Digital Commons Network^™

Parkinson's Disease And Other Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementia Pathologies And The Progression Of Parkinsonism In Older Adults, Aron S Buchman, Lei Yu, Shahram Oveisgharan, Andrea R Zammit, Tianhao Wang, Joshua M Shulman, Veronique Vanderhorst, Sukrit Nag, David A Bennett

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The interrelationship of parkinsonism, Parkinson's disease (PD) and other Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) pathologies is unclear.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the progression of parkinsonian signs in adults with and without parkinsonism, and their underlying brain pathologies.

METHODS: Annual parkinsonian signs were based on a modified Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. We used linear mixed effects models to compare the progression of parkinsonian signs in 3 groups categorized based on all available clinical evaluations: Group1 (never parkinsonism or clinical PD), Group2 (ever parkinsonism, but never clinical PD), Group3 (ever clinical PD). In decedents, we examined …

Inference Of Phylogenetic Trees Directly From Raw Sequencing Reads Using Read2tree, David Dylus, Adrian Altenhoff, Sina Majidian, Fritz J Sedlazeck, Christophe Dessimoz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Current methods for inference of phylogenetic trees require running complex pipelines at substantial computational and labor costs, with additional constraints in sequencing coverage, assembly and annotation quality, especially for large datasets. To overcome these challenges, we present Read2Tree, which directly processes raw sequencing reads into groups of corresponding genes and bypasses traditional steps in phylogeny inference, such as genome assembly, annotation and all-versus-all sequence comparisons, while retaining accuracy. In a benchmark encompassing a broad variety of datasets, Read2Tree is 10-100 times faster than assembly-based approaches and in most cases more accurate-the exception being when sequencing coverage is high and reference …

Neuronal Ablation Of Ghsr Mitigates Diet-Induced Depression And Memory Impairment Via Ampk-Autophagy Signaling-Mediated Inflammation, Hongying Wang, Zheng Shen, Chia-Shan Wu, Pengfei Ji, Ji Yeon Noh, Cédric G Geoffroy, Sunja Kim, David Threadgill, Jianrong Li, Yu Zhou, Xiaoqiu Xiao, Hui Zheng, Yuxiang Sun

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS), and neuroinflammation has been shown to have detrimental effects on mood and cognition. The growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), the biologically relevant receptor of the orexigenic hormone ghrelin, is primarily expressed in the brain. Our previous study showed that neuronal GHSR deletion prevents high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO). Here, we investigated the effect of neuronal GHSR deletion on emotional and cognitive functions in DIO. The neuron-specific GHSR-deficient mice exhibited reduced depression and improved spatial memory compared to littermate controls under DIO. We further examined the cortex and hippocampus, the …

Investigation Of Setmelanotide, An Mc4r Agonist, For Obesity In Individuals With Smith-Magenis Syndrome, Julia Lazareva, Stephanie R Sisley, Sheila M Brady, Ann C M Smith, Sarah H Elsea, Jeremy J Pomeroy, Christian L Roth, Jennifer E Sprague, Martin Wabitsch, Jill Garrison, Jack A Yanovski

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Smith Magenis Syndrome (SMS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by RAI1 haploinsufficiency. Obesity in people with SMS is believed partially due to dysfunction of the proximal melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) pathway. We therefore studied effects of treatment with the MC4R agonist setmelanotide on obesity and hunger, as well as metabolic, cardiac and safety, in individuals with SMS.

Methods: People with SMS received once-daily setmelanotide injections, with the dose titrated bi-weekly to a maximum of 3 mg over ∼1 month; and a full-dose treatment duration of 3mo. The primary outcome was percent change in body weight. Secondary outcomes included …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Neuroblastoma Incidence, Survival, And Racial And Ethnic Disparities From 2001 To 2019, Kevin Campbell, David A Siegel, Puja J Umaretiya, Shifan Dai, Andras Heczey, Philip J Lupo, Jeremy M Schraw, Trevor D Thompson, Michael E Scheurer, Jennifer H Foster

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: We characterize the incidence and 5-year survival of children and adolescents with neuroblastoma stratified by demographic and clinical factors based on the comprehensive data from United States Cancer Statistics (USCS) and the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR).

METHODS: We analyzed the incidence of neuroblastoma from USCS (2003-2019) and survival data from NPCR (2001-2018) for patients less than 20 years old. Incidence trends were calculated by average annual percent change (AAPC) using joinpoint regression. Differences in relative survival were estimated comparing non-overlapping confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS: We identified 11,543 primary neuroblastoma cases in USCS. Age-adjusted incidence was 8.3 per …

Weak Effects Of Prebiotically Plausible Peptides On Self-Triphosphorylation Ribozyme Function, Joshua T. Arriola, Shayan Poordian, Estefanía Martínez Valdivia, Tommy Le, Luke J. Leman, Joan G. Schellinger, Ulrich F. Müller

Chemistry and Biochemistry: Faculty Scholarship

Catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) were central to early stages of life on earth. The first ribozymes probably emerged in the presence of prebiotically generated peptides because amino acids can be generated under abiotic conditions, and amino acids can oligomerize into peptides under prebiotically plausible conditions. Here we tested whether the presence of prebiotically plausible peptides could have aided the emergence of ribozymes, by an in vitro selection of self-triphosphorylation ribozymes from random sequence in the presence of ten different octapeptides. These peptides were composed of ten different, prebiotically plausible amino acids, each as mixture of D- and L-stereoisomers. After five rounds …

Remote Multi-Person Heart Rate Monitoring With Smart Speakers: Overcoming Separation Constraint, Ngoc Doan Thu Tran, Dong Ma, Rajesh Krishna Balan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Heart rate is a key vital sign that can be used to understand an individual’s health condition. Recently, remote sensing techniques, especially acoustic-based sensing, have received increasing attention for their ability to non-invasively detect heart rate via commercial mobile devices such as smartphones and smart speakers. However, due to signal interference, existing methods have primarily focused on monitoring a single user and required a large separation between them when monitoring multiple people. These limitations hinder many common use cases such as couples sharing the same bed or two or more people located in close proximity. In this paper, we present …

Attitudes And Perceptions Towards Privacy And Surveillance In Australia, Aleatha J. Shanley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Understanding attitudes towards privacy and surveillance technologies used to enhance security objectives is a complex, but crucial aspect for policy makers to consider. Historically, terrorism-related incidents justified the uptake of surveillance practices. More recently however, biosecurity concerns have motivated nation-states to adopt more intrusive surveillance measures. There is a growing body of literature that supports the public’s desire to maintain privacy despite fears of biological or physical threats.

This research set out to explore attitudes towards privacy and surveillance in an Australian context. Throughout the course of this endeavour, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged bringing with it a variety of track …

Geographies Of Storage, Sayd Randle

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Resource storage has long played a key role in the production of socio-ecological arrangements and economic relations. Even so, storage as a concept has remained somewhat marginal within geographical scholarship, often obscured by an analytical focus on the dynamics of movement. Reviewing recent works from geography, science and technology studies, and anthropology that center sites and practices of storage, this essay elaborates the diverse ways in which storage arrangements mediate resource circulation and the production of space. This literature demonstrates that thinking systematically with storage can illuminate a range of novel temporal, material, and value entanglements in-the-making, pointing to potentially …

Expression Of Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (Gdf-15) In Placental Tissue Of Full- Term Pregnant Women With Hypertensive Disorders In A Western Australian Population, Elsa H. L. Chew

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Women who experience hypertensive pregnancy disorders (HPDs) during pregnancy, mainly pre-eclampsia (PE), are four times more likely to develop hypertension after pregnancy and therefore have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the future. Pregnancy involves a high level of cardiovascular stress and the development of some complications. This has the potential to increase a woman’s susceptibility to vascular or metabolic disease risk in the future. In this research, pre-eclampsia (PE) and pregnancyinduced hypertension (PIH) were representatives of HPDs and were analysed together for the expression of Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF-15) relative to their healthy agematched controls.

GDF-15 …

The Food And Habitat Effects Of Detrital Kelp As A Trophic Subsidy To Seagrass-Inhabiting Mesograzers, Jessica Billinghurst

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Seascapes are connected through the transfer of energy from the movement of fauna, detritus, and nutrients among habitats. This exchange of resources can influence food web dynamics in the recipient system, increasing productivity and biodiversity, thus creating spatial subsidies. Spatial subsidies are usually characterised by the transfer of resources from highly productive donor systems to lower productive recipient systems. However, recent work suggests that recipient systems with comparably high productivity, such as seagrass meadows, may benefit from spatial subsidies. Kelp is regularly eroded from reefs and provides a vector for nutrient and detrital transfer to seagrass meadows, where it can …

Novel Methods For Assessing Pulmonary And Cardio-Vascular Limitations To Aerobic Performance In Older And Younger Populations, Toni Haddad

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Around the world, life expectancy is increasing, the ageing population is growing, and maintaining quality of life at an older age currently represents a major global challenge. While ‘successful ageing’ relies on a variety of factors, aerobic performance and exercise capacity are key determinants and attenuating their decline is of the utmost importance. The decrease in maximal oxygen consumption is often considered as a major determinant explaining the age[1]related decline in aerobic performance. Yet, multiple physiological systems are impaired with ageing and their contribution to aerobic limitation in older individuals is unclear. Understanding how the limitations to aerobic performance may …

Western Australian Mothers' Experiences Of Breastfeeding Support In Hospital After Birth: A Mixed Methods Study, Justine Van Der Watt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: The benefits of breastfeeding are well established for infants, mothers and the community, with the World Health Organisation recommending that infants be exclusively breastfed up to six months of age with an achievable goal of 70% globally. Yet in Australia only 15-37% may be reaching that goal. There have also been reported benefits and desires for mothers to be supported with their breastfeeding in order to increase and prolong breastfeeding duration and exclusivity, especially early after birth. However, there is limited research or literature exploring what experiences mothers are having with breastfeeding support, especially during their hospital admissions in …

Preparing For End Of Life In A New Country: A Grounded Theory Study On African Migrants Living In Australia, Gertrude Gondwe Phiri

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

African migration to Australia has grown in the past 20 to 25 years with many migrants staying permanently. This has led to migrants dying away from their birthplaces where family is responsible for end-of-life care planning for the individual. Although migrating to Australia is considered a great achievement, many migrants also experienced challenges. Previous studies have explored the barriers faced by migrants in relation to end-of-life care but have not addressed the cause of those challenges. This constructivist grounded theory study examines how migrants from three African countries, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (MZZ) prepare for end-of-life in Australia. The study …

Prevalence Trends Of Foodborne Pathogens, Bacillus Cereus, Non Stec Escherichia Coli And Staphylococcus Aureus In Ready-To-Eat Foods Sourced From Restaurants, Cafés, Catering And Takeaway Food Premises, Nicole Foxcroft

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The foodborne pathogens of Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), non STEC Escherichia coli (non STEC E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) are currently non-notifiable in Australia unless attributed to a food poisoning outbreak. Due to the lack of data around individual cases and isolations in foods, any changes in prevalence may go undetected. The aim of the study was to determine any changes in prevalence of B. cereus, non STEC E. coli and S. aureus in ready-to-eat foods (RTE) sampled from Western Australian restaurants, cafés, catering facilities, and takeaway food premises during the period July 2009 to June 2022. The …

First-Line Chemoimmunotherapy And Immunotherapy In Patients With Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer And Brain Metastases: A Registry Study, Lauren J. Brown, Victor Khou, Chris Brown, Marliese Alexander, Dasantha Jayamanne, Joe Wei, Lauren Gray, Wei Chan, Samuel Smith, Susan Harden, Antony Mersiades, Lydia Warburton, Malinda Itchins, Jenny H. Lee, Nick Pavlakis, Stephen J. Clarke, Michael Boyer, Adnan Nagrial, Eric Hau, Ines Pires Da Silva, Steven Kao, Benjamin Y. Kong

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Brain metastases commonly occur in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Standard first-line treatment for NSCLC, without an EGFR, ALK or ROS1 mutation, is either chemoimmunotherapy or anti-PD-1 monotherapy. Traditionally, patients with symptomatic or untreated brain metastases were excluded from the pivotal clinical trials that established first-line treatment recommendations. The intracranial effectiveness of these treatment protocols has only recently been elucidated in small-scale prospective trials. Methods: Patients with NSCLC and brain metastases, treated with first-line chemoimmunotherapy or anti-PD-1 monotherapy were selected from the Australian Registry and biObank of thoracic cancers (AURORA) clinical database covering seven institutions. The primary …

Microbes Of Biotechnological Importance In Acidic Saline Lakes In The Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, Katelyn Boase, Talitha Santini, Elizabeth Watkin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Acidic salt lakes are environments that harbor an array of biologically challenging conditions. Through 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and ITS amplicon sequencing of eight such lakes across the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia, we aim to understand the microbial ecology of these lakes with a focus on iron- and sulfur-oxidizing and reducing microorganisms that have theoretical application in biomining industries. In spite of the biological challenges to life in these lakes, the microbial communities were highly diverse. Redundancy analysis of soil samples revealed sulfur, ammonium, organic carbon, and potassium were significant diversities of the microbial community composition. The most abundant …

Shifting Soil Fungal Communities In Response To Fire And Weed Management In Urban Banksia Woodlands, Aaron Justin Brace

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research aims to fill the knowledge gap in soil fungi in the Banksia woodland and emphasizes considering holistic ecosystem dynamics in invasive species management strategies. This is accomplished by surveying soil fungi under different fire regime across the Swan Coastal Plain, and within both in and ex situ herbicide application trials. This is the first such study to investigate the fungal component of the Banksia woodland so thoroughly. Chapter 2 quantified and analysed changes in soil fungal community composition and functional groups over a 50-year fire chronosequence in fire-prone Banksia woodland in southwestern Australia. Effects were variable, but fungal …

Crop Yield Using Novel Parametric L-System Plant Modelling, Christopher Cameron Napier

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research considers a system for the recognition of real plant parts through image analysis based upon synthetic plant modelling. It aims to use data pipelines and synthetic datasets to define recognizable features that assist in the efficient analysis of real plants and plant images. This research asks about the efficacy of L-systems in accurately simulating wheat crop characteristics. It specifically focusses on readable, understandable, accurate, and complex L-system algorithms. The research examines wheat crops in terms of phenotypes and examines the accuracy of a dataset in support of real image annotation. The methodology used was experimental in nature and …

Overall And Non- Lung Cancer Incidence And Mortality In The National Lung Screening Trial: Opportunities For Multi-Cancer Early Detection, Alpa V. Patel, Ellen T. Chang, Allan Hackshaw, Sam M. Janes, Diana S.M. Buist, Earl Hubbell, Christina A. Clarke, Graham A. Colditz

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Negligence In Biomedical Research: An Anti-Racist Approach For Substance Use Researchers, Jonathan Lehman, Danniella Balangoy, Angie P Mejia, Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez, Scott Marek, Anita C Randolph

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Racism is embedded in the fabric of society at structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, and interpersonal levels, working as a mechanism that drives health disparities. In particular, stigmatized views of substance use get entangled with racialization, serving as a tool to uphold oppressive systems. While national health institutions have made commitments to dismantle these systems in the United States, anti-racism has not been integrated into biomedical research practice. The ways in which substance use researchers use and interpret race data-without engaging in structural racism as a mechanism of health inequity-can only be described as inadequate. Drawing upon concepts from the Public Health …

Systematic Computer-Aided Disulfide Design As A General Strategy To Stabilize Prefusion Class I Fusion Proteins, Karen J Gonzalez, Kevin C Yim, Jorge C G Blanco, Marina S Boukhvalova, Eva-Maria Strauch

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Numerous enveloped viruses, such as coronaviruses, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), utilize class I fusion proteins for cell entry. During this process, the proteins transition from a prefusion to a postfusion state, undergoing substantial and irreversible conformational changes. The prefusion conformation has repeatedly shown significant potential in vaccine development. However, the instability of this state poses challenges for its practical application in vaccines. While non-native disulfides have been effective in maintaining the prefusion structure, identifying stabilizing disulfide bonds remains an intricate task. Here, we present a general computational approach to systematically identify prefusion-stabilizing disulfides. Our method assesses the geometric …

A Global Scoping Review Of Adaptations In Nurturing Care Interventions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Lidia Godoi, Simone Schenkman, Ana A Baumann, Aylene Bousquat, Gabriela Buccini

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, children faced a disproportionate burden of malnutrition and poor health outcomes. Nurturing care interventions (NCIs) including actions toward good health, adequate nutrition, responsive care, opportunities for early learning, and security and safety are critical for promoting equity. Due to the need for evidence-based responses and preparedness, we analyzed adaptations in NCIs' implementation strategies during COVID-19 according to the Framework for Reporting Adaptations and Modifications to Evidence-based Implementation Strategies (FRAME-IS).

METHOD: We conducted a global scoping review including peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed literature. The databases searched were PubMed, Embase, Scopus, BVS, Scielo, and Web of Science. This …

Persistent Elevation Of Plasma Markers Of Cellular Senescence After Hip Fracture: A Pilot Longitudinal Study, Eric J Lenze, Ginger E Nicol, George A Kuchel, Michael S Avidan, Breno S Diniz

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Hip fractures may result from and contribute to accelerated biological aging. We aimed to evaluate the impact of hip fracture and its surgery on the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) index, a composite of peripheral protein markers where higher scores are thought to indicate greater levels of cellular senescence and accelerated aging.

METHODS: We examined the SASP index in plasma over 12 weeks post-surgery and its prediction of long-term post-surgical functional outcomes. We included 60 older adults: 20 recruited immediately after hip fracture surgery, and 40 comparison individuals who were either healthy or suffering chronic psychosocial stress (caregiving). We assessed …

The Role Of Brainstem Biopsy And Targeted Therapies In Pediatric Diffuse Midline Glioma/Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, Shehryar R Sheikh, Violette M R Recinos, Eric M Thompson, Ross Mangum, Mariah Wright-Nadkarni, Bradley Gampel, Neha J Patel

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Pediatric diffuse midline glioma (DMG), including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), are aggressive brainstem tumors with a dire prognosis, traditionally diagnosed based on MRI characteristics. The recognition that molecular characteristics may determine prognosis and response to therapy has led to a reevaluation of biopsy necessity. This comprehensive review addresses the evolving role of brainstem biopsies in diagnosing and managing these tumors - both within the context of a clinical trial and in routine clinical care. We examine practice variability around brainstem biopsies for DMG/DIPG, revealing a global inconsistency in biopsy application and perceptions amongst providers. We show that safety profiles …

Case Report: Targeted Treatment By Fluoxetine/Norfluoxetine Of A Kcnc2 Variant Causing Developmental And Epileptic Encephalopathy, Ping Li, Alice Butler, Yu Zhou, Karl L Magleby, Christina A Gurnett, Lawrence Salkoff

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Kv3.2 subfamily of voltage activated potassium channels encoded by the

The Risks Of Unconcern: Low Sensitivity To Threat Can Have Unfortunate Consequences, Stephen L Ristvedt

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Each one of us is confronted with warnings of danger or threats to wellbeing in our everyday life, whether in the form of certain road signs, Public Service Announcements, ominous changes in bodily functioning, or cautionary tales heard from family or friends. There is great inter-individual variation in how people respond to such threats, with some people habitually tending to ignore or dismiss them, often to their peril. The first purpose of the present paper is to review several studies showing that individuals-most often men-who score very low on measures of trait anxiety are more likely to engage in behaviors …

Campylobacter Colonization And Undernutrition In Infants In Rural Eastern Ethiopia — A Longitudinal Community-Based Birth Cohort Study, Dehao Chen, Nurmohammad Shaik, Mark J Manary, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND:

METHODS: We followed a birth cohort of 106 infants in rural smallholder households in eastern Ethiopia up to 13 months of age. We measured anthropometry, surveyed sociodemographic determinants, and collected stool and urine samples. A short survey was conducted during monthly visits, infant stool samples were collected, and

RESULTS: The

CONCLUSION: This study found that most determinants associated with increased

Unraveling The Role Of Hif And Epigenetic Regulation In Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Implications For Clinical Research And Its Therapeutic Approach, Ankita Mitra, Dan Yi, Zhiyu Dai, Vinicio De Jesus Perez

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by pulmonary vascular remodeling with high pulmonary pressure, which ultimately leads to right heart failure and premature death. Emerging evidence suggests that both hypoxia and epigenetics play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of PAH development. In this review article, we summarize the current developments in regulation of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) isoforms in PAH vascular remodeling and the development of suitable animal models for discovery and testing of HIF pathway-targeting PAH therapeutics. In addition, we also discuss the epigenetic regulation of HIF-dependent isoforms in PAH and its therapeutic potential from a new perspective …

2023-2024 Georgia Southern University Women's Swimming And Diving Roster, Georgia Southern University

Women's Swimming Records

No abstract provided.