TUScholarShare (Temple University)
Not a member yet
10706 research outputs found
Sort by
The Opioid Epidemic: Assessing Policy Prescriptions
No full textTemple University. College of Liberal ArtsCriminal JusticeGeography, Environment and Urban StudiesThe fifth issue of PPL's e-magazine, The Lab Report, featuring essays on the opioid epidemic
Terry Rey: Crossing the Water and Keeping the Faith [Audio interview]
No full textTemple religion professor Terry Rey and Alex Stepick, director of the Immigration and Ethnicity Institute at Florida International University, have produced a history and ethnography of Haitian religion in Miami. By surveying the religious institutions in Miami’s Little Haiti and surrounding areas, interviewing community members, and investigating the primary and secondary literatures, Rey and Stepick explain what happened to Haitian religion when it “crossed the water” to the shores of Florida. They describe Notre Dame de Haiti Catholic Church, the epicenter of support for Haitian immigrants, the shrines in and around Miami that Haitians visit for spiritual sustainance, and the annual festivals that bring the Haitian community together in celebration. Protestant churches small and large, both storefront operations and established denominations, have filled in around Notre Dame de Haiti, along with the less prevalent Vodou botanicas, to create a religious marketplace for Haitian Americans in search of salvation goods. Unlike the Africans who originally came to Saint Domingue, Miami’s Haitian residents stay in frequent contact with their place of birth, through modern communications and transportation technologies. Fred Rowland spoke with Terry Rey and recorded this interview on January 13, 2014.Temple University. College of Liberal ArtsTemple University. LibrariesLearning & Research ServicesReligionAudacityAudacit
Know Your Rights Fact Sheet - Living with HIV
No full textBarnett College of Public HealthThis fact sheet provides information on the rights of people who are living with HIV, specifically in Philadelphia
The geometry of end-periodic mapping tori
No full textLet be a boundaryless infinite-type surface with finitely many ends and consider an end-periodic homeomorphism of S. The end-periodicity of ensures that , its associated mapping torus, has a compactification as a -manifold with boundary; further, if is atoroidal, then admits a hyperbolic metric. Such maps admit invariant \emph{positive and negative Handel-Miller laminations}, , , whose leaves naturally project to the arc and curve complex of a given compact subsurface .
As an end-periodic analogy to work of Minsky in the finite-type setting, we show that for every there exists (depending only on and the \emph{capacity} of ) for which implies . Here denotes the total geodesic length of in , and the infimum is taken over all hyperbolic structures on .
This work produces the following: given a closed surface , we provide a family of closed, fibered hyperbolic manifolds in which is totally geodesically embedded, (almost) transverse to the pseudo-Anosov flow, with arbitrarily small systole.Mathematic
Covert Abortion Networks: How Civil Society Subverts the State and Provides Abortion, No Matter What
No full textThis dissertation investigates the ability of Covert Abortion Networks (CANs) to provide abortion access in the face of legal threats and the erosion of the access environment. CANs operate across a variety of legal and practical contexts to help people access abortions, no matter what. A common refrain in the pro-choice community is that abortion restrictions do not work; this project investigates why they do not work. I argue that abortion restrictions fail to have a lasting effect on the birth rate because of civil society’s organizing to provide abortions in the face of legal threats and erosion of the access environment. These networks establish both informal and formal linkages, ties, and organizations to facilitate access despite legal constraints. The level of institutionalization of civil society determines the shape of these CANs.
Using a comparative case analysis of communist-era Romania, Turkey, and Appalachia, this study illustrates how three distinct levels of institutionalization of civil society shape CANs. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to address these questions. A statistical analysis of birth rate data and abortion laws from 1960 to 2019 shows that abortion restrictions do not have a lasting effect on the birth rate. Then, through case analyses incorporating historical analysis, interviews with CANs, and organizational mapping, I demonstrate how CANs are formed and function in various civil society settings. Ultimately, this project shows that no, abortion restrictions do not work well. And they do not work well because of the will of civil society to supplement abortion access no matter what, through the creation and organizing of CANs. Abortion restrictions and erosion of the access environment are heavily undermined by civil society actors who mobilize covertly to maintain access under hostile conditions.Political Scienc
MOTIVATIONS AND ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF CORPORATE FINANCIALIZATION: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE LISTED NON-FINANCIAL COMPANIES
No full textThe increasing trend of financialization in Chinese listed firms has drawn attention from the academic community. This paper is based on the financial data of 2,154 nonfinancial and non-real estate listed companies from 2008 to 2018 and aim to investigate the driving factors and economic consequences of corporate financialization in Chinese capital market. The results show that corporate financialization in China is influenced by motives such as preventive savings, investment substitution, shadow banking, and earnings management. The latter three motives are more pronounced than preventive savings, suggesting a speculative nature to the financialization trend, which separates these companies from the real economy's development. In terms of economic consequences, financialization tends to displace primary business activities, particularly in corporate research and development (R&D) investments. Over the long term, this may lead to insufficient incentives for corporate innovation and development, gradually weakening their competitive edge. Therefore, it is crucial to focus on supporting the real economy, enhancing financial supervision, and guiding companies to stay aligned with their intended objectives to prevent excessive financialization.Global Financ
Impact of a Multimodal Program on Daily Weights Adherence in Hospitalized CHF
No full textThe purpose of this qualitative improvement project was to compare the implementation of multimodal program and standard practice in hospitalized CHF patients, specifically focusing on their influence on adherence to daily weights and the impact on length of stay (LOS).Temple University. College of Public HealthNursingA poster presented at the 2025 TUHS Nursing Research & EBP Conference, which took place April 24, 2025, in Philadelphia, PA
The Relationship Between Linguistic Mazes and Executive Function in African American Adults
No full textPeople tend to become more disfluent or show a change in their disfluency patterns with age, producing less informative utterances across contexts (e.g., Samani et al., 2017; Andrade & Martins-Reis, 2010). The specific pattern and mechanism behind this phenomenon are still unsettled (for a review, see Mortensen et al., 2006). Fleming (2014) reported that declining executive function abilities in the context of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) were associated with a greater number of linguistic content mazes. Confirming this finding in diverse populations would further establish that subtle language changes can be indicative of executive dysfunction and an increased risk of developing MCI or dementia. African Americans are at an elevated risk for abnormal cognitive decline due to complex risk factors, yet cognitive-linguistic screeners are often less specific for this population due to their cultural and educational biases (Norman et al., 2011; Wooten et al., 2023). This thesis expands on previous research by exploring the relationship between executive function, naming, and fluent language production using a word definition task in a cohort study of community-dwelling African Americans. To explore if these variables predict the use of linguistic mazes, the prevalence of linguistic mazes across utterances (pmaze) was calculated and compared to performance on a battery of neuropsychological measures of cognition and language. No significant correlations were found between the neuropsychological measures and pmaze, indicating that pmaze may not be caused by executive dysfunction alone. This thesis concludes with a discussion of variables beyond executive dysfunction that may influence linguistic mazes and the theoretical and clinical implications of these findings.Communication Science
ANALYSIS OF THE INTERKINGDOM MICROBIOME ASSOCIATED WITH PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ENDODONTIC INFECTIONS: A CROSS- SECTIONAL STUDY
No full textEndodontic infections develop when bacteria from the oral cavity infiltrate the pulp through breaches in enamel and dentin, leading to inflammation, necrosis, and apical periodontitis. Primary infections are dominated by anaerobic bacteria including Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, and Prevotella while secondary infections often involve gram-positive facultative anaerobes like Enterococcus faecalis. Fungi, particularly Candida albicans, have also been implicated.
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has transformed microbial analysis, enabling detailed profiling of bacterial and fungal communities through 16S rRNA and ITS sequencing, respectively However, most studies have focused primarily on bacterial populations, with only a few that characterized the mycobiome or assessed both domains simultaneously. The potential interkingdom interactions between bacterial and fungal taxa whether synergistic or antagonistic remain poorly understood. This study addresses these gaps, this study sought to characterize both the bacteriome and mycobiome in primary and secondary infections, while exploring the potential interkingdom interactions in both types of infection.
Methods
Sixty-three patients were recruited: 30 with primary endodontic infections (infections occurring in teeth with necrotic pulps and no prior endodontic treatment), 30 with secondary/persistent infections (infections in previously treated teeth where the root canal system has been reinfected or the initial infection was not completely eliminated), and 3 negative controls undergoing extraction for orthodontic reasons. Root canal samples were collected using files and paper points under sterile conditions. DNA extracted from the samples was subjected to dual amplicon sequencing targeting the 16S rRNA (V1–V3) and ITS2 regions to profile bacterial and fungal communities, respectively. Taxonomic assignment and diversity analyses were performed using QIIME2, Phyloseq, and Microbiome Packages in R. Differential abundance analysis was performed using MaAsLin2.
Results
Beta diversity analysis revealed significant compositional differences in bacterial communities between primary and secondary infections (PERMANOVA, p = 0.001), whereas fungal community structure was more conserved across groups. Alpha diversity metrics, including Shannon and Chao1 indices, did not significantly differ between infection types for either domain. Both primary and secondary endodontic infections were dominated by strict anaerobes, including Propionibacterium, Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Parvimonas, Porphyromonas, Pyrimadobacter, Fretibacterium and Olsenela. However, secondary infections still showed enrichment of gram-positive facultative anaerobes, such as Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus vestibularis, Rothia mucilaginosa, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Corynebacterium accolens compared to primary infections. Fungal communities in both primary and secondary infections were primarily composed of Candida, Malassezia and Cladosporium species but secondary infections showed significantly higher relative abundance of Malassezia globosa (novel variants 94.5%, 96.6%) and Candida dubliniensis Interkingdom correlations were identified for primary but not secondary infections including positive associations between fungi and strict anaerobes including Prevotella oris, and Parvimonas micra, suggesting potential synergistic interactions. Conversely, negative correlations were observed between fungi and several facultative species such as Streptococcus infantis and Lactobacillus gasseri, suggesting competitive exclusion or antagonism in secondary infections.
Conclusions
This study provides the first simultaneous characterization of the bacteriome and mycobiome in primary and secondary endodontic infections using next-generation sequencing. The identification of distinct bacterial profiles anaerobe-dominated communities in primary infections versus gram-positive facultative anaerobes in secondary infections alongside conserved yet compositionally varied fungal communities, underscores the ecological divergence between infection types. Notably, the detection of significant bacterial-fungal correlations, particularly involving Cladosporium and strict anaerobes, suggests that specific fungal taxa may participate in synergistic interactions that contribute to the persistence and biofilm resilience of endodontic infections.Oral Biolog
INVESTIGATION OF CANDIDA ALBICANS AND ENTEROCOCCUS FAECALIS BIOFILMS UNDER LOW IRON CONDITIONS
No full textEnterococcus faecalis is a gram-positive coccus found in the gastrointestinal tract of both humans and animals as commensal. Through the acquisition of mobile genetic elements, this commensal bacterium can transform into a multi-drug resistant opportunistic pathogen. As a pathogen, E. faecalis can cause endocarditis, septicemia, urinary tract, and endodontic infections. Similarly, Candida albicans is the most common fungal opportunistic pathogen found in the mouth, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary tract, and on the skin. This yeast can form hyphae, leading to invasive infections in immunocompromised patients. Iron is important for the formation of hyphae and iron levels in the host can affect Candida infection outcomes. C. albicans and E. faecalis are frequently co-isolated from various infection sites in humans, and both have been shown to form interkingdom biofilms in vitro. Specifically, we want to focus on the characterization of this dual-species interaction under low iron conditions. We used a C. albicans strain expressing mCherry from a constitutive promoter mixed with one of three strains of E. faecalis (a commensal strain OG1RF, OG1RF that contains the pheromone responsive plasmid pCF10, and an oral clinical isolate). Pheromone responsive plasmids are associated with virulence and are present in as high as 80% of clinical isolates. These strains were grown overnight in an optic bottom 24-well plate under a low iron concentration (400µM of bathophenanthrolinedisulfide acid). The biofilms were stained with Syto9 and Calcofluor White and imaged using laser scanning confocal microscopy. As expected, C. albicans produced low levels of hyphae in low iron conditions. However,
C. albicans showed an increase in hyphal formation when grown with OG1RF, OG1RF with pCF10, or the clinical isolate despite being in low iron condition. All strains of E. faecalis had increased chaining and could be observed in close association with Candida hyphae. E. faecalis colony forming units (CFU) were the same whether it was grown with or without C. albicans. However, there was a significant decrease in C. albicans CFU when grown with E. faecalis under high or low iron conditions. The bacteriocin EntV that is known to inhibit C. albicans may be produced under high or low iron conditions. In addition, E. faecalis, being an efficient iron scavenger, may outcompete C. albicans for iron, reducing the fungal load regardless of available iron. We hypothesize that E. faecalis may induce hyphae formation in C. albicans under low iron conditions through multiple mechanisms. First, E. faecalis produces hydrogen peroxide. which can be observed within the bacterial chains wrapping around the hyphae and this peroxide can further induce hyphal formation. Second, during steady-state growth, E. faecalis may release N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) that is known to trigger increased hyphal growth via transcriptional induction of BRG1 and/or phosphorylation of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) Cek1. Cek1-P levels were observed to be enhanced in the presence of E. faecalis. Future experiments are focused on determining the transcriptional levels of entV and BRG1 and measuring the levels of NAG.Microbiology and Immunolog