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Acrolein As A Novel Therapeutic Target For Spinal Cord Injury Induced Neuropathic Pain, Jonghyuck Park
Acrolein As A Novel Therapeutic Target For Spinal Cord Injury Induced Neuropathic Pain, Jonghyuck Park
Open Access Dissertations
Despite years of research, post-spinal cord injury (SCI) chronic neuropathic pain remains refractory to treatment and drastically impairs quality of life for SCI victims beyond paralysis. Although inflammation and free radicals contribute to neuropathic pain in SCI, the mechanism is not completely clear. We have recently demonstrated that acrolein, a product and catalyst of lipid peroxidation, induces a vicious cycle of oxidative stress, amplifying its effects and perpetuating oxidative stress and inflammation. In the current study, we have confirmed that acrolein is elevated significantly at least two weeks post-SCI which coincides with the emergence of hyperalgesia (mechanical, cold and thermal). …
Modulation Of Host Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates By Salmonella Effector Protein Sopb, Heather L. Piscatelli
Modulation Of Host Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates By Salmonella Effector Protein Sopb, Heather L. Piscatelli
Open Access Dissertations
Salmonella spp. are gram negative bacteria capable of infecting a number of eukaryotic hosts. In humans, Salmonella infection can range anywhere from acute gastroenteritis to typhoid fever which can oftentimes be fatal.Salmonella are facultative intracellular pathogens that have acquired the ability to enter non-phagocytic cells such as those lining the intestinal epithelium. Uptake into epithelial cells is mediated by the Salmonellapathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) encoded type III secretion system (T3SS), a needle-like complex composed of over 20 proteins that translocates effector proteins directly into the host cell cytosol. Salmonella possess a second type III secretion system encoded on …
Migratory Ecology Of Sea Turtles, Nathan Jack Robinson
Migratory Ecology Of Sea Turtles, Nathan Jack Robinson
Open Access Dissertations
Establishing the movement patterns of free-ranging animals is imperative to understanding their behavior and ecology, and is often necessary for designing effective conservation-strategies. This is especially true for migratory species, such as sea turtles, whose long-distance movements form a major component of their life history. In this thesis, I investigated which factors are driving the migratory behavior of the leatherback turtleDermochelys coriacea. Firstly, I examined whether the timing of the nesting season (nesting phenology) is influenced by oceanographic conditions along the pre-nesting migratory route or by variation in population structure. The discovery that nesting phenology appears more influenced by …
Role Of Group Ii Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 2 (Mglur2) In Appetitive And Consummatory Aspects Of Ethanol Reinforcement, Kyle Allyson Windisch
Role Of Group Ii Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 2 (Mglur2) In Appetitive And Consummatory Aspects Of Ethanol Reinforcement, Kyle Allyson Windisch
Open Access Dissertations
Background: Group II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR2/3) are predominately presynaptically located Gi/o coupled receptors that are highly expressed in the cortex, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and hippocampus. Previous studies suggest that group II mGluRs are involved in regulating ethanol (EtOH) consumption and seeking following extinction (Backstrom and Hyytia, 2005; Kufahl, et al., 2011). The sipper tube model, which allows for procedural separation of seeking and consumption, was used to further clarify the role of mGluR2/3 in EtOH-seeking and consumption. The non-selective group II mGluR agonist LY379268 (LY37) and selective mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM) BINA were used to determine the …
Host Cell Death In Legionella Pneumophila Pathogenesis And Immunity, Wenhan Zhu
Host Cell Death In Legionella Pneumophila Pathogenesis And Immunity, Wenhan Zhu
Open Access Dissertations
Legionella pneumophila is an intracellular pathogen that causes a severe, atypical pneumonia termed Legionnaires' disease. Upon entering the host cell, L. pneumophila resides in a membrane-bound vacuole, in which the bacterium evades lysosomal fusion and replicates. The establishment of the vacuole requires the Dot/Icm (Defect in organelle trafficking/ intracellular multiplication) transport system, which translocates a large number of substrates into host cells to re-orchestrate various cellular processes, such as intracellular trafficking, protein synthesis and host cell death pathways. Therefore, a key step in understanding the biology of Legionella is to dissect the mechanisms of action of the Dot/Icm substrates. By …
Nano-Engineered Polymers In Drug Delivery: Potential Approaches For Attenuation Of Secondary Injury After Spinal Cord Trauma, Wen Gao
Open Access Dissertations
Secondary injury elicits a complex series of pathophysiological events after the primary spinal cord trauma and even after its implantation treatment for neural functional recovery. These secondary injuries include an up-regulation of glial cells associated reactive oxygen species, nitrogen species, and reactive astrogliosis, and they can result in various levels of cellular and tissue damage. The inhibition of them has been proved to lead to functional recovery of the spinal cord. In this study, we concentrated on developing polymers and nano-techniques based drug delivery strategies to eliminate these secondary injuries. ^ To maintain and improve the performance of the implants …
Associated Behavioral, Genetic, And Gene Expression Variation With Alternative Life History Tactics In Salmonid Fishes, Ashley Chin-Baarstad
Associated Behavioral, Genetic, And Gene Expression Variation With Alternative Life History Tactics In Salmonid Fishes, Ashley Chin-Baarstad
Open Access Dissertations
Individual differences in behavior can have potential fitness consequences and often reflect underlying genetic variation. My research focuses on three objectives related to individual level variation: 1) evaluating the innate behavioral variation within and between individuals, families, and progeny of different life-history types across time; 2) testing for differences in gene expression within the brain associated with this behavioral variation; and 3) using genetic polymorphisms to test for associations with ecotype, as well as population structure, in polymorphic populations. First, we evaluated the variation in a suite of ecologically relevant behaviors across time in juvenile progeny produced from crosses within …
Dietary Carbohydrates Influence The Structure And Function Of The Intestinal Alpha-Glucosidases, Mohammad Chegeni
Dietary Carbohydrates Influence The Structure And Function Of The Intestinal Alpha-Glucosidases, Mohammad Chegeni
Open Access Dissertations
As the primary products of starch digestion by pancreatic α-amylase, maltooligosaccharides (including maltose) are the main substrates for the α-glucosidases at the intestinal brush border. Here, maltose was shown to induce the formation of a higher molecular weight (HMW) sucrase-isomaltase (SI) species in Caco-2 cells that sorts more quickly to the enterocyte surface to act as a digestive enzyme. As this finding suggested a maltose sensing ability of small intestinal enterocytes, molecular mechanisms associated with the maturation and trafficking of HMW SI were further investigated. A pulse-chase experiment using [ 35S]-methionine revealed a higher rate of early trafficking and …
Quantitative Modeling Of Spatiotemporal Systems: Simulation Of Biological Systems And Analysis Of Error Metric Effects On Model Fitting, James Hengenius
Quantitative Modeling Of Spatiotemporal Systems: Simulation Of Biological Systems And Analysis Of Error Metric Effects On Model Fitting, James Hengenius
Open Access Dissertations
Understanding the biophysical processes underlying biological and biotechnological processes is a prerequisite for therapeutic treatments and technological innovation. With the exponential growth of computational processing speed, experimental findings in these fields have been complemented by dynamic simulations of developmental signaling and genetic interactions. Models provide means to evaluate "emergent" properties of systems sometimes inaccessible by reductionist approaches, making them test beds for biological inference and technological refinement.^ The complexity and interconnectedness of biological processes pose special challenges to modelers; biological models typically possess a large number of unknown parameters relative to their counterparts in other physical sciences. Estimating these parameter …
Towards A Paradigm Shift In The Modeling Of Soil Organic Carbon Decomposition For Earth System Models, Yujie He
Open Access Dissertations
Soils are the largest terrestrial carbon pools and contain approximately 2200 Pg of carbon. Thus, the dynamics of soil carbon plays an important role in the global carbon cycle and climate system. Earth System Models are used to project future interactions between terrestrial ecosystem carbon dynamics and climate. However, these models often predict a wide range of soil carbon responses and their formulations have lagged behind recent soil science advances, omitting key biogeochemical mechanisms. In contrast, recent mechanistically-based biogeochemical models that explicitly account for microbial biomass pools and enzyme kinetics that catalyze soil carbon decomposition produce notably different results and …
Intranuclear Strain Measured By Iterative Warping In Cells Under Mechanical And Osmotic Stress, Jonathan T Henderson
Intranuclear Strain Measured By Iterative Warping In Cells Under Mechanical And Osmotic Stress, Jonathan T Henderson
Open Access Dissertations
The nucleus is a membrane bound organelle and regulation center for gene expression in the cell. Mechanical forces transfer to the nucleus directly and indirectly through specific cellular cytoskeletal structures and pathways. There is increasing evidence that the transferred forces to the nucleus orchestrate gene expression activity. Methods to characterize nuclear mechanics typically study isolated cells or cells embedded in 3D gel matrices. Often report only aspect ratio and volume changes, measures that oversimplify the inherent complexity of internal strain patterns. This presents technical challenges to simultaneously observe small scale nuclear mechanics and gene expression levels inside the nuclei of …
Developing A Practical Wireless Monitoring Solution For A Size-Constrained, Low-Power, Biomechanical, Sports Telemetry System, Jeffery Ray King
Developing A Practical Wireless Monitoring Solution For A Size-Constrained, Low-Power, Biomechanical, Sports Telemetry System, Jeffery Ray King
Open Access Theses
As sport-related concussions become more prevalent, the ability to quickly and reliably assess brain injury risk is increasingly essential. Commercially-available systems exist with the goal of assessing the risk of traumatic brain injury in athletes in real-time. These systems utilize a pre-determined acceleration threshold, discarding all captured information below this arbitrary threshold. The use of an event-based model to assess the risk of traumatic brain injury has been shown to be inadequate. Therefore, these systems falsely promote "accurate" real-time communication of risk. Research conducted by the Purdue Neurotrauma Group (PNG) seeks to advance the field by developing a biomechanical sports …
Identification And Characterization Of Signal Components In Early Aba Signaling In Arabidopsis, Yueh-Ju Hou
Identification And Characterization Of Signal Components In Early Aba Signaling In Arabidopsis, Yueh-Ju Hou
Open Access Dissertations
The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) regulates growth, development, and response to abiotic stress in plants. The core ABA signaling has three key components: ABA receptors PYRABACTIN RESISTANCE 1 and PYR1-Like protein (PYR1/PYLs), type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs) and SNF1- related protein Kinase 2s (SnRK2s). In the presence of ABA, PYR1/PYLs bind to and inhibit PP2Cs, leading to the release of SnRK2s from suppression, to activate downstream events such as ABA-responsive gene expression. To identify new components in the ABA signaling pathway, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen for PYLs and SnRK2s interactors. We identified two proteins that interact with PYLs …
Identification And Characterization Of Factors Involved In Dna Demethylation And Anti-Silencing In Arabidopsis, Zhaobo Lang
Identification And Characterization Of Factors Involved In Dna Demethylation And Anti-Silencing In Arabidopsis, Zhaobo Lang
Open Access Dissertations
DNA methylation is a key epigenetic mark for transcriptional gene silencing in many eukaryotes. DNA methylation status can be dynamically controlled by methylation and active demethylation processes. Compared to the well-known mechanisms of DNA methylation, the mechanisms of DNA demethylation and its regulation are poorly understood. In order to better understand the DNA demethylation pathway, we developed two genetic screening systems in Arabidopsis to identify new components involved in the DNA demethylation. In the first system, which is based on 35S promoter driven SUC2 (sucrose transporter 2) transgene, a mutant (91-1) was isolated and map-based cloning identified the …
Multidimensional Approach To Comparative Avian Visual Systems, Bret Alan Moore
Multidimensional Approach To Comparative Avian Visual Systems, Bret Alan Moore
Open Access Dissertations
Since the birth of visual ecology, comparative studies on how birds see their world have been limited to a small number of species and tended to focus on a single visual trait. This approach has constrained our ability to understand the diversity and evolution of the avian visual system. The goal of this dissertation was to characterize multiple visual dimensions on bird groups that are highly speciouse (e.g., Passeriformes), and test some hypotheses and predictions, using modern comparative tools, on the relationship between different visual traits and their association with visual information sampling behaviors. First, I developed a novel method …
Morphometric Characterization Of Individual Sympathetic Postganglionic Axons Innervating The Muscle Layers Of The Gastrointestinal Tract Of The Rat: A Complex Effector Model, Gary C. Walter
Open Access Dissertations
A full description of the terminal morphology of sympathetic postganglionic axons innervating the musculature of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract has not been available. Furthermore, common assumptions about the morphology and distribution of catecholaminergic terminal fields have been strongly shaped by the limitations of the techniques employed to distinguish the fibers and complicated by inconsistent findings generated with various methodologies. Thus, the present experiment used modern neural tracer techniques to provide high-resolution labeling of sympathetic fibers projecting to the smooth muscle wall of the GI tract. Fischer 344 rats (N = 50) received injections of dextran biotin into the left …
Population Differentiation, Dispersal Limitation, And Local Adaptation In The Gametophytic Fern Vittaria Appalachiana, Sally M. Stevens
Population Differentiation, Dispersal Limitation, And Local Adaptation In The Gametophytic Fern Vittaria Appalachiana, Sally M. Stevens
Open Access Dissertations
Species' distributions are driven by a variety of abiotic and biotic factors. As these factors become altered by global climate change, species are believed to respond to these projected environmental changes in four different ways. One response is the shifting of the species' geographic range to higher latitudes and elevations, which will be unlikely for those species that have limited dispersal potential. Alternatively, organisms may tolerate the change, which will be unlikely for those organisms that are not phenotypically plastic. A third potential response is to adapt to the new environment via rapid evolution, an unlikely response for those organisms …
Integrative High-Throughput Study Of Arsenic Hyper-Accumulation In Pteris Vittata, Qiong Wu
Integrative High-Throughput Study Of Arsenic Hyper-Accumulation In Pteris Vittata, Qiong Wu
Open Access Dissertations
Arsenic is a natural contaminant in the soil and ground water, which raises considerable concerns in food safety and human health worldwide. The fernPteris vittata (Chinese brake fern) is the first identified arsenic hyperaccumulator[1]. It and its close relatives have un-paralleled ability to tolerant arsenic and feature unique arsenic metabolisms. The focus of the research presented in this thesis is to elucidate the fundamentals of arsenic tolerance and hyper-accumulation in Pteris vittata through high throughput technology and bioinformatics tools. The transcriptome of the P. vittatagametophyte under arsenate stress was obtained using RNA-Seq technology and Trinity de novo assembly. …
Management Of Root Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne Incognita ) In Indiana Soybeans, David Edgardo Perla Martinez
Management Of Root Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne Incognita ) In Indiana Soybeans, David Edgardo Perla Martinez
Open Access Theses
The aim of this project was to evaluate different strategies for management of Root Knot Nematode (RKN) on soybean and tomato in Indiana. Seed treatments were evaluated under field and greenhouse conditions, but no effect on RKN populations was observed. Soybean lines evaluated for resistance to RKN under greenhouse conditions showed that six lines may be resistant to RKN. Four different commercial mustard cover crops were evaluated for their bio-fumigant impact on RKN populations in the production of tomato. Euruca sativa, Cv. Nemat was a poor host of RKN. A positive impact on the vigor of the tomato plants followed …
The Effects Of Radar On Avian Behavior: Implications For Wildlife Management At Airports, Eleanor R. Sheridan
The Effects Of Radar On Avian Behavior: Implications For Wildlife Management At Airports, Eleanor R. Sheridan
Open Access Theses
Airports are areas with a high availability of resources for wildlife to forage, breed, and roost. Airports also have different types of radars to assist with air traffic control as well as tracking of wildlife that could become a risk for aircraft. The effect of radar electromagnetic radiation on wildlife behavior is not well understood. The goal of this study was to determine if bird behavior is affected by radar in two contexts: static radar (e.g., surveillance radar) and approaching radar (e.g., aircraft weather radar). We used brown-headed cowbirds as a model species. In the static radar context, we performed …
Abcb11 Functions With B1 And B19 To Regulate Rootward Auxin Transport, Jesica Elyse Reemmer
Abcb11 Functions With B1 And B19 To Regulate Rootward Auxin Transport, Jesica Elyse Reemmer
Open Access Theses
Auxin transport is essential for the architecture and development of erect plants. In a network of transporters directing auxin flows, ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters are a ubiquitous family of proteins that actively transport important substrates, including auxins, across the plasma membrane. ABCB1 and ABCB19 have been shown to account for the majority of rootward auxin transport, but residual fluxes to the root tip in Arabidopsis b1b19 double mutants implies the involvement of at least one additional auxin transporter in this process. Of specific interest, the severe dwarfism seen in abcb1abcb19 is strikingly reminiscent of that seen in mutants defective in …
Refining Phylogenetic Hypotheses Using Chloroplast Genomics And Incomplete Data Sets In Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), Joseph Frederic Walker
Refining Phylogenetic Hypotheses Using Chloroplast Genomics And Incomplete Data Sets In Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), Joseph Frederic Walker
Open Access Theses
The genus Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), consists of predominantly annual plant species that are largely endemic to the California Floristic Province of western North America and occupy a large range of habitat types. With high levels of morphological and ecological diversity, Lasthenia is a robust tool, capable of providing a natural non-model organism for answering a diverse array of ecological and evolutionary questions. Future studies would benefit greatly from a strong phylogenetic hypothesis and more molecular resources, such as the whole plastome sequence for a representative species in the genus. Over a decade ago there was a study that laid a …
Habitat Effects On Chick-A-Dee Call Complexity, Jacqueline Renee Lynch
Habitat Effects On Chick-A-Dee Call Complexity, Jacqueline Renee Lynch
Open Access Theses
Past studies on the communication systems of species in urban environments (such as Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos Brehm), brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater), Southern brown tree frogs (Litoria ewingii )) have shown multiple ways that species change vocal signaling behavior to adjust to urban habitats (e.g. alarm calls and singing). This study further investigates the changes in signaling in relation to the chick-a-dee call of the Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). A secondary goal of this study was to compare both the amount of information and rate of calling across …
Key Residues Of Human Cytoplasmic Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase-A And -B For Substrate Binding And Specificity, Byunghyun Park
Key Residues Of Human Cytoplasmic Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase-A And -B For Substrate Binding And Specificity, Byunghyun Park
Open Access Theses
Reversible tyrosine phosphorylation plays an important role in signaling pathways that are essential for regulating cellular growth, differentiation and metabolism. Moreover, several human diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cancers are associated with the deregulation of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs). Several studies provide evidence that PTPs not only contribute to cellular differentiation, but over-expression of these molecules also leads to transformation of non-transfomed cells as well. Based on these results, designing specific PTP inhibitors may ultimately function as potential therapeutic agents to treat various diseases including cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. EphA2 is a receptor tyrosine kinase which is hypo-phosphorylated …
Clinical Investigation Of Plethysmographic Variability Index: A Derivative Index Of Pulse Oximetry In Anesthetized Dogs, Vaidehi V. Paranjape
Clinical Investigation Of Plethysmographic Variability Index: A Derivative Index Of Pulse Oximetry In Anesthetized Dogs, Vaidehi V. Paranjape
Open Access Theses
Plethysmographic Variability Index (PVI) is a derivative index of pulse oximetry that allows evaluating an individual's intravascular volume status. Perfusion Index (PI) represents the strength of pulse signal at the anatomic site of measurement from which PVI is calculated using changes in PI over respiratory cycles. Plethysmographic Variability Index has been used to detect hypovolemia and predict fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated human patients however, fewer studies are available in spontaneously breathing patients. The use of PVI has not been explored extensively in dogs so far. The goals of this study were to establish a common range for PVI and …
Fact Or Fiction: Random Mating In Field Populations Of Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera Leconte) Emerging On Bt And Refuge Corn Plants, Steven Joel Smith
Fact Or Fiction: Random Mating In Field Populations Of Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera Leconte) Emerging On Bt And Refuge Corn Plants, Steven Joel Smith
Open Access Theses
The western corn rootworm, or WCR, (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) is the most significant pest of field corn (Zea mays) in the United States, and has recently expanded its range into Europe. Since 2004, hybrid corn containing Bt toxins targeting the corn rootworm complex have been heavily adopted and are now the primary control measure for this pest in North American corn production. ^ The evolution of resistance is an ongoing concern, and to ensure Bt products will retain their usefulness, insect resistance management (IRM) tactics using various refuge structures have been adopted. One of the key …
Lipidomic Analysis Of Glioblastoma Multiforme, Soo Jung Ha
Lipidomic Analysis Of Glioblastoma Multiforme, Soo Jung Ha
Open Access Theses
Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant form of the primary brain tumor. Due to its highly invasive nature, current treatment options have not been able to improve the survival rate in past 20 years. In order to discover GBM therapeutic targets, omics technologies have been widely used to identify potential biomarkers. ^ This research study focused on investigating lipid biomarkers of human GBM orthotopic mouse models employing mass spectrometry. Human tumor cell lines GBM10 and GBM43 were injected in the right cerebral hemisphere and flank sites in NOD/SCID mice (n = 10 mice per group). Left cerebral …
Changes In Gene Expression And Viral Titer In Varroa Jacobsoni Mites After A Host Shift Asian To European Honey Bees, Gladys K. Andino Bautista
Changes In Gene Expression And Viral Titer In Varroa Jacobsoni Mites After A Host Shift Asian To European Honey Bees, Gladys K. Andino Bautista
Open Access Dissertations
Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are the most important insects for the pollination of crops and wildflowers. However, they have experienced increasing colony die-offs during the past two decades. Multiple species of parasitic mites have been described that affect honey bees. The most important species in beekeeping belong to the genus Varroa ( Varroa jacobsoniand Varroa destructor). Varroa mite parasitism of honey bees is thought to be the most significant cause of colony mortality worldwide, and mite resistance to active ingredients of acaricides has become common. V. destructor causes direct impacts on bee production as well as …
Dj-1 And Atp13a2: Two Proteins Involved In Parkinson’S Disease, Josephat M Asiago
Dj-1 And Atp13a2: Two Proteins Involved In Parkinson’S Disease, Josephat M Asiago
Open Access Dissertations
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease, affecting approximately 0.3% of the total U.S. population, and its prevalence increases with age. Two neuropathological hallmarks of PD are the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, a region in the midbrain involved in initiating and sustaining movement, and the presence of cytosolic inclusions called Lewy bodies (LBs) in various brain regions. LBs are enriched with fibrillar forms of the presynaptic protein &agr;-synuclein (aSyn). Two autosomal recessive genes implicated in familial PD are PARK9, encoding the P-type ATPase ATP13A2, a lysosomal ATPase; and …