development and relies on mechanically activated (MA) ion channels that transduce force into an electrical signal. Despite advances in the molecular characterization of these channels, the physiological factors that control their activity are poorly understood. Here, we used behavioral assays, electrophysiological recordings, and various mouse strains (males and females analyzed separately) to investigate the role of the calmodulin-like Ca2+ sensor, caldendrin, as a key regulator of MA channels and their roles in touch sensation. In mice lacking caldendrin (Cabp1 KO), heightened responses to tactile stimuli correlate with enlarged …

Transcriptomic, Proteomic, And Genomic Mutational Fraction Differences Based On Hpv Status Observed In Patient-Derived Xenograft Models Of Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Niki M Zacharias, Luis Segarra, Keiko Akagi, Natalie Wall Fowlkes, Huiqin Chen, Angelita Alaniz, Carolyn De La Cerda, Pedro Pesquera, Yuanxin Xi, Jing Wang, Jad Chahoud, Xin Lu, Priya Rao, Magaly Martinez-Ferrer, Curtis A Pettaway

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Simple Summary

Penile cancer is a rare but aggressive cancer. After it metastasizes, the median survival time is less than 12 months. The overall response rate to common first-line combination chemotherapy treatments is approximately 50%. There is an urgent need in advanced-penile-cancer treatment to find novel therapies that would generate better response rates than standard chemotherapy thus far and have less toxicity. Partially due to its rarity, there are few animal models and cell lines of penile cancer. We report on the generation of seven penile cancer animal models that were created by directly implanting human tumor tissue into immunocompromised …

Correction: Jiménez-Ortigosa Et Al Cryo-Electron Tomography Of Candida Glabrata Plasma Membrane Proteins J Fungi 2021, 7, 120, Cristina Jiménez-Ortigosa, Jennifer Jiang, Muyuan Chen, Xuyuan Kuang, Kelley R Healey, Paul Castellano, Nikpreet Boparai, Steven J Ludtke, David S Perlin, Wei Dai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The authors wish to update the article title to "Cryo-Electron Tomography of Candida glabrata Plasma Membrane Proteins" [...].

Enhancing Prognostic Power In Multiple Myeloma Using A Plasma Cell Signature Derived From Single-Cell Rna Sequencing, Jian-Rong Li, Shahram Arsang-Jang, Yan Cheng, Fumou Sun, Anita D'Souza, Binod Dhakal, Parameswaran Hari, Quillan Huang, Paul Auer, Yong Li, Raul Urrutia, Fenghuang Zhan, John D Shaughnessy, Siegfried Janz, Jing Dong, Chao Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogenous plasma cell malignancy, for which the established prognostic models exhibit limitations in capturing the full spectrum of outcome variability. Leveraging single-cell RNA-sequencing data, we developed a novel plasma cell gene signature. We evaluated and validated the associations of the resulting plasma cell malignancy (PBM) score with disease state, progression and clinical outcomes using data from five independent myeloma studies consisting of 2115 samples (1978 MM, 65 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, 35 smoldering MM, and 37 healthy controls). Overall, a higher PBM score was significantly associated with a more advanced stage within the spectrum …

Inactivation Of Adenosine Receptor 2a Suppresses Endothelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition And Inhibits Subretinal Fibrosis In Mice, Qiuhua Yang, Yongfeng Cai, Qian Ma, Albert Xiong, Peishan Xu, Zhidan Zhang, Jiean Xu, Yaqi Zhou, Zhiping Liu, Dingwei Zhao, John Asara, Wei Li, Huidong Shi, Ruth B Caldwell, Akrit Sodhi, Yuqing Huo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Anti–vascular endothelial growth factor therapy has had a substantial impact on the treatment of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), the leading cause of vision loss in older adults. Despite treatment, many patients with nAMD still develop severe and irreversible visual impairment because of the development of subretinal fibrosis. We recently reported the anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic effects of inhibiting the gene encoding adenosine receptor 2A (Adora2a), which has been implicated in cardiovascular disease. Here, using two mouse models of subretinal fibrosis (mice with laser injury–induced CNV or mice with a deficiency in the …

Dynamic Contrast Optical Coherence Tomography (Dyc-Oct) For Label-Free Live Cell Imaging, Chao Ren, Senyue Hao, Fei Wang, Abigail Matt, Marcello Magri Amaral, Daniel Yang, Leyao Wang, Chao Zhou

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Dynamic contrast optical coherence tomography (DyC-OCT), an emerging imaging method, utilizes fluctuation patterns in OCT signals to enhance contrast, thereby enabling non-invasive label-free volumetric live cell imaging. In this mini review, we explain the core concepts behind DyC-OCT image formation and its system configurations, serving as practical guidance for future DyC-OCT users. Subsequently, we explore its applications in delivering high-quality, contrast-enhanced images of cellular morphology, as well as in monitoring changes in cellular activity/viability assay experiments.

Symposium: Gender, Health, And The Constitution: Gender-Affirming Care And Children's Liberty, Dara E. Purvis

ConLawNOW

This essay addresses the wave of statutes banning gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse minors passed in states across the country over the last three years. It argues that an underdeveloped understanding of children’s rights makes it more difficult to explain how harmful gender-affirming care bans are and to challenge them in court. After explaining the nature of gender-affirming care, the essay discusses the grounds underlying existing challenges to gender-affirming care bans, highlighting the emphasis on equal protection and parental rights. It concludes by reframing the children’s liberty argument and exploring what the broader consequences of courts recognizing such a …

Cyanobacterial Contribution To Annual Cycles Of Phytoplankton In Lake Murray, Sc, Haley Durbin, Mikayla Radek, Catherine Schlenker, Sarah Bauman, James L. Pinckney

Journal of South Carolina Water Resources

Freshwater lakes provide valuable recreational and tourism resources and are a major source of municipal drinking water for local communities. A primary management goal for lake systems is the maintenance of good water quality and a healthy aquatic ecosystem. Blooms of harmful or noxious species of cyanobacteria can result in severe water quality degradation. The purpose of this project was to provide baseline data on phytoplankton community composition, with special emphasis on cyanobacteria, and water quality parameters for Lake Murray, SC. The objective of this study was to determine the annual cyanobacterial contribution to total phytoplankton biomass in the lower …

Reproductive Biology Of The Jellyfish Outbreak Along The Uae Coastal Waters, Amrutha Aravind

Thesis/ Dissertation Defenses

Jellyfish are a ubiquitous occurrence in the world’s oceans. During the past decades, dramatic spatial increases and temporal shifts in jellyfish distributions have been reported around the world. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), coastal area also has experienced several blooms along with severe adverse impacts on its economic facilities. Few studies have been conducted within the Arabian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, to identify the blooming species and the environmental parameters that favor such breakout. The present study aimed to identify the jellyfish species found along the coastal area of UAE and trying to link their occurrence with seasonal …

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach To Working With Youth, Young Adults And Families, Weston J. Robins

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Radical Youth Work: A Community Based Approach to Working with Youth, Young Adults and Families

A focus on experiential mentoring, humanistic counseling and community engagement as a way to work with youth, young adults and families to provide true holistic therapeutic support and guidance.

Symposium: Gender, Health And The Constitution: More Than Merely "Two-Legged Wombs": Lessons On Metaphor And Body Politics From Atwood's The Handmaiden's Tale (1985), Rachel Conrad Bracken

ConLawNOW

This essay explores the dehumanizing potential of metaphors used to describe women’s reproductive biology through literary analysis of Margaret Atwood’s canonical feminist novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). Attending to the rhetoric that both justifies and contests ritualized rape and forced surrogacy in Atwood’s novel, this essay begins by interrogating the ubiquitous cultural and biomedical metaphors that reduce women and pregnant people to their bodies’ reproductive potential. The first section draws from scholarship in medical anthropology, medical rhetoric, and literary studies to illuminate how gendered stereotypes pervade biomedical, cultural, and legal representations of reproduction, reifying the conflation of women and people …

Teaching Students About Trauma, Stress And Brain Regulation, Kathy J. Van Horn

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

All students are impacted by stress and can benefit by understanding their brains, their stress response, and strategies for regulation. This presentation will provide practical principles and ideas for teaching students strategies and skills for physical, emotional, and cortical regulation.

The Impact Of Hormone Replacement Therapy On The Clavicle, Ryland B. Lambert

McNair Scholars Research Journal

One of the many medical procedures of gender transition that are available for transgender individuals involve the use of cross-sex hormones to align one’s physical characteristics with one’s gender identity. During this process, transgender male-to-female patients may see the feminization of their bodies, while transgender female-to-male patients may see the masculinization of their bodies. Currently, little research has been done to show the full range of the effects that hormone replacement therapy induces, specifically regarding its impact on skeletal morphology. This lack of analysis is not only to the detriment of transgender patients themselves but also to the field of …

Major Northeastward Range Extension For A Western Grasshopper Species: New State Record For Trimerotropis Pallidipennis (Burmeister) In Wisconsin, Mathew L. Brust

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Trimerotropis pallidipennis (Burmeister) mostly occurs in the southwestern U.S., but is known to migrate significant distances periodically. It appears that some individuals of this species occasionally migrate very long distances. Here I present an extreme record for this species, over 480 km northeast of any previously known records, including any others recorded from 2022. A single male specimen was collected and photographed in Price County in north-central Wisconsin in June 2022.

Adult Neurocolpus Nubilus And Plagiognathus Sp. Dispersal On Tropaeolum Majus, Elyse Malamud

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Neurocolpus nubilus (Say) (Hemiptera: Miridae), commonly known as the clouded plant bug, is a species of plant bug. Widespread primarily across eastern North America, N. nubilus is known to feed on many types of plants. At least 43 host plants spanning 34 plant families have been recorded for N. nubilus and more may be possible. Plagiognathus (Fieber) (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a genus of plant bugs that is widespread across the Holarctic region. Plagiognathus spp. are typically found on various woody host plants. This paper describes an instance of adult N. nubilus and Plagiognathus sp. feeding on a cultivar of Tropaeolum …

First Known Records Of The Specialist Bee, Colletes Aestivalis (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), In An Urban Area, Nina S. Fogel, Christine Kirmaier, Mike Arduser

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Here we report on the first known records of the Heuchera specialist bee Colletes aestivalis in an urban area. This bee was found by a participant in a citizen science project in a residential garden in a suburb that abuts St. Louis, Missouri. The females were found only visiting Heuchera richardsonii, and the males were seen scouting for females by hovering over the plants. This finding shows that urban areas can support uncommon specialist bees and the utility of engaging non-experts in cataloging biodiversity.

Willow Pollen Collection By A Blueberry Specialist Bee (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), James B. Watson, Keziah G. Bartel, Jason Gibbs

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Andrena (Conandrena) bradleyi Viereck (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) is widely regarded as a Ericaceae specialist bee due to its elongate head, plant records, and common collection in commercial blueberry fields. We provide evidence of A. bradleyi collecting pollen from willow (Salix, Salicaceae) L. in southeastern Manitoba. This indicates the bee is not obligately specialized on Ericaceae pollens and that early blooming plants may contribute to its early nutritional requirements.

Evidence Of Lilac Borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) Population On Mackinac Island, Mi, David Max Lowenstein

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Mackinac Island, Michigan, is a major tourism destination with its lilacs an important part of the local culture. Recently, the health of some lilacs has declined. It is uncertain if this is due to the lilac’s age, attack by lilac borer, Podosesia syringae (Harris) (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae), or a combination of environmental and biotic factors. The lilac borer is a clearwing moth whose larvae bore within ash and lilac, and there are minimal local records of the insect in Northern Michigan and none on Mackinac Island. This study deployed pheromone traps to identify the flight period of lilac borer, potential damage …

New Record Of The Pavement Ant, Tetramorium Immigrans (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), In South Dakota With Notes On Its Thermal Tolerance And Geographic Distribution, Karl A. Roeder, Skylar Drey, Jesse D. Daniels, Diane V. Roeder, Jackson A. Helms Iv

The Great Lakes Entomologist

The pavement ant, Tetramorium immigrans, is an abundant and widespread species across large portions of the United States. Yet despite its current distribution in Northeastern, Midwestern, Pacific, and Western states, there is a surprising lack of records from the Great Plains. Here we present an updated county list of T. immigrans from museum collections and research grade observations (459 counties; ~15% of US counties), highlighting the first records from one Great Plains state—South Dakota. Observations on community science platforms since 2006 have undoubtedly increased the awareness of T. immigrans (+329 counties; ~72% of all county records), however we posit …

Bee (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) Richness In Eastern Ohio Pipeline Right Of Ways, Malisa Spring, Gabriel R. Karns

The Great Lakes Entomologist

It is relatively unknown which species of bees utilize pipeline Right of Ways. Most recent Right of Way research focuses on bees found on electrical transmission Right of Ways instead. Ohio is also relatively understudied in terms of bee richness. This project sought to document bees that are found in these pipeline Right of Ways in 4 heavily forested counties in eastern Ohio. A total of 3950 specimens were collected, accounting for 140 species across two years of sampling (2016 and 2018). Overall bee abundance peaked mid-season, with the highest abundance observed in July. The majority of bees collected were …

Reevaluating Abrupt Biological Discontinuity In A Small Michigan (Usa) Stream – Differences In The Organic Biomass Of Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Functional Feeding Groups Based On Benthic And Terrestrial Habitat, David C. Houghton, Danae Sollie, Daniel Votel, Elizabeth Potwardowski

The Great Lakes Entomologist

To examine the effects of habitat and benthic substrate differences on macroinvertebrate assemblages along a single continuum, we tested three sites along a small northern Lower Michigan stream over a four-year period. Terrestrial habitat along the stream abruptly changed from a cedar forest, to an open meadow, to a hardwood forest within a 1.4 km reach. Reflecting these changes, overhead canopy coverage and in-stream woody debris were higher at the two forested sites, whereas the organic biomass of periphyton was higher at the meadow site. The meadow site also had faster stream velocity and a greater volume of coarse benthic …

Observations On A Dendroctonus Simplex (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Outbreak In A Rangewide Tamarack (Larix Laricina) Provenance Plantation In Michigan, Robert A. Haack, Richard W. Blank

The Great Lakes Entomologist

A tamarack [Larix laricina (Du Roi) K. Koch] provenance plantation, consisting of 33 seed sources from the United States and Canada, was established in 1969 in southern Michigan (Kalamazoo County). About half of the trees were removed in fall 1984 when the stand was thinned, with the cut trees piled on the edge of the stand. The stand then experienced a severe ice storm in January 1985. The eastern larch beetle, Dendroctonus simplex LeConte, colonized the cut logs in 1985 and also infested many of the standing trees. By the end of 1986, over half the remaining trees had …

Observations On The Oak Twig Pruner, Anelaphus Villosus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), In Michigan: Size Of Twigs Pruned, Insect Survival, And Seasonality Of Twig Drop, Robert A. Haack

The Great Lakes Entomologist

The oak twig pruner [OTP; Anelaphus villosus (Fabricius)] is likely a species complex, with A. parallelus (Newman) recently recognized as a synonym. The parallelus form of A. villosus is considered the subject of this paper. In Michigan, OTP has a 2-year life cycle, with twigs pruned primarily in even-numbered years and adults emerging from the fallen twigs in odd-numbered years. During 1990 to 2011, I studied various aspects of OTP life history in southern Michigan (Ingham County). Based on measurements from over 300 infested oak twigs, they averaged 43.1 cm long, 9.4 mm in diameter at the pruned end, …

Flies Associated With Floral Canopies Of The New Oilseed Crop, Pennycress, In The Midwestern U.S.A., Frank Forcella, Matt Petersen, William L. Perry, Samantha S. Wells, Alex Hard, Russ W. Gesch, Yesuf Mohammed, Cody Hoerning, Tad L. Wesley, Emma Ambrosi, Winthrop B. Phippen

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Flies are frequent visitors to flowers of many species of plants within the mustard family (Brassicaceae). They derive nutrition from these flowers, and some fly species are pollinators. Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) is a mustard species that is being developed as a new “cash cover crop,” i.e., an autumn-sown cover crop whose oil-rich seeds can be harvested profitably in spring. Although pennycress is largely wind- and self-pollinated, its flowers also attract insect visitors. However, the extent of visitation to pennycress flowers by flies remains largely unknown, especially the identities of those flies. Thus, we examined flies associated with …