Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Human Papillomavirus Genotype Concordance Within Zambian Couples, Kgomotso Makhaola

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is strongly associated with the development of cervical cancer, and has also been identified in other anogenital cancers such as penile, oral, and anal cancers. In regions like Sub Saharan Africa where the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is high,   increased rates of HPV infections have also been observed, however the effect of HIV/AIDS on the transmission of HPV is not yet well understood.  In this study specimens for HIV, HPV testing and pathology were collected from male participants and their female partners at a Urology department in Lusaka University Teaching Hospital, Zambia. Seventy four samples were collected but …

Neuromagnetic Measures Of Word Processing In Bilinguals And Monolinguals, Yingying Wang, Jing Xiang, Jennifer Vannest, Tom Holroyd, Daria Narmoneva, Paul Horn, Yinhong Liu, Douglas Rose, Ton Degrauw, Scott Holland

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Objective: This study aimed to use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the question of whether Mandarin-English bilingual speakers recruit the same cortical areas or develop distinct language-specific networks without overlaps for word processing.

Methods: Eight healthy Mandarin-English bilingual adults and eight healthy English monolingual adults were scanned while single-word paradigms were audio-visually presented.

Results: Our results showed significantly stronger beta-band power suppression in the right inferior parietal lobe (IPL) covering the supramarginal gyrus (BA 40) and angular gyrus (BA 39) for bilinguals when processing Mandarin versus English. Moreover, there were no significant differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the left inferior …

Advances And Future Challenges In Adenoviral Vector Pharmacology And Targeting, Reeti Khare, Christopher Y. Chen, Eric A. Weaver, Michael A. Barry

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Adenovirus is a robust vector for therapeutic applications, but its use is limited by our understanding of its complex in vivo pharmacology. In this review we describe the necessity of identifying its natural, widespread, and multifaceted interactions with the host since this information will be crucial for efficiently redirecting virus into target cells. In the rational design of vectors, the notion of overcoming a sequence of viral “sinks” must be combined with re-targeting to target populations with capsid as well as shielding the vectors from pre-existing or toxic immune responses. It must also be noted that most known adenoviral pharmacology …

Sleep Assessments In Healthy School-Aged Children Using Actigraphy: Concordance With Polysomnography, Karen Spruyt, David Gozal, Ehab Dayyat, Adrienne Roman, Dennis L. Molfese

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Actigraphic recordings (ACT) are widely used in school children as a less intrusive and more extended approach to evaluation of sleep problems. However, critical assessment of the validity and reliability of ACT against overnight polysomnography (NPSG) are unavailable. Thus, we explored the degree of concordance between NPSG and ACT in school-aged children to delineate potential ACT boundaries when interpreting pediatric sleep. Non-dominant wrist ACT was simultaneously recorded with NPSG in 149 healthy school-aged children (4.1 to 8.8 years old, 41.7% boys and 80.4% Caucasian) recruited from the community. Analyses were limited to the Actiware (MiniMitter-64) calculated parameters originating from 1-min …

Assessment Of Pathways For The Introduction And Spread Of Mycobacterium Bovis In The United States, Katie Portacci, Jason Lombard, Lauren Abrahamsen, Eric Bush, Charles Fossler, Robert Harris, Kamina Johnson, Ryan S. Miller, Dianna Mitchell, Randy Pritchard, Steven Sweeney, Todd Weaver

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

Bovine tuberculosis (TB) was responsible for more losses among U.S. farm animals in the early 20th century than all other infectious diseases combined. The Cooperative State-Federal Tuberculosis Eradication Program (established in 1917 and administered by APHIS, State animal health agencies, and U.S. livestock producers) has nearly eradicated bovine TB from the nation’s livestock population. However, despite the many accomplishments of the program, bovine TB remains a serious and costly disease of livestock in the United States. In 1992, VS conducted an assessment to identify pathways for the introduction and spread of bovine TB, in order to develop the most effective …

The Traumatic Stress Response In Child Maltreatment And Resultant Neuropsychological Effects, Kathryn R. Wilson, David J. Hansen, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Child maltreatment is a pervasive problem in our society that has long-term detrimental consequences to the development of the affected child such as future brain growth and functioning. In this paper, we surveyed empirical evidence on the neuropsychological effects of child maltreatment, with a special emphasis on emotional, behavioral, and cognitive process–response difficulties experienced by maltreated children. The alteration of the biochemical stress response system in the brain that changes an individual’s ability to respond efficiently and efficaciously to future stressors is conceptualized as the traumatic stress response. Vulnerable brain regions include the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, the amygdala, the hippocampus, and …

Organs Watch: Possibilities And Perils For Public Anthropology, Roberto Abadie

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Recent technological advances in biomedicine have introduced new therapeutic possibilities but have also contributed to the emergence of a global market for human bodies and body parts. For example, artificial modes of human reproduction created a market for eggs, semen, and surrogate wombs. In addition, organ transfer generated a demand for kidneys and half livers. The whole body has become a valuable commodity as professional research subjects venture into the economy of Phase I Clinical Trials, testing drug safety for pharmaceutical companies. In the process, the trade has become a deeply unequal one in which poor, vulnerable, and easily exploited …

Policy And Practice: An Analysis Of The Implementation Of Supported Employment In Nebraska, Heng-Hsian N. Liu

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Supported employment (SE) is an evidence-based practice (EBP) for persons with severe mental illness (SMI) aimed at competitive employment.  SE has a large evidence base, demonstrating outcomes across settings and populations. SE has been promoted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) and widely disseminated through the internet via a “community tool-kit” sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The SE literature expresses the opinion that state governments can successfully implement SE.  Researchers have developed implementation guidelines and identified stages of statewide implementation; however, most SE implementation …

Factors Affecting Space Use Overlap By White-Tailed Deer In An Urban Landscape, W. David Walter, Jeff Beringer, Lonnie P. Hansen, Justin W. Fischer, Joshua J. Millspaugh, Kurt C. Vercauteren

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Variation in the size and overlap of space use by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) has broad implications for managing deer–human conflicts and disease spread and transmission in urban landscapes. Understanding which factors affect overlap of home range by various segments (i.e., age, sex) of an urban deer population has implications to direct contact between deer on disease epidemiology. We assessed size of home range and overlap of space use using the volume of intersection index (VI) for deer in an urban landscape by sex, age, season, and time of day. We found mean space use was larger for …

The Evolution Of Prophy Paste, Caren M. Barnes

College of Dentistry: Faculty Publications

Dental hygienists have many products to choose from when deciding which prophy paste is best for each patient. To date, the evidence supporting prophy pastes formulated to remineralize enamel or eliminate dentinal hypersensitivity is somewhat unclear. Most of the research has been conducted in vitro among environments that do not accurately simulate clinical conditions. Additional clinical research performed in vivo is needed to provide the evidence base necessary for effective clinical decision making.

Low Levels Of Hydrogen Peroxide Stimulate Corneal Epithelial Cell Adhesion, Migration, And Wound Healing, Qing Pan, Wen-Ya Qiu, Ya-Nan Huo, Yu-Feng Yao, Marjorie F. Lou

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

PURPOSE. Intracellular reactive oxygen species have been reported to associate with growth factor and integrin signalings in promoting cell adhesion in many cell types. This study is to explore if exogenous H2O2 at low levels can be beneficial to cell adhesion, migration, and wound healing.

METHODS. Primary rabbit corneal epithelial cells treated with 0–70 M H2O2 were tested for viability by MTT assay, adhesion by centrifugation assay, focal contacts of vinculin and F-actin by immunofluorescence, activated Src(pY416), EGF receptor (pY845), vinculin(pY1065), FAK(pY397), and FAK(pY576) by immunoblotting. Cell migration was examined with 0–50 M H2O2 using the scratch wound technique. Corneal …

Olanzapine And Risperidone Disrupt Conditioned Avoidance Responding By Selectively Weakening Motivational Salience Of Conditioned Stimulus: Further Evidence, Chen Zhang, Yiru Fang, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Suppression of conditioned avoidance response is a preclinical behavioral index of antipsychotic activity. Previous work shows that olanzapine and risperidone disrupt avoidance response elicited by a less salient conditioned stimulus (CS2) to a greater extent than avoidance elicited by a more salient stimulus (CS1), suggesting that antipsychotic drugs may have a weakening action on motivational salience of stimuli. In the present study, we further examined this mechanism of antipsychotic action, focusing on the possible impact of baseline difference of CS1 and CS2 response rates on the avoidance-disruptive effect of olanzapine and risperidone. Rats were first trained to acquire avoidance responding …

Juror Perceptions Of Juveniles Transferred To Criminal Court: The Role Of Generic Prejudice And Emotion In Determinations Of Guilt, Megan Beringer Jones

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Research examining juror perceptions of juveniles tried as adults has provided mixed results, with some studies providing evidence of bias against juveniles tried as adults, and others finding no evidence of this bias.  The present research aimed to clarify this issue by examining the roles of generic prejudice and emotion in jurors’ judgments of juveniles tried as adults.  Study 1 assessed which stereotypes people associate with juveniles tried as adults compared to juveniles tried in juvenile court and adults tried in criminal court.  Study 2 examined to what extent angry, fearful, sad, and neutral mock jurors used these stereotypes to …

Ready, Set...Pitch: Marketing Yourself Like An Entrepreneur, Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

Great elevator pitches are created to sell your idea, business, product or service in 30 seconds or less (the time it takes to go from the first floor to the top of the building in an elevator). It’s important to develop and practice an effective pitch so you are ready to use it under fire. When you step onto an elevator with Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you want to be prepared! This worksheet will help you create an amazing pitch!!

Sleep Duration, Sleep Regularity, Body Weight, And Metabolic Homeostasis In School-Aged Children, Karen Spruyt, Dennis L. Molfese, David Gozal

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: The goal was to explore the effects of duration and regularity of sleep schedules on BMI and the impact on metabolic regulation in children.

METHODS: Sleep patterns of 308 community-recruited children 4 to 10 years of age were assessed with wrist actigraphs for 1 week in a cross-sectional study, along with BMI assessment. Fasting morning plasma levels of glucose, insulin, lipids, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein also were measured for a subsample.

RESULTS: Children slept 8 hours per night, on average, regardless of their weight categorization. A nonlinear trend between sleep and weight emerged. For obese children, …

Prevalence And Natural History Of Neuropsychiatric Syndromes In Veteran Hospice Patients, Elizabeth R. Goy, Linda Ganzini

United States Public Health Resources

Context. Prospective studies are needed to adequately describe the overall impact of neuropsychiatric syndromes on the course of hospice enrollment in outpatient settings.

Objectives. To determine the prevalence and natural history of delirium, cognitive impairment, alcohol abuse, anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation (SI) in community-dwelling veteran hospice patients.

Methods. Home hospice patients were visited regularly from enrollment until their deaths, study withdrawal, or discharge from hospice. Family caregivers gave consent for those with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores less than or equal to 23. Measures included the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV for depression (past and current) …

Behavioral Health Providers And Electronic Health Records: An Exploratory Beliefs Elicitation And Segmentation Study, Nancy C. Shank

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is a public policy strategy to improve healthcare quality and reduce accelerating health care costs. Much research has focused on medical providers’ perceptions of EHRs, but little is known about those of behavioral health providers. This research was informed by the theory of reasoned action, and the technology acceptance model. This mixed methods research was conducted in two studies. The first study interviewed behavioral health providers (n = 32) to elicit beliefs about EHRs. Using the elicited beliefs from the first study, a survey of 38 Likert-scaled belief statements was administered to …

Sensory Evaluation Of Ice Cream Made With Prebiotic Ingredients Substituted For Sugar, Jennifer M. Wood

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that beneficially affect the host by selectively stimulating growth and/or activity of beneficial bacteria in the colon. The project objective was to determine consumer acceptability of ice cream with prebiotic ingredients substituted for part of the sugar and to determine sensory attributes of sweetness, smoothness, and vanilla flavor. A commercial ice cream mix was made substituting 0%, 10%, 20%, or 30% of the sugar for either fructooligosaccharides (FOS) or inulin. Sensory analyses were conducted using 95 non-trained panelists. Overall consumer acceptability and sensory attributes were measured on a 175 mm anchored hedonic scale. When 10% …

Characterization Of Igg And Ige Binding To Parvalbumin Derived From Commercially Important Fish Species, P. Lee, Julie A. Nordlee, S. J. Koppelman, J. L. Baumert, Steve L. Taylor

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Rationale: Parvalbumin is recognized as pan-allergen in fish and frog. However, previous studies demonstrated that the IgE- and IgG-binding patterns to parvalbumins vary depending on the fish species. We aimed to use 3 anti-parvalbumin IgG and human IgE to investigate the contributing factors for the binding differences.

Methods: Indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and IgG immunoblotting were used to determine the reactivity of the polyclonal anti-cod parvalbumin antibody and the commercially available, monoclonal anti-frog and anti-carp parvalbumin antibodies against raw muscle extracts of 25 fish species. Additionally, sera from 46 individuals with clinical history of fish allergy were analyzed for …

Ready, Set...Pitch: Marketing Yourself Like An Entrepreneur (Powerpoint Pdf), Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Presentations and White Papers

Great elevator pitches are created to sell your idea, business, product or service in 30 seconds or less (the time it takes to go from the first floor to the top of the building in an elevator). It’s important to develop and practice an effective pitch so you are ready to use it under fire. When you step onto an elevator with Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you want to be prepared! This worksheet will help you create an amazing pitch!!

Fluorine Substitutions In An Antigenic Peptide Selectively Modulate T Cell Receptor Binding In A Minimally Perturbing Manner, Kurt H. Piepenbrink, Oleg Y. Borbulevych, Ruth F. Sommese, John Clemens, Kathrynq M. Armstrong, Clare Desmond, Priscilla Do, Brian M. Baker

Food for Health: Publications

T cell receptor (TCR) recognition of antigenic peptides bound and presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules forms the basis of the cellular immune response to pathogens and cancer. TCRs bind peptide/MHC molecules weakly and with fast kinetics, features which have hindered detailed biophysical studies of these interactions. Modified peptides resulting in enhanced TCR binding could help overcome these challenges. Further, there is considerable interest in using modified peptides with enhanced TCR binding as the basis for clinical vaccines. Here, we studied how fluorine substitutions in an antigenic peptide can selectively impact TCR recognition. Using a structure-guided design approach, we …

Minimal Art: Or Why Small Viral K+ Channels Are Good Tools For Understanding Basic Structure And Function Relations, Gerhard Thiel, Dirk Baumeister, Indra Schroeder, Stefan M. Kast, James L. Van Etten, Anna Moroni

James Van Etten Publications

Some algal viruses contain genes that encode proteins with the hallmarks of K+ channels. One feature of these proteins is that they are less than 100 amino acids in size, which make them truly minimal for a K+ channel protein. That is, they consist of only the pore module present in more complex K+ channels. The combination of miniature size and the functional robustness of the viral K+ channels make them ideal model systems for studying how K+ channels work. Here we summarize recent structure/function correlates from these channels, which provide insight into functional properties such as gating, pharmacology and …

Caring For Compromised Cattle: Assessing Animals At Risk

Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Program

Cattlemen have long recognized the need to properly care for their livestock. Sound animal husbandry practices – based on research and decades of practical experience – are known to impact the well-being of cattle, individual animal health and herd productivity. There is no doubt that producers work hard to ensure that their cattle are properly cared for throughout all stages of production. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of raising cattle that some animals will become injured to the extent that they are unable to stand or walk without assistance.

Assessor’S Guide To A Beef Quality Assurance Cow-Calf Assessment

Nebraska Beef Quality Assurance Program

The BQA Cow-Calf Assessment is an on-site educational tool that allows for assessing and benchmarking key indicators of animal care and well-being as well as operational conditions. The Cow-Calf Assessment focuses on three main areas – Animals, Records and Best Management Practices (BMP), and Facilities and Equipment.

Consensus-Based Reporting Standards For Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies For Paratuberculosis In Ruminants, Ian A. Gardner, Søren S. Nielsen, Richard J. Whittington, Michael T. Collins, Douwe Bakker, Beth Harris, Srinand Sreevatsan, Jason E. Lombard, Raymond Sweeney, David L. Smith, Jerie Gavalchin, Shigetoshi Eda

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

The Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy (STARD) statement was developed to encourage complete and transparent reporting of key elements of test accuracy studies in human medicine. The statement was motivated by widespread evidence of bias in test accuracy studies and the finding that incomplete or absent reporting of items in the STARD checklist was associated with overly optimistic estimates of test performance characteristics. Although STARD principles apply broadly, specific guidelines do not exist to account for unique considerations in livestock studies such as herd tests, potential use of experimental challenge studies, a more diverse group of testing purposes and …

Bovine Tuberculosis In A Nebraska Herd Of Farmed Elk And Fallow Deer: A Failure Of The Tuberculin Skin Test And Opportunities For Serodiagnosis, W. Ray Waters, Gary E. Stevens, Mark A. Schoenbaum, Kathy A. Orloski, Suelee Robbe-Austerman, N. Beth Harris, S. Mark Hall, Bruce V. Thomsen, Arach J. Wilson, Roger E. Brannian, Jeffrey T. Nelson, Shawn Schafer, Javan Esfandiari, Meghan Dutton, Rena Greenwald, Konstantin P. Lyashchenko

Zoonotics and Wildlife Disease: Publications

In 2009, Mycobacterium bovis infection was detected in a herd of 60 elk (Cervus elaphus) and 50 fallow deer (Dama dama) in Nebraska, USA. Upon depopulation of the herd, the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis (TB) was estimated at ∼71–75%, based upon histopathology and culture results. Particularly with elk, gross lesions were often severe and extensive. One year ago, the majority of the elk had been tested for TB by single cervical test (SCT), and all were negative. After initial detection of a tuberculous elk in this herd, 42 of the 59 elk were tested by SCT. …

Sleep Estimates In Children: Parental Versus Actigraphic Assessments, Ehab A. Dayyat, Karen Spruyt, Dennis L. Molfese, David Gozal

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

Background: In the context of increasing awareness about the need for assessment of sleep duration in community and clinical settings, the use of questionnaire-based tools may be fraught with reporter bias. Conversely, actigraphy provides objective assessments of sleep patterns. In this study, we aimed to determine the potential discrepancies between parentally-based sleep logs and concurrent actigraphic recordings in children over a one-week period.

Methods: We studied 327 children aged 3–10 years, and included otherwise healthy, nonsnoring children from the community who were reported by their parents to be nonsnorers and had normal polysomnography, habitually-snoring children from the community …

Minimal Information For Neural Electromagnetic Ontologies (Minemo): A Standards-Compliant Method For Analysis And Integration Of Event-Related Potentials (Erp) Data, Gwen Frishkoff, Jason Sydes, Kurt Mueller, Tim Curran, John F. Connolly, Kerry Kilborn, Dennis L. Molfese, Charles Perfetti, Allen D. Malony

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty Publications

We present MINEMO (Minimal Information for Neural ElectroMagnetic Ontologies), a checklist for the description of event-related potentials (ERP) studies. MINEMO extends MINI (Minimal Information for Neuroscience Investigations)to the ERP domain. Checklist terms are explicated in NEMO, a formal ontology that is designed to support ERP data sharing and integration. MINEMO is also linked to an ERP database and web application (the NEMO portal). Users upload their data and enter MINEMO information through the portal. The database then stores these entries in RDF (Resource Description Framework), along with summary metrics, i.e., spatial and temporal metadata. Together these spatial, temporal, and functional …

The Internship Application Process: Advice You Might Not Have Heard (Student Forum), David K. Dilillo, Thad R. Leffingwell

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Offers advice about the mastering the application process for a psychology clinical training internship, including: making your dissertation sound interesting, interviewing effectively, and tips for writing engaging essays.

Treatment Effects For Common Outcomes Of Child Sexual Abuse: A Current Meta-Analysis, Emily V. Trask, Kate Walsh, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present meta-analysis examined the effects of psychosocial treatments at reducing deleterious outcomes of sexual abuse. The meta-analysis included a total of 35 published and unpublished studies written in English, focusing on youth under the age of 18, and evaluating the effectiveness of treatments for the most common negative outcomes of sexual abuse: PTSD symptoms, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems. Results revealed medium effect sizes for PTSD symptoms, externalizing problems, and internalizing problems following treatment for sexual abuse. This study also examined the potential moderating effects of treatment (e.g., modality, duration, and inclusion of caregiver) and participant (e.g., age, gender, …