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Contents, Discovery Editors

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Use Of Hydroxychloroquine In Multidrug Protocols For Sars-Cov-2, Eleftherios Gkioulekas, Peter A. Mccullough

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

We review the available evidence supporting the use of hydroxychloroquine-based multidrug protocols in the treatment of COVID-19, in response to a recently published editorial in the Tasman Medical Journal.

Sharing The Blame: Using Market Share To Allocate Liability In Opoid Public Nuisance Lawsuits, Molly G. Baldock

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Accommodating Religious Liberty In An Artificially Intelligent Workplace, Michael H. Leroy

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Scales Of Connectivity Within Stream Temperature Networks Of The Clackamas River Basin, Oregon, Michael Krochta, Heejun Chang

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Water quality varies along the stream network; thus, considering the directional, dendritic nature of stream networks with surrounding landscape variables is essential in explaining spatial variations of water quality. Using a spatially extensive stream temperature monitoring effort in the Clackamas River Basin in the United States, we first compare spatial scales of analysis of atmospheric, landscape, and in-stream explanatory variables through their correlation with summer stream temperatures. We then derive a predictive stream temperature model with factors representing the spatial variation of local climate, recent wildfire effects, and discharge. Finally, we compare nonspatial multiple linear regression to a spatial stream …

Pseudomonas Mosselii Improves Cold Tolerance Of Asian Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) In A Genotype-Dependent Manner By Increasing Proline In Japonica And Reduced Glutathione In Indica Varieties, Nasim Maghboli Balasjin, James Maki, Michael Schläppi

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Cold stress is an important factor limiting rice production and distribution. Identifying factors that contribute to cold tolerance in rice is of primary importance. While some plant specific genetic factors involved in cold tolerance have been identified, the role of the rice microbiome remains unexplored. In this study, we evaluated the influence of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) with the ability of phosphate solubilization on rice cold tolerance and survival. To reach this goal, inoculated and uninoculated 2-week-old seedlings were cold stressed and evaluated for survival and other phenotypes such as electrolyte leakage (EL) and necessary elements for cold tolerance. …

Differential Conservation And Loss Of Chicken Repeat 1 (Cr1) Retrotransposons In Squamates Reveal Lineage-Specific Genome Dynamics Across Reptiles, Simone M. Gable, Nicholas A. Bushroe, Jasmine M. Mendez, Adam Wilson, Brendan J. Pinto, Tony Gamble, Marc Tollis

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Transposable elements (TEs) are repetitive DNA sequences which create mutations and generate genetic diversity across the tree of life. In amniote vertebrates, TEs have been mainly studied in mammals and birds, whose genomes generally display low TE diversity. Squamates (Order Squamata; including ∼11,000 extant species of lizards and snakes) show as much variation in TE abundance and activity as they do in species and phenotypes. Despite this high TE activity, squamate genomes are remarkably uniform in size. We hypothesize that novel, lineage-specific genome dynamics have evolved over the course of squamate evolution. To understand the interplay between TEs and host …

It’S A Trap?! Escape From An Ancient, Ancestral Sex Chromosome System And Implication Of Foxl2 As The Putative Primary Sex-Determining Gene In A Lizard (Anguimorpha; Shinisauridae), Brendan J. Pinto, Stuart V. Nielsen, Kathryn A. Sullivan, Ashmika Behere, Shannon E. Keating, Mona Van Schingen-Khan, Truong Q. Nguyen, Thomas Ziegler, Jennifer Pramuk, Melissa A. Wilson, Tony Gamble

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Although sex determination is ubiquitous in vertebrates, mechanisms of sex determination vary from environmentally to genetically influenced. In vertebrates, genetic sex determination is typically accomplished with sex chromosomes. Groups like mammals maintain conserved sex chromosome systems, while sex chromosomes in most vertebrate clades are not conserved across similar evolutionary timescales. One group inferred to have an evolutionarily stable mode of sex determination is Anguimorpha, a clade of charismatic taxa including monitor lizards, Gila monsters, and crocodile lizards. The common ancestor of extant anguimorphs possessed a ZW system that has been retained across the clade. However, the sex chromosome system in …

Clearing The Junq: The Molecular Machinery For Sequestration, Localization, And Degradation Of The Junq Compartment, Sarah Rolli, Chloe A. Langridge, Emily M. Sontag

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Cellular protein homeostasis (proteostasis) plays an essential role in regulating the folding, sequestration, and turnover of misfolded proteins via a network of chaperones and clearance factors. Previous work has shown that misfolded proteins are spatially sequestered into membrane-less compartments in the cell as part of the proteostasis process. Soluble misfolded proteins in the cytoplasm are trafficked into the juxtanuclear quality control compartment (JUNQ), and nuclear proteins are sequestered into the intranuclear quality control compartment (INQ). However, the mechanisms that control the formation, localization, and degradation of these compartments are unknown. Previously, we showed that the JUNQ migrates to the nuclear …

Importance Of Conserved Hydrophobic Pocket Region In Yeast Mitoribosomal Ml44 Protein For Mitotranslation And Transcript Preference, Jodie M. Box, Margo E. Higgins, Rosemary A. Stuart

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The mitochondrial ribosome (mitoribosome) is responsible for the synthesis of key oxidative phosphorylation subunits encoded by the mitochondrial genome. Defects in mitoribosomal function therefore can have serious consequences for the bioenergetic capacity of the cell. Mutation of the conserved mitoribosomal mL44 protein has been directly linked to childhood cardiomyopathy and progressive neurophysiology issues. To further explore the functional significance of the mL44 protein in supporting mitochondrial protein synthesis, we have performed a mutagenesis study of the yeast mL44 homolog, the MrpL3/mL44 protein. We specifically investigated the conserved hydrophobic pocket region of the MrpL3/mL44 protein, where the known disease-related residue …

Identification Of Mimas, A Multifunctional Mega-Assembly Integrating Metabolic And Respiratory Biogenesis Factors Of Mitochondria, Rosemary A. Stuart

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The mitochondrial inner membrane plays central roles in bioenergetics and metabolism and contains several established membrane protein complexes. Here, we report the identification of a mega-complex of the inner membrane, termed mitochondrial multifunctional assembly (MIMAS). Its large size of 3 MDa explains why MIMAS has escaped detection in the analysis of mitochondria so far. MIMAS combines proteins of diverse functions from respiratory chain assembly to metabolite transport, dehydrogenases, and lipid biosynthesis but not the large established supercomplexes of the respiratory chain, ATP synthase, or prohibitin scaffold. MIMAS integrity depends on the non-bilayer phospholipid phosphatidylethanolamine, in contrast to respiratory supercomplexes whose …

Developmental Patterns Underlying Variation In Form And Function Exhibited By House Gecko Toe Pads, Aaron H. Griffing, Tony Gamble, Ashmika Behere, Timothy E. Higham, Greta M. Keller, John Resener, Thomas J. Sanger

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Adhesive toe pads have evolved numerous times over lizard evolutionary history, most notably in geckos. Despite significant variation in adult toe pad morphology across independent origins of toe pads, early developmental patterns of toe pad morphogenesis are similar among distantly related species. In these distant phylogenetic comparisons, toe pad variation is achieved during the later stages of development. We aimed to understand how toe pad variation is generated among species sharing a single evolutionary origin of toe pads (house geckos—Hemidactylus). We investigated toe pad functional variation and developmental patterns in three species of Hemidactylus, ranging from highly …

Testing The Strength Of Thin Feather-Edge Monolithic Multilayered Zirconia Crowns: A Pilot Study With A Novel Acoustic Test, Estelle Saab, Camille Haddad, Maher Abboud, Maha Daou, Amine Zoghbi

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

Introduction: Limited research has explored the mechanical characteristics of recently introduced multilayered monolithic zirconia (MZC) crowns with feather-edge margins design. Moreover, most of the conventional techniques for evaluating the mechanical behavior of brittle dental ceramics rely on destructive tests, making it impossible to precisely evaluate real strength values due to premature crack initiation detection failure.

Objectives: The main objective of the study was to assess the load capacity of translucent multilayered monolithic zirconia crowns with feather-edge margin thicknesses of 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm. Additionally, the research introduced a novel non-destructive acoustic emission testing (AET) technique in the …

The Role Of Neutrophil-To-Lymphocyte Ratio (Nlr), Lymphocyte-To-Monocyte Ratio (Lmr), And Platelet-To-Lymphocyte Ratio (Plr) In Oral Cancer And Acute Dental Infections, Sasti Priya Govindasamy Sukumar, Ravikumar Pethagounder Thangavelu, Karthik Rajaram Mohan, Ramachandra Reddy Gowda Venkatesha, Kumar Appusamy

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

Objectives: The present study was a cross-sectional observational study, which was carried out on patients reported to the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology. This study aims to evaluate the hemogram parameters NLR, LMR, and PLR among 90 Patients.

Methods: Patients were divided into 3 groups: Group A consists of 30 patients with histopathological confirmed oral cancer. Group B consists of 30 patients who presenting acute dental infections. Group C consists of 30 patients clinically healthy subjects. The hemogram parameters NLR, LMR and PLR were compared in the 3 groups and we studied their correlation to the clinical …

Ai And Radiologist Assessments On The Prevalence Of Tmj Osteoarthritis Using Radiographic Images: A Comparative Study, Louloua Mourad, Nayer Abo El Saad, Yehia El Mahallawy

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

Objectives: This study aims to address the significant discomfort and functional impairment associated with temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ OA), which negatively impacts the quality of life. It emphasizes the importance of prompt diagnosis and explores the potential of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system to enhance TMJ OA diagnosis.

Methods: The prevalence of TMJ OA was evaluated using 3 diagnostic tools: the gold standard, the AI model, and an examiner. In total, 132 patients who performed 190 cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were included.

Results: The prevalence of TMJ OA was 62.11% using the gold standard, 63.68% using …

Diagnosis And Endodontic Treatment Of Odontogenic Cutaneous Sinus Tracts: A Report Of Two Cases, Mayada Jemâa, Marwenne Bouatay, Yesmine Neifar, Mohamed Bassem Khattech

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

Introduction: The odontogenic cutaneous sinus tract (OCST), caused by pulp necrosis, creates connections between pathological spaces and anatomical structures. Extraoral manifestations pose diagnostic challenges leading to inappropriate treatments such as multiple surgery and antibiotic therapies. Effective management requires the treatment of dental pathology through endodontic therapy or extraction. This paper presents two cases of OCST and emphasizes the importance of accurate diagnosis and successful non-surgical endodontic treatment.

Observations: Case report 1: A 23-year-old male patient referred by his dermatologist with a cutaneous sinus tract on his chin that had appeared five years ago. During this period, he reported …

Endocrown, From Preparation To Bonding: Case Report, Amira Yousfi, Rihab Dakhli, Jilani Saafi, Belhassen Harzallah

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

The restoration of endodontically treated teeth is a real challenge, particularly teeth with extensively damaged coronal tissues. The use of post-retained restorations has been discussed because of the potential tooth weakening due to the additional removal of sound dental structures. In fact, long-term prognosis of a devitalized tooth is closely related to the coronal restoration’s quality and the remaining dental structure. With the development of adhesive dentistry and minimally invasive preparation, new approaches have emerged. Among them, the endocrown which is monolithic ceramic bonded restoration, anchored to the internal portion of pulp chamber and cavity margins that have been used …

Psychedelic Expectancies And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms, Samantha Gomez

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Millions of Americans struggle with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) every year. Though typical treatments work for some, patients often drop out of treatment. Given that patients are often retelling their traumatic experiences, or confronting stimuli and situations that are relevant to the experience, psychotherapy for PTSD can be psychologically demanding and intensive. These factors provide a further understanding for the high rates of PTSD treatment attrition. Psychedelic assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is a potential option to mitigate these concerns. Preliminary research on PAP has revealed effective and promising results. However, questions about PAP and their public perception remain. Furthermore, treatment expectancies, …

Phenomenological Study Of Talented Young People In Ballet In South Korea, Kyung Hyun Park

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Talent development occurs throughout an individual’s everyday life in a complex, evolving, and dynamic way. Focusing on the developmental perspective of human talent, this study aimed to comprehensively explore the long-term learning paths of students majoring in ballet in Korea. Six research questions were investigated regarding individual talent profiles in ballet, psychological and social stressors, the role of family and home, peer relationships, educational environments, and socio-cultural context. This qualitative study conducted in-depth interviews with 20 undergraduates and 14 parents about the students’ experiences in ballet. Through reflexive thematic analysis based on a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, six themes emerged as …

The Contextual Process Of Bystander Intervention In Bias-Motivated Violent Victimization: An Experimental Approach, James Hubbell

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Hate crimes against Asian Americans and LGBT individuals have been on the rise within the U.S. in the past few years (UCR, 2024). Although these offenses tend to occur in public, numerous stories in the media highlight that few bystanders choose to intervene. To unveil why bystanders choose not to intervene, this dissertation explored the extent to which 1,001 U.S. adults engaged with the five-step situational model for bystander intervention proposed by Latané and Darley (1970). Respondents were recruited through Qualtrics and randomly assigned to a hate scenario involving one of six victims: an Asian American man, an Asian American …

Assessing Associations Between Emergency Room Visits For Respiratory And Cardiovascular Diseases And Criteria Air Pollutants Exposure In New York State, Tamba Solomon Lebbie

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Abstract

Air pollution is a major environmental health hazard for the general population. Approximately 90% of the global population is at risk of both indoor and outdoor air pollution, and it accounts for an estimated 7 million premature deaths every year according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Multiple studies including epidemiological and molecular analyses have confirmed the negative effects of air pollutants on human health even at levels within the WHO guidelines. This study examines the health impacts of releases of criteria air pollution from point sources in New York State (NYS). There is evidence from population studies that …

Stable Oxygen Isotope Variability As A Proxy For Large-Scale Dynamics Of The South American Summer Monsoon, Rebecca Orrison

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Terrestrial archives of oxygen isotope records are particularly important for the study of South American hydrology, where hydroclimate observations over the historical period are sparse and often not long enough to characterize multidecadal to centennial-scale changes. Knowledge of such low-frequency changes is critically important for interpreting and constraining projections of future change and detecting the emergence of forced change beyond the envelope of natural variability. This dissertation focuses on the past, present, and future of South American tropical and subtropical climate, with an emphasis on the mature phase of the monsoon season (December, January, and February; DJF) using oxygen isotopes …

Ribosome Hibernation Factor Induces Antibiotic Persisters Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis In Neutrophil-Rich Lung Lesions, Jamie Corro

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the etiological agent of tuberculosis, is a prescient global health threat and the leading cause of death by an infectious agent. Treatment of Mtb infection involves administering 2-4 antibiotics for a minimum of 6 months. This extended drug regimen is required to target a subpopulation of persistent bacilli. As their name implies, these bacteria can “persist” by acquiring nonhereditary and transient antibiotic tolerance. Although the precise mechanism is unknown, it’s often attributed to slowing cellular growth and metabolic processes. During zinc deprivation, bacteria can remodel their ribosomes by replacing their zinc-binding paralogues containing the CXXC motif (C+) …

Effects Of Grant Termination For Orphans, Vulnerable Children And Their Caregivers In Windhoek, Namibia, Miriam Winnie Hasheela

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Namibia faces complex child welfare policy dilemmas in providing sustainable support for the increasing number of AIDS-orphaned youth transitioning into adulthood. While Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) social grants have played a vital role in poverty alleviation and childhood development (Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, 2021), the abrupt termination of these grants for youth when they reach 18 years of age without any transitional support has posed significant risks to their well-being. While much research in Namibia (Mnubi-Mchombu and Ocholla, 2014; Van Der Brug, 2012.) has examined the impact of OVC grants on children under the …

Compassion Cartography: Mapping The Psychological Landscape Of Altruistic Equity And Effectiveness, Kyle Fiore Law

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Psychologists and philosophers have often championed deliberative reasoning over empathy as a better approach to overcoming parochial biases and guiding altruistic equity and effectiveness. Advocates of the effective altruism (EA) philosophy even advise philanthropists to downregulate empathic responses to maximize the impact of their donations. However, recent research reveals that extraordinary altruists (XAs), such as those who donate organs to strangers, are driven primarily by empathy. This dissertation explores whether empathy necessarily impedes altruistic equity (impartial regard for others’ welfare) and effectiveness (prioritizing impact), revealing a more nuanced reality that challenges this perspective. Across two phases of research involving three …

Leveraging Redundancy As A Link Between Spreading Dynamics On And Of Networks, Felipe Xavier Costa

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

A constant quest in network science has been in the development of methods to identify the most relevant components in a dynamical system solely via the interaction structure amongst its subsystems. This information allows the development of control and intervention strategies in biochemical signaling and epidemic spreading. We highlight the relevant components in heterogeneous dynamical system by their patterns of redundancy, which can connect how dynamics affect network topology and which pathways are necessary to spreading phenomena on networks. In order to measure the redundancies in a large class of empirical systems, we develop the backbone of directed networks methodology, …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Depressive Symptoms And Body Image By Race/Ethnicity And Nativity Status Among Adolescents, Radhika Prasad

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Previous research on the immigrant health paradox among children and adolescents show a mental health advantage yet it is unclear if this applies in a similar magnitude to females (Fillion et al., 2018; Zarei et al., 2023). Immigrants may be exposed to stressors related to immigration and acculturation. Some research suggests that females respond more to stress through internalizing symptoms relative to males (Hall-Lande et al., 2007; Adkins et al., 2009). Given these gender differences in stress response, female immigrants may be particularly vulnerable to the psychological consequences of immigration related stressors. The immigrant health paradox has also overlooked subjective …

The Study Of Ribosome-Amplified Metabolism, Rambo, Effect In Vitro And In Live Cells, Jianchao Yu

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Quinary interactions arise due to the extreme macromolecular crowding inside live cells. Quinary interactions affect intracellular protein stability, activity, and homeostasis. Ribosomes, traditionally known for their role in protein synthesis, have been found to engage in quinary interactions with metabolic enzymes, modulating their activity and thereby revealing a potential regulatory role for ribosomes in cellular metabolism. This phenomenon, termed the Ribosome-Amplified MetaBOlism (RAMBO) effect, was investigated in this dissertation through a series of in vitro and in vivo studies using primarily Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

Firstly, an NMR-based direct enzyme assay compatible with ribosome was developed and validated using …

The Role Of Familial Support And Gender In Asian American Students’ Stem Career Development: A Test Of Social Cognitive Career Theory, Xiao Ting Wang

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

This study, based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent et al., 1994, 2000), investigated the role of familial support in the STEM career development of Asian American college students. Participants included 446 first-year undergraduate students who identified as Asian or Asian American and had not declared an academic major. Due to multicollinearity, four initial familial support variables—instrumental assistance, career-related modeling, verbal encouragement, and emotional support—were regrouped into two: performance motivation (instrumental assistance and verbal encouragement) and career mentoring (career-related modeling and emotional support). Structural equation modeling showed acceptable fit for a modified model, and the results partially supported the …

Stabilizing Bulk Lead-Free Tin Halide Perovskites, William Rice

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

Tin halide perovskites are a growing candidate in the semiconducting materials field due to their band gap, and ability to be doped (specifically p-type doped). Halide perovskites are sensitive to light and air which causes the degradation of the material from its preferred cubic perovskite lattice. This thesis introduces a way of stabilizing bulk CsSnCl3 through the Goldschmidt tolerance factor. It will also introduce potential new ways to p-type dope halide perovskites. We attempted to p-type dope our halide perovskite by substitutional, interstitial, and vacancy doping to increase the carrier concentration to compete with current perovskites. During our trials of …