Digital Commons Network^™

Scale-Dependent Topographic Complexity Underpins Abundance And Spatial Distribution Of Ecosystem Engineers On Natural And Artificial Structures, Franz Bauer, Antony M. Knights, John N. Griffin, Mick E. Hanley, Andy Foggo, Austin Brown, Emma Jones, Louise B. Firth

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

In response to ongoing coastal urbanization, it is critical to develop effective methods to improve the biodiversity and ecological sustainability of artificial shorelines. Enhancing the topographic complexity of coastal infrastructure through the mimicry of natural substrata may facilitate the establishment of ecosystem engineering species and associated biogenic habitat formation. However, interactions between ecosystem engineers and their substratum are likely determined by organismal size and resource needs, thus making responses to topography highly scale-dependent. Here, we assessed the topographic properties (rugosity, surface area, micro-surface orientations) that underpin the abundance and distribution of two ecosystem engineers (fucoids, limpets) across six spatial scales …

The Association Between Long Non-Coding Rnas And Alzheimer’S Disease, Carson M. Black, Anneliesse A. Braden, Samia Nasim, Manish Tripathi, Jianfeng Xiao, Mohammad Moshahid Khan

School of Medicine Publications

Neurodegeneration occurs naturally as humans age, but the presence of additional pathogenic mechanisms yields harmful and consequential effects on the brain. Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is a composite of such factors. Despite extensive research to identify the exact causes of AD, therapeutic approaches for treating the disease continue to be ineffective, indicating important gaps in our understanding of disease mechanisms. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are an endogenous class of regulatory RNA transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides, involved in various regulatory networks, whose dysregulation is evident in several neural and extraneural diseases. LncRNAs are ubiquitously expressed …

In Vitro Antibacterial, Antibiofilm Activities, And Phytochemical Properties Of Posidonia Oceanica (L) Delile: An Endemic Mediterranean Seagrass, Ertugrul Ozbil, Mehmet Ilktac, Sultan Ogmen, Ovgu Isbilen, Jesus M Duran Ramirez, Jennifer N Walker

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the antibiotic resistance era, utilizing understudied sources for novel antimicrobials or antivirulence agents can provide new advances against antimicrobial resistant pathogens. In this study, we aimed to investigate antibacterial and antibiofilm activities of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile against Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 700603 and several S. aureus clinical isolates obtained from medical devices, including patient urinary catheters and breast implant infections, with varying antibiotic recalcitrance profiles. The ethanolic and methanolic extracts from P. oceanica rhizome exhibited significant antibacterial activity against E. faecalis and S. aureus, as well …

Hematopoietic Growth Factors Regulate The Entry Of Monocytes Into The Adult Brain Via Chemokine Receptor Ccr5, Xuefang Sophie Ren, Junchi He, Songruo Li, Heng Hu, Michele Kyle, Li-Ru Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Monocytes are circulating macrophage precursors generated from bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells. In adults, monocytes continuously replenish cerebral border-associated macrophages under physiological conditions. Monocytes also rapidly infiltrate the brain in pathological settings. The mechanisms of recruiting monocyte-derived macrophages into the brain under pathological conditions have been extensively studied. However, it remains unclear how monocytes enter the brain to renew border-associated macrophages under physiological conditions. Using both in vitro and in vivo approaches, this study reveals that a combination of two hematopoietic growth factors, stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), complementarily and synergistically enhances the adhesion of monocytes …

The Sod1 Inhibitor, Lcs-1, Oxidizes H2s To Reactive Sulfur Species, Directly And Indirectly, Through Conversion Of Sod1 To An Oxidase, Zhilin Ma, Prentiss Jones, Jon Fukuto, Gang Wu, Karl D Straub

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

LCS-1, a putative selective inhibitor of SOD1, is a substituted pyridazinone with rudimentary similarity to quinones and naphthoquinones. As quinones catalytically oxidize H2S to biologically active reactive sulfur species (RSS), we hypothesized LCS-1 might have similar attributes. Here, we examine LCS-1 reactions with H2S and SOD1 using thiol-specific fluorophores, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), UV–vis spectrometry, and oxygen consumption. We show that LCS-1 catalytically oxidizes H2S in buffer solutions to form RSS, namely per- and polyhydrosulfides (H2Sn, n = 2–6). These reactions consume oxygen and produce hydrogen peroxide, but they do not have an EPR signature, nor do …

Improving Winter Survival Of Interspecific Hybrid Bermudagrass In The Mid-Atlantic Region Through Cultural Practices, Joseph R. Doherty, W. J. Hutchens, Jordan C. Booth, David S. Mccall, Michael V. Battaglia, Eric J. Deboer, Joseph A. Roberts

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Winter injury can cause significant loss of hybrid bermudagrasses [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. × C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy] in the transition zone. Current research has focused on high-value, low-acreage areas like putting greens, but those practices are impractical to implement on golf course fairways. To that end, multi-year research projects were conducted at three sites across Maryland and Virginia to investigate the influence of annual N fertility [2.0 lb N 1000 ft⁻² (early summer application) or 4.0 lb N 1000 ft⁻² (split applied early and late summer)] across multiple fall mowing heights (0.5 inches, 0.8 inches, or 1 …

Chatgpt And Google Assistant As A Source Of Patient Education For Patients With Amblyopia: Content Analysis, Rohan Jhangiani

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: We queried ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Google Assistant about amblyopia and compared their answers with the keywords found on the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) website, specifically the section on amblyopia. Out of the 26 keywords chosen from the website, ChatGPT included 11 (42%) in its responses, while Google included 8 (31%).

Objective: Our study investigated the adherence of ChatGPT-3.5 and Google Assistant to the guidelines of the AAPOS for patient education on amblyopia.

Methods: ChatGPT-3.5 was used. The four questions taken from the AAPOS website, specifically its glossary section for amblyopia, are as follows: (1) What …

Coal Wettability: A Holistic Overview Of The Data Sets, Influencing Factors, And Knowledge Gaps, Muhammad Arif, Faisal Ur Rahman Awan, Haiyang Zhang, Mirhasan Hosseini

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Coal seams are naturally occurring geological media offering tremendous potential for gas storage. The wetting characteristics of coals at typical geological formations underpin a diverse array of processes spanning coal resource recovery, combustion, enhanced coal beneficiation, enhanced methane recovery, and CO2 storage for sustainable energy transition. An accurate characterization of coal wettability is thus crucial and remains an active area of research. The intrinsic heterogeneity of coal surfaces and the presence of multicomponent systems add layers of intricacy to wetting behavior. In particular, coal wettability characterization is challenging because it is a complex and multifaceted function of a range of …

Comparison Of Olympic And Safety Squat Bar Barbells On Force, Velocity, And Rating Of Perceived Exertion During Acute High-Intensity Back Squats In Recreationally Trained Men, Noah Staheli, Jeffrey C. Cowley, Marcus M. Lawrence

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 17(7): 1120-1133, 2024. This study examined using a traditional Olympic (OL) or safety squat bar (SSB) barbell on force, velocity, and perceived exertion during an acute session of high-intensity back squats in adults. Twelve recreationally trained men (23.0±2.6 years; 88.3±19.1 kg) randomly completed two sessions of 3 sets of 6 repetitions at the same absolute load using the OL barbell or SSB barbell. Force and velocity were measured on every repetition and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was assessed for each set. A two-way ANOVA (set x barbell) with repeated measures and Sidak post-hoc test …

Ronald E. Mcnair Scholars Program Profiles And Abstracts 2024, Mcnair Scholars Program

McNair Symposium

This is the complete event program and provides presentation abstracts and biographies of McNair scholars and their mentors.

Spontaneous Interatrial Hematoma: Still An Unresolved Critical Conundrum, Fayaz Mohammed Khazi, Imthiaz Manoly, Nayyer R Siddiqi, Tarek Abdel Aziz, Obaid Aljassim

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Spontaneous interatrial hematoma is a rare clinical entity leading to the obliteration of the left atrial cavity and causing haemodynamic compromise, necessitating immediate surgical intervention. Herein, we report a patient with acute chest pain with normal coronaries and echocardiographic evidence of left atrial mass. The investigations revealed the mass to be a thrombus rather than tumour. The patient underwent surgery to remove a large thrombus completely enclosed within the interatrial septum. The septum was then repaired using a pericardial patch. No apparent etiological factor was found. Spontaneous atrial wall dissection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute chest …

Patent Law’S Role In Protecting Public Health, Sean B. Seymore

Notre Dame Law Review

Innumerable inventions implicate public health—including drugs, vaccines, dietary supplements, and sewage treatment plants. Over the past century, the Patent Office and the courts have modulated the ability to obtain or enforce patents for these inventions—whether in response to a public health crisis or to protect the credulous public from unscrupulous inventors. While normative and policy-based arguments can justify these interventions, they’ve disrupted the delicate balance of two competing policy objectives in patent law—enhancing public welfare and promoting innovation. This Article offers a new approach for courts to protect public health in patent cases—by making public health an affirmative defense to …

Gender Differences In Relations Between Social Comparison, Social Support, And Sleep Disturbance Among Midlife And Older Adults., Iris Bercovitz, Gabrielle M Salvatore, Jacqueline A Mogle, Danielle Arigo

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between sleep disturbance, social support, and social comparison among midlife and older adults, including the moderating role of gender.

METHODS: Adults ages ≥40 years (N = 557, MAge = 57, 53% men) completed a cross-sectional survey including validated measures of sleep disturbance, perceptions of social support, and social comparison orientation.

RESULTS: Sleep disturbance was negatively associated with social support (rs = −0.42 to–0.33, ps = 0.001) and associations were stronger for men than women–particularly perceived support from friends (η 2= 0.01). Sleep disturbance was also associated with upward comparison orientation (r = 0.12, p = 0.003), …

Thriving Transitions: Supporting Children With Autism Through Their Transition To School, Jennica Cano, Angela Blackwell

Summer 2024 OTD Capstone Symposium

Thriving Transitions is an educational guidebook created for parents of children with autism who are transitioning to school. Thriving transitions contains evidence and sensory based strategies for children with autism who are transitioning to school.

Recruitment And Retention Of Physician Assistants In Rural Medicine: A Novel Approach, Sean Grabbe

Theses and Graduate Projects

Improving the health of patients requires having access to well trained medical providers. This is one of the main goals of the physician assistant profession. For many years research has documented how to recruit and retain physician assistants in the rural areas of the United States. Although created to fill the gaps in primary care medicine physician assistants have moved as all of medicine has into specialization. This gap in primary care has not closed and is most significant in rural areas. This paper reviews the plethora of research and elaborates on the known and best methods for recruitment and …

Promoting Your Scholarship To Researchers For Increased Visibility And Altmetrics: Implications For Tenure And Promotion, Barbara M. Pope

Faculty Submissions

Getting the word out about your scholarship is fundamental to researchers in your field being able to read it and augments the possibility of downloads and citations your work, as well as higher altmetrics scores. There are easy, no cost ways you can publicize your articles and books, including being able to deposit copies of your scholarship in our Digital Commons, where it can be seen by scholars around the world. There are also implications for tenure and promotion of faculty, because you may include data about your scholarship, such as downloads, citations, and altmetrics in your dossier. Bring a …

Knockdown Of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Ii Receptor Impairs Ovulation Rate, Corpus Luteum Development, And Progesterone Production In Gilts, Amy T. Desaulniers, Rebecca Cederberg, Clay A. Lents, Brett White

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Reproduction is classically controlled by gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH-I) and its receptor (GnRHR-I) within the brain. In pigs, a second form (GnRH-II) and its specific receptor (GnRHR-II) are also produced, with greater abundance in peripheral vs. central reproductive tissues. The binding of GnRH-II to GnRHR-II has been implicated in the autocrine/paracrine regulation of gonadal steroidogenesis rather than gonadotropin secretion. Blood samples were collected from transgenic gilts, with the ubiquitous knockdown of GnRHR-II (GnRHR-II KD; n = 8) and littermate controls (n = 7) at the onset of estrus (follicular) and 10 days later (luteal); serum concentrations of 16 steroid hormones …

Vaginitis And Risk Of Sexually Transmitted Infections: Results Of A Multi-Center U.S. Clinical Study Using Sti Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing, Jane R Schwebke, Paul Nyirjesy, Melissa Dsouza, Damon Getman

SKMC Student Presentations and Publications

Significant increases in rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) caused by Trichomonas vaginalis (TV), Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) are occurring in the United States. We present results of a U.S. study examining the intersection of STIs and vaginitis. Among 1,051 women with diagnoses for the presence or absence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and/or symptomatic vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), 195 (18.5%) had one or more STIs, including 101 (9.6%) with TV, 24 (2.3%) with CT, 9 (0.8%) with NG, and 93 (8.8%) with MG. STI prevalence in BV-positive women was 26.3% (136/518), significantly higher than STI …

Seismic Structure Of The Alaska And Mariana Subduction Zones From Amphibious Data, Zongshan Li

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation utilizes multiple techniques of seismic tomography to investigate the crust and uppermost mantle structure of two prominent convergent margins: the Alaska and Mariana subduction zones. The study of the Alaska subduction zone largely benefits from the Alaska Amphibious Community Seismic Experiment (AACSE) that deployed from May 2018 to September 2019, as well as the EarthScope Transportable Array (TA) that was simultaneously operating across Alaska. Using 271 seismic stations in total, I analyze the Rayleigh wave phase and group velocity dispersion data retrieved from both ambient noise and teleseismic earthquake data. I then determine the shear velocity model by …

Technology, Tradition, And “The Terror Of The People”, Darrell A.H. Miller, Alexandra Filindra, Noah Kaplan, Craig M. Burnett

Notre Dame Law Review

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, the Supreme Court mandated a text, history, tradition, and analogy–only approach to Second Amendment cases.

No longer can policymakers rely on empirical data alone to carry their litigation burden. Now such data must conform to a still-emerging “historical tradition of firearm regulation” to meet constitutional muster. Some despair that reams of data, careful experiments, and rigorous statistical analyses no longer have any relevance to the gun debate.

But those that claim that Bruen signals the end of empirically grounded policy solutions badly misread the opinion. Empirical studies can still …

Diverse Originalism, History & Tradition, Christina Mulligan

Notre Dame Law Review

The Supreme Court’s New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen decision appears to be an originalist opinion, ostensibly looking for the meaning of the Constitution’s text by looking to the public’s understanding of the language used. But Bruen's test actually fails to follow a public meaning originalist methodology. The Court focuses present-day constitutional interpreters on evidence of constitutional meaning that only reflects a portion of the public—the politically empowered men who were in a position to pass legislation. Two unfortunate outcomes follow. First, by limiting potential evidence of public meaning so severely, the Court raises the risk …

Malivhu: A Comprehensive Bioinformatics Resource For Filtering Sars And Mers Virus Proteins By Their Classification, Family And Species, And Prediction Of Their Interactions Against Human Proteins, David Guevara-Barrientos, Rakesh Kaundal

Computer Science Student Research

COVID 19 pandemic is still ongoing, having taken more than 6 million human lives with it, and it seems that the world will have to learn how to live with the virus around. In consequence, there is a need to develop different treatments against it, not only with vaccines, but also new medicines. To do this, human-virus protein-protein interactions (PPIs) play a key part in drug-target discovery, but finding them experimentally can be either costly or sometimes unreliable. Therefore, computational methods arose as a powerful alternative to predict these interactions, reducing costs and helping researchers confirm only certain interactions instead …

“(Mis)Information Creation As A Process”: A Method For Teaching Critical Media Literacy, Winn W. Wasson

Librarian Publications

In January 2019, I taught a condensed credit-bearing media literacy course for undergraduates based on the ACRL Frame, “Information Creation as Process”. My main learning objective was to teach students to recognize accurate information, misinformation, and disinformation in the news and on social media, not by naming them as such, but by: 1) exposing students to the process through which news goes from field observations to a published or broadcast story, and 2) exploring current social and cognitive psychology research on how humans evaluate whether to believe the information they consume. The course ended with a discussion of healthy information …

Development Of Vla4 And Cxcr4 Antagonists For The Mobilization Of Hematopoietic Stem And Progenitor Cells, Peter G Ruminski, Michael P Rettig, John F Dipersio

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The treatment of patients diagnosed with hematologic malignancies typically includes hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) as part of a therapeutic standard of care. The primary graft source of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) for HSCT is mobilized from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood of allogeneic donors or patients. More recently, these mobilized HSPCs have also been the source for gene editing strategies to treat diseases such as sickle-cell anemia. For a HSCT to be successful, it requires the infusion of a sufficient number of HSPCs that are capable of adequate homing to the bone marrow niche and …

Neuronal Activity In The Gustatory Cortex During Economic Choice, Ahmad Jezzini, Camillo Padoa-Schioppa

2020-Current year OA Pubs

An economic choice entails computing and comparing the values of individual offers. Offer values are represented in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-an area that participates in value comparison-but it is unknown where offer values are computed in the first place. One possibility is that this computation takes place in OFC. Alternatively, offer values might be computed upstream of OFC. For choices between edible goods, a primary candidate is the gustatory region of the anterior insula (gustatory cortex, GC). Here we recorded from the GC of male rhesus monkeys choosing between different juice types. As a population, neurons in GC represented the …

5Β-Dihydrosteroids: Formation And Properties, Trevor M Penning, Douglas F Covey

2020-Current year OA Pubs

5β-Dihydrosteroids are produced by the reduction of Δ

Cyp2d6 Copy Number Determination Using Digital Pcr, Wendy Y. Wang, Lancy Lin, Erin C. Boone, Junko Stevens, Andrea Gaedigk

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: CYP2D6 testing is increasingly used to guide drug therapy and thus, reliable methods are needed to test this complex and polymorphic gene locus. A particular challenge arises from the detection and interpretation of structural variants (SVs) including gene deletions, duplications, and hybrids with the CYP2D7 pseudogene. This study validated the Absolute Q™ platform for digital PCR-based CYP2D6 copy number variation (CNV) determination by comparing results to those obtained with a previously established method using the QX200 platform. In addition, protocols for streamlining CYP2D6 CNV testing were established and validated including the "One-pot" single-step restriction enzyme digestion and a multiplex …

Assessing Healthcare Interventions: Impact Of Covid-19 Precautions On Hospital Acquired Infections, Judeil Krlan Teus, Lucinda Mithen, Heidi Green, Alison Hutton, Ritin Fernandez

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Personal protective equipment (PPE) has played a fundamental role in protecting healthcare workers and patients, but its effectiveness in reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) during the pandemic remains a subject of debate. This systematic review and meta-analysis explores the impact of COVID-19 precautions on HAIs and its implications for future practice.

Preceptor Toolkit Effects On New Graduate Nurse Orientation Experience, Ashley Dunnier

MSN Capstone Projects

The role of the nurse preceptor is vital to the successful onboarding of new graduate nurses to the organization. By focusing on preceptor support methods in addition to the established nursing preceptor programs, organizations can improve the nurse preceptor’s confidence and competency levels. The opportunities for improvement, solution recommendation, timeline, and associated costs are provided in this summary.

Many organizations have seen an increase in new graduate nurses leaving their jobs within their first year of hire. The transition period of new graduate nurses is often a period of transition shock while they acclimate into professional practice from academia (Fink …

Improving Palliative Care Knowledge In The Acute Care Setting, Laura C. Brumett

MSN Capstone Projects

Aim: The aim of this paper is to present an education intervention for bedside nursing staff to improve their palliative care knowledge and the end-of-life care provided for terminally ill patients.

Background: When dying in the hospital, patients experience higher discomfort, lower quality of life, and prolonged family grieving. Suffering worsens when patient needs are unmet and can contribute to a traumatic death. Providing end-of-life education will increase a nurse’s knowledge of palliative care, address knowledge gaps, and promote better patient outcomes through improved clinical practice.

Design: The proposed intervention has three prongs which include: (1) virtual training using the …