Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Dach1 Mutation Frequency In Endometrial Cancer Is Associated With High Tumor Mutation Burden, Mckayla J. Riggs, Nan Lin, Chi Wang, Dava W. Piecoro, Rachel W. Miller, Oliver A. Hampton, Mahadev Rao, Frederick R. Ueland, Jill M. Kolesar

Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: DACH1 is a transcriptional repressor and tumor suppressor gene frequently mutated in melanoma, bladder, and prostate cancer. Loss of DACH1 expression is associated with poor prognostic features and reduced overall survival in uterine cancer. In this study, we utilized the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) Avatar database to determine the frequency of DACH1 mutations in patients with endometrial cancer in our Kentucky population.

METHODS: We obtained clinical and genomic data for 65 patients with endometrial cancer from the Markey Cancer Center (MCC). We examined the clinical attributes of the cancers by DACH1 status by comparing whole-exome sequencing (WES), …

Medical Marijuana And Opioids (Memo) Study: Protocol Of A Longitudinal Cohort Study To Examine If Medical Cannabis Reduces Opioid Use Among Adults With Chronic Pain, Chinazo O. Cunningham, Joanna L. Starrels, Chenshu Zhang, Marcus A. Bachhuber, Nancy L. Sohler, Frances R. Levin, Haruka Minami, Deepika E. Slawek, Julia H. Arnsten

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction In the USA, opioid analgesic use and overdoses have increased dramatically. One rapidly expanding strategy to manage chronic pain in the context of this epidemic is medical cannabis. Cannabis has analgesic effects, but it also has potential adverse effects. Further, its impact on opioid analgesic use is not well studied. Managing pain in people living with HIV is particularly challenging, given the high prevalence of opioid analgesic and cannabis use. This study's overarching goal is to understand how medical cannabis use affects opioid analgesic use, with attention to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol content, HIV outcomes and adverse events. Methods and …

Quantifying Anticancer Drug Doxorubicin Binding To Dna Using Optical Tweezers, Zachary Ells

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Doxorubicin is a successful anticancer drug approved for use in the 1970s and is considered to be one of the most effective cancer treatment methods today. Although Doxorubicin has positive survival statistics it has very negative side effects in many cases. Bleeding from the soles of the palms and feet, along with excruciating pain is often exhibited through the administration of this drug. Based on the preliminary findings utilizing optical tweezers we anticipate that this study will provide critical information about the drug binding mechanism. Single molecule biophysics techniques have provided useful insight into the DNA-binding mechanisms of small molecules. …

Applied Molecular Dynamics: From Targeting Viral Helicases, To Understanding The Interactions Of Cucurbituril Complexes In Ionic Solutions, Bryan Raubenolt

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Molecular Dynamics simulations are a highly useful tool in helping understand the fundamental interactions present in a variety of chemical systems. The work discussed here illustrates it’s use in determining the conformational dynamics of the Zika and SARS-Cov-2 helicase in a physiological environment, largely in an effort to discover inhibitors capable of rendering the protein inert. Additionally, we show how it can be used to understand paradoxical trends in the anion-induced precipitation of Cucurbituril cavitands.

Viral helicases are motor proteins tasked with unwinding the viral dsRNA, a crucial step in preparing the strand to be translatable by host cells. By …

Core Commitments For Field Trials Of Gene Drive Organisms, Kanya C. Long, Luke Alphey, George J. Annas, Cinnamon S. Bloss, Karl J. Campbell, Jackson Champer, Chun-Hong Chen, Amit Choudhary, George M. Church, James P. Collins, Kimberly L. Cooper, Jason A. Delborne, Owain R. Edwards, Claudia I. Emerson, Kevin Esvelt, Sam Weiss Evans, Robert M. Friedman, Valentino M. Gantz, Fred Gould, Sarah Hartley, Elizabeth Heitman, Janet Hemingway, Hirotaka Kanuka, Jennifer Kuzma, James V. Lavery, Yoosook Lee, Marce Lorenzen, Jeantine E. Lunshof, John M. Marshall, Philipp W. Messer, Craig Montell, Kenneth A. Oye, Megan J. Palmer, Philippos Aris Papathanos, Prasad N. Paradkar, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Jason L. Rasgon, Gordana Rašić, Larisa Rudenko, J. Royden Saah, Maxwell J. Scott, Jolene T. Sutton, Adam E, Vorsino, Omar S. Akbari

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We must ensure that trials are scientifically, politically, and socially robust, publicly accountable, and widely transparent.

Gene drive organisms (GDOs), whose genomes have been genetically engineered to spread a desired allele through a population, have the potential to transform the way societies address a wide range of daunting public health and environmental challenges. The development, testing, and release of GDOs, however, are complex and often controversial. A key challenge is to clarify the appropriate roles of developers and others actively engaged in work with GDOs in decision-making processes, and, in particular, how to establish partnerships with relevant authorities and other …

Regional Integration: Physician Perceptions On Electronic Medical Record Use And Impact In South West Ontario, Sadiq Raji

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Regional initiatives in the health care context in Canada are typically organized and administered along geographic boundaries or operational units. Regional integration of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) has been continuing across Canadian provinces in recent years, yet the use and impact of regionally integrated EMRs are not routinely assessed and questions remain about their impact on and use in physicians’ practices. Are stated goals of simplifying connections and sharing of electronic health information collected and managed by many health services providers being met? What are physicians’ perspectives on the use and impact of regionally integrated EMR? In this thesis, I …

Coal Energy And Environmental Impacts: Introduction, Luis F. O. Silva, Amy L. Wolfe

Faculty, Staff, and Affiliated Publications--KGS

No abstract provided.

Thaw Publications, Carl Landwehr, David Kotz

Computer Science Technical Reports

In 2013, the National Science Foundation's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program awarded a Frontier grant to a consortium of four institutions, led by Dartmouth College, to enable trustworthy cybersystems for health and wellness. As of this writing, the Trustworthy Health and Wellness (THaW) project's bibliography includes more than 130 significant publications produced with support from the THaW grant; these publications document the progress made on many fronts by the THaW research team. The collection includes dissertations, theses, journal papers, conference papers, workshop contributions and more. The bibliography is organized as a Zotero library, which provides ready access to citation materials …

An Overview Of The Effect Of Bioaerosol Size In Coronavirus Disease 2019 Transmission, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The fast spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) constitutes a worldwide challenge to the public health, educational and trade systems, affecting the overall well-being of human societies. The high transmission and mortality rates of this virus, and the unavailability of a vaccine or treatment, resulted in the decision of multiple governments to enact measures of social distancing. Such measures can reduce the exposure to bioaerosols, which can result in pathogen deposition in the respiratory tract of the host causing disease and an immunological response. Thus, it is important to consider the validity of the proposal for keeping a distance of …

Covid-19_Umaine News_The Grand Challenge – Remote Chemistry Labs For 1,000 Students, University Of Maine Division Of Marketing And Communications

Division of Marketing & Communications

Screenshot of UMaine News press release regarding remote learning and teaching in the University of Maine Chemistry Department for the 2021 Spring Semester.

Improving Hydrid Pet/Mri Cardiovascular Imaging With Improved Hardware Design And Attenuation Correction Coefficient, Adam Helmy Farag

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2019, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cause 52% of all illness-related deaths globally and are considered to be the second most common cause of death in Canada. CVD is also estimated to cost the Canadian economy about $21.2 billion in direct and indirect costs. With these figures, it is vital to develop the most effective and accurate methods and tools to diagnose accurately CVD and their causes. One of the promising tools for accurate diagnostic and therapeutic of CVD is the integrated Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) PET/MRI technology, …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Antiproliferative Activity Of Novel Chiral [Quinoxp*Aucl2]+ Complexes, Adedamola S. Arojojoye, R. Tyler Mertens, Samuel Ofori, Sean R. Parkin, Samuel G. Awuah

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Herein is reported the synthesis of two Au(III) complexes bearing the (R,R)-(–)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxaline (R,R-QuinoxP*) or (S,S)-(+)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxaline (S,S-QuinoxP*) ligands. By reacting two stoichiometric equivalents of HAuCl₄.3H₂O to one equivalent of the corresponding QuinoxP* ligand, (R,R)-(–)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxalinedichlorogold(III) tetrachloroaurates(III) (1) and (S,S)-(+)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxalinedichlorogold(III) tetrachloroaurates(III) (2) were formed, respectively, in moderate yields. The structure of (S,S)-(+)-2,3-Bis(tert-butylmethylphosphino)quinoxalinedichlorogold(III) tetrachloroaurates(III) (2) was further confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The antiproliferative activities of the two compounds were evaluated in a panel of cell lines and exhibited promising results comparable to auranofin and cisplatin with …

Cellphone Laws And Teens' Calling While Driving: Analysis Of Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveys In 2013, 2015, 2017, And 2019, Li Li, Caitlin N. Pope, Rebecca R. Andridge, Julie K. Bower, Guoqing Hu, Motao Zhu

Graduate Center for Gerontology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Distracted driving among teens is a public health and safety concern. Most states in the U.S. have sought to restrict cellphone use while driving by enacting laws. This study examines the difference in prevalence of self-reported calling while driving (CWD) between states with different cellphone bans.

METHODS: Demographics and CWD data were extracted from state Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS) from 14 states in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. The state YRBS is conducted every 2 years with a representative sample of 9th through 12th grade students attending public school. States were grouped by type of cellphone law(s): no …

The Effect Of Area Deprivation On Covid-19 Risk In Louisiana, K. C. Madhav, Evrim Oral, Susanne Straif-Bourgeois, Ariane L. Rung, Edward S. Peters

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background Louisiana in the summer of 2020 had the highest per capita case count for COVID-19 in the United States and COVID-19 deaths disproportionately affects the African American population. Neighborhood deprivation has been observed to be associated with poorer health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and COVID-19 in Louisiana. Methods The Area Deprivation Index (ADI) was calculated and used to classify neighborhood deprivation at the census tract level. A total of 17 US census variables were used to calculate the ADI for each of the 1148 census tracts in Louisiana. The …

Understanding Of Aerosol Transmission Of Covid 19 In Indoor Environments, Adama Barro, Cathal O'Toole, Jacob S. Lopez, Matthew Quinones, Sherene Moore

Publications and Research

Our reason for discussing severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or 2019 novel corona virus (Covid-19), is to understand its aerosol transmission characteristics in indoor spaces and to mitigate further spread of this disease by designing a new HVAC system. The problem that we are tackling is the spread of covid-19 droplets through aerosol transmission by looking at potential engineering solutions to the existing HVAC systems. The purpose is to eradicate the spread of the COVID-19 by testing indoor spaces in an effort to understand the effectiveness of ventilation controls. We believe that scientists and engineers have not …

2020 - The First Annual Fall Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Fall 2020 Symposium of Student Scholars, held on December 3, 2020. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Carbon Dots As Artificial Peroxidases For Analytical Applications, Shih-Chun Wei, Yang-Wei Lin, Huan-Tsung Chang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Nanozymes have become attractive in analytical and biomedical fields, mainly because of their low cost, long shelf life, and less environmental sensitivity. Particularly, nanozymes formed from nanomaterials having high surface area and rich active sites are interesting since their activities can be tuned through carefully controlling their size, morphology, and surface properties. This review article focuses on preparation of carbon dots (C dots) possessing peroxidase-like activity and their analytical applications. We highlight the important roles of the oxidation states and surface residues of C dots and their nanocomposites with metal, metal oxides, or metal sulfides playing on determining their specificity …

Erratum: Upcyclingphosphorus Recovered From Anaerobically Digesteddairy Manure To Support Production Of Vegetables And Flowers (Sustainability 2020, 12, 1139), Katherine K. Porterfield, Robert Joblin, Deborah A. Neher, Michael Curtis, Steve Dvorak, Donna M. Rizzo, Joshua W. Faulkner, Eric D. Roy

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

The authors would like to make the following correction for the published paper [1]. The changes are as follows: (1) Replacing Figure 4 (Figure presented).

Development Of Computational Tools To Target Microrna, Luo Song

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

MicroRNAs (a.k.a, miRNAs) play an important role in disease development. However, few of their structures have been determined and structure-based computational methods remain challenging in accurately predicting their interactions with small molecules. To address this issue, my thesis is to develop integrated approaches to screening for novel inhibitors by targeting specific structure motifs in miRNAs. The project starts with implementing a tool to find potential miRNA targets with desired motifs. I combined both sequence information of miRNAs and known RNA structure data from Protein Data Bank (PDB) to predict the miRNA structure and identify the motif to target, then I …

Healthy Diets Can Create Environmental Trade-Offs, Depending On How Diet Quality Is Measured, Zach Conrad, Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, Eric D. Roy

Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Background: There is an urgent need to assess the linkages between diet patterns and environmental sustainability in order to meet global targets for reducing premature mortality and improving sustainable management of natural resources. This study fills an important research gap by evaluating the relationship between incremental differences in diet quality and multiple environmental burdens, while also accounting for the separate contributions of retail losses, inedible portions, and consumer waste. Methods: Cross sectional, nationally-representative data on food intake in the United States were acquired from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005–2016), and were linked with nationally-representative data on food …

Eelgrass (Zostera Marina) Population Decline In Morro Bay, Ca: A Meta-Analysis Of Herbicide Application In San Luis Obispo County And Morro Bay Watershed, Tyler King Sinnott

Master's Theses

The endemic eelgrass (Zostera marina) community of Morro Bay Estuary, located on the central coast of California, has experienced an estimated decline of 95% in occupied area (reduction of 344 acres to 20 acres) from 2008 to 2017 for reasons that are not yet definitively clear. One possible driver of degradation that has yet to be investigated is the role of herbicides from agricultural fields in the watershed that feeds into the estuary. Thus, the primary research goal of this project was to better understand temporal and spatial trends of herbicide use within the context of San Luis …

Narrowing The Wealth And Income Gap In Poland, China, And The United States, Cyndy Carboo, Zhiling Song, Jiawei Feng, Xudong Zhu

School of Professional Studies

With the widespread of globalization, the wealth gap continues to widen globally. Due to the enormous differences in national conditions and political systems of various countries, this article selects China, the United States, and Poland as the research objects, and uses a specific time unit as the benchmark, and mainly focuses on the four directions of medical care, education, job opportunities, and pensions. A reader could understand the correlation between the wealth gap and multiple factors deeply in this article. This article analyzes the impact of income disparity on these three countries and proposes solutions to help narrow the gap …

The Impact Of Special Interest Groups On The Federal Dietary Guidelines: Consequences For American Health, Dory Mcmillan

School of Professional Studies

This research paper explores the impact of relationships between lobbyists and both the USDA and HSS, and the impact these relationships have on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that the agencies work together to create. The paper focuses specifically on the information the guidelines present in regard to red meat consumption, and the impacts this may have on American health, and healthcare costs associated. It was hypothesized that a relationship would be found between special interest groups and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and/or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Research found there was a relationship between special …

Healthy Food Portal Business Plan And Its Function Model, Alena Raupova

School of Professional Studies

Business planning is a tool of paramount importance in the process of company management, on the efficiency of which the future functioning of the enterprise depends. Formation of a business plan enables the team to productively and competently use existing funds and resources in their work and apply planning as a very effective management mechanism (Hamm, 2016).

The goal of this final project is to develop a business plan for a healthy nutrition portal for Bellyful LLC. Bellyful is based in Boston, USA, and the portal will be its first product. Our client is interested in researching the prospects of …

Worst Time Being Poor? The Hunger Problem In U.S. During Covid-19 Pandemic, Yuanhang Hu

School of Professional Studies

Food insecurity is deeply rooted in American society during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. Food Insecurity usually associates with economic indicators, such as unemployment rate, income level, etc. Currently, there are two main tools to fight the war of hunger. The first one is the government food assistance programs. And the second one is food pantries from the private sectors of the community. Both tools are facing numerous challenges due to COVID-19. The purpose of this article is to provide rational reasons to persuade the government to enhance the benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and use administrative …

Rcap Solutions Breach Management - Case Study, Eugene Adu-Gyamfi, Gio Al Muarrawi, Kwame Ofori

School of Professional Studies

Companies get hacked every day, and our in-scope company for this case study, RCAP Solution, was not an exception. Security incidents have increased both in volume and range in recent years, and cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated than ever before. There are so many reasons that drive this fact; one is that our infrastructure was not protected efficiently, but also attackers have become more knowledgeable in initiating advanced attacks at a scale. Additionally, the entrance of emerging technologies such as blockchain, machine learning, and the internet of things, added additional complexity to the already complex scene. Cybercriminals are using various …

A Web-Based Ai Assistant Application Using Python And Javascript, Viet Le, Tej Bahadur, Jainee Shah, Roushan Ara

School of Professional Studies

Our research is mainly based on a chatbot which is powered by Artificial Intelligence. Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google’s Now and Amazon’s Alexa are currently fast-growing and widely integrated with many smart devices. These assistants are built with the primary purpose of being personal assistants for every individual user in certain contexts. In this research, we would highlight the development process of the chatbots, features, problems, case studies and limitations.

This research delivers the information, helps developers to build answer bots and integrate chatbots with business accounts. The aim is to assist users and allow transactions …

Progression Magazine, 2020 Winter, Coastal Carolina University

Progression Magazine

Magazine of the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.

Evaluating The Reproducibility Of Physiological Stress Detection Models, Varun Mishra, Sougata Sen, Grace Chen, Tian Hao, Jeffrey Rogers, Ching-Hua Chen, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

Recent advances in wearable sensor technologies have led to a variety of approaches for detecting physiological stress. Even with over a decade of research in the domain, there still exist many significant challenges, including a near-total lack of reproducibility across studies. Researchers often use some physiological sensors (custom-made or off-the-shelf), conduct a study to collect data, and build machine-learning models to detect stress. There is little effort to test the applicability of the model with similar physiological data collected from different devices, or the efficacy of the model on data collected from different studies, populations, or demographics.

This paper takes …

The Killingly Mascot Case Study, Jordan Lumpkins

School of Professional Studies

In the summer of 2019, in Killingly, Connecticut the local Board of Education voted to retire the "Redmen" mascot name it had used for nearly a century. This legislation was widely opposed and received extensive media coverage. Within a few months, the town experienced a massive political referendum where several local Board of Education members and Councilmen were replaced by single issue politicians promising to reinstate the "Redmen" name. Now holding a majority on the Board of Education, these Board members made Killingly the first school in U.S. history to reinstate a mascot after being deemed "derogatory."

It is the …