458 results match your criteria: "University of North Carolina - Charlotte[Affiliation]"

Polyethylene glycol or PEG has a long history of use in medicine. Many conventional formulations utilize PEG as either an active ingredient or an excipient. PEG found its use in biotechnology therapeutics as a tool to slow down drug clearance and shield protein therapeutics from undesirable immunogenicity.

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Background: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for liver cancer has shown promising therapeutic effects. Effective treatment relies not only on the precise delivery provided by image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) but also high dose gradient formed around the treatment volume to spare functional liver tissue, which is highly dependent on the beam/arc angle selection. In this study, we aim to develop a decision support model to learn human planner's beam navigation approach for beam angle/arc angle selection for liver SBRT.

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Current Thoughts of Notch's Role in Myoblast Regulation and Muscle-Associated Disease.

Int J Environ Res Public Health

November 2021

Department of Applied Physiology, Health and Clinical Sciences, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.

Article Synopsis
  • The Notch signaling pathway is critical for embryonic development and plays a complicated, yet essential role in muscle repair during adulthood.
  • Notch interacts with other signals to regulate myoblast activity, which is necessary for completing muscle repair, although some recent evidence suggests its importance in myoblast proliferation may be overstated.
  • This review explores the mechanisms of Notch in muscle repair and its emerging role in diseases that cause muscle atrophy, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target.
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Can the Paro be my Buddy? Meaningful experiences from the perspectives of older adults.

Geriatr Nurs

March 2022

Department of Nursing, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Tai-Hsueh Road, Tainan City 701, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address:

This study aimed to explore meaningful experiences of older Taiwanese adults who had received a Paro (social robot) companion. Semi-structured qualitative interviews elicited the perspectives of 25 older adults living in a long-term care facility after they had interacted with an individual Paro companion for 8 weeks. Thematic analysis was used in this study as it allows for rich, detailed, and complex descriptions of qualitative data.

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Electrostatic interaction of loop 1 and backbone of human cardiac myosin regulates the rate of ATP induced actomyosin dissociation.

J Muscle Res Cell Motil

March 2022

Department of Physics and Optical Science, University of North Carolina Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA.

Double mutation D208Q:K450L was introduced in the beta isoform of human cardiac myosin to remove the salt bridge D208:K450 connecting loop 1 and the seven-stranded beta sheet within the myosin head. Beta isoform-specific salt bridge D208:K450, restricting the flexibility of loop 1, was previously discovered in molecular dynamics simulations. Earlier it was proposed that loop 1 modulates nucleotide affinity to actomyosin and we hypothesized that the electrostatic interactions between loop 1 and myosin head backbone regulate ATP binding to and ADP dissociation from actomyosin, and therefore, the time of the strong actomyosin binding.

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This paper focuses on advancing the traditional association rule mining (ARM) approach to capture the rich, multidimensional and multiscalar context that is anticipated to be associated with residential Motor Vehicle Theft (MVT) across urban environments. We tackle the challenge to materialize complex social and spatial components in the mining process and present a novel interactive visualization based on social network analysis of rules and associations to facilitate the analysis of mined rules. The spatial ARM (SARM) findings successfully identify many socio-spatial associations to MVT prevalence and establish their relative influence on crime outcome in a case study.

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Keepers of the House: A documentary.

Clin Teach

February 2022

Department of Dermatology and Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Background: Our documentary, Keepers of the House, highlights ways that hospital housekeepers, typically unnoticed care team members, provide emotional support for patients and their families. This film addresses a gap in education by emphasizing the importance of valuing and reflecting on the unique lived experiences of others.

Approach: We created this documentary to expose students to the experiences and perceptions of hospital housekeepers.

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A Replicable, Solution-Focused Approach to Cross-Sector Data Sharing for Evaluation of Community Violence Prevention Programming.

J Public Health Manag Pract

February 2022

Department of Community Health, Atrium Health, Charlotte, North Carolina (Dr Mayfield); Department of Psychological Sciences, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina (Ms Siegal and Dr Langhinrichsen-Rohling); Department of Social Work, Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, North Carolina (Dr Herring); Office of Violence Prevention, Mecklenburg County Public Health, Charlotte, North Carolina (Ms Campbell); and Mecklenburg County Criminal Justice Services, Charlotte, North Carolina (Dr Clark).

Context: Community violence is a public health problem that erodes social infrastructure. Structural racism contributes to the disparate concentration of violence in communities of color. In Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, increasing trends in community violence show racial and geographic disparities that emphasize the need for cross-sector, data-driven approaches to program and policy change.

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College Students' Motives for In-Person Meetings with Dating Application Matches.

Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw

February 2022

Department of Psychological Science, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.

Although some research has explored emerging adults' motives for using mobile dating applications, no studies have investigated motives for in-person (or offline) meetings with dating app matches. A sample of 267 U.S.

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Background: Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and traffic have been related to a lower birth weight and may be associated with greater adiposity in childhood. We aimed to examine associations of maternal exposure to ambient air pollution and traffic during pregnancy with indicators of adiposity in early childhood.

Methods: We included 738 participants of the Colorado-based Healthy Start study whose height, weight, waist circumference and/or fat mass were measured at age 4-6 years.

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Minor Improvement in Activity and Participation and Decline in Physical Activity Motivation After Cardiac Rehabilitation Discharge.

J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev

November 2021

Departments of Occupational Therapy (Dr Kim), Kinesiology (Drs Houmard and Swift), and Biostatistics (Dr Wu), East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina; and College of Nursing, East Carolina University, Greenville, and School of Nursing, University of North Carolina Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina (Dr Crane).

Purpose: To investigate the changes in activities and participation, and mental and physical functions for 9 mo after cardiac rehabilitation (CR) among adults with chronic cardiac conditions.

Methods: Twenty-five adults with chronic cardiac conditions scheduled for discharge from CR were assessed at four different times: within 2-wk window of CR discharge date, 1 mo, 3 mo, and 9 mo after CR discharge. Nine assessments according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health were used to track the changes post-CR.

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Religious Fasting of Muslim Patients After Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: a Modified Delphi Consensus.

Obes Surg

December 2021

Chief, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Carolinas Medical Center, Ballantyne and Gastonia Director, Atrium Health University of North Carolina-Charlotte Campus Director, Bariatric Fellowship Program Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy, Atrium Health Weight Management Charlotte, ConcordCharlotte, NC, USA.

Background: Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of the Muslim faith. Despite the positive effects of fasting on health, there are no guidelines or clear recommendations regarding fasting after metabolic/bariatric surgery (MBS). The current study reports the result of a modified Delphi consensus among expert metabolic/bariatric surgeons with experience in managing patients who fast after MBS.

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"Citizen science" refers to the participation of lay individuals in scientific studies and other activities having scientific objectives. Citizen science gives rise to unique ethical issues that stem from the potentially multifaceted contributions of citizen scientists to the research process. We sought to explore the ethical issues that are most concerning to citizen scientist practitioners, participants, and scholars to support ethical practices in citizen science.

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Local wave-number model for inhomogeneous two-fluid mixing.

Phys Rev E

August 2021

Hele-Shaw Laboratory, Queen's Building, University of Bristol, University Walk, Clifton BS8 1TR, United Kingdom.

We analyze the local wave-number (LWN) model, a two-point spectral closure model for turbulence, as applied to the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability, the flow induced by the relaxation of a statically-unstable density stratification. Model outcomes are validated against data from 3D simulations of the RT instability. In the first part of the study we consider the minimal model terms required to capture inhomogeneous mixing and show that this version, with suitable model coefficients, is sufficient to capture the evolution of important mean global quantities including mix-width, turbulent mass flux velocity, and Reynolds stress, if the start time is chosen such that the earliest transitions are avoided.

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Over 4500 visits to emergency departments related to pool chemical exposures occur annually in the United States, and it is likely that many more go unreported. Injury can occur due to sensitivity to standard chemical concentrations in pools (such as with opening one's eyes underwater), accidental exposure to super-concentrated chemicals (such as malfunction of a pool chlorinator), or accidental inhalation of fumes while opening the storage container for chlorination tablets. Therefore, first aid care has the potential to significantly limit morbidity.

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Allopatry has traditionally been viewed as the primary driver of speciation in marine taxa, but the geography of the marine environment and the larval dispersal capabilities of many marine organisms render this view somewhat questionable. In marine fishes, one of the earliest and most highly cited empirical examples of ecological speciation with gene flow is the slippery dick wrasse, . Evidence for this cryptic or incipient speciation event was primarily in the form of a deep divergence in a single mitochondrial locus between the northern and southern Gulf of Mexico, combined with a finding that these two haplotypes were associated with different habitat types ("tropical" vs.

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Incorporating physical manipulatives into an integrated pharmacotherapy course to reinforce antimicrobial spectrum of activity.

Curr Pharm Teach Learn

September 2021

Presbyterian College School of Pharmacy, 307 N Broad St, Clinton, SC 29325, United States; Medical Science Liaison, Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, 1225 Trenton Harbourton Rd, Titusville, NJ 08560, United States. Electronic address:

Background And Purpose: Teaching and learning the spectrum of activity (SOA) of antimicrobial agents can be a challenge in pharmacy education. This study describes the implementation and assessment of a novel tool to aid in the instruction of SOA. Physical manipulatives were used as an active-learning technique to model bacterial pathogens for antimicrobial SOA in an infectious diseases (ID) integrated medication therapy management course.

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Learning and Development (L&D) roles are important to organizations for improving employee's knowledge and skills. This study examined various roles and competency domains required of learning and development professionals in higher education. Ten different roles of L&D professionals were examined for 20 competency domains through a qualitative coding process.

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It is long perceived that the more data collection, the more knowledge emerges about the real disease progression. During emergencies like the H1N1 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemics, public health surveillance requested increased testing to address the exacerbated demand. However, it is currently unknown how accurately surveillance portrays disease progression through incidence and confirmed case trends.

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Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) experience a 10- to 25-year reduced life expectancy compared with the general population. Early mortality for people with SMI has mainly been attributed to unhealthy behaviors (e.g.

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Objectives: A growing proportion of the U.S. labor force juggles paid work with family caregiving of older adults.

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Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the processes through which personnel understaffing and expertise understaffing jointly shape near misses among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Inadequate staffing is a chronic issue within the nursing profession, with the safety consequences of understaffing likely being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: This study used a three-wave, time-separated survey design and collected data from 120 nurses in the United States working on the frontline of the pandemic in hospital settings.

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Although the popularity of animal-assisted interventions (AAI) continues to increase, an examination of these practices among clinician populations that may incorporate AAI in their clinical services are largely absent from the literature. This study examined the practices and desirability of incorporating animals into ABA services. A total of 544 ABA clinicians completed a web-based survey.

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Background: Sepsis survivors experience high morbidity and mortality, and healthcare systems lack effective strategies to address patient needs after hospital discharge. The Sepsis Transition and Recovery (STAR) program is a navigator-led, telehealth-based multicomponent strategy to provide proactive care coordination and monitoring of high-risk patients using evidence-driven, post-sepsis care tasks. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of STAR to improve outcomes for sepsis patients and to examine contextual factors that influence STAR implementation.

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Optimization of High-Entropy Alloy Catalyst for Ammonia Decomposition and Ammonia Synthesis.

J Phys Chem Lett

June 2021

Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, United States.

The successful synthesis of high-entropy alloy (HEA) nanoparticles, a long-sought goal in materials science, opens a new frontier in materials science with applications across catalysis, structural alloys, and energetic materials. Recently, a CoMoFeNiCu HEA made of earth-abundant elements was shown to have a high catalytic activity for ammonia decomposition, which rivals that of state-of-the-art, but prohibitively expensive, ruthenium catalysts. Using a computational approach based on first-principles calculations in conjunction with data analytics and machine learning, we build a model to rapidly compute the adsorption energy of H, N, and NH ( = 1, 2, 3) species on CoMoFeNiCu alloy surfaces with varied alloy compositions and atomic arrangements.

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