Digital Commons Network^™

Constructing A State: Canals And The Transformation Of The Economy, Politics, And Finance In Nineteenth-Century New York, Youwei Xing

All Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays in economic history, unified by a focus on one of America's earliest transportation infrastructures, the canal system, in nineteenth-century New York. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the state's transformation: its economy, politics, and finance, each of which helped construct New York as the Empire State.

The first chapter studies the economic impact of canals on economic modernization from three aspects: sectoral transition, urbanization, and banking development. Contrary to much of the modern literature finds transportation infrastructure leads to decentralization, I find the opposite-evidence of centralization. Specially: (1) canal towns experienced a transition …

A Convergent Mixed Methods Study Of The Social Studies Academy In South Carolina Middle Schools, Audie Cherry

All Dissertations

There is a global labor shortage in the agricultural industry and middle school is a critical time to get students serious about career decision making. The Studies of Occupations, Culture, and Innovations toward Agricultural Literacy (SOCIAL) Studies Academy is a high impact professional development program in South Carolina that provides experiences and for middle school social studies teachers (N = 12) to become more suited to teach their standards associated with the agricultural sciences with hopes of encouraging more students to pursue agricultural careers. This study was a mixed-methods convergent parallel design that examined 1) Academy Fellows (n = 4) …

Factors Influencing Swift Fox Reintroduction Success To Fort Belknap Reservation, Montana, Dana Nelson

All Dissertations

Reintroductions are an important conservation tool for reestablishing wildlife populations, and studying the factors influencing reintroduction outcomes is important to improving success rates over time. Swift fox are a small canid native to the short- and mixed grass prairies of western North America that have experienced severe population declines due to habitat loss and poisoning in the late 1800s. While swift fox now occupy approximately 40% of their historic range, reintroduction to northern Montana may promote the species’ long-term persistence, encourage connectivity in an existing range gap, and return species to areas where it is culturally significant. We studied the …

User Perceptions On Health: Three Cases Of Senior-Friendly Cities, Soomin Kim

All Dissertations

Senior issues have been rapidly rising in contemporary society since the Baby Boomer generation started retiring. Their change in socio-economic status is giving rise to several new social phenomena, one of which is senior isolation. For urban planners and designers, this new wave of senior isolation necessitates a fresh approach and reevaluation of formal urban environments.

This research proposes three questions around senior isolation. First, a) what aspects of the built environment contribute to senior isolation and loneliness in urban and suburban environments, and b) what are the effects of each on senior populations concerning the risk of isolation and …

Management Of Aromatase Inhibitor-Associated Bone Loss (Aibl) In Women With Hormone-Sensitive Breast Cancer: An Updated Joint Position Statement Of The Iof, Cabs, Ects, Ieg, Esceo, Ims, And Siog, Peyman Hadji, Matty Aapro, Nasser Al-Dagri, Majed Alokail, Emmanuel Biver, Maria Luisa Brandi, Cyrille Confavreux, Bernard Cortet, Matthew Drake, Peter Ebeling, Erik Fink Eriksen, Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, Theresa A Guise, Nick C Harvey, Andreas Kurth, Bente Langdahl, Willem Lems, Radmila Matijevic, Eugene Mccloskey, Rossella Nappi, Santiago Palacios, Georg Pfeiler, Jean-Yves Reginster, René Rizzoli, Daniele Santini, Sansin Tuzun, Catherine Van Poznak, Tobias De Villiers, M Carola Zillikens, Robert Coleman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Women with hormone-responsive breast cancer who receive adjuvant endocrine treatment with aromatase inhibitors (AI) are known to be at higher fracture risk due to a marked increase in bone resorption. In 2017, several interdisciplinary cancer and bone societies involved in the management of women with AI-associated bone loss (AIBL) published a joint position statement comprising evidence-based recommendations and a practical management algorithm for the assessment of fracture risk and optimal treatment of this patient population.

Patients and methods: In order to provide updated recommendations that reflect recent advances in the assessment and management of AIBL since publication of the …

Orp2 Regulates Free Cholesterol Accumulation In Hepatocytes During Mash, Jin Wu, Yudi Zhao, Liwen Qiu, Qiaoli Chen, Xiaowei Wang, Yan Liang, Hong-Yu Wang, Yang Liu, Xiaoqin Wu, Shuai Chen, Feng-Jung Chen, Mingming Gao, Hongyuan Yang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Cholesterol crystals in hepatocytes are known to strongly associate with human metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. However, it remains unclear which molecular pathway(s) regulates free cholesterol accumulation and the formation of cholesterol crystals in hepatocytes. In cultured cell lines, oxysterol-binding protein-related protein 2 (ORP2) functions to deliver cholesterol to the plasma membrane from endosomal compartments.

Methods: Here, we generated liver-specific ORP2 knockout (ORP2-LKO) mice and characterized their metabolic phenotypes on chow and high-fat diet.

Results: The ORP2-LKO mice developed much more severe hepatic steatosis than floxed control mice after high-fat diet feeding. They also demonstrated more severe liver inflammation and damage. …

Clinical And Dosimetric Considerations For Yttrium-90 Glass Microspheres Radioembolization Of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma, Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma, And Metastatic Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: Recommendations From An International Multidisciplinary Working Group, Marnix Lam, Riad Salem, Beau Toskich, S Cheenu Kappadath, Carlo Chiesa, Paul Haste, Edward Kim, Thomas Leung, Siddharth A Padia, Bruno Sangro, Daniel Y Sze, Etienne Garin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: The TheraSphere Global Steering Committee reconvened to review clinical data and address knowledge gaps related to treatment and dosimetry in non-HCC indications using Yttrium-90 (90Y) glass microspheres.

Methods: A PubMed search was performed. References were reviewed and adjudicated by the Delphi method. Recommendations were graded according to the degree of recommendation and strength of consensus. Dosimetry focused on a mean dose approach, i.e., aiming for an average dose over either single or multicompartment volumes of interests. Committee discussion and consensus focused on optimal patient selection, disease presentation, liver function, tumour type, tumour vascularity, and curative/palliative treatment intent for intrahepatic …

Optimization Of Mhealth Behavioral Interventions For Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: The Health4cll Study, Che Young Lee, Max J Gordon, Melissa M Markofski, Emily C Lavoy, Susan K Peterson, Sara Fares, Margaret Pace, Danielle Walsh, Alessandra Ferrajoli, Karen Basen-Engquist

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: This pilot study of a diet and physical activity intervention (HEALTH4CLL) was conducted to reduce fatigue and improve physical function (PF) in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Methods: The HEALTH4CLL study used a randomized factorial design based on the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST). Patients received diet, exercise, and body weight management instructional materials plus a Fitbit and were randomized to undergo one of 16 combinations of 4 evidence-based mHealth intervention strategies over 16 weeks. Patients' fatigue, PF, health-related quality of life, behavior changes, and program satisfaction and retention were assessed. Paired t-tests were used to examine changes in …

Development Of A Multi-Institutional Dataset To Validate A Novel Inflammatory Breast Cancer Diagnostic Score, Filipa Lynce, Samuel M Niman, Megumi Kai, Sean Ryan, Elizabeth Troll, Kathy D Miller, Ginny Mason, Beth A Overmoyer, H T Carisa Le-Petross, Faina Nakhlis, Savitri Krishnamurthy, Beth T Harrison, Susie X Sun, Eren D Yeh, Jennifer R Bellon, Laura E Warren, Michael C Stauder, Meredith M Regan, Wendy A Woodward

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Susan G. Komen, the Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) Research Foundation, and the Milburn Foundation convened patient advocates, clinicians, and researchers to propose novel quantitative scoring rubrics for IBC diagnosis. In this study, we developed a multi-institutional clinical dataset to test and validate the proposed scoring system.

Methods: IBC (N = 988) and non-IBC (N = 332) cases were identified at 2 institutions with dedicated multidisciplinary IBC programs. The non-IBC cohort included consecutive cT4b and cT4c patients. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) were developed for all ambiguous findings and languages. Three different methods were used for the imputation of missing data, …

Master Protocol Design With Hybrid Control For Efficient Early-Phase Trial Consolidation, Alexander M Kaizer, Xiaojiang Zhan, Eric Baron, Rui Sammi Tang, David S Hong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Master protocols represent transformations, enabling multiple therapies or diseases under a single protocol. These designs streamline therapeutic development by reducing redundancies. Suited for evolving fields such as oncology and global emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, master protocols have been exemplified by studies such as RECOVERY, Solidarity, and I-SPY 2, which accelerated effective treatment identification (with I-SPY 2 focused on molecular subtypes). Recent oncology examples, such as MORPHEUS, evaluate immunotherapy combinations with shared controls. Despite advantages, their application in early-phase oncology remains underutilized amid growing regulatory emphasis on randomization for robust evidence.

Methods: US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) …

Bard: A Seamless Two-Stage Dose Optimization Design Integrating Backfill And Adaptive Randomization, Yixuan Zhao, Rachael Liu, Jianchang Lin, Ying Yuan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

One common approach for dose optimization is a two-stage design, which initially conducts dose escalation to identify the maximum tolerated dose, followed by a randomization stage where patients are assigned to two or more doses to further assess and compare their risk-benefit profiles to identify the optimal dose. A limitation of this approach is its requirement for a relatively large sample size. To address this challenge, we propose a seamless two-stage design, BARD (Backfill and Adaptive Randomization for Dose Optimization), which incorporates two key features to reduce sample size and shorten trial duration. The first feature is the integration of …

Dynamic Long-Term Prediction With Intermediate Event Information: A Flexible Model With Bivariate Time-Varying Coefficients, Yunyi Wang, Wen Li, Ruosha Li, Jing Ning

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The integration of time-to-intermediate event data and the evolving characteristics of patients to enhance long-term prediction has garnered significant interest, driven by the wealth of data generated from longitudinal cohorts. In this paper, we propose sequential/dynamic prediction rules by using regression models with time-varying coefficients. We introduce a class of dynamic models that not only incorporates intermediate event information but also leverages information across different landmark times. To address the challenge of right-censoring, we employ an inverse weighting technique in the estimation process. We establish the asymptotic properties of the estimated parameters and conduct extensive simulations to assess the finite …

Mitophagy’S Impacts On Cancer And Neurodegenerative Diseases: Implications For Future Therapies, Jason Huang, Vincent Truong Pham, Shaozi Fu, Gang Huang, Ya-Guang Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Substantial evidence supports an inverse relationship between cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), but few studies investigate the biological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. While previous explanations-such as inflammation, reactive oxygen species (ROS), genetic mutations, and cell death-remain significant, they ultimately converge on mitophagy. This review identifies mitophagy as a pivotal factor in the development of both cancer and NDDs, while also evaluating specific mechanisms and processes to clarify how mitophagy connects these opposing disease trajectories. By examining these factors, we aim to uncover the underlying mechanisms that explain the inverse relationship between cancer and NDDs, which will help develop therapeutic strategies …

Patient, Physician, And Assessor Blinding In Phase Iii Randomized Trials In Oncology: A Meta-Epidemiological Analysis, Gabrielle Brown, Pavlos Msaouel, Avital M Miller, Ramez Kouzy, Timothy A Lin, Ethan B Ludmir

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Blinding mitigates bias in randomized trials and may be especially crucial for surrogate endpoints, such as progression-free survival (PFS). Here, we characterize utilization of and factors associated with blinding in Phase III oncology trials with PFS primary endpoints.

Methods: Two-arm, superiority-design trials investigating systemic therapy were identified in May 2024 from ClinicalTrials.gov with no date limitation. Trials were required to have a PFS primary endpoint. The study outcomes were the presence of double-blind designs and blinded independent central review (BICR) for the primary endpoint. Ninety-five percent credible intervals for binary outcomes were estimated from beta distributions, and multivariable logistic …

Provider Attitudes And Perspectives On Rehabilitation For Pediatric Cancer Patients, Maria C Swartz, Eduardo Gonzalez Villarreal, Keri Schadler, Donna Kelly, Alakh P Rajan, Shiming Zhang, Amy Heaton, Karen M Moody

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PurposeTwenty percent of childhood cancer survivors experience physical function impairments, and ∼75% develop a chronic health condition. Physical and occupational therapists (PT/OTs) can mitigate these late effects, yet few children receive cancer rehabilitation (CR). This research aimed to identify provider attitudes and perspectives towards CR services for children across inpatient and outpatient settings at a cancer center.MethodsThree cardiac rehabilitation instruments were adapted to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding CR delivery. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize participant survey results.ResultsTwenty administrators, 20 physicians/advanced practice providers (APPs), and 20 PT/OTs completed surveys. All disciplines strongly agreed on the value of CR …

Film Measurements Of Kilovoltage X-Ray Percentage Depth Doses For Different Energies And Field Sizes, Tze Yee Lim, Dershan Luo, Jamshid Moradi-Kurdestany, Xin Wang, Ramesh Tailor

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: Kilovoltage x-ray therapy, which includes superficial x-rays and orthovoltage x-rays, is particularly suited for treatments near the skin surface. Radiation dose deposition at depth is typically characterized by percentage depth dose (PDD) curves. However, PDD data are difficult to obtain in kilovoltage x-ray therapy, hence clinics often rely on British Journal of Radiology Supplement 25 (BJR-25) archival data. This study measured PDD for different energies and field sizes on the Xstrahl 300 kilovoltage x-ray therapy unit for comparison with BJR-25 data.

Methods: We irradiated EBT3 film in water using different energy and field size combinations, then, compared the acquired …

Bayesian Counterfactual Machine Learning Individualizes Radiation Modality Selection To Mitigate Immunosuppression, Duo Yu, Michael J Kane, Yiqing Chen, Steven H Lin, Radhe Mohan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Purpose: Lymphocytes play critical roles in cancer immunity and tumor surveillance. Radiation-induced lymphopenia (RIL) is a common side effect observed in patients with cancer undergoing chemoradiation therapy (CRT), leading to impaired immunity and worse clinical outcomes. Although proton beam therapy (PBT) has been suggested to reduce RIL risk compared with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), this study used Bayesian counterfactual machine learning to identify distinct patient profiles and inform personalized radiation modality choice.

Methods: A novel Bayesian causal inferential technique is introduced and applied to a matched retrospective cohort of 510 patients with esophageal cancer undergoing CRT to identify patient profiles …

A Phase 2 Trial Of Cpx-351 Combined With Venetoclax In Relapsed Or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Tapan M Kadia, Wei-Ying Jen, Alex Bataller, Alexandre Bazinet, Gautam Borthakur, Wei Qiao, Koichi Takahashi, Ghayas C Issa, Courtney D Dinardo, Guillermo Montalban-Bravo, Naveen Pemmaraju, Andrew Tran, Vanthana Bharathi, Sanam Loghavi, Amin M Alousi, Uday Popat, Naval G Daver, Farhad Ravandi, Hagop M Kantarjian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Outcomes in patients with relapsed/refractory (RR) AML are poor. We sought to investigate if CPX-531 in combination with venetoclax (CPX + VEN) was tolerable and effective in RR AML. This was a single institution phase 1b/2 trial of CPX + VEN. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with RR AML who were fit for intensive chemotherapy were eligible. Prior venetoclax exposure was allowed. The phase 1b portion followed a 3 + 3 design to identify the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) for the expansion cohort. At the starting dose level of −1, prolonged myelosuppression was observed, leading to dose level −2 …

Efficacy And Safety Of Oral Decitabine/Cedazuridine In The Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukaemia Subpopulations From Phase 2 And 3 Studies, Michael R Savona, Olatoyosi Odenike, Gail J Roboz, Harshad Amin, Amy E Dezern, Kim-Hien Dao, Bhavana Bhatnagar, Rena Buckstein, Brian Leber, Mary-Margaret Keating, Somedeb Ball, Aram Oganesian, Yuri Sano, Harold N Keer, Guillermo Garcia-Manero

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTis) are commonly used in treating chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML); however, data from prospective studies of DNMTis in CMML are limited. The present analysis evaluated the efficacy, safety and pharmacodynamics of the oral DNMTi decitabine/cedazuridine in the subset of patients with CMML from the phase 2 and 3 trials, which led to the approval of this agent for myelodysplastic syndromes and CMML in the United States and Canada. Potential prognostic factors also were analysed. In all, 34 patients with CMML were screened and 33 were treated. Most patients (76% [n = 25]) had myelodysplastic type-CMML and 77% …

Inhibition Of Methylthioadenosine Phosphorylase Protects From Experimental Acute Kidney Injury, Afaf Saliba, Yidong Chen, Jonathan W Nelson, Abhinav Vetcha, Wei Wei Wang, Nagarjunachary Ragi, Hamid Rabb, W Brian Reeves, Kumar Sharma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) is a key enzyme in purine metabolism that may influence cellular responses to injury. We evaluated the effects of prophylactic MTAP inhibition in mouse models of ischemia-reperfusion and cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). MTAP inhibition was confirmed by accumulation of methylthioadenosine (MTA). Treated mice showed reduced renal injury and decreased tubular damage. Transcriptomic analysis revealed protection from inflammatory and stress pathways, while maintaining oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism, and epithelial integrity-related genes. Analysis of human single-cell RNA-seq data from the Kidney Precision Medicine Project indicated that MTAP is highly expressed in kidney injury marker-positive adaptive proximal tubule …

Tert Promoter Mutations And Survival Outcomes In Adult-Type Granulosa Cell Tumors, Allison L Brodsky, Alejandra Flores Legarreta, Bryan M Fellman, Deanna Glassman, Jeffrey How, Anil K Sood, David Gershenson, R Tyler Hillman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: To evaluate survival outcomes among patients with adult-type granulosa cell tumors who have telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using the MD Anderson Rare Gynecologic Malignancy Registry. Patients with adult granulosa cell tumors who underwent molecular testing for TERT promoter and FOXL2 c.C402G mutations were included. We used descriptive statistics to compare demographic and clinical variables and estimated progression-free and overall survival with Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox proportional hazards regression and log-rank tests were employed for comparisons, with multivariable analyses adjusting for various factors.

Results: Among 70 patients, 28 (40%) had TERT+ tumors. …

Single-Cell Proteomic Analysis Reveals Multiple Myeloma Heterogeneity And The Dynamics Of The Tumor Immune Microenvironment In Precursor And Advanced States, Mohamed Kamal, Stephanie N Shishido, Jeremy Mason, Krina Patel, Elisabet E Manasanch, Peter Kuhn

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an aggressive hematologic malignancy arising from plasma cell (PC) proliferation in the bone marrow, progressing from its precursor states MGUS and SMM. Despite therapeutic advances, MM remains incurable, underscoring the need for better risk stratification and early detection. Tumor heterogeneity and dynamic immune microenvironment changes drive progression, yet bulk analyses overlook rare subpopulations critical to disease evolution and resistance. This study employed multiplexed targeted proteomics to characterize bone marrow aspirates (BMA) from 22 patients to observe the change in the distribution of PCs and tumor immune microenvironment (TiME) cells across MM disease states and controls. Bone …

Nature-Inspired Metaheuristics For Optimizing Dose-Finding And Computationally Challenging Clinical Trial Designs, Weng Kee Wong, Yevgen Ryeznik, Oleksandr Sverdlov, Ping-Yang Chen, Xinying Fang, Shouhao Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Metaheuristics are commonly used in computer science and engineering to solve optimization problems, but their potential applications in clinical trial design have remained largely unexplored. This article provides a brief overview of metaheuristics and reviews their limited use in clinical trial settings. We focus on nature-inspired metaheuristics and apply one of its exemplary algorithms, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, to find phase I/II designs that jointly consider toxicity and efficacy. As a specific application, we demonstrate the utility of PSO in designing optimal dose-finding studies to estimate the optimal biological dose (OBD) for a continuation-ratio model with four parameters …

Consensus Statement On The Prevention And Management Of Complications Of Fully Ablative Laser Resurfacing Of The Face, Bianca Y Kang, Joel L Cohen, Roy Geronemus, Suzanne L Kilmer, Edward Victor Ross, Jill S Waibel, Murad Alam, Macrene Alexiades, Kenneth A Arndt, Mathew Avram, Ashish C Bhatia, Brian Stuart Biesman, Jason D Bloom, A Jay Burns, Henry H L Chan, Catherine M Digiorgio, Jeffrey S Dover, Sam Fathizadeh, Sara C Esteves, Michael H Gold, Gerald N Goldberg, Merete Haedersdal, Elika Hoss, Omar A Ibrahimi, H Ray Jalian, Kristen M Kelly, Woraphong Manuskiatti, Lisa A Marks, Girish S Munavalli, Jason N Pozner, Chris W Robb, Anthony M Rossi, Nazanin Saedi, Peter R Shumaker, Kelly Stankiewicz, Molly Wanner, Douglas C Wu, Adam J Wulkan, Arisa Ortiz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: To achieve consensus among expert laser surgeons on standards for the prevention and management of adverse events from fully ablative laser resurfacing of the face.

Materials and methods: Delphi study with two rounds of ratings and revisions until consensus was achieved. The draft set of statements was developed by a steering committee based on expert clinical experience. This was followed by two rounds of rating and revisions completed by an expert panel, then a virtual consensus meeting. In both rounds, respondents rated the draft statements on a 9-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 9 = strongly agree) and …

Celebrating The Fifth Edition Of The International Symposium On Fungal Stress – Isfus, A Decade After Its 2014 Debut, Alene Alder-Rangel, Amanda E A Rangel, Arturo Casadevall, Asiya Gusa, Chaoyang Xue, Chris Todd Hittinger, Consuelo Olivares-Yañez, Deborah Bell-Pedersen, Erica J Washington, Gerhard Braus, Guilhem Janbon, István Pócsi, Jason E Stajich, Jay C Dunlap, Joan W Bennett, Joseph Heitman, Ling Lu, Lucia Landi, Mari L Shinohara, Maurizio Del Poeta, Mavis A Acheampong, Mia R Maltz, Michael C Lorenz, Minou Nowrousian, N Louise Glass, Nichole A Broderick, Nicolás Pedrini, Nir Osherov, R Blake Billmyre, Sabrina Sarrocco, Salomé Leibundgut-Landmann, Vânia Aparecida Vicente, Xiaorong Lin, Xin-Qing Zhao, Yong-Sun Bahn, Zachary A Lewis, Drauzio E N Rangel

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Fifth International Symposium on Fungal Stress (ISFUS) brought together in Brazil many of the leaders in the field of fungal stress responses, from fourteen countries, for four days of outstanding science ranging from basic research to studies with agricultural, medical, industrial, and environmental significance. In addition to the excellent oral and poster presentations, the Symposium organisers ensured that all participants had ample opportunity to engage, socialise, and network to exchange ideas and share research. The conference was enhanced by the world-class venue near Iguazu Falls, probably the greatest natural phenomenon in South America.

Microplastics And Other Plastic-Like Microdebris In Sediments From The Dart River And Estuary, Southwest England, Maia Killian, Andrew Turner

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Surficial sediment samples (n = 10) collected from a transect of a river-estuary (Dart) in southwest England have been analysed for geochemical characteristics, anthropogenic metals (Cr, Cu, Sn, Pb, Zn), and microplastics (∼50 μm–5 mm) and other microplastic-like debris. Results indicated the finest grains towards the lower river and upper estuary, a seaward increase in sedimentary Ca, and loss on ignition ranging from about 0.7 to 4 %. Anthropogenic metals were heterogeneously distributed throughout the catchment with maximum concentrations in the river or lower estuary. Microplastics were dominated by fibres, with concentrations ranging from 110 to 1800 kg−1 and composition …

Sensing Freedom: Forensic Mental Health Ot & Service User Perspectives Of Sensory Processing & Occupational Participation, Elana Moore, Rosi Raine, Alison Warren, Karen Beaulieu

School of Health Professions

ABSTRACT SYNOPSIS:UK research explored forensic mental health occupational therapist and service user experiences of sensory processing and occupational participation. The incorporation of sensory processing information in occupation-focused practice is recommended.LEARNING OBJECTIVES:At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to appreciate the utility of an experiential approach in occupational therapy research.At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to consider how to incorporate sensory processing in occupation-focused practice.At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able understand the importance of addressing Transactionalism in occupational therapy.ABSTRACT:Purpose:The phenomenon of sensory processing is an everyday experience which occurs in …

Counteracting Cascades Challenge The Heterogeneity-Stability Relationship, Jordi Sola, Tom P. Fairchild, Matthew J. Perkins, James C. Bull, John N. Griffin

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Spatial environmental heterogeneity is widely assumed to enhance ecological stability by promoting refugia, biodiversity and asynchrony. Yet, we lack field experiments testing this fundamental relationship and its underlying mechanisms in naturally assembled multitrophic systems. To address this gap, we monitored experimental substrates replicating topographic heterogeneity on a rocky shore over 3 years. Contrary to theory, heterogeneity showed no net effect on community stability due to four counteracting pathways. Heterogeneity increased stability by (i) providing refugia that enhanced population stability and (ii) boosting species richness, which promoted asynchrony. At the same time, it decreased stability by (iii) reducing a dominant non-native …

Does Midbrain Atrophy Distinguish Progressive Supranuclear Palsy From Frontotemporal Dementia?, Mauro César Quintão E Silva Cunningham, Sarah Teixeira Camargos, Vinícius Ribeiro Jeunon, Natalia Pessoa Rocha, Antônio Lúcio Teixeira, Thiago De Oliveira Maciel, Elisa De Paula França Resende, Francisco Eduardo Costa Cardoso, Paulo Caramelli, Leonardo Cruz De Souza

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The diagnostic value of midbrain atrophy for distinguishing behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is unclear.

Objective: To investigate whether measures of midbrain atrophy differentiate PSP from bvFTD.

Methods: We included four groups: healthy controls (n = 19), PSP-Richardson syndrome (n = 20), bvFTD (n = 19) and Parkinson's disease (PD; n = 12). The following quantitative and qualitative measures were calculated: Hummingbird sign rating scale [HBS-RS], global midbrain atrophy [GMA], midbrain area, midbrain/pons ratio, the Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index (MRPI), the MRPI 2.0 and brainstem volume.

Results: Compared to controls, PSP and bvFTD had …

The Effect Of Maternal Antioxidant Vitamin Supplementation On Maternal And Cord Blood Adiponectin Concentrations, Jessica L Pippen, Paula Mcgee, James M Roberts, Leslie Myatt, Michael W Varner, Alan T N Tita, Ronald J Wapner, John M Thorp, Brian M Mercer, Beth A Plunkett, Sean C Blackwell, Anthony Sciscione, George R Saade

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adiponectin is a hormone that modulates glucose regulation and fatty acid oxidation. Low adiponectin concentration has been associated with increased insulin resistance. Studies show a beneficial effect of vitamin E supplementation on insulin sensitivity. We aimed to investigate the association of prenatal antioxidant supplementation with increased adiponectin concentrations in pregnant participants and their newborn infants.Secondary analysis of a randomized control trial of prenatal vitamin C and E supplementation to prevent preeclampsia in low-risk nulliparous participants. Plasma of participants at time of randomization (9-16 weeks gestation) and delivery, and neonatal cord blood were analyzed by specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for adiponectin …