Digital Commons Network^™

Characterization Of Differential Rearing And Sex On 5-Ht2ar Receptor Activation, Kelsey Lowe

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The prevalence of substance use disorders (SUDs) continues to rise while the number of medications to combat this deadly disorder remains stagnant. Entirely new thinking about what exemplifies a possible therapeutic is needed. Hallucinogens are continually being studied more as possible treatments for many psychological conditions, including SUDs. Classic hallucinogens engage many serotonin and monoamine systems, but the hallucinogenic effects are driven by serotonin 5-HT_2A receptor (5-HT_2AR) activation. Forced social isolation induces chronic stress, increases 5-HT_2AR expression in the cortex and have been suggested to play a role in the comorbidity between stress, maladaptive coping, …

Beyond Puberty: How Artificial Hormones Impact Depression In Young Adults, Bailey Rucker

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Depression is a mood disorder that can be caused by any combination of environmental, biological, genetic, and psychological factors and affects women more than men. Over the past few decades the use of birth control has been continually increasing. To analyze whether or not the high rates of depression correlates to the use of hormonal birth control, an anonymous survey was sent out to college women which contained the Beck’s Depression Inventory as well as background information questions. The results were obtained and analyzed. After doing a T test, the P-value was calculated to be 6.261x106 and the test statistic …

Euclid’S Elements For High School Classrooms, Faith K. Hoppen

Mathematics Theses, Dissertations, Research and Student Creative Activity

What is our goal when teaching students geometry? Is it to obtain a passing grade, be able to construct geometric figures, know all of the necessary terms? I would like to propose that the purpose is to cultivate a love for the logic, art, and argument of geometry. The original geometry book written by Euclid was used as a guide for two thousand years and led many of our historical geometers to discoveries. Instead of relying on memorizing confusing acronyms for congruent figures, let's give the students an opportunity to see the work behind the properties. By using the methods …

Combining Drip Score And Rapid Diagnostics For Improved Antibiotic Stewardship, Richard Ramirez, Matthew Sims

Posters

Treatment analysis patterns for broad-spectrum antibiotic use in pneumonia revealed that 60% of patients were overtreated, highlighting the need for effective antibiotic stewardship practices. Systems such as the Drug Resistance in Pneumonia (DRIP) score select patients more likely to require broad spectrum antibiotics but still leads to overtreatment as it does not target specific pathogens. Rapid diagnostics such as the Unyvero Lower Respiratory Tract Panel (LRTP) combined with the DRIP score can identify specific pathogens to further narrow antibiotic use.

Review Of Salvage Therapy For Mrsa Bacteremia At Beaumont Health System, Hazem Alakhras, Matthew D. Sims, Tracey A.H. Taylor

Posters

Treating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) effectively is imperative to reduce mortality rates, as it contributes to a large amount of healthcare-associated bacteremia in the U.S. However, due to the insufficient and sometimes contradicting studies to guide salvage therapy, there is a lack of clear consensus on treatment of MRSA bacteremia after vancomycin failure. The goal of this study is to showcase the salvage therapies of choice for patients with MRSA bacteremia at Beaumont Health System.

Designing A Surgical Scorecard To Inform And Evaluate Appropriate Perioperative Antibiotic Prophylaxis, Rehan Tariq, Paul Chittick

Posters

Perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis (PAP) implementation is a widespread strategy used to ensure the minimization of surgical site infections (SSIs) during various surgical procedures including hip and knee replacements and organ transplants. Despite the widespread implementation of PAP, there exists a gap in understanding what is considered appropriate PAP. This may be due in part to the absence of a feedback mechanism that educates physicians on which antibiotics are truly appropriate for preventing the SSIs arising from certain surgical procedures. The goal of this project is to design an informative surgical prophylaxis scorecard that physicians can use to determine which antibiotic …

Outcomes Of Da R-Epoch Versus R-Chop In Treating Patients Diagnosed With Double-Expressor Lymphoma, Phat Duong, Ishmael Jaiyesimi

Posters

Double-expressor lymphoma (DEL) is a subtype of Diffuse Large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that is associated with poor prognosis. The standard treatment for DLBCL is rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP). It is hypothesized that the aggressive nature of DEL deserves a more intense regimen such as dose-adjusted etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin plus rituximab (DA-R-EPOCH). A comparison of outcomes between those two treatments is needed to guide clinical decisions.

Comparing Overall Survival Outcomes Of Patients Treated With Immunotherapy + Chemotherapy, Or Chemotherapy + Radiation For Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (Nsclc), Sukhmani Singh, Ishmael Jaiyesimi

Posters

Traditionally, non-small cell lung cancer has been treated with chemotherapy or surgery, and remained first line treatment until around 2015 when PDL-1 immune checkpoint immunotherapy was introduced and for many patients where it become the standard first line treatment. A few research studies comparing outcome differences between patients receiving immunotherapy versus patients who did primarily chemotherapy as first line treatment indicate increased survival benefit, however, as immunotherapy is still relatively new, longer term survival benefit and analysis of other factors is continuing to be delineated.

Demographics And Survival In Aml Patients Over 60 Years Of Age. A Single Institutional Analysi, Damilola Gbadebo, Nwabundo Anusim, Ishmael Jaiyesimi

Posters

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a malignancy of the myeloid cell line. Patients diagnosed with AML, typically exhibit symptoms of neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia. The diagnosis of AML is based on greater than 20 percent of myeloid cells in the bone marrow (1). Some risk factors for acquiring the disease include, but not limited to age, sex, smoking, exposure to certain chemicals, radiation, genetic predisposition and being treated with certain chemotherapeutic agents (2).
AML is frequently diagnosed among people between ages 65-74, with a current relative survival rate for AML being 28.7%. Men account for majority of these cases, at …

Gestational Weight Gain And The Associated Perinatal Outcomes In Middle Eastern Women, Dana Rector, Zeynep Alpay-Savasan

Posters

Gestational Weight Gain (GWG) can impact perinatal outcomes for mothers and infants, especially if the mother gains inadequate or excessive weight during pregnancy. We hypothesized that Middle Eastern women would be more likely to gain inadequate weight, compared to the general population, resulting in adverse perinatal outcomes.

Self-Triage Among Patients Who Are Homeless, Jimmy Clemmens, Jason Wasserman

Posters

People who are homeless present to urban emergency departments at a higher rate per 1000 people than those who are housed.1 With those added difficulties, people who are homeless frequently turn to Emergency Departments for primary, rather than only emergency, health care treatment.2,3 There is great need for investigation into the thought process for the self-triage of the patient who is homeless. This study was undertaken to survey adults at HOPE adult shelter about their ability to determine the most appropriate place to seek treatment for different common conditions of varying acuity, as well as to evaluate the efficacy of …

Outbreak Risks At Religious Schools: Prevalence Of Nonmedical Vaccination Exemptions Among Michigan Kindergartens, Flora Martz, Patrick Karabon, Mark C. Navin

Posters

Religious community membership is relevant to immunization policy, as in the case of 2019 US measles outbreaks clustered in Orthodox Jewish communities. US immunization policy focuses on school enrollment requirements, which apply both to public and private (usually religiously-affiliated) schools. Most US states exempt students from these requirements for nonmedical reasons, including religious reasons, though some states, including New York, California, and Maine, have recently eliminated nonmedical exemptions. This study uses 2017-18 data from the state of Michigan to illuminate relationships between nonmedical exemption (NME) rates and attendance at religious schools with the aim of providing information about high-value targets …

Conceptualization Of Evidence Used By Surrogate Decision-Makers To Determine A Patient’S Wishes, Michael Bourgoin, Zach Armstrong, Abram Brummett, Mark C. Navin, Jason Wasserman, Stephanie Swanberg

Posters

Many modern concepts within clinical bioethics can be conceptualized in various ways. This subjectivity is demonstrated when analyzing ideas in the literature about the types of evidence that can or should be used by surrogate decision-makers to determine a patient’s wishes. This project aims to explore normative claims on this topic in order to map out the current landscape of the various understandings of this concept.

Concern For Authenticity In Rational And Relational Autonomy, Joshua J. Daniel, Abram Brummett, Mark C. Navin, Jason A. Wasserman

Posters

The four principles of bioethics described by Beauchamp and Childress are beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and autonomy. Two definitions of autonomy are very commonly used: rational autonomy, which refers to a patient making decisions based on their own beliefs and customs, and relational autonomy, which refers to shared decision making with the input of a patient’s close trusted individuals. Beauchamp and Childress described autonomous actions as those with intention, understanding, and lack of controlling factors. A fourth component that is sometimes included is authenticity, or making decisions true to one’s self. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether …

Tumor Locations Impact On Cardiac Toxicity In Women That Received Partial Breast Irradiation, Sara Diltz, Muayad Almahariq, Joshua Dilworth

Posters

Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) is an appropriate modality for select women with low-risk breast cancer. While APBI delivers radiation dose to a smaller volume of breast tissue compared to whole breast irradiation, dose to the heart and coronary vessels may be relatively high, depending on the proximity of the treatment device to these structures. The primary goal of this study is to determine if the risk of adverse cardiac events depends on tumor location in women receiving APBI.

High Dose Rate Brachytherapy Monotherapy Versus External Beam Radiotherapy With Hdr Brachytherapy Boost For Unfavorable Intermediate Prostate Cancer Patients, Doyle Lang, Benjamin Willen, Daniel J. Krauss, Sirisha R. Nandalur

Posters

Prostate cancer is the most common male malignancy by incidence in the world. Treatment differs by the patient’s risk stratification. For the treatment of unfavorable intermediate-risk prostate cancer, external beam radiotherapy with high-dose-rate brachytherapy boost was the accepted treatment but high-dose-rate brachytherapy as monotherapy has been proposed as a potentially viable treatment option. External beam radiotherapy treatment involves shooting high-energy photons or particle radiation through normal healthy tissue to hit the tumor directly. High-dose-rate brachytherapy involves inserting radioactive seeds into the tumor. Studies are needed to compare toxicity profiles and relative outcomes between the two treatment options.

The Meaning Of Pediatric Assent: A Critical Scoping Review, Natalie Liogas, Amelia Najor, Jason Wasserman, Stephanie Swanberg, Abram Brummett, Naomi Levanthal

Posters

The moral obligation to include children and adolescents in medical decisions has been long recognized. Soliciting pediatric assent is a component essential to this effort. Despite the AAP characterization of assent (AAP 1995; AAP 2016), there appears to be a lack of consensus regarding the operational and conceptual meanings of pediatric assent. This this critical scoping review provides an analysis of the varied meanings of pediatric assent in the clinical context.

Pediatric Assent In Clinical Practice: A Critical Scoping Review On The Ethical Justifications For Assent, Amelia Najor, Natalie Liogas, Jason Wasserman, Stephanie Swanberg, Abram Brummett, Naomi Laventhal, Mark C. Navin

Posters

Pediatric assent is an important ethical construct, yet there is little agreement on what precisely it means, including the ethical justifications for assent. The term is used to indicate everything from acquiescence to an analogue of informed consent itself. The primary goal of this study is to assess the range of ways that pediatric assent is specified in the clinical ethics literature, as well as what different conceptions intimate about its moral value. This systematic review will summarize the normative claims about pediatric assent in recent literature. Analysis will map divergent constructs and various moral and ethical justifications for pediatric …

Evaluating The Accuracy And Quality Of The Information On Pulmonary Rehabilitation Videos Shared On Youtube Amidst The Covid-19 Pandemic, Payaum Fotovat-Ahmadi, Bilal M. Ali, Bhavinkumar Dalal

Posters

YouTube is a visual library that is growing at incredible pace, especially with the rise of COVID-19 pandemic. Pulmonary rehabilitation refers to the rehabilitation treatment of patients with chronic pulmonary diseases. YouTube has made it possible to practice remote rehabilitation, the effectiveness of which have been proven non-inferior to traditional approaches.

Effects Of Maternal Disease History On Provisioning, Brooding, And Offspring Outcomes, Sakura Roberts

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Disease within a population has the ability to shape the development, evolution, and general performance of a species. Pathogen exposure to hosts can influence their physiology and behavioral patterns to further shape offspring immunity. Parental conditions experienced by offspring during early development can benefit survival and fitness (e.g. increasing provisioning rates), as well as help deter against similar diseases experienced by parents. By testing if parental behavior changes can better prepare offspring outcomes for disease exposure, such as disease severity or duration of infection, we can see the beneficial impacts it has on disease dynamics and host-pathogen processes. Incubation temperature, …

Molar Macrowear As A Proxy For Age In A Captive Sample Of Papio Hamadryas, Lauren Conrad

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study is methods-focused, centering around molar crown macrowear and its performance as a proxy for age in a sample of pedigreed, non-human primates. It analyzes the correlation between age-structured variables and molar wear among both males and females in a captive group of baboons. Here, I examined whether wear is significantly correlated with age-related variables (i.e., generations/cohorts) and whether the structure of the “age” dataset differed across wear categories. Because chronological age is unknown, I used documented pedigrees and parent-offspring relationships to group individuals into possible generations. I then used dental development charts to group individuals into cohorts based …

Self-Confidence And Hormonal Contraceptive Use, Abigail Doran

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Hormonal contraceptives are widely used to regulate menstrual cycles, alleviate certain symptoms linked to reproductive hormones, and prevent pregnancy. However, women who take hormonal contraceptives may experience significant physical and psychological side effects such as increased rates of depression and changes in self-image. The current study examined self-confidence in women before beginning hormonal contraceptives and two months after using them. These participants were compared to a control group of naturally cycling women who were also assessed twice. I hypothesized that women would experience decreased feelings of self-confidence in several domains of their lives, compared to the naturally cycling women. Results …

Computational Modeling Of The Fanconi Anemia Gene Network And Its Connection To Cancer, Alyssa Warren-Belford

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic condition in which the cell’s DNA repair machinery is dysregulated, significantly increasing the chances of tumorigenesis. Further research is being done in order to improve patient outcomes and incidences of cancer. Our group created a computational model of the FA DNA repair gene network, which removes interstrand crosslinks found in damaged DNA and repairs it so DNA synthesis can continue. Computer simulations show the number of DNA damage indicators decreased as the pathway continued. This was expected as the FA pathway repairs DNA damage. The goal of this project was to provide further …

Exploring A Potential Bias In Detection Of Mesopredators By Cameras, Rylee Gibson

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mesopredators, such as the raccoon (Procyon locor), Virginia opossum (Didpelphis virginiana), and striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) play crucial ecological roles as predators, prey, and disease vectors across much of the United States. Because of their importance and the way that populations of these mesopredators can dramatically increase due to human-subsidized resources, it is imperative that studies attempting to quantify mesopredator community composition are accurate and unbiased. However, it has recently been suggested that not all mammals trigger motion-activated wildlife game cameras at the same rate and for some species detection probability may be biased. My goals for this thesis were …

Minimal Carbon Requirements For Potential Colonizers Of Other Planets, Benjamin Tan

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The NASA Office of Planetary Protection regulates the safe scientific exploration of other planets. Specifically, the office enacts rules to discourage interplanetary mission practices that would lead to the contamination of Earth-originating microbial life on other planets. Interplanetary contamination jeopardizes the potential to obtain reliable scientific evidence for extraterrestrial life. In coordination with this office, the biosignatures of potential colonizers of other celestials bodies are studied. Several organisms of Earth qualify as potential colonizers of other planets.

This experiment focused on the environment of Mars in particular. Two organisms were tested: Desulfovibrio arcticus and Desulfotalea psychrophila. Both are psychrotolerant or …

Identifying Nocturnal Pollinator Diversity In Apple Orchards In Northwest Arkansas, Emily Brown

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Insects have an essential role in nature, largely in part to pollination. These animals allow for many plants to reproduce and are directly involved in many of the earth’s fruit and vegetable supply. Bees, along with many other diurnal pollinators have gained the attention of the public, which has sparked debates and change to protect them. Many nocturnal species have previously been disregarded due to the assumption that diurnal pollinators provide the only significant pollinations, although recent studies show otherwise. For example, a recent study in apples suggests that nocturnal insects increase fruit production and flower cluster pollination at comparable …

Involvement Of Chromosome Remodeling Complexes On Chromosome Segregation, Adelle Warford

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Errors in chromosome segregation during cell replication are detrimental to the health of living cells. These errors cause aneuploidy: daughter cells with an incorrect number of chromosomes, as well as polyploidy: the complete duplication of a genome. In humans, these segregation errors are responsible for many harmful diseases and disorders. Using the model organism S. cerevisiae, a double mutant was created by removing two key chromosome remodeling complexes, SWR1 and INO80, both known to independently cause aneuploidy, decreased fitness, and damages the sensitivity of a cell's DNA (Andalis et al. 2004). By creating a double mutant strain, genetic cell …

A Survey Of Medical Student Experiences During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Stephanie Gappy, Girish Nair, Dwayne Baxa

Posters

During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students switched from an in-person to virtual curriculum. This shift placed stress on medical schools to find alternatives to train students. Students relied on recorded lectures, emails, and video-conferencing to stay up-to-date with schoolwork. Understanding student experiences during the pandemic will help prepare students and administrators for repeat lockdown events. The goal of this study is to understand the experiences of medical students during the pandemic.

Laboratory Evaluation Of An Enzyme Immunoassay To Detect Coccidioides Galactomannan Antigens In Serum Samples, Anneliese Ahrens

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Introduction: Coccidioidomycosis (cocci) is an infection caused by fungal pathogens in soil of dry and arid regions in the Southwestern states of the United States. The disease can present itself anywhere in the body, but usually is found in the lungs. The symptoms are very similar to the symptoms of a bacterial or viral respiratory infection, which is one of the reasons it is commonly misdiagnosed or left untreated. The CDC reports cases to have increased 143% from 2014 to 2019, with a mortality rate of 200 deaths per year, however this is likely underreported because of the inadequacies of …

Community And Network Responses For Assisting Mobile Vulnerable Populations, Teresa C. Kulig, Allison V. Schlosser, Morgan A. Vanslyke, Laura E. Alexander, Cristián Doña-Reveco

Latino/Latin American Studies Reports

The COVID-19 crisis highlighted the increasing vulnerability of individuals, households, and communities. It has almost certainly been even more devastating for those who rely on community networks and organizations for aid but are less able to access aid networks in conditions of reduced mobility. This is the case for “mobile vulnerable populations,” among which include persons experiencing homelessness, victims of human trafficking,immigrants, refugees, and Latinos/as. This report summarizes our research with local Omaha service providers about what they need to serve mobile vulnerable populations in the community, how the pandemic has affected their ability to do so, and whether there …