Julie G. Pilitsis, M.D., Ph.D., who currently serves as division chief of functional neurosurgery and chair and professor of the basic neuroscience department at Albany Medical College (AMC) in New York, will assume her role as dean effective February 2022.
The M.O.M. project, which will have four units in Ohio, Florida, South Carolina and Texas, will engage veterans with traumatic brain injury, their caregivers and other stakeholders to bolster patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research in order to identify treatment options for traumatic brain injury that are effective, acceptable, and meaningful to the veteran population.
An internationally renowned geriatrician and advocate for seniors and a 98-year-old World War II veteran hero are a dynamic duo whose paths recently crossed. They have a common bond: to improve care and quality of life for Americans and people throughout the world.
Just like humans, autonomous robots need to communicate with one another to learn together and to accomplish a team mission such as search and rescue. Researchers are developing the nation’s first-of-its-kind testbed platform that connects robots using high-frequency radio waves (30 to 300 gigahertz). The robots will be able communicate at ultra-high speeds of gigabits per second by forming and directing ‘beams’ toward each other that also will enable them to see through objects as needed. They will see what the other robots are sensing in real-time, resulting in five times the eyes thanks to the nearly instantaneous exchange of high volumes of data.
A study is the first to reveal detailed behavior of massive goliath groupers. Until now, no studies have documented their fine-scale behavior. What is known about them has been learned from divers, underwater video footage, and observing them in captivity. Using a multi-sensor tag with a three axis accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer as well as a temperature, pressure and light sensor, a video camera and a hydrophone, researchers show how this species navigates through complex artificial reef environments, maintain themselves in high current areas, and how much time they spend in different cracks and crevices – none of which would be possible without the tag.
Joanna Drowos, D.O., M.P.H., M.B.A., FAU Schmidt College of Medicine, provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the COVID-19 boosters and vaccines for children ages 5 to 11.
Researchers tested the effectiveness of affordable, interactive robotic pet cats to improve mood, behavior and cognition in older adults with mild to moderate dementia.
For nurses on the frontline, the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially disparaging, challenging and even life altering. Nurses have worked extremely long hours faced not only with the excessive, increased number of deaths of their patients, who were dying alone, but also grieved the loss of coworkers. Researchers explored the use of spirituality and religion in nurses on the frontline as a way to find purpose and meaning in life, especially during times of heightened stress and uncertainty.
Florida Atlantic University and Northwest Community Health Alliance's Community Health Center, operated by FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, together with the West Palm Beach YWCA, recently received the “2021 Community Collaborators Award” from Nonprofits First, Inc., for their untiring efforts to mitigate health care disparities among women from minority groups with limited access to quality care.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) selected Florida Atlantic University to be one of three finalists for its national Degree Completion Award. A winner will be selected during the APLU’s annual meeting that takes place Nov. 15-17.
Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science is rapidly rising in U.S. News & World Report rankings, and is now one of the top three fastest improving engineering colleges in the nation (2020 to 2022). The college also is ranked No. 111 by U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges Rankings” 2022, among public engineering colleges whose highest degree offered is a Ph.D.
A study is the first to explore whether greater amounts of neighborhood open space and forest are associated with neighborhood-based walking in older adults in the U.S. Moreover, this is the first known nationally representative study to suggest that physical activity levels among older African Americans may benefit from greater amounts of neighborhood open space, including parks.
An analytical study examined levels of vaccine efficacy and mitigation strategies. If 100 percent were vaccinated with 90 percent vaccine efficacy, testing and quarantine did not substantially reduce infections. At 75 percent efficacy, weekly testing substantially reduced the number of infections; at 50 percent, testing and quarantine markedly reduced infections. At 50 to 75 percent efficacy, testing reduced infections up to 93.6 percent. Quarantining for 10 days only modestly reduced infections until vaccine efficacy dropped to 50 percent. Findings suggest that testing and isolating positive cases may remain important mitigation strategies for universities even with 100 percent of students vaccinated.
Little is known about atmospheric exchanges of greenhouse gasses in forested subtropical wetlands like Florida’s Everglades because imaging and identifying these areas are difficult. Researchers are developing a ground-penetrating radar prototype mounted on a small, unoccupied aircraft system to efficiently identify hot spots and hot moments for biogenic gas accumulation and release in the subtropical peat soils in the Everglades. Major greenhouse gases emitted from the Everglades include carbon monoxide, methane and nitrous oxide, which are affected by nutrients as well as hydrologic conditions.
Researchers are the first to introduce a novel mathematical framework to study the interplay between infectious diseases, human behavior – specifically social distancing – and economic growth. They introduced two models: a coupled disease-human behavior model to study the impact of full social distancing, and a coupled disease-human behavior model with an economic component to study the interplay between infectious diseases, human response to disease control measures, and the associated economic impact. Results show that disease elimination might be possible with various scenarios.
Turtles from the heavily polluted Indian River Lagoon (IRL) had compromised immune function. Those with tumors (Green Turtle Fibropapillomatosis or GTF) had less immune competence. Habitat quality, disease state, and immune function are intertwined. Polluted environments impact the immune system and make animals more prone to the expression of GTF, which in turn further compromises the immune system. This vicious cycle may explain why some areas have such a high incidence of GTF, while other areas have turtles that test positive for the GTF virus, but are clinically healthy.
Poor sleep quality is associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This award will support the development of non-invasive methods to monitor sleep quality, which will provide a key advance to assess if new candidate drugs truly restore sleep quality in the brain. These indicators of sleep brain quality could speed up the development of sleep treatments to improve the quality of life and the progression of AD. Because sleep disruption also occurs in other dementias, the indicators developed could positively impact additional diseases.
A study of 29,685 women finds postpartum depression (PPD) is a significant health issue, with nearly 13 percent of the sample being at risk. Results showed that women who were currently breastfeeding at the time of data collection had statistically significant lower risk of PPD than women who were not breastfeeding. There also was a statistically significant inverse relationship between breastfeeding length and risk of PPD. As the number of weeks that women breastfed increased, their PPD decreased. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference in PPD risk among women with varying breastfeeding intent (yes, no, unsure).
Patients with excited delirium often are administered ketamine by EMS before arriving at the hospital. Many of them are intoxicated or are using illicit substances, which may alter the properties of ketamine.
FAU's College of Engineering and Computer Science’s Matthew Maggio is one of five undergraduate national finalists of the “2021 Collegiate Inventors Competition®,” a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame®.
The NSF grant will enable scientists to elucidate trait evolution across species using statistical and supervised machine learning approaches to vigorously and accurately predict general and specific evolutionary mechanisms that also will be applicable to various genomic and transcriptomic data for evolutionary discovery.
Researchers are the first to compare the genetic structure and genomic diversity of paired shallow and upper mesophotic coral sites in the Northern and Southern Dry Tortugas and the Lower and Upper Florida Keys. Results suggest that while vertical connectivity between paired shallow and mesophotic populations can vary, certain mesophotic coral populations are important for maintaining the long-term survival of this ecologically important coral species throughout the Florida Keys and should be considered in future management strategies.
A multifaceted microfluidic in vitro assay is helping to identify the role of hypoxia on red blood cell aging via the biomechanical pathways. It holds promise for investigating hypoxic effects on the metastatic potential and relevant drug resistance of cancer cells.
Shark depredation, where a shark partially or completely consumes a fish before a fisherman can get it out of the water, causes a range of negative biological and economic impacts. Scientists have found a novel way to address this issue using a citizen-science approach that includes surveys, videos, forensics and social media.
One of the frequently used methods to monitor endangered whales is called passive acoustics technology, which doesn’t always perform well.
A first in situ, long-term study explored how the common octopus, a medium-sized octopus widely distributed in tropical and temperate seas worldwide and the Atlantic longarm octopus, a small species of octopus found in the Atlantic Ocean and elsewhere, coexist by examining their foraging habits and tactics, diet, behaviors and when they are active or inactive. Results show that their very different behaviors and habits is exactly how these two species coexist in a shallow Florida lagoon- even at high densities.
More than 80 percent of adults get the recommended 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week. Moreover, 40 percent of Americans 75 and older are entirely inactive. Little is known about factors associated with increasing, sustaining, or declining physical activity levels over time. A study explored what drives older adults from diverse backgrounds to start or sustain physical activity and what stops them. The bottom line: knowledge and old clichés alone aren’t enough to keep them moving.
“Research in Action” is a virtual weekly talk series on Zoom. Each week, participants can listen to experts in their fields as they present their latest research and participate in question-and-answer sessions.
Researchers reviewed the recent major randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trials and present an updated meta-analysis of hydroxychloroquine in post-exposure prophylaxis as well as in hospitalized patients.
Researchers asked participants about their personal driving behaviors such as speed, changing lanes, accelerating and decelerating and passing other vehicles. They also asked them the same questions about their expectations of a self-driving car performing these very same tasks. The objective of the study was to examine trust and distrust to see if there is a relationship between an individual’s driving behaviors and how they expect a self-driving car to behave.
Researchers measured both the psychological perception of stress and evaluated how undergraduate males and females cope with stress. The differences are vast. Females experienced much higher levels of stress than males and used emotion-focused approaches to cope more than males. Females used self-distractions, emotional support and venting as coping strategies. Male students on the other hand sought much lower levels of support, since they either may lack the social network or may not have developed those skills.
Raquel Assis, Ph.D., associate professor, College of Engineering and Computer Science, and a fellow of FAU’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention, has received a five-year, $1.8 million “Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award” from the NIH. The goal of this early career award is to enhance the ability of investigators to take on ambitious scientific projects and approach problems more creatively.
Researchers say that genomic surveillance to mitigate and contain COVID-19 is equally crucial to detect variants that are phenotypically or antigenically different well before they spread throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world. Genomic surveillance leverages applications of next-generation sequencing and phylogenetic methods to facilitate greater early anticipation as well as initiation of effective strategies to mitigate and contain outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 variants and other novel viruses.
Researchers quantified key psychosocial and sociopolitical markers to compare the 2020, 2016 and 2012 presidential elections. The language of these two networks was never more distinct, and never more volatile, than during coverage of political events associated with the last presidential election. Yet the differences in language of the two networks were primarily in measures of linguistic style, including noun and pronoun use. Sociopolitical markers to assess left-right differences in language use, including moral metaphors, grievances, values, and personality, showed relatively modest effects.
With hurricane season in full force, several Florida Atlantic University faculty experts are available to discuss various issues surrounding hurricane preparedness, evacuation and aftermath.
A low-cost and rapid 3D technique is helping scientists to gain insight into the colony- and community-level dynamics of the poorly understood stony coral tissue loss disease responsible for widespread coral death throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic. They adapted Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry to generate 3D models for tracking lesion progression and impacts on diseased coral colonies. They combined traditional diver surveys with 3D colony fate-tracking to determine the impacts of disease on coral colonies throughout Southeast Florida.
People’s social behavior, reflected in their mobility data, is providing scientists with a way to forecast the spread of COVID-19 nationwide at the county level. Researchers have developed the first data-driven deep learning model with the potential to predict an outbreak in COVID-19 cases two weeks in advance. Feeding the mobility data to epidemiological forecasting models helps to estimate COVID-19 growth as well as evaluating the effects of government policies such as mandating masks on the spread of COVID-19.
Florida Atlantic University’s Joanna Drowos, D.O., M.P.H., M.B.A., Schmidt College of Medicine, provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the COVID-19 Delta variant, vaccines and public safety measures.
Only 17 percent of live coral cover remains on fore-reefs in Belize. A study finds new evidence that nitrogen enrichment from land-based sources like agriculture run-off and sewage, are significantly driving macroalgal blooms to increase on the Belize Barrier Reef and causing massive decline in hard coral cover. With only 2 percent of hard coral cover remaining in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, it’s too late to save that reef, but there’s still hope for the Belize Barrier Reef.
While services such as Snapchat allow self-destructing messages or notify users when a recipient takes a screenshot of a message, there is no way to prevent someone from photographing or showing it to others on the screen. A new invention controls how and when shared documents are displayed and restricts individuals from viewing documents based on individual identity (e.g., face ID, a voice sample), their social network, and when and where the document is being viewed.
For debilitated sea turtles in rehab, part of the healing process is to provide a species-specific, balanced diet that provides nutrition similar to that of a wild diet. However, developing the right nutritionally balanced formula is challenging. To find answers, researchers followed their “gut” instinct.
Leading experts address the clinical and public health challenges as well as ethical implications for health care workers to achieve high levels of vaccinations to protect themselves, their coworkers and the general public from COVID-19.
Tarsha Jones, Ph.D., principal investigator and an assistant professor of nursing at FAU’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, has received the National Institute of Health (NIH) K01 Career Development Award, a five-year, $772,525 award for a project titled, “Decision Support for Multigene Panel Testing and Family Risk Communication among Racially/Ethnically Diverse Young Breast Cancer Survivors.”
Researchers are the first to model COVID-19 completion versus cessation in clinical trials using machine learning algorithms and ensemble learning. They collected 4,441 COVID-19 trials from ClinicalTrials.gov to build a testbed with 693 dimensional features created to represent each clinical trial. These computational methods can predict whether a COVID-19 clinical trial will be completed or terminated, withdrawn or suspended. Stakeholders can leverage the predictions to plan resources, reduce costs, and minimize the time of the clinical study.
Prosthetics currently lack the sensation of “touch.” To enable a more natural feeling prosthetic hand interface, researchers are the first to incorporate stretchable tactile sensors using liquid metal and machine learning. This hierarchical multi-finger tactile sensation integration could provide a higher level of intelligence for artificial hands by improving control, providing haptic feedback and reconnecting amputees to a previously severed sense of touch.
FAU has received a $309,527 grant from the National Science Foundation to spearhead the project that will involve experimental work carried out at Technion, and numerical simulations and machine learning tasks conducted at FAU.
A study is the first to examine the relationship between grit and a muscular endurance performance task – specifically, the grueling back squat. The expectation was that a “gritty” person would perform more repetitions in a resistance training set. Interestingly, grit did not predict muscular endurance during the back squat in well-trained men and women. Both males and females independently failed to show a relationship between grit and repetitions performed.
If successful, this research in the Gulf of Mexico’s hypoxia region off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana may demonstrate not just the ability, but also the utility, of remote sensing as an observational technique for characterizing potentially critical but often neglected carbon cycle processes related to marine sediments. Researchers will use satellite images, hydrodynamic modeling and field work in seeking a better understanding of the ocean’s role in the Earth system.
Specific health effects of toxins on the water surface of the Indian River Lagoon are not fully understood. Scientists collected water samples during the 2018 wet and 2019 dry seasons and analyzed them. Results showed that concentrations of Microcystis aeruginosa, harmful algal blooms, and saxitoxin, a neurotoxin, were both generally higher during the wet season. Microcystins, produced by blue-green algae, were present only under specific environmental conditions.
A first-of-its kind study in U.S.-born children from Spanish-speaking families finds that minority language exposure does not threaten the acquisition of English by children in the U.S. and that there is no trade-off between English and Spanish. Rather, children reliably acquire English by age 5, and their total language knowledge is greater to the degree that they also acquire Spanish. Children’s level of English knowledge was independent of their level of Spanish knowledge.
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