Texas Woman's University

Bladder pain significantly impacts millions worldwide, severely affecting their quality of life and posing a major clinical challenge. Understanding the mechanisms underlying persistent bladder pain is critical for developing better therapeutic strategies. In this study, we investigate the effects of cyclophosphamide (CYP)-induced persistent bladder sensitization to explore the lateralized contribution of amygdala calcitonin gene-related peptide receptors (CGRP-Rs) on pain-like changes in mice. We demonstrate that CYP induces hypersensitivity lasting up to 14 days postinjury (DPI) in the urinary bladder distention assay and up to 21 DPI when assessing abdominal mechanical sensitivity. Despite persistent pain-like changes, no significant bladder histological changes were observed. Based on previous findings that CGRP signaling from the parabrachial nucleus contributes to central amygdala (CeA) lateralization, we hypothesized that CGRP-Rs play a key role in driving visceral bladder pain-related hemispherical differences. We show that inhibiting CGRP-R activity with the antagonist CGRP 8-37, in the right CeA attenuates bladder pain-like behavior, whereas left CeA inhibition sustains CYP-induced hypersensitivity. Electrophysiological recordings revealed increased firing frequency in CGRP-R-positive cells in the right CeA 7 DPI. In vivo single photon calcium imaging demonstrated increased Ca transients in CGRP-R-positive cells in the right CeA, upon the presentation of a stimulus at 0 DPI and overall at 2 DPI, further confirming the pronociceptive role of CGRP-Rs in the right CeA. Taken together, these findings provide a crucial foundation for understanding pain-induced CeA lateralization and for further studies identifying how targeting CGRP signaling could provide bladder pain relief.

Background and Purpose: Technostress is a physiological response experienced by nurses using technology and can significantly impact well-being and performance. Currently, no published instrument has been found that measures technostress specifically in nurses. Methods: The Nurse Technostress Questionnaire (NTQ) was methodologically designed and underwent psychometric testing, including exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Results: EFA explained 45% of the variance with five factors. CFA supported acceptable goodness-of-fit indices. Total scale reliability demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α = .93), with each subscale exceeding α = .84. Conclusions: The NTQ is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating technostress in nurses, aiding in the identification of specific technostressors and supporting preventive and proactive methods of stress reduction.

ABSTRACT Naming the language often spoken by Black Americans has historically been an area of debate within U.S. society. Debates carry over into schooling and result in the linguistic oppression of Black American adolescents. In this single qualitative case study, I examine a group of Black American adolescents as they interact with Black literature during a summer book club program. Black linguistic consciousness and culturally situated reader response theories were used to explore how the language awareness of these adolescents influenced their literary responses. Findings suggest they demonstrated an awareness of the societal positioning of Black language, which was reflected in their homeplace positions and through windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Therefore, further discussion is needed surrounding the role of asset‐based perspectives on marginalized languages and the impact it has on how multilingual and multidialectical adolescents engage in meaning‐making.

ABSTRACT In‐kind (nonmonetary) donations are a popular form of philanthropy that have received much less scholarly attention than monetary gifts. This study documents the prevalence of types of in‐kind giving and associated organizational practices, then explores links between the perceptions of nonprofit managers, organizational practices, and prevalence of in‐kind gifts. Using phone survey data, we conduct a mixed‐method cross‐sectional analysis of 240 US nonprofit organizations. Findings indicate a wide variety of in‐kind donations and ways in which they are solicited. Charity managers ascribe a variety of motivations to donors for giving in‐kind, with more offering positive reasons (such as donors believing such donations are useful) than negative reasons (such as donor convenience). Using theoretical insights from contracting as a guide, we find that practices regarding in‐kind donations stem from monetary and nonmonetary (such as time or usefulness) considerations, though with differing effects depending on whether there are perceived challenges or opportunities.

Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (rTSA) is an increasingly common surgical procedure often performed to treat pain related to glenohumeral osteoarthritis or to rotator cuff arthropathy. Although surgical outcomes are generally excellent, recent evidence has found that postoperative pain (≥ 3/10) two years following surgery is reported by an estimated 18% of patients. Recently, the NIH Acute-to-Chronic Pain Signatures program recommended longitudinal studies using select biomarkers to describe and predict individual patient responses to surgery. These data are not yet available for rTSA procedures. This was a longitudinal cohort study performed at a single academic medical center. Twenty participants undergoing rTSA surgery were included, recruited from a tertiary hospital system in the southern United States. The first objective of this study was to describe changes in general pain intensity (Numerical Pain Rating Scale), widespread body pain, anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), neuropathic pain symptoms (painDETECT), and quantitative sensory testing from baseline to 6 weeks following rTSA. The second objective was to identify the baseline demographic and pain-related factors associated with 6-week postsurgical improvements in pain intensity. From before to after surgery, our cohort demonstrated significant improvement in shoulder pain intensity, widespread body pain, PainDETECT score, and temporal summation magnitude measured at the surgical deltoid. Degree of 6-week pain intensity improvement was associated with baseline pain intensity (F=18.79, p=0.0004) and temporal summation magnitude of the tibialis anterior (F=5.06, p=0.0380). Pain intensity, location, nature, and mechanism can serve as biomarkers of the short-term postsurgical changes that can be expected following rTSA. Baseline pain intensity and temporal summation magnitude of the tibialis anterior were associated with the degree of pain improvement, suggesting their use for preoperative risk assessment. Future research should evaluate whether these 6-week biomarker changes are associated with the development of chronic postoperative pain at longer durations after surgery.

Along with flavor, texture is one of the most important attributes of fresh-cut produce, which plays a critical role in consumer acceptance, influencing perceived freshness, quality, and overall eating experience. Salads, specifically green salads, usually contain leafy greens and other fresh-cut fruit vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes. Each of these components has its own unique characteristics, together giving the salad a wide range of textures and consumer experiences. Texture can be measured by both instrumental analysis and sensory evaluation techniques. Instrumental analysis consists of destructive and non-destructive methods, whereas sensory evaluation consists of descriptive and consumer studies. However, a comprehensive understanding and correlation of instrumental analysis and sensory evaluation of texture in salad-related fresh-cut fruits and vegetables is lacking in the literature. This review aims to address this gap by providing an in-depth understanding of the techniques used to quantify texture-related parameters and establishing relationships between the two techniques in fresh-cut salad products. The two different modes of analysis, along with the vastly different texture-related characteristics of fresh-cut salad produce, make it challenging to correlate instrumental analysis with sensory evaluation results. Furthermore, the integration of advanced technologies, including hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence-driven texture analysis, is emerging as a promising approach to enhance texture characterization and quality control. In addition to providing a comprehensive approach to enhance quality assessment methods, this review highlights the importance of predictability models powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, enabling correlating instrumental analysis and sensory evaluation.

With the rapid advancement of the Internet of Things and 5G technologies, edge computing has emerged as a vital paradigm for supporting real-time processing and low latency applications. At the core of edge computing lies Virtual Network Embedding (VNE), whose resource allocation efficiency directly influences both service quality and revenue generation in edge environments. Recent research has identified reinforcement learning (RL) as a promising approach to enhance the VNE process. However, most existing RL-based methods overlook the potential of attention mechanisms, which can help agents better understand complex network topologies and thereby improve embedding performance. To address this gap, we propose a novel algorithm, D2ARL (Dual Dynamic Attention-driven Reinforcement Learning), which adaptively captures the dynamic characteristics of both physical and virtual networks through a dynamic attention mechanism. D2ARL is built on a sequence-to sequence (seq2seq) architecture, leveraging dynamic attention in the encoder to capture local features of the networks, and in the decoder to extract globally fused features. Experimental results show that D2ARL outperforms state-of-the-art methods across various network environments. It achieves higher overall benefits and demonstrates stable performance under diverse conditions. Notably, D2ARL improves long-term average revenue by 14.5% compared to the best-performing existing method.

Porous porphyrin-based photocatalysts combine strong light harvesting with tuneable frameworks. Advances in their design and synthesis enhance pollutant degradation and clarify structure activity trends for sustainable remediation.

This study examined artificial intelligence (AI) perceptions and adoption patterns among 129 Ohio school psychologists at the conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year. Results indicated substantial AI engagement, with 79.1% reporting workplace AI use within six months and 43.4% using it weekly or daily. Primary applications included generating recommendations (61.9%) and creating summaries (54.6%). Despite widespread adoption, significant ethical implementation gaps emerged: practitioners disclosed AI use 29% of the time, and 6.7% routinely obtained informed consent. While 76.5% found AI helpful, only 45.9% expressed trust in the technology. Comparisons with mid-year data revealed stable adoption rates suggested a potential ceiling effect. Findings highlight needs for comprehensive training, organizational policies, and systematic approaches to ethical AI integration in practice.