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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (32 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2020)

In this thesis, I explore Yo'eme identity, culture, language, revitalization activities, andlanguage ideological impacts accomplished in the early stages of the ongoing Yo’eme Language Projects. In section one, I provide background on Yo'eme communities, the language, and the scholarship devoted to the defense and documentation of Yo'eme Language and Culture. In section two, I look at the formation of the Yo'eme Language Project and the ongoing development of a Yo'eme language dictionary including the need for it, its content, and intended ideological impact. In section three, I examine the elaboration of a Yo'eme Language and Culture Board Game, its content, purpose, ideological implications, and ongoing application both in and outside of the classroom. In my conclusion, I discuss the importance of these two ongoing projects as ideological contributions to language preservation efforts and Yo'eme cultural sovereignty as well as further plans and developments for both these language revitalization projects.

    Cover page: The Yo’eme Language: The Legacy of Our Ancestors, More Than Just a Form of Communication.
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2019)

    This dissertation study contributes to the research on Latino mental health service utilization by examining the determinants of utilization of mental health services, while considering Latino socio-cultural factors. Using the Andersen Behavioral Model of Health Service Utilization (BMHSU) as a theoretical framework, secondary data analysis was conducted using the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), a nationally representative household survey, focusing on mental disorders and mental health service utilization. Results indicate that only 9% of the Latino population surveyed, including those with a depressive, anxiety, substance use, and/or behavioral disorder, report having used at least one source of mental health service. The findings highlight the BMHSU determinants of mental health service utilization and the need for research to increase our understanding of the socio-cultural barriers and facilitators to using mental health services among Latinos in the United States.

      Cover page: Socio-Cultural Determinants of Mental Health Service Utilization Among Latinos in the United States
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Davis Previously Published Works (2021)

      Objective

      To evaluate the influence of the unsaturated to saturated ratio of fatty acids (FAs) reaching the duodenum on postruminal digestion of FAs, mainly focused on stearic acid (C18:0).

      Materials and methods

      Six Holstein steers [208 ± 3 kg initial live weight (LW)] with cannulas in the abomasum and proximal duodenum were used in a replicated 3 × 3 Latin square design. Steers were fed a fixed amount of a basal steam-flaked corn-based diet containing 8% supplemental fat and were daily infused via abomasum with 0, 67, and 165 gm oleic acid (C18:1). The experiment lasted for 42 days.

      Results

      The daily total FA (TFA) intake (dietary FA intake plus abomasal infusion of oleic acid) represented a 1.78, 2.10, and 2.56 gm TFA/kg LW ratio. The unsaturated to saturated ratio of FAs entering the duodenum increased (p < 0.01) as level C18:1 infusion into the abomasum increased. Infusion of C18:1 tended (quadratic component, p = 0.07) to improve postruminal TFA digestion, being maximal for the 67 gm/day infusions. This increase in TFA digestion was due to increased (quadratic component, p = 0.03) postruminal C18:0 digestion (postruminal digestion of the other FAs was not different, p ≥ 0.13).

      Conclusion

      Increasing the unsaturated to saturated ratio of FAs entering the small intestine will enhance intestinal C18:0 digestion. This positive effect is expected to be more likely beneficial when FA intake is high (and thus, the duodenal flow of FA is high), but this benefit looks diminished when the quantity of TFA reaching the intestine exceeds the proportion of 2.13 gm FA/kg LW.
        Cover page: Influence of unsaturated to saturated ratio of fatty acids reaching the duodenum on postruminal digestion of stearic acid in Holstein steers fed a high-fat finishing diet
        • Thesis
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2024)

        Despite extensive research on parental involvement, gaps remained in understanding the quality of parental engagement and its longitudinal implications for various developmental outcomes. This study investigated the relationship between parental involvement and children's academic performance and overall development during the critical early years of education (K-2). Utilizing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K: 2011), this study examined how parental involvement—as reflected in practices such as helping with homework, attending parent-teacher conferences, and fostering a positive learning environment—related to children's interest in learning, interpersonal skills, persistence, and performance in math and science. The participants included 18,526 children (average age of 5.70 years at the start), their parents, and teachers. The study design was longitudinal, tracking these participants from kindergarten through second grade. The findings revealed that while parental involvement generally declined as children progressed through early elementary school, positive relationships between PI and various developmental outcomes remained significant. Specifically, active parental engagement was associated with higher motivation, improved interpersonal skills, greater persistence, and enhanced performance in math and science assessments. The study highlighted the importance of fostering strong home-school partnerships and developing strategies to engage parents. These insights aimed to inform educational policies and practices that support children's holistic development, emphasizing the need for early interventions and ongoing parental involvement to ensure long-term academic success and personal growth.

          Cover page: Parental Engagement and Its Relationship With Academic Performance and Social Skills in K-2 StudentsCreative Commons 'BY' version 4.0 license
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2022)
          Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is complicated by graft- versus-host disease (GVHD), which causes immune dysfunction and further delays immune reconstitution through its effects on primary and secondary lymphoid organs. Treatments to prevent GVHD and improve immune recovery following allo-HSCT are needed. Post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is a well-established and clinically widely used method for GVHD prophylaxis after HLA-matched as well as haploidentical allo-HSCT, as well as a promising strategy in the setting of mismatched unrelated donor allo-HSCT. Recently, regulatory T cells (Tregs), a critical subset for immune homeostasis and tolerance induction, have been evaluated for use as GVHD prophylaxis in experimental models and clinical trials. Natural killer (NK) cells are one of the first lymphoid populations to reconstitute following allo-HSCT and are important mediators of protective immunity against pathogens, and are also critical for limiting post-transplantation relapse of hematologic cancers. Several reports have noted that a delay in NK cell recovery may occur following experimental mouse allo-HSCT as well as after clinical allo-HSCT. Here we examined how 2 treatment strategies, PTCy and donor expanded Tregs (TrED), in experimental MHC-matched allo-HSCT affect NK recovery. Our experiments show that both strategies improved NK cell numbers, with PTCy slightly better than TrED, early after allo-HSCT (1 month) compared with untreated allo-HSCT recipients. Importantly, NK cell IFN-γ production and cytotoxic function, as reflected by CD107 expression as well as in vivo killing of NK-sensitive tumor cells, were improved using either PTCy or TrED versus control allo-HSCT recipients. In conclusion, both prophylactic treatments were found to be beneficial for NK recovery and NK cell function following MHC-matched minor antigen-mismatched experimental allo-HSCT. Improved NK recovery could help provide early immunity toward tumors and pathogens in these transplant recipients.
            Cover page: Improved NK Cell Recovery Following Use of PTCy or Treg Expanded Donors in Experimental MHC-Matched Allogeneic HSCT
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Davis Previously Published Works (2022)

            Objective

            Evaluate the effect of arrival weight on feedlot growth performance and carcass characteristics of Holstein steers of similar age.

            Material and methods

            Three hundred calf-fed Holstein steers (age 113 ± 1-day) were distributed in a completely randomly unbalanced design and divided into five categories (105, 112, 117, 123, and 129 kg) of shrunk initial weight (SIW). Calves were weighed on days 1, 112, 224, and 361. Calves were fed steam-flaked corn-based diets. Growth performance and dietary energy were evaluated for each period and the study as a whole (1-361-day).

            Results

            During the rearing period, average daily gain (ADG) increased (linearly effect, p < 0.01) with increasing birth weight. Birthweight was positively associated (p < 0.05) with feedlot arrival weight (R 2 = 0.47) and final harvest weight (R 2 = 0.36). Overall ADG increased (p < 0.01) with increasing SIW. Dry matter intake increased linearly during the first 224-day but quadratically during the last 137 days. Overall, there was a quadratic effect (p < 0.05) of SIW on gain-to-feed and observed-to-expected dietary NE, with lower efficiencies (4%) for steers in both the lightest and heaviest SIW. Hot carcass weight, Longissimus muscle area, marbling score, and fat thickness increased (linear effect, p ≤ 0.03) as SIW increased, whereas kidney-pelvic-heart fat and yield-grade were unaffected.

            Conclusions

            The initial arrival weight influences the growth performance, energetic efficiency, and carcass characteristics of Holstein steers of similar age. The effect is more pronounced in the lighter (<112 kg) steers.
              Cover page: Influence of arrival weight of Holstein steers of similar age on feedlot growth performance, dietary energetics, and carcass characteristics
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2017)

              Background and purpose

              The early diagnosis of spinal vascular malformations suffers from the nonspecificity of their clinical and radiologic presentations. Spinal angiography requires a methodical approach to offer a high diagnostic yield. The prospect of false-negative studies is particularly distressing when addressing conditions with a narrow therapeutic window. The purpose of this study was to identify factors leading to missed findings or inadequate studies in patients with spinal vascular malformations.

              Materials and methods

              The clinical records, laboratory findings, and imaging features of 18 patients with spinal arteriovenous fistulas and at least 1 prior angiogram read as normal were reviewed. The clinical status was evaluated before and after treatment by using the Aminoff-Logue Disability Scale.

              Results

              Eighteen patients with 19 lesions underwent a total of 30 negative spinal angiograms. The lesions included 9 epidural arteriovenous fistulas, 8 dural arteriovenous fistulas, and 2 perimedullary arteriovenous fistulas. Seventeen patients underwent endovascular (11) or surgical (6) treatment, with a delay ranging between 1 week and 32 months; the Aminoff-Logue score improved in 13 (76.5%). The following factors were identified as the causes of the inadequate results: 1) lesion angiographically documented but not identified (55.6%); 2) region of interest not documented (29.6%); or 3) level investigated but injection technically inadequate (14.8%).

              Conclusions

              All the angiograms falsely reported as normal were caused by correctible, operator-dependent factors. The nonrecognition of documented lesions was the most common cause of error. The potential for false-negative studies should be reduced by the adoption of rigorous technical and training standards and by second opinion reviews.
                Cover page: Analysis of 30 Spinal Angiograms Falsely Reported as Normal in 18 Patients with Subsequently Documented Spinal Vascular Malformations
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2016)
                Ocular complications occur after transplantation in 60% to 90% of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) patients and significantly impair vision-related quality of life. Ocular surface inflammation and dry eye disease are the most common manifestations of ocular GVHD. Ocular GVHD can be viewed as an excellent preclinical model that can be studied to understand the immune pathogenesis of this common and debilitating disease. A limitation of this is that only a few experimental models mimic the ocular complications after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and have focused on the acute GVHD process. To address this issue, we used a preclinical animal model developed by our group where ocular involvement was preceded by systemic GVHD to gain insight regarding the contributing immune mechanisms. Employing this "matched unrelated donor" model enabled the development of clinical scoring criteria, which readily identified different degrees of ocular pathology at both the ocular surface and adnexa, dependent on the level of conditioning before HSCT. As far as we are aware, we report for the first time that these clinical and immune responses occur not only on the ocular surface, but they also heavily involve the lid margin region. In total, the present study reports a preclinical scoring model that can be applied to animal models as investigators look to further explore GVHD's immunologic effects at the level of the ocular surface and eyelid adnexa compartments. We speculate that future studies will use this clinical scoring index in combination with what is recognized histologically and correlated with serum biomarkers identified in chronic/ocular GVHD.
                  Cover page: Novel Scoring Criteria for the Evaluation of Ocular Graft-versus-Host Disease in a Preclinical Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Animal Model
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2013)
                  Since its inception in the mid-twentieth century, the complication limiting the application and utility of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) to treat patients with hematopoietic cancer is the development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Ironically, GVHD is induced by the cells (T lymphocytes) transplanted for the purpose of eliminating the malignancy. Damage ensuing to multiple tissues, e.g., skin, GI, liver, and others including the eye, provides the challenge of regulating systemic and organ-specific GVH responses. Because the immune system is also targeted by GVHD, this both: (a) impairs reconstitution of immunity post-transplant resulting in patient susceptibility to lethal infection and (b) markedly diminishes the individual's capacity to generate anti-cancer immunity--the raison d'etre for undergoing allo-HSCT. We hypothesize that deleting alloreactive T cells ex vivo using a new strategy involving antigen stimulation and alkylation will prevent systemic GVHD thereby providing a platform for the generation of anti-tumor immunity. Relapse also remains the major complication following autologous HSCT (auto-HSCT). While GVHD does not complicate auto-HSCT, its absence removes significant grant anti-tumor responses (GVL) and raises the challenge of generating rapid and effective anti-tumor immunity early post-transplant prior to immune reconstitution. We hypothesize that effective vaccine usage to stimulate tumor-specific T cells followed by their amplification using targeted IL-2 can be effective in both the autologous and allogeneic HSCT setting. Lastly, our findings support the notion that the ocular compartment can be locally targeted to regulate visual complications of GVHD which may involve both alloreactive and self-reactive (i.e., autoimmune) responses.
                    Cover page: The allure and peril of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: overcoming immune challenges to improve success
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Davis Previously Published Works (2016)
                    Recent findings have shown that microbial nitrogen flow and digestible energy of diets are increased when urea is combined with a slow-release urea (SRU) in diets with a starch to acid detergent fibre ratio (S:F) 4:1. This affect is attributable to enhanced synchrony between ruminal N availability for microbial growth and carbohydrate degradation. To verify the magnitude of this effects on lamb performance, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of combining urea and a SRU in diets containing S:F ratios of 3:1, 4:1, or 5:1 on performance, dietary energetics and carcass characteristics of finishing lambs. For that, 40 Pelibuey×Katahdin lambs (36.65±3 kg) were assigned to one of five weight groupings in 20 pens (5 repetition/treatments). The S:F ratio in the diet was manipulated by partially replacing the corn grain and dried distiller's grain with solubles by forage (wheat straw) and soybean meal to reach S:F ratios of 3:1, 4:1 or 5:1. An additional treatment of 4:1 S:F ratio with 0.8% urea as the sole source of non-protein nitrogen was used as a reference for comparing the effect of urea combination vs. conventional urea at the same S:F ratio. There were no treatment effects on dry matter intake (DMI). Compared the urea combination vs urea at the same S:F ratio, urea combination increased (p<0.01) average daily gain (ADG, 18.3%), gain for feed (G:F, 9.5%), and apparent energy retention per unit DMI (8.2%). Irrespective of the S:F ratio, the urea combination improved the observed-to-expected dietary ratio and apparent retention per unit DMI was maximal (quadratic effect, p≤0.03) at an S:F ratio of 4:1, while the conventional urea treatment did not modify the observed-to-expected net energy ratio nor the apparent retention per unit DMI at 4:1 S:F ratio. Urea combination group tended (3.8%, p = 0.08) to have heavier carcasses with no effects on the rest of carcass characteristics. As S:F ratio increased, ADG, G:F, dietary net energy, carcass weight, dressing percentage and longissimus thoracis (LM) area increased linearly (p≤0.02). Combining urea and a slow-release urea product results in positive effects on growth performance and dietary energetics, but the best responses are apparently observed when there is a certain proportion (S:F ratio = 4:1) of starch to acid detergent fibre in the diet.
                      Cover page: Effects of Combining Feed Grade Urea and a Slow-release Urea Product on Performance, Dietary Energetics and Carcass Characteristics of Feedlot Lambs Fed Finishing Diets with Different Starch to Acid Detergent Fiber Ratios.
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