cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Toxicological Evaluation of Chemical Mixtures in New and Emerging Electronic Cigarette Liquids
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), which are sold worldwide, expose consumers to a variety of chemicals, including nicotine, solvents, flavor chemicals, acids, and synthetic coolants that directly contact the lining of the oral and respiratory systems. Contrary to claims that e-cigarettes cause little to no harm, our published work shows that e-cigarette flavor chemicals impair cellular functions in ways that may be detrimental to human health. As our recent publication shows, e-cigarette device evolution has been accompanied by changes in the formulations of e-liquids. Fourth and fifth generation e-cigarettes contain synthetic nicotine, high concentrations of flavor chemicals, synthetic cooling agents, and acids to make their use more palatable and attractive to younger consumers. Virtually no toxicological studies have been done on these emerging ingredients in the context of e-cigarette toxicity. The purpose of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that e-liquids in emerging e-cigarette products contain chemicals that can be harmful and produce damage to the human respiratory epithelium. We will test this hypothesis in two Specific Aims using 3D air-liquid interface organotypic tissues and multiple endpoint assays to: (1) compare the toxicity of solvent ratios (propylene glycol and glycerol) in heated lab-made aerosols, (2) determine the cellular effects of aerosols generated from lab-made e-liquids containing mixtures of flavor chemicals and synthetic coolants found in currently popular products, (3) use label-free proteomics to identify the pathways and targets affected by treatments, and (4) use risk assessment tools, such as the margin of exposure, to evaluate the relationship between the test chemicals and cancer and other adverse health effects. The study design will utilize previously collected analytical and toxicological data to identify chemicals and chemical mixtures of interest. The proposed project addresses TRDRP’s research priorities in environmental exposure and toxicology and pulmonary biology and lung diseases and will also impact state and local tobacco control policy research and other tobacco-related health effects. Data will be critical in understanding the health effects of emerging tobacco products and establishing data that can aid in their regulation.
Behavioral, neurochemical, and neuroimmune changes in Nrf2 knockout mice following early postnatal exposure to valproic acid
Creators: name: Furnari, Melody A.
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2013

description: In the present study, two agents known to exert neurotoxic effects through the generation of reactive oxygen species were administered to genetically-altered mice lacking the Nrf2 gene. Nrf2 is a transcription factor that induces genes that protect against oxidative stress and Nrf2 knockout mice have been shown to be more sensitive to oxidative stress.  The first agent, valproic acid, is a GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) agonist known to cause behavioral deficits and damage to the hippocampus and cerebellum in rodents when administered on postnatal day 14, a time when behavioral skills are first maturing. The second, amphetamine, is a stimulant that induces dopamine release leading to oxidative stress with long-term effects of dopamine depletion and cell death.  In prior studies, it was shown that early exposure to one toxicant leads to increased sensitivity to other toxicants. Accordingly, in these studies, Nrf2 knockout mice were exposed to valproic acid early in life and treated with amphetamine as adults.  It was found that Nrf2 knockout mice were more sensitive to the toxic effects of valproic acid in development as seen through the open field activity test, rotorod, and Morris water maze. In addition, valproic acid-treated mice were found to be less social in the social chambers during adulthood. No differences were found in dopamine depletion between genotypes and postnatal day 14 pretreatment; all mice exposed to amphetamine had lower concentrations of dopamine compared to saline-treated counterparts. In conclusion, it appears that Nrf2 knockout mice are more sensitive to the behavioral toxicity cause by valproic acid during development but did not show enhanced sensitivity to amphetamine as adults.  The Nrf2 knockout mice appear to be an excellent model to assess the effects of oxidative stress inducing neurotoxicants on behavioral development.
Investigating the role of the autonomic nervous system in COPD pathogenesis
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Chronic constructive lung disease (COPD) is a common disorder that is closely associated with tobacco use. COPD is a major health hazard. For instance, in 2018, 16.4 million people were diagnosed with COPD in the US. COPD ranks third in mortality in the US. In 2019, the death rate was 105.6 per 100,000 population. No effective treatment is available for COPD. COPD is characterized by chronic inflammation and destruction of alveoli, the functional units for gas exchange. Design of COPD therapy would rely on a mechanistic understanding of how alveoli are formed and destroyed. This knowledge would enable new designs of COPD treatment that aim to block the progression of alveolar destruction and stimulate alveolar repair and regeneration. Our foundational work on how alveoli are formed has identified the autonomic nervous system as an unexpected, novel player in controlling alveolar formation. This led to a new hypothesis in which the autonomic nervous system, a component of the peripheral nervous system, plays an important role during alveolar destruction and repair. To further test this hypothesis, we will use both mouse models and isolated lung cells. We will focus on the role of the autonomic nervous system in controlling alveolar myofibroblasts (fibroblasts with contractile apparatus) and lung macrophages (a type of white blood cell). These studies will enhance our mechanistic understanding of alveolar destruction and repair. They will also establish the foundation for COPD treatment by inhibiting alveolar destruction and promoting alveolar repair.
Aelia acuminata
Creators: name: Laterza, Ilaria
name: Tamburini, Giovanni
name: Panzarino, Onofrio
name: Loverre, Pamela
name: Mastronardi, Maria Grazia
name: Dioli, Paride
name: Lillo, Enrico De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Aelia
Aelia acuminata

description: Aelia acuminata (Linnaeus, 1758)
Material examined (n=271): loc. BQ 01.VI.2020, 24.VI.2020, 24.VI.2020; loc. BR 03.XI.2016 leg. MM, OP, PL, 24.VI.2020, 24.VII.2020, 02.X.2020; loc. BS 03.VI.2020, 30.VI.2020, 25.VII.2020, 31.VIII.2020, 03.X.2020; loc. CM 23.VI.2020, 01.IX.2020; loc. LG 29.VII.2016 leg. OP, 03.VI.2020, 25.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020, 31.VIII.2020, 01.X.2020; loc. MC 07.VI.2020, 29.VI.2020, 27.VII.2020, 01.IX.2020, 30.IX.2020, 29.X.2020; loc. MS 04.VI.2020, 30.VI.2020, 01.X.2020; loc. PM 23.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020; loc. PG 23.VII.2016 leg. MM, 26.IX.2016 leg. MM, 26.X.2016 leg. PL, 01.VII.2020, 28.VII.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. RG 04.VI.2020, 01.VII.2020, 02.IX.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. S1 25.VI.2020, 24.VII.2020, 02.X.2020; loc. S2 07. VI.2020, 29. VI.2020,01.IX.2020, 30.IX.2020, 29.X.1010.
Distribution: Widespread in Europe, North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Madeira, Morocco, Tunisia) and Asia. Extralimital records in Pakistan.
description: Published as part of Laterza, Ilaria, Tamburini, Giovanni, Panzarino, Onofrio, Loverre, Pamela, Mastronardi, Maria Grazia, Dioli, Paride & Lillo, Enrico De, 2022, The first annotated checklist of Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna of Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, Southern Italy), pp. 401-420 in Zootaxa 5219 (5) on pages 407-408, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5219.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7431348
Impact of flavored tobacco sales restrictions on youth e-cigarette use in California
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: California has over 100 local policies that restrict the retail sale of flavored tobacco products. This presents a unique opportunity to measure the impact of flavored tobacco sales restrictions (FTSRs) on youth tobacco use. Knowledge gained from this research will provide evidence to inform other localities, states, and nations about the benefits or unintended consequences of these policies. Our long-term research goal is to provide evidence-based recommendations to inform tobacco control policies that can effectively prevent and reduce youth tobacco use. The overall objective of this study is to determine the impact that local FTSRs have on electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) attitudes, access, and use among middle and high school students (ages 12-18 years), including those in high-risk sub-group populations. In addition to a presence/absence definition of FTSRs, this study will examine FTSR quality, enforcement, and implementation time. Our study draws upon a Socio-ecological Model to understand the role that FTSRs can have in influencing youth e-cigarette behavior within several contexts, including at the societal-, community-, interpersonal- and individual-levels. We will link youth e-cigarette data from the California Healthy Kids Survey to local policy data obtained from the American Nonsmokers Rights Foundation. We will estimate changes in study outcomes pre- and post-policy among youth in cities with a FTSR compared to control cities without a FTSR. Our specific aims are to: 1) Measure the pre- and post-policy changes in youth e-cigarette attitudes, access, and use in cities with a FTSR compared with cities without a FTSR, 2) Determine the impact that access to tobacco retailers (tobacco retailer density and proximity to cities without a policy) has on the association between FTSRs and e-cigarette use and 3) Determine whether ever or current cannabis use modifies the effect that FTSRs have on e-cigarette use. We expect our research to inform the design of effective FTSRs at the local, state, and national level, ultimately preventing a whole new generation of youth addicted to nicotine.
Aelia germari Ku
Creators: name: Laterza, Ilaria
name: Tamburini, Giovanni
name: Panzarino, Onofrio
name: Loverre, Pamela
name: Mastronardi, Maria Grazia
name: Dioli, Paride
name: Lillo, Enrico De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Aelia
Aelia germari

description: Aelia germari Ku ̈ster, 1852
Material examined (n=199): loc. BQ 24. VI. 20220, 24. VII.2020; loc. BR 24. VI. 20220, 24. VII.2020; loc. BS 03.VI.2020, 30.VI.2020, 25.VII.2020, 31.VIII.2020, 06.X.2020; loc. CM 23.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020, 03.IX.2020; loc. LG 03.VI.2020, 25.VI.2020, 25.VII.2020, 31.VIII.2020, 06.X.2020; loc. MC 07.VI.2020, 29.VI.2020, 27.VI.2020, 01.IX.2020, 30.IX.2020, 29.X.2020; loc. MS 04.VI.2020, 30.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020, 03.IX.2020, 01.X.2020; loc. PM 28.V.2020, 23.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020, 03.IX.2020, 01.X.2020; loc. PG 01.VII.2020, 28.VII.2020, 02.IX.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. RG 04.VI.2020, 01.VII.2020, 28.VII.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. S1: 02.VI.2020, 25.VI.2020, 24.VII.2020, 04.IX.2020, 02.X.2020; loc. S2 29.VI.2020, 27.VII.2020.
Distribution:Widespread in Southern Europe (Croatia, France, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal, Spain, former Yugoslavia), North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia) and Asia (Israel, Turkey (Asian part)).
description: Published as part of Laterza, Ilaria, Tamburini, Giovanni, Panzarino, Onofrio, Loverre, Pamela, Mastronardi, Maria Grazia, Dioli, Paride & Lillo, Enrico De, 2022, The first annotated checklist of Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna of Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, Southern Italy), pp. 401-420 in Zootaxa 5219 (5) on page 408, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5219.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7431348
Youth vaping: biomarkers of exposure to electronic cigarettes and potential health risks
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: The widespread use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) by youth is a significant and evolving public health problem in the US and many parts of the world. This proposal will address two scientific interest areas, identified in TRDRP 2023 Call for Applications, including assessment of (1) exposure; and (2) potential harm from vaping in youth, who are a population of special relevance. By elucidating the molecular changes that underlie the biological consequences of e-cig use in youth, we will develop novel biomarkers of exposure and effects. These biomarkers will have significant utility for assessing the health risks of e-cig use in this vulnerable population. By determining how vaping intensity and duration (i.e., dose) and product characteristics can modulate the induced biological effects in youth e-cig users, we will provide urgently needed data to inform the FDA’s regulation of tobacco products to protect youth and promote public health.

 Our proposed research will inform the specific activities aimed at ending the tobacco use epidemic in California, thus having a high near-term impact. More specifically, the studies proposed in this application will inform the ‘Endgame Policy Platform’ by generating scientific evidence on the health consequences of youth vaping. A critical component of the campaign to end the commercial tobacco epidemic is its focus on youth. Thus, the data generated by the culmination of this project will help the campaign to devise evidence-based strategies to eradicate the tobacco industry’s influence and the harm caused by tobacco products to the health and well-being of California’s youth. Our research findings can be translated to lay messages, which can help educate the youth as well as the general population about the health risks associated with e-cig use.
How to use a text and what to expect
Creators: name: Gonkatsang, Tsering
name: Willis, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: dhāraṇī
Tibetan text

description: Tsering Gonkatsang and Michael Willis, "How to use a text and what to expect: Translation of the instructions appended to the Āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasītātapatre aparajītamahāpratyaṃgīraparamasiddhanāma dhāraṇī," Tibetan Text  Seminars (London: 2005-2018).
Lasting Consequences of Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Exposure to Nicotine and THC
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: There has been exponential growth in the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (e-cigarettes) in the past several years. Much use of e-cigarettes is for attempted cessation of combustible tobacco smoking, but substantial numbers of users are adopting e-cigarettes with no intent to cease nicotine consumption. Most concerningly there was a doubling in the incidence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use in adolescent populations from 2017 to 2018, raising concerns about a new generation addicted to nicotine, just as cigarette use dropped to record lows in adolescents. Epidemiological data from the 2020 Monitoring the Future study show that 4.1% of 12 graders in the US have smoked cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days but 19.6% have vaped nicotine. The development of well-controlled laboratory models for assessing the health impacts of e-cigarettes has not kept pace with the exponential growth in product use. The studies proposed in this application will innovate by using a model of e-cigarette-based nicotine exposure in rats to determine the lasting consequences of adolescent nicotine inhalation for adult self-administration of nicotine via e-cigarette vapor inhalation. The Aims will contrast the lasting impact of non-contingent with self-administered nicotine vapor. In addition, adolescents are frequently users of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis), increasingly via e-cigarette devices; 12.4% of 12th graders have vaped cannabis in the past month. Additional studies will examine the impact of co-exposure to THC with nicotine during adolescence. These studies are based on a model we have recently developed, showing acute effects of nicotine inhalation on locomotor and temperature endpoints, in rats. They continue from progress made under a TRDRP Pilot project, designed to develop models for assessment of lasting consequences of adolescent exposure to nicotine delivered by e-cigarette devices.
How to use a text and what to expect
Creators: name: Gongkatsang, Tsering
name: Willis, Michael
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: dhāraṇī
Tibetan text

description: How to use a text and what to expect: Translation of the instructions appended to the Āryatathāgatoṣṇīṣasītātapatre aparajītamahāpratyaṃgīraparamasiddhanāma dhāraṇī
Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) cucurbitae
Creators: name: El-Hawagry, Magdi S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Tephritidae
Bactrocera
Bactrocera cucurbitae

description: Bactrocera (Zeugodacus) cucurbitae (Coquillett, 1899)
Dacus cucurbitae Coquillett, 1899: 129. Lectotype. USA (Hawaii: Oahu, Honolulu) (USNM). Lectotype designated by Drew (1989).
Dacus yuiliensis Tseng & Chu, 1992: 84. Unjustified new name for aureus Tseng & Chu, 1982.
Dacus aureus Tseng & Chu, 1982: 85. Holotype. Taiwan (Hualien: Yuili) (BCIQT). Junior Homonym (preoccupied by May 1952).
Distribution. AF: introduced e. Africa. AU: Pacific Ocean Is.. OR: Indian Ocean Is., Pakistan to s. China. PA:
Egypt, Japan, Iran.
Host plants. Various Cucurbitaceae.
Egyptian localities. Lower Nile Valley and Delta (White 2000).
Dates of collection. April-August.
description: Published as part of El-Hawagry, Magdi S., 2017, Catalogue of Egyptian Tephritoidea (Diptera: Schizophora: Acalyptratae), pp. 151-190 in Zootaxa 4299 (2) on page 161, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4299.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/843233
Cannabis, vaping, and lung structural abnormalities in asymptomatic users
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Background: With the legalization of marijuana for recreational use and the popular “vaping” trend providing a delivery system for high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), there is a pressing need to assess the potential health risks to the lungs associated with cannabis use. Often, individuals alternate between the use of vaping devices that contain nicotine or THC oil derived from cannabis. Vaping is particularly popular in young people, and the levels of nicotine are especially high ensuring rapid addiction and continued use of vaping devices.

 Goal: To assess the presence of early lung abnormalities in asymptomatic adults and youth that “vape” cannabis products that contain a range of THC levels and also use nicotine e-cigarettes.

 Methods: In this observational study, pulmonary function [Multiple breath washout (MBW), spirometry and lung diffusing capacity (DLCO)] will be measured in 300 subjects (4 groups (N=75), male and female, age: 16-35 years) with normal spirometry and a history of 1) THC vaping, 2) nicotine vaping (no THC use), 3) THC/nicotine vaping, and 4) healthy subjects who do not vape/smoke. MBW is a sensitive, non-invasive test that screens for compromised lung function. Combined with DLCO that probes dysfunction in gas exchange, a comprehensive picture of the possible negative effects on lung health from e-cig/THC use can be obtained. We expect MBW indices to show lung abnormalities in the asymptomatic vapers, with larger abnormalities in THC and THC/nicotine vapers than in nicotine-only vapers. We also expect abnormalities to be mainly located in the lung periphery with DLCO values allowing for further differentiating between lung alterations in the small airways and the lung parenchyma where gas exchange occurs.

 Impact: While traditional clinical tools lack sensitivity, the proposed studies have the potential for early detection of structural damage in the lungs of THC/nicotine vapers long before spirometry can, possibly at a time when damage is still reversible. Also, the ever-changing landscape of electronic nicotine and/or THC delivery systems and e-liquid composition poses a particular challenge to understand their health effect. Thus, it is important to establish diagnostic and screening tools that are independent of the delivery systems.
Aelia rostrata subsp. rostrata Boheman 1852
Creators: name: Laterza, Ilaria
name: Tamburini, Giovanni
name: Panzarino, Onofrio
name: Loverre, Pamela
name: Mastronardi, Maria Grazia
name: Dioli, Paride
name: Lillo, Enrico De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Aelia
Aelia rostrata
Aelia rostrata rostrata boheman, 1852

description: Aelia rostrata rostrata Boheman, 1852
Material examined (n=19): loc. BQ 01. VI.2020; loc. BR 24. VI.2020; loc. BS 06.X.2020; loc. MC 07.VI.2020, 29.VI.2020; loc. MS 29.VII.2020, 01.X.2020; loc. PG 27.V.2020, 02.IX.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. S2 29. VI.2020.
Distribution: Widespread in Europe, North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia) and Western Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan (Asian part), Syria, Turkey (Asian part)).
description: Published as part of Laterza, Ilaria, Tamburini, Giovanni, Panzarino, Onofrio, Loverre, Pamela, Mastronardi, Maria Grazia, Dioli, Paride & Lillo, Enrico De, 2022, The first annotated checklist of Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna of Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, Southern Italy), pp. 401-420 in Zootaxa 5219 (5) on page 408, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5219.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7431348
Effects of dual use of e-cigarettes and cigarettes on host-bacteria interactions
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: There is vast evidence that has proved the detrimental effect of cigarette smoking in human health since cigarettes have been in our society for many years. On the other hand, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have been around for less than 20 years with constant evolution, and data on their effects in human health is still limited and much more is needed. More worrisome is the fact that many e-cigarette users also smoke cigarettes (dual users) and there is scarce data on this matter. Even when e-liquids contained just a few ingredients as compared to conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes use a wide variety of flavoring chemicals, many of which their effects in human health are unknown, alone or in combination with other e-liquid components when they are aerosolized. Cigarette smoking leads to higher susceptibility to develop bacterial pneumonia and pathogen colonization, which is highlighted by the fact that 30-50% of patients with pneumonia are smokers. In the context, of e-cigarettes little is know of the incidence of pneumonia in vapers, but in vitro studies and animal models suggest that chronic vaping can lead to higher susceptibility to bacterial infections in the respiratory tract. Therefore, my proposal is addressing relevant questions regarding this issue. My preliminary data shows that dual use of conventional cigarettes and e-cigarette increases the susceptibility of mice to pneumonia caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, the most common cause of pneumonia in smokers. In addition, using a technique to assess gene expression changes, we uncovered that two JUUL (leader in the e-cigarettes market) flavors can suppress key immune-related pathways essential for defense against bacteria. This data provoked to aim for 1) Define the effect of single and dual use using the JUUL flavors in susceptibility to bacterial infection and colonization of the respiratory tract associated to host immune responses in a mouse model; and 2) Determine the incidence of Streptococcus species in human single and dual users (focused on JUUL users), while also analyzing immune parameters and virulence of isolated bacteria. In aggregate, by pairing my findings between host responses and streptococcal colonization, I will be able to find causative evidence of the detrimental role of single use of these inhalants but more importantly about dual use and flavor-specific effects
Neottiglossa bifida
Creators: name: Laterza, Ilaria
name: Tamburini, Giovanni
name: Panzarino, Onofrio
name: Loverre, Pamela
name: Mastronardi, Maria Grazia
name: Dioli, Paride
name: Lillo, Enrico De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Neottiglossa
Neottiglossa bifida

description: Neottiglossa bifida (A. Costa, 1847)
Material examined (n=8): loc. BS 25. VI.2020; loc. MS 29.VII.2020; loc. RG 01.VII.2020; loc. S1 24.VII.2020.
Distribution: Widespread in Europe (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, former Yugoslavia), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia) and Asia (Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria)
description: Published as part of Laterza, Ilaria, Tamburini, Giovanni, Panzarino, Onofrio, Loverre, Pamela, Mastronardi, Maria Grazia, Dioli, Paride & Lillo, Enrico De, 2022, The first annotated checklist of Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna of Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, Southern Italy), pp. 401-420 in Zootaxa 5219 (5) on page 408, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5219.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7431348
Chronic nicotine exposure promotes secretion of dysfunctional mitochondria in EVs from the heart
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States and it is well known that smoking significantly increases the risk of developing CVD. The use of e-cigarettes has increased substantially in recent years, but the long-term consequences of chronic nicotine exposure on the heart are still unclear. Indeed, emerging evidence suggests that exposure to nicotine alone can have negative impacts on public health such as increased mortality after heart attacks and strokes. It is therefore important to increase our knowledge of how nicotine might cause harm to tissues. In the heart, mitochondria are critical in providing the beating muscle cells (i.e. myocytes) with energy and mitochondrial dysfunction occurs early in the pathogenesis of CVD. Studies have reported that nicotine exposure is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Unfortunately, defective mitochondria can become harmful and must quickly be eliminated from the cell. Autophagy is the main process involved in degrading mitochondria but how cell eliminate mitochondria when autophagy is compromised is unknown and needs to be investigated. We have discovered that cells can secrete mitochondria in vesicles when autophagy is impaired. Thus, in this pilot proposal, we will explore the hypothesis that nicotine exposure leads to increased secretion of dysfunctional mitochondria in large vesicles as an alternative mechanism to traditional degradation pathways. This hypothesis will be tested in two aims. Aim 1 will demonstrate that nicotine exposure leads to enhanced secretion of dysfunctional mitochondria in vesicles from muscle cells in the heart. Aim 2 will explore whether the vesicles by muscle cells are taken up by other cells in the heart and how this affects their function. Overall, these studies will provide important new insights into how nicotine exposure affects cellular quality control in the heart. More importantly, the studies will also provide insights into whether these vesicles are unique and can potentially function as early diagnostic biomarkers of cardiac stress in users of e-cigarettes.
Dacus Fabricius 1805
Creators: name: El-Hawagry, Magdi S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Lauxaniidae
Dacus

description: Genus DACUS Fabricius
Dacus Fabricius, 1805: 272. Type species: Dacus armatus Fabricius, 1805, by subsequent designation (Speiser 1924: 140).
description: Published as part of El-Hawagry, Magdi S., 2017, Catalogue of Egyptian Tephritoidea (Diptera: Schizophora: Acalyptratae), pp. 151-190 in Zootaxa 4299 (2) on page 161, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4299.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/843233
Signal to noise
Creators: name: Friedman, Matthew
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2013

description: There was danger in the modern American soundscape; the danger of interruption and disorder. The rhetoric of postwar aural culture was preoccupied with containing sounds and keeping them in their appropriate places. The management and domestication of noise was a critical political and social issue in the quarter century following the Second World War. It was also an aesthetic issue. Although technological noise was celebrated in modern American literature, music and popular culture as a signal of technological sublime and the promise of modern rationality in the US, after 1945 noise that had been exceptional and sublime became mundane. Technological noise was resignified as "pollution" and narrated as the aural detritus of modernity.    Modern music reinforced this project through the production of hegemonic fields of representation that legitimized the discursive boundaries of modernity and delegitimized that which lay outside of them. Postwar American modernist composers, reconfigured as technical specialists, developed a hyper-rational idiom of "total control" which sought to discipline aural disorder and police the boundaries between aesthetically-acceptable music and sound and disruptive noise. Leveraging the authority of the academy and the concert hall, they banished the danger in an idiom of total control that inscribed inviolable aesthetic boundaries that separated music from its other. The avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s introduced noise to the spaces of 20th century music and interrupted these boundaries, destabilizing the aural and aesthetic territories of modernism. Denying the authority of rationality and compositional intent, the avant-garde did not subsequently re-territorialize these spaces, producing a rupture in the discourse of modern music that shattered its hegemony and contributed to its eclipse by the end of the 1960s.
Influencer marketing and harm perceptions and intention to use e-cigarettes among adolescents.
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: E-cigarette use is on the rise among youth (adolescents) in 2022 compared to 2021 with over 2.5 million U.S. middle and high school students nationwide still using e-cigarettes. Exposure to advertising on social media platforms popular among youth (e.g., Instagram and TikTok) is associated with e-cigarette use among youth. Micro-influencers - users with ~ 1,000 to ~ 100,000+ followers - promote e-cigarette content on behalf of e-cigarette brands. This content is accessible for adolescents on social media. Prior research by Vassey et al demonstrated that some influencers who promote e-cigarettes on Instagram often collaborate with multiple industries (e.g., tobacco, marijuana, sports) and promote other products besides e-cigarettes, including marijuana, healthy life style, or fashion. We hypothesize that if e-cigarettes are marketed next to such products, adolescents may have a lowered harm perception of e-cigarettes. The influencers could also potentially expose their non-e-cigarette-focused audience (e.g., users who are interested in fashion), including non-users of e-cigarettes, to e-cigarette content. We propose a survey-embedded experiment among California adolescents to measure the association of their exposure to social media influencer marketing with harm perception and intention to use e-cigarettes depending on whether adolescents are exposed to images and videos featuring micro-influencers who promote only e-cigarettes versus e-cigarettes and other products unrelated to e-cigarettes. This study is the first to simulate social media exposure to substance- and non-substance-related promotional visual content created by micro-influencers and to evaluate how e-cigarettes featured in these images and videos are perceived by adolescents in the context of other products. We will leverage an ongoing longitudinal survey cohort funded by a separate USC grant to imbed the experiment in two subsequent Waves in 2023-2024. The participants (N=4,000) represent a socioeconomically- and racially-diverse cohort of 12th graders from urban areas of Southern California. The findings from this study will help identify social media influencers who promote content that potentially poses a high risk for e-cigarette use among adolescents. This knowledge could inform directions for future social media educational campaigns to prevent e-cigarette use among California youth.
Some applications of randomness in computational complexity
Creators: name: Friedman, Luke
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2013

description: In this dissertation we consider two different notions of randomness and their applications to problems in complexity theory. In part one of the dissertation we consider Kolmogorov complexity, a way to formalize a measure of the randomness of a single finite string, something that cannot be done using the usual distributional definitions.  We let  R be the set of random strings under this measure and study what resource-bounded machines can compute using R as an oracle.   We show the surprising result that under proper definitions we can in fact define well-formed complexity classes using this approach, and that perhaps it is possible to exactly characterize standard classes such as BPP and NEXP in this way.      In part two of the dissertation we switch gears and consider the use of randomness as a tool in propositional proof complexity, a sub-area of complexity theory that addresses the NP vs. coNP problem.  Here we consider the ability of various proof systems to efficiently refute randomly generated unsatisfiable 3-CNF and 3-XOR formulas.  In particular, we show that certain restricted proof systems based on Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams requires exponential-size refutations of these formulas.  We also outline a new general approach for proving proof complexity lower bounds using random 3-CNF formulas and demonstrate its use on treelike resolution, a weak proof system.
Fostering science literacy, environmental stewardship, and collaboration
Creators: name: Fisher-Maltese, Carley B.
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2013

description: Recently, schools nationwide have expressed a renewed interest in school gardens (California School Garden Network, 2010), viewing them as innovative educational tools. Most of the scant studies on these settings investigate the health/nutritional impacts, environmental attitudes, or emotional dispositions of students. However, few studies examine the science learning potential of a school garden from an informal learning perspective. Those studies that do examine learning emphasize individual learning of traditional school content (math, science, etc.) (Blaire, 2009; Dirks & Orvis, 2005; Klemmer, Waliczek & Zajicek, 2005a & b; Smith & Mostenbocker, 2005). My study sought to demonstrate the value of school garden learning through a focus on measures of learning typically associated with traditional learning environments, as well as informal learning environments. Grounded in situated, experiential, and contextual model of learning theories, the purpose of this case study was to examine the impacts of a school garden program at a K-3 elementary school. Results from pre/post tests, pre/post surveys, interviews, recorded student conversations, and student work reveal a number of affordances, including science learning, cross-curricular lessons in an authentic setting, a sense of school community, and positive shifts in attitude toward nature and working collaboratively with other students. I also analyzed this garden-based unit as a type curriculum reform in one school in an effort to explore issues of implementing effective practices in schools. Facilitators and barriers to implementing a garden-based science curriculum at a K-3 elementary school are discussed. Participants reported a number of implementation processes necessary for success: leadership, vision, and material, human, and social resources. However, in spite of facilitators, teachers reported barriers to implementing the garden-based curriculum, specifically lack of time and content knowledge.
Carpocoris mediterraneus subsp. mediterraneus Tamanini 1958
Creators: name: Laterza, Ilaria
name: Tamburini, Giovanni
name: Panzarino, Onofrio
name: Loverre, Pamela
name: Mastronardi, Maria Grazia
name: Dioli, Paride
name: Lillo, Enrico De
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Carpocoris
Carpocoris mediterraneus
Carpocoris mediterraneus mediterraneus tamanini, 1958

description: Carpocoris mediterraneus mediterraneus Tamanini, 1958
Material examined (n=418): loc. BQ 24.VI.2020, 24.VII.2020, 04.IX.2020, 31.X.2020; loc. BR 02.VI.2020, 24.VI.2020, 24.VII.2020, 04.IX.2020, 02.X.2020; loc. BS 05.IX.2016 leg. OP, 03.VI.2020, 30.VI.2020, 25.VII.2020, 31.VIII.2020, 06.X.2020; loc. CM 09. VI.2017 leg. PL, 26. VI.2017 leg. MM, 07.VII.2017 leg. OP, 28.V.2020, 23.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020, 03.IX.2020, 01.X.2020; loc.AN 23.IX.2016 leg. OP; loc. LAG 27.VII.2016 leg. OP; loc. LG 07.VII.2020 leg. PL, 03.VI.2020, 25.VI.2020, 25.VII.2020, 31.VIII.2020, 06.X.2020; loc. MC 07.VI.2020, 29.VI.2020, 27.VII.2020, 01.IX.2020, 30.IX.2020, 29.IX.2020, 29.X.2020; loc. MS 15.IX.2016 leg. MM, 09. VI.2017 leg. PL, 04.VI.2020, 30.VI.2020, 29.VII.2020, 03.XI.2020, 01.X.2020, 02.XI.2020; loc. PM 23.VI.2020, 03.IX.2020, 01.X.2020; loc. PG 26.X.2016 leg. OP, 03.III.2017 leg. MM, 01.VII.2020, 28.VII.2020, 02.IX.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. PA 24.VIII.2016 leg. PL; loc. RG 28.VII.2017 leg. MM, 04.VI.2020, 01.VII.2020, 28.VII.2020, 02.IX.2020, 29.IX.2020; loc. S2 07.VI.2020, 29.VI.2020, 27.VII.2020, 01.IX.2020, 30.IX.2020, 29.X.2020.
Distribution: Widespread in Southern Europe (countries near the Mediterranean basin), North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco) and Western Asia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan (Asian part), Lebanon, Sinai, Syria, Turkey (Asian part), Turkmenistan). Extralimital record in Ethiopia.
description: Published as part of Laterza, Ilaria, Tamburini, Giovanni, Panzarino, Onofrio, Loverre, Pamela, Mastronardi, Maria Grazia, Dioli, Paride & Lillo, Enrico De, 2022, The first annotated checklist of Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) fauna of Alta Murgia National Park (Apulia region, Southern Italy), pp. 401-420 in Zootaxa 5219 (5) on page 408, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5219.5.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7431348
Implementation and evaluation of a multiband OFDM ultra wide band system
Creators: name: Duraisamy, Swaminathan
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2013

description: WPAN systems have been receiving significant attention from both industry and academia in the last 10 years and Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology is one among them. Nowadays, UWB systems can transmit at a data rate as high as 500 Mbps for short distances consuming very little power. When a UWB system moves from the laboratory environment to a real world scenario, several design issues are encountered such as complexity, power consumption, cost and flexibility. In this thesis, a UWB system is designed using a Multiband OFDM physical layer approach which tackles the problems mentioned above while still ensuring high data rates with less power consumption. The reason for choosing this approach over a traditional spread spectrum approach is that the system sends the signal on several sub-bands one at a time making it spectrally flexible while using lesser bandwidth and, hence, preventing the need for high speed RF circuits and ADC’s. This will reduce the design complexity and, thereby, reducing the power consumption and making this technology a low cost solution. Since the information on each of these bands uses a multicarrier (OFDM) technique, this system inherits several nice properties of OFDM such as high spectral efficiency, resilience to RF interference, robustness to multi-path, and the ability to efficiently capture multi-path energy.         This thesis focuses on optimizing the Bit Error Rate (BER) performance of the system by making use of symbol diversity and multicarrier diversity techniques. Symbol diversity is implemented by sending an OFDM symbol on different sub-bands and improve the BER by combining the outputs using Maximal Ratio Combining. In multicarrier diversity, the performance is improved further by sending the same data on different subcarriers in an OFDM signal. In addition, a study of the performance by sending the data sensibly on different subcarriers in an OFDM symbol using prior channel information is conducted. The various blocks needed to design the transmitter chain and the receiver chain of the system were implemented using a LabVIEW software testbed and a frequency selective fading channel suggested by the UWB standards committee was simulated to study the performance of the system.
Universal labeling algebras as invariants of layered graphs
Creators: name: Durst, Susan
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2013

description: In this work we will study the universal labeling algebra A(Γ), a related algebra B(Γ),  and their behavior as invariants of layered graphs. We will introduce the notion of  an upper vertex-like basis, which allows us to recover structural information about the  graph Γ from the algebra B(Γ). We will use these bases to show that several classes  of layered graphs are uniquely identifi ed by their corresponding algebras B(Γ). We  will use the same techniques to construct large classes of nonisomorphic graphs with  isomorphic B(Γ). We will also explore the graded structure of the algebra A(Γ), using  techniques developed by C. Duff y, I. Gelfand, V. Retakh, S. Serconek and R. Wilson to  find formulas for the Hilbert series and graded trace generating functions of A(Γ) when   is the Hasse diagram of a direct product of partially ordered sets.
Didacus Collart 1935
Creators: name: El-Hawagry, Magdi S.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Tephritidae
Didacus

description: Subgenus DIDACUS Collart
Didacus Collart, 1935: 33. Type species: Dacus (Didacus) ciliatus Loew, 1862, original designation.
Ectopodacus Munro, 1984: 83 (as genus). Type species: Dacus eminus Munro, 1939, original designation.
Dixoodacus Munro, 1984: 88 (as genus). Type species: Dacus ficicola Bezzi, 1915, original designation.
Lactodacus Munro, 1984: 94 (as genus). Type species: Dacus mulgens Munro, 1932, original designation.
Mictodacus Munro, 1984: 101 (as genus). Type species: Dacus lounsburyi Coquillett, 1901, original designation. Myrmecodacus Munro, 1984: 119 (as genus). Type species: Myrmecodacus mirificus Munro, 1984, original designation. Blaxodacus Munro, 1984: 107 (as genus). Type species: Dacus aspilus Bezzi, 1924, original designation.
Abebaiodacus Munro, 1984: 108 (as genus). Type species: Dacusfuscatus Wiedemann, 1819, original designation. Acanodacus Munro, 1984: 110 (as genus). Type species: Dacus brevis Coquillett, 1901, original designation. Karphodacus Munro, 1984: 118 (as genus). Type species: Dacus elutissimus Bezzi, 1924, original designation. Fusodacus Munro, 1984: 118 (as genus). Type species: Dacus trigonus Bezzi, 1919, original designation.
Baucidacus Munro, 1984: 120 (as genus). Type species: Baucidacus elegans Munro, 1984, original designation. Ambitidacus Munro, 1984: 120 (as genus). Type species: Dacus brevistriga Walker, 1861, original designation.
description: Published as part of El-Hawagry, Magdi S., 2017, Catalogue of Egyptian Tephritoidea (Diptera: Schizophora: Acalyptratae), pp. 151-190 in Zootaxa 4299 (2) on page 161, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4299.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/843233
Vascular control of onco-immune responses in a smoking related cancer
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Tobacco usage is estimated to cause 20% of cancers, among which pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal. Cigarette smoking doubles PC risks, causes 25-30% of PC, and significantly worsens disease prognosis. PC is resistant to most therapies, including immunotherapies that have demonstrated promising potential in treating many other cancers. A critical obstacle to PC treatment is posed by the paucity of anti-tumor immune cells in tumor tissues. Therefore, strategies to enhance immune recruitment are needed to overcome this challenge.
 Tumor blood vessels play essential roles in the recruitment of anti-tumor immune cells and the delivery of immunotherapies. These processes require functional specialization of endothelial cells (ECs), the building blocks of blood microvessels that include capillaries and venules. Capillary ECs transport oxygen and nutrients to promote tumor growth, while venular ECs control immune cell recruitment. Current therapies targeting tumor vessels are mainly designed to deplete ECs to starve tumor cells. However, such strategies often deplete ECs indiscriminately and do not take into account the heterogeneity of tumor vessels. As a consequence of such therapies, loss of venules could further block the recruitment of anti-tumor immune cells and weaken immune responses. Alternative strategies promoting capillary-to-venule reprogramming instead could both inhibit the tumor-promoting activities of capillaries and preserve the T cell-recruiting functions of venules, thus augmenting anti-tumor immunity. Single cell transcriptomic profiling of tumor ECs revealed a molecule that is specifically expressed in tumor-associated venules, but not in capillaries. Forced expression of this molecule in tumor ECs reprogrammed capillary vessels to undergo fate switch and adopt the venular features. We will use this forced expression system in combination with mouse pancreatic tumor models, and address the hypothesis: reprogramming tumor vessels from capillaries into venules will enhance anti-tumor immunity and immunotherapies. These studies will provide novel angles to enhance immunotherapies and may inspire next generation therapeutic approaches to treat PC.