Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Very Rapid Onset Cannabis Dependence Risk In Relation To Co-Occurring Use Of Other Psychoactive Drugs, Olga A. Vsevolozhskaya, Fernando A. Wagner, James C. Anthony

Biostatistics Presentations

Background: Epidemiological estimates for lifetime cumulative incidence indicate that for every 9-11 who start using cannabis, one becomes a case of the cannabis dependence syndrome (CDS) – i.e., roughly 9%-11%. More recent estimates clarify that CDS risk might be much lower among ’cannabis only’ users, due in part to the fact that many ’cannabis only’ users try the drug a few times and never again. We turned to Hill functional analysis in order to study CDS probability soon after 1st cannabis use, estimated across strata defined by the number of recent days of cannabis use, with an acknowledgment that a …

Discovery Of An Enzyme And Substrate Selective Inhibitor Of Adam10 Using An Exosite-Binding Glycosylated Substrate, Franck Madoux, Daniela Dreymuller, Jean-Phillipe Pettiloud, Radleigh Santos, Christoph Becker-Pauly, Andreas Ludwig, Gregg B. Fields, Thomas Bannister, Timothy P. Spicer, Mare Cudic, Louis D. Scampavia, Dmitriy Minond

Mathematics Faculty Articles

ADAM10 and ADAM17 have been shown to contribute to the acquired drug resistance of HER2-positive breast cancer in response to trastuzumab. The majority of ADAM10 and ADAM17 inhibitor development has been focused on the discovery of compounds that bind the active site zinc, however, in recent years, there has been a shift from active site to secondary substrate binding site (exosite) inhibitor discovery in order to identify non-zinc-binding molecules. In the present work a glycosylated, exosite-binding substrate of ADAM10 and ADAM17 was utilized to screen 370,276 compounds from the MLPCN collection. As a result of this uHTS effort, a selective, …

Investigations Into The Effects Of Water Exchange And The Structure Of Lanthanide Chelates, Katherine Marie Payne

Dissertations and Theses

Lanthanide chelates are effective agents for improving contrast in MR images. Optimizing the relaxation of inner sphere water molecules is a common focus of research in this field. However, the efforts to design an optimal contrast agent have commonly over-looked the relationship of water position and water exchange kinetics. This work explores structural conformation, the impact of very fast water exchange kinetics on hydration, and differing tumbling rates for regioisomers of a number of lanthanide chelates. We have grown crystals of LnDOTMA and obtained structural data by X-ray diffraction that provide a picture of the chelate during water exchange and …

Self-Reported Sleep Apnea And Dementia Risk: Findings From The Prevention Of Alzheimer's Disease With Vitamin E And Selenium Trial, Xiuhua Ding, Richard J. Kryscio, Joshua Turner, Gregory A. Jicha, Gregory E. Cooper, Allison M. Caban-Holt, Frederick A. Schmitt, Erin L. Abner

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between baseline sleep apnea and risk of incident dementia in the Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease with Vitamin E and Selenium (PREADViSE) study and to explore whether the association depends on apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 allele status.

DESIGN: Secondary analysis based on data collected during PREADViSE.

SETTING: Participants were assessed at 128 local clinical study sites during the clinical trial phase and later were followed by telephone from a centralized location.

PARTICIPANTS: Men enrolled in PREADViSE (without dementia or other active neurological conditions that affect cognition such as major psychiatric disorders, including depression; N = …

Privacy Protection And Aggregate Health Data: A Review Of Tabular Cell Suppression Methods (Not) Employed In Public Health Data Systems, Gregory J. Matthews, Ofer Harel, Robert H. Aseltine Jr.

Mathematics and Statistics: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Public health research often relies on individuals’ confidential medical data. Therefore, data collecting entities, such as states, seek to disseminate this medical data as widely as possible while still maintaining the privacy of the individual for legal and ethical reasons. One common way in which this medical data is released is through the use of Web-based Data Query Systems (WDQS). In this article, we examined WDQS listed in the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) specifically reviewing them for how they prevent statistical disclosure in queries that produce a tabular response. One of the most common …

Pertussis-Associated Pneumonia In Infants And Children From Low- And Middle-Income Countries Participating In The Perch Study., Breanna Barger-Kamate, Maria Deloria Knoll, E Wangeci Kagucia, Christine Prosperi, Henry C Baggett, Daniel E. Park, +31 Additional Authors

Epidemiology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND:  Few data exist describing pertussis epidemiology among infants and children in low- and middle-income countries to guide preventive strategies.

METHODS:  Children 1-59 months of age hospitalized with World Health Organization-defined severe or very severe pneumonia in 7 African and Asian countries and similarly aged community controls were enrolled in the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health study. They underwent a standardized clinical evaluation and provided nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs and induced sputum (cases only) for Bordetella pertussis polymerase chain reaction. Risk factors and pertussis-associated clinical findings were identified.

RESULTS:  Bordetella pertussis was detected in 53 of 4200 (1.3%) cases …

The Utility Of Mobile Phones For Health Among Women Living With Hiv In Urban Malawi, Linda Marie Dietrich

Theses and Dissertations

The use of mobile phones are becoming ubiquitous with growing interest by healthcare providers to utilize mobile phone technology for various health-related applications, called mHealth. This is especially true in low-income countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. When implementing mHealth applications, it is important to understand the dynamic social, cultural and environmental factors where mHealth will be implemented to ensure that interventions developed are effective. A qualitative study to explore the sociotechnical factors experienced by women participating in an HIV support group in urban Malawi was conducted to enhance our understanding of women’s experience with mobile phone use and …

Ambient Ionization - Mass Spectrometry: Advances Toward Intrasurgical Cancer Detection, Alan Keith Jarmusch

Open Access Dissertations

My dissertation research has focused on the development of ambient ionization – mass spectrometry (MS) for clinical measurements, specifically intrasurgical cancer detection. The molecular differences between normal and cancerous tissue were detected via direct tissue analysis in vitro by touch spray ionization (TS) or by analyzing sectioned or smeared tissue using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI). The physical form of the tissue, e.g. in vitro sampling, sectioned, or smeared, was inconsequential in differentiating normal from cancerous tissue; however, the spectra acquired by TS and DESI differed due to differences in ionization processes. We envision that TS-MS and DESI-MS could impact diagnostic …

Gonadal Intersex In Teleosts: Mechanisms, Molecular Biomarkers And Diagnostic Assays, Ahmed M.E. Abdel-Moneim Mohamed

Open Access Dissertations

Natural and synthetic estrogenic and androgenic compounds are continuously released into aquatic ecosystems. Exposure of teleost fishes to these contaminants can negatively impact sex differentiation and reproductive output. Specifically, development of gonadal intersex in gonochoristic (fixed sex) fish species has been studied extensively in relation to exposure to this class of compounds. The main objectives of this dissertation were to: 1) conduct field and laboratory studies to investigate the molecular signaling pathways behind the development of gonadal intersex; and 2) establish molecular biomarkers and assays for testing the ability of environmental pollutants to develop this condition using a battery of …

Progression Magazine, 2016 Winter, Coastal Carolina University

Progression Magazine

Magazine of the College of Science at Coastal Carolina University.

Gastrointestinal Health As A Stimulus For Native American Attraction To Medicinal Asteraceae And Further Implications For Human Evolution, Christopher David Stiegler

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Asteraceae, or the daisy family, is the largest family of flowering plants in the world, and its ethnobotanical, medical, and economic value is readily apparent cross-culturally. The aim of this thesis is to examine why constituent genera of the Aster family have remained such an integral part of human medicinal plant knowledge, and thereby to reveal any potential physiological, biological, or evolutionary mechanisms underlining human patterns of use regarding the Asteraceae. The present study focuses specifically on Native American plant knowledge made available by the expansive database in the works Daniel Moerman (Moerman 2003). Frequencies of plant use and …

Inter-Relationships Linking Probability Of Becoming A Case Of Nicotine Dependence With Frequency Of Tobacco Cigarette Smoking, Olga A. Vsevolozhskaya, James C. Anthony

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

INTRODUCTION: Once smoking starts, some tobacco cigarette smokers (TCS) can make very rapid transitions into tobacco dependence syndromes (TCD). With adjustment for smoking frequency, we posit female excess risk for this rapid-onset TCD. In a novel application of functional analysis for tobacco research, we estimate four Hill function parameters and plot TCD risk against a gradient of smoking frequency, as observed quite soon after smoking onset.

METHODS: In aggregate, the National Surveys of Drug Use and Health, 2004-2013, identified 1546 newly incident TCS in cross-sectional research, each with standardized TCD assessment.

RESULTS: Hill function estimates contradict our apparently over-simplistic hypothesis. …

Graduate Studies Newsletter, Graduate Studies Office

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The Transition Experiences Of International Graduate Students In Clark University School Of Professional Studies, Xuesong Huang, Mingyang Lian, Dang Trung, Jay Sheth, Yuwei Yang, Irina Klimenko

School of Professional Studies

In the last decade, the School of Professional Studies at Clark University has witnessed a sharp increase in international students. More and more international students in the millennial generation have entered the School of Professional Studies pursuing one of the two-year graduate programs: Master of Science in Professional Studies, Master of Science in Public Administration, and Master of Science in Information Technology. In the past, working adult student dominant the program. These students already had a career outside the classrooms before them came to study. The millennial international students have generated new adjustment problems. Some of the transition issues of …

Genomics And Csf Analyses Implicate Thyroid Hormone In Hippocampal Sclerosis Of Aging, Peter T. Nelson, Yuriko Katsumata, Kwangsik Nho, Sergey C. Artiushin, Gregory A. Jicha, Wang-Xia Wang, Erin L. Abner, Andrew J. Saykin, Walter A. Kukull, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (Adni), David W. Fardo

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

We report evidence of a novel pathogenetic mechanism in which thyroid hormone dysregulation contributes to dementia in elderly persons. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on chromosome 12p12 were the initial foci of our study: rs704180 and rs73069071. These SNPs were identified by separate research groups as risk alleles for non-Alzheimer’s neurodegeneration. We found that the rs73069071 risk genotype was associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) pathology among people with the rs704180 risk genotype (National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center/Alzheimer’s Disease Genetic Consortium data; n = 2113, including 241 autopsy-confirmed HS cases). Furthermore, both rs704180 and rs73069071 risk genotypes were associated with widespread brain …

Georgia’S Rapid Expansion Of Mosquito Surveillance In Response To Zika Virus, R. Christopher Rustin, Deonte Martin, Rosmarie Kelly

Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Presentations

Objective: To describe the Georgia Department of Public Health’s (DPH) mosquito surveillance capacity before and after Zika virus was declared a public health emergency, review and compare mosquito surveillance results from 2015 to 2016, and evaluate the risk of autochthonous vector transmission of Zika virus based on 2016 surveillance data of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes.

Introduction: Zika virus was declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization on February 1, 2016. With Georgia hosting the world’s busiest international airport and a sub-tropical climate that can support the primary Zika virus vector, Aedes aegypti, and secondary …

Online Detection Of Behavioral Change Using Unobtrusive Eldercare Monitoring System, Thanh Tam La, Alvin Cerdena Valera, Hwee-Pink Tan, Cheryl Li Fang Koh

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The rapid ageing population is posing challenges to many countries all over the world, particularly in the provision of care to the growing number of elderly who are living alone. Allowing the elderly to age-in-place, i.e., live safely and independently in the comfort of their own homes is a model that can potentially address the resource constraint in health and community care faced by many nations. To make this model a reality and provide appropriate and timely care to the elderly, unobtrusive eldercare monitoring systems (EMS) are being deployed in real homes to continuously monitor the activity of the elderly. …

Determining The Effects Of The Think Risk Initiative As Implemented By The Southern Nevada Health District, Karalin Nichole Cronkhite

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In the United States, someone becomes infected with a foodborne illness every 2 seconds, is hospitalized by a foodborne illness every 4 minutes and dies due to a foodborne illness every 3 hours. Foodborne illness is preventable, yet each year, 1 in 6 Americans is affected by it from contaminated foods or beverages. There are over 250 different foodborne diseases, and in 2015, there were 73 confirmed cases of Salmonella infection in Southern Nevada alone. Since the emergence of public health, food establishment inspections have been an important part of the regulation of food safety. Risk-based inspections were developed by …

Structuring A Risk-Based Bioassay Program For Uranium Usage In University Laboratories, Johnne' Talia Dawson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bioassay programs are integral in a radiation safety program. They are used as a method of determining whether individuals working with radioactive material have been exposed and have received a resulting dose. For radionuclides that are not found in nature, determining an exposure is straightforward. However, for a naturally occurring radionuclide like uranium, it is not as straightforward to determine whether a dose is the result of an occupational exposure. The purpose of this project is to address this issue within the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’s (UNLV) bioassay program. This project consisted of two components that studied the effectiveness …

Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption With Partially Hidden Access Structure And Its Application To Privacy-Preserving Electronic Medical Record System In Cloud Environment, Lixian Liu, Junzuo Lai, Robert H. Deng, Yingjiu Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the development of cloud computing, more and more sensitive data are uploaded to cloud by companies or individuals, which brings forth new challenges for outsourced data security and privacy. Ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) provides fine-grained access control of encrypted data in the cloud; in a CP-ABE scheme, an access structure, also referred to as ciphertext-policy, is sent along with a ciphertext explicitly, and anyone who obtains a ciphertext can know the access structure associated with the ciphertext. In certain applications, access structures contain very sensitive information and must be protected from everyone except the users whose private key attributes …

Modelling Random Antibody Adsorption And Immunoassay Activity, Dana Mackey, Eilis Kelly, Robert Nooney

Articles

One of the primary considerations in immunoassay design is optimizing the concentration of capture antibody in order to achieve maximal antigen binding and, subsequently, improved sensitivity and limit of detection. Many immunoassay technologies involve immobilization of the antibody to solid surfaces. Antibodies are large molecules in which the position and accessibility of the antigen-binding site depend on their orientation and packing density. In this paper we propose a simple mathematical model, based on the theory known as random sequential adsorption (RSA), in order to calculate how the concentration of correctly oriented antibodies (active site exposed for subsequent reactions) evolves during …

Comparison Of Two Methods For Developing Aggregate Population-Based Models, Oyebola E. Oyero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aggregate models incorporate the variation between individual parameters of individualbased models to construct a population-based model. This thesis focuses on the comparison of two different methods for creating these population-based models. The first method, the individual parameter distribution technique (IPD) focuses on the similarities and variation of parameters in an individual-based model as calculated using individual data sets [4]. The second method we consider is the nonlinear mixed effect method (NLME), which is primarily used in modeling repeated measurement data. In the NLME approach, both the fixed effects and random effects of the parameter values are estimated in the model …

Assessing The Potential Clinical Impact Of Variable Biological Effectiveness In Proton Radiotherapy, Christopher R. Peeler Ph.D.

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

It has long been known that proton radiotherapy has an increased biological effectiveness compared to traditional x-ray radiotherapy. This arises from the clustered nature of DNA damage produced by the energy deposition of protons along their tracks in medium. This effect is currently quantified in clinical settings by assigning protons a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) value of 1.1 corresponding to 10% increased effectiveness compared to photon radiation. Numerous studies have shown, however, that the RBE value of protons is variable and can deviate substantially from 1.1, but experimental data on RBE and clinical evidence of its variability remains limited.

The …

Analysis Of Hiv Diversity In Hiv-Infected Black Men Who Have Sex With Men (Hptn 061), Iris Chen, Gordon Chau, Jing Wang, William Clarke, Mark A. Marzinke, Manya Magnus, +14 Additional Authors

Epidemiology Faculty Publications

Background

HIV populations often diversify in response to selective pressures, such as the immune response and antiretroviral drug use. We analyzed HIV diversity in Black men who have sex with men who were enrolled in the HIV Prevention Trials Network 061 study.

Methods

A high resolution melting (HRM) diversity assay was used to measure diversity in six regions of the HIV genome: two in gag, one in pol, and three in env. HIV diversity was analyzed for 146 men who were HIV infected at study enrollment, including three with acute infection and 13 with recent infection (identified …

Predicting Malignant Nodules From Screening Ct Scans, Samuel Hawkins, Hua Wang, Ying Liu, Alberto Garcia, Olya Stringfield, Henry Krewer, Qiang Li, Dmitry Cherezov, Matthew Schabath, Lawrence O. Hall, Robert J. Gillies

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine whether quantitative analyses (“radiomics”) of low-dose computed tomography lung cancer screening images at baseline can predict subsequent emergence of cancer.

Methods

Public data from the National Lung Screening Trial (ACRIN 6684) were assembled into two cohorts of 104 and 92 patients with screen-detected lung cancer and then matched with cohorts of 208 and 196 screening subjects with benign pulmonary nodules. Image features were extracted from each nodule and used to predict the subsequent emergence of cancer.

Results

The best models used 23 stable features in a random forests classifier and could …

Relation Of Serum Estrogen Metabolites With Terminal Duct Lobular Unit Involution Among Women Undergoing Diagnostic Image-Guided Breast Biopsy., Hannah Oh, Zeina G Khodr, Mark E Sherman, Maya Palakal, Ruth M Pfeiffer, Laura Linville, Berta M Geller, Pamela M Vacek, Donald L Weaver, Rachael E Chicoine, Roni T Falk, Hisani N Horne, Daphne Papathomas, Deesha A Patel, Jackie Xiang, Xia Xu, Timothy Veenstra, Stephen M Hewitt, John A Shepherd, Louise A Brinton, Jonine D Figueroa, Gretchen L Gierach

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Higher levels of circulating estrogens and estrogen metabolites (EMs) have been associated with higher breast cancer risk. In breast tissues, reduced levels of terminal duct lobular unit (TDLU) involution, as reflected by higher numbers of TDLUs and acini per TDLU, have also been linked to elevated breast cancer risk. However, it is unknown whether reduced TDLU involution mediates the risk associated with circulating EMs. In a cross-sectional analysis of 94 premenopausal and 92 postmenopausal women referred for clinical breast biopsy at an academic facility in Vermont, we examined the associations of 15 EMs, quantified using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, with …

Plasma Processes And Polymers Third Special Issue On Plasma And Cancer, Mounir Laroussi, Annemie Bogaerts, Nazir Barekzi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) This issue of Plasma Processes and Polymers is the third in a series on the applications of low temperature plasma (LTP) against cancer, or “plasma oncology.” The papers in this issue are inspired from the talks given at the third International Workshop on Plasma for Cancer Treatment (IWPCT) which took place on April 11–12, 2016 in Washington, DC, USA. IWPCT is an international workshop that was created in 2014 as a venue to share cutting edge plasma oncology research. The first IWPCT was held in Washington DC, under the co-chairmanship of Prof. Mounir Laroussi (Old Dominion University) and …

Investigating The Impact Of Green Exercise On Population Health And Well-Being In A Small Community In Ireland:A Novel Approach Using A Natural Laboratory Ecosystem., Nollaig O'Sullivan, Aoife Donnelly, Tadhg Macintyre, Giles Warrington

Articles

Green exercise is defined as undertaking physical activity whilst being directly exposed to nature (Pretty et al., 2005; 2007). Pretty et al. (2003) were among the first wave of researchers to investigate the synergistic benefits of incorporating physical activity and exposure to the natural environment to produce positive psychological affect. Over the past decade, investigations into the possible additive effects on well-being of green exercise and how it can be used as an influential tool to help combat the rising rate of both physical inactivity and non –communicable disease has gained prominence in scientific literature. However, there is still a …

Novel Simulation To Avoid Bias In Measurement Of Hyperpolarized Pyruvate: Demonstrated In Phantom And In Vivo, Christopher M. Walker

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Dynamic nuclear polarization creates a transient hyperpolarized nuclear state that can dramatically increase the signal detected by magnetic resonance imaging. This signal increase allows real-time spectroscopic imaging of specific metabolites in vivo by magnetic resonance. Real-time imaging of both the spatial and chemical fate of hyperpolarized metabolites is showing great promise to meaningfully benefit clinical care of cancer patients. Imaging of hyperpolarized agents will have a larger clinical impact if it can function as a quantitative modality upon which clinical decisions can be made. However, quantitative measurement of hyperpolarized agents is currently difficult due to the restrictions imposed by the …

Genetic Variants In Kcnj11, Tcf7l2 And Hnf4a Are Associated With Type 2 Diabetes, Bmi And Dyslipidemia In Families Of Northeastern Mexico: A Pilot Study, Hugo Leonid Gallardo-Blanco, Jesus Zacarias Villarreal-Perez, Ricardo Martin Cerda-Flores, Andres Figueroa

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether genetic markers considered risk factors for metabolic syndromes, including dyslipidemia, obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), can be applied to a Northeastern Mexican population. A total of 37 families were analyzed for 63 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and the age, body mass index (BMI), glucose tolerance values and blood lipid levels, including those of cholesterol, low‑density lipoprotein (LDL), very LDL (VLDL), high‑density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides were evaluated. Three genetic markers previously associated with metabolic syndromes were identified in the sample population, including KCNJ11, TCF7L2 and HNF4A. The KCNJ11 …