Digital Commons Network^™

Animal-Assisted Therapy For Incarcerated Youth: A Randomized-Controlled Trial, Nicholas P. Seivert

Wayne State University Theses

This study is a randomized-controlled trial of a specific animal-assisted therapy (AAT) called Teacher's Pet (TP) with incarcerated youth. The intervention was expected to result in increased empathy and reduced internalizing and externalizing behavior problems as compared to the control. Dog attachment was theorized to be the mechanism for the increased empathy and reduced behavior problems. In addition, due to the attachment-based nature of the intervention, it was hypothesized that those with a history maltreatment/foster care would benefit the most. Participants were138 youth at two Midwestern juvenile detention facilities. The TP intervention trained dogs for one hour, twice weekly for …

Screening Of Natural Antimicrobial Agents And Antimicrobial-Resistant Bacteria Using A Soleris System, Mingyang Huang

Wayne State University Theses

ABSTRACT

SCREENING OF NATURAL ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AND ANTIMICROBIAL - RESISTANT BACTERIA USING A SOLERIS SYSTEM

by

MINGYANG HUANG

May 2014

Advisor: Dr. Yifan Zhang

Major: Food Science and Nutrition

Degree: Master of Science

Traditional broth micro-dilution method is a common assay of measuring Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) to determine the antimicrobial activity of an antimicrobial agent. However, this method is generally time-consuming and labor intensive. Alternatively, an automated optical method using the Soleris system was applied in this study. The system was compared to the traditional broth micro-dilution 96-well assay to test the antimicrobial activity of 11 essential oils and …

Characterization Of Bacteriophages From Environmental Water Samples And The Potential Of Bacteriophages Tailspike Proteins (Tsp) In Bacteria Detection, Gayathri Upeksha Gunathilaka

Wayne State University Theses

ABSTRACT

CHARACTERIZATION OF BACTERIOPHAGES FROM ENVIRONMENTAL WATER SAMPLES AND THE POTENTIAL OF BACTERIOPHAGES TAILSPIKE PROTEINS (TSP) IN BACTERIA DETECTION

by

GAYATHRI UPEKSHA GUNATHILAKA

May 2014

Advisor: Dr. Yifan Zhang

Major: Nutrition and Food Science

Degree: Master of Science

The high abundance of phage in the environment and their specificity with the bacteria host make them an excellent tool for bacteria detection. To characterize phage specific to Salmonella and E. coli from water samples in the Southeastern Michigan and to develop a novel bacterial detection method using phage, environmental water samples were collected from rivers and waste water treatment plant (WWTP) …

Antimicrobial Activity Of Essential Oil Emulsions And Possible Synergistic Effect On Food Borne Pathogens, Varun Tahlan

Wayne State University Theses

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of essential oil emulsions against food borne pathogenic bacteria and determine potential applications. The oils used for this study were cinnamon, oregano, clove, thyme, rosemary, sage, bergamot, nutmeg, lemon grass and bay. Oil in water emulsions were prepared using Tween 80 as an emulsifying agent, with a stock oil concentration in the emulsions of 20,000 ppm. Essential oil emulsions were individually screened against E. coli (ATCC 25922), E. coli (ATCC 700927), L. monocytogens (ATCC 19115), L. innocua (ATCC 33090) and S. Typhimurium (ATCC 19585) using the broth micro dilution …

Approaches To Improving Detection Of Invasive Fish Species In Western Lake Erie Through Analysis Of Monitoring Efficiencies And Metrics Of Community Distribution, Joshua Alan Southern

Wayne State University Theses

Efficient monitoring programs are essential for the early detection of invasive species. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) monitoring program encompassing 21 years of fish survey data from western Lake Erie was evaluated using Chao biodiversity analysis to determine the efficiency and precision of collection strategies of trawl and gillnet sampling, at detecting rare or non-native species. Overall, ODNR sampling annually accounted for ~80% of extant fish species, leaving gaps in coverage where rare and invasive species may be overlooked and proliferate.Obtaining 90% efficiency would require an estimated doubling of previous sampling effort. Computer simulations calculating different proportions of …

Effects Of Statin Drugs And Tocotrienol Rich Fraction Supplementation In Chronic Hemodialysis Patients And Metabolomic Profile, Eno Latifi

Wayne State University Theses

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is known as a heterogeneous disorder which currently is on the rise and lately has been classified as a public health issues in the United State and worldwide. CKD is an irreversible and progressive disease which can lead to kidney failure, and this is depicted by the advanced stage of the disorder when it reaches the point, that is classified as end stage of renal disease (ESRD) (Stage 5 of CKD) (eGRF <15 mL/min/ 1.73 m2 working capacity), where both organs are in a total or permanent kidney failure. End-Stage renal disease patients, on hemodialysis have been associated to experience an accelerated form of atherosclerosis, which is induced by inflammation, impairment of antioxidant system and elevated oxidative stress. Since the problem effecting ESRD patients is multifactorial, the objective of this investigation is to explore and look at the effects of supplementing with vitamin E-tocotrienol rich fraction (TRF), a micronutrient which has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and lipid lower capabilities into tackling these comorbid conditions experienced by this population. Therefore the aims of this investigation will be to explore changes in lipid profiles, inflammatory markers, and oxidative status, as well as look at any changes in metabolomic profiles. It was hypothesized that by supplementing with TRF a vitamin E, for 16 weeks in ESRD patients undergoing hemodialysis, it may help reverse and/or improve, oxidative status, inflammatory markers, increase antioxidants status and improve lipid profiles.

The study was double-blinded, randomized, parallel, placebo-controlled design trial, of 81 adult patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis at Great Lake Dialysis Clinic, Detroit MI, where …

Desk Jockey: A Device To Increase Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (Neat) In Adults, Jiangqi Tang

Wayne State University Theses

Increased sedentary behavior, just like reduced physical activity, has been shown to increase the risk of obesity and chronic diseases. This is mostly due to increased time spent sitting at the office desk. There is limited research studying how to decrease such risk in office workers (OW). This study was to investigate a portable device "Desk Jockey" (DJ) on increasing NEAT and reducing sedentary behavior in a simulated office environment. Participants whose daily work requiring long sitting hours were recruited (mean sitting hours/day: 8.6 ± 3 hr, mean age: 25 ± 7 yr, 54% male, 15% obese). Metabolic rates (METs), …

Comparitive Study On Antioxidant Properties Of Dendrobium Officinale (Tiepishihu), Wenjun Zhu

Wayne State University Theses

For ages, Chinese herbs, such as Dendrobium Officinale (DO), have been used in Asian regions for treating various illnesses due to the high medicinal value. In this study, the DO plant Acetone and Ethanolic extracts possibly containing antioxidants were tested using different methodologies for comparison and determination of specific antioxidant capacity. The total phenolic content assay expressed as Gallic Acid Equivalent showed 9.43±;0.23 mg GAE /g of extract. Further analysis using DPPH· assay indicated that antioxidants presented in the sample were able to significantly scavenge 37% and 44% radicals at the concentrations of 25mg/ml and 50mg/mL respectively, after a period …

On The Reputation Of The California, Michigan And New Jersey Supreme Courts, Robert Michael Yonkers

Wayne State University Theses

This thesis examines Horizontal Federalism and Policy Dissemination in a federal system by analyzing the state supreme courts of California, Michigan and New Jersey during various terms in their history, using a unique form of citation analysis that builds upon prior efforts. I want to see what, if anything, a raw citation count says about prestige or reputation. For example, what types of cases are cited? Are they followed, not followed, or part of a dissent or concurrence? Are cases expanding the rights of the criminally accused cited frequently by sister courts? The normative literature associates prestige with expanding the …

Taming Uncertainties In Real-Time Routing For Wireless Networked Sensing And Control, Xiaohui Liu

Wayne State University Theses

Real-time routing is a basic element of closed-loop, real-time sensing and control, but it is challenging due to dynamic, uncertain link/path delays.

The probabilistic nature of link/path delays makes the basic problem of computing the probabilistic distribution of path delays NP-hard, yet quantifying probabilistic path delays is a basic element of real-time routing and may well have to be executed by resource-constrained devices in a distributed manner;

the highly-varying nature of link/path delays makes it necessary to adapt to in-situ delay conditions in real-time routing, but it has been observed that delay-based routing can lead to instability, estimation error, and …

Facile Fabrication Of Mesostructured Zn2sno4 Based Anode Materials For Reversible Lithium Ion Storage, Sai Karthik Karthik Addu

Wayne State University Theses

Increase in all electric and hybrid car sales from Electric drive transportation association show that Lithium-ion batteries stands as a promising option for these vehicles. Hence improving these batteries is the objective of this thesis. We try to improve the electrode material by using unique structures and coating carbon layers on the material.

We chose Zinc tin oxide (ZTO) as it has been shown in literature to be a good oxide for batteries. We tried improving it by making new Rubik-cube like microstructure of it and more interestingly coating a layer of carbon on it. We could show from our …

A Decision Modeling For Phasor Measurement Unit Location Selection In Smart Grid Systems, Seung Yup Lee

Wayne State University Theses

As a key technology for enhancing the smart grid system, Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) provides synchronized phasor measurements of voltages and currents of wide-area electric power grid. With various benefits from its application, one of the critical issues in utilizing PMUs is the optimal site selection of units.

The main aim of this research is to develop a decision support system, which can be used in resource allocation task for smart grid system analysis. As an effort to suggest a robust decision model and standardize the decision modeling process, a harmonized modeling framework, which considers operational circumstances of component, is …

Energy Transfer In A Discrete, Soluble Heterobimetallic Complex Containing Tb3+ And Eu3+, Nikhil Kumar Barua

Wayne State University Theses

A discrete, heterobimetallic Tb3+-Eu3+ -containing complex has been synthesized, and energy transfer was observed in the complex without using an antenna. This result represents a new way of observing lanthanide emission using lanthanide excitation in discrete, soluble complex. The occurrence of energy transfer in the mixed heterobimetallic Tb3+-Eu3+ complex was characterized using steady state luminescence spectroscopy and luminescence-decay studies. These findings are likely to be useful for fundamental mechanistic studies of energy transfer in lanthanide-containing systems.

Effect Of Long Term Rapamycin Treatment On Mtor Signalling Network In Colon And Liver Of C57bl/6 Mice, John Sorge

Wayne State University Theses

Many studies have investigated the effects of rapamycin on aging and cancer. However, the effects of long-term rapamycin supplementation on a cancer model have not been performed. This is the first study that investigates the effects of long-term supplementation of rapamycin in a cancer model. ACF analysis of colon tissues in mice showed no significant difference between controls and those supplemented with rapamycin. Factors such as energy balance, cellular environment, PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, and more have been assessed in this study. The duration of rapamycin supplementation seems to play an important role in the protection against cancer. Ultimately, this study suggests …

Biophysical Studies Of Mutant H69 Rna Constructs, Daya Nidhi Kharel

Wayne State University Theses

The importance of helix 69 (H69) of the large ribosomal subunit is emphasized by its location in the ribosome and key contacts with protein factors and tRNAs during different steps of protein synthesis. The presence of three highly conserved pseudouridine modifications in H69 has a significant impact on modulation of the ribosome conformations. Specific nucleotides of H69 may be necessary for the function of this helix-loop RNA, as some mutations are deleterious to bacterial growth. In this study, we investigated the effects of single nucleotide mutations in a 19-nucleotide H69 construct with and without pseudouridines on the RNA stability and …

Genetic And Biochemical Studies Of Human Apobec3h Enzyme, Thisari Sachithra Aluthgama Guruge

Wayne State University Theses

The AID/APOBEC enzymes are DNA/RNA cytosine deaminases with important functions in innate and adaptive immunity. APOBEC3 enzymes play a crucial role in restricting the replication of exogenous retroviruses such HIV-1 and endogenous retrotransposition events. In particular, APOBEC3 enzymes have evolved in humans by gene duplication to compose seven members. APOBEC3H is highly diverse in its allelic sequence and the distribution is population-specific. It has evolved under strong positive selection over millions of years. To study the catalytic mechanism, structure, function and the underlying cause of its high diversity, a high resolution crystal or NMR structure is required are not yet …

The Effect Of Gaba A Antagonism On Locomotor Activity And Dopamine Release In The Mouse Caudate Putamen Following Acute Toluene Inhalation: An In-Vivo Microdialysis Study, Sean Callan

Wayne State University Theses

Toluene is ubiquitous solvent commonly inhaled recreationally. Despite its frequency of misuse, there is little understanding of how toluene acts within the brain. To examine this, this master's thesis examined the impact of acutely inhaled toluene on dopamine (DA) release in the mouse CPu in vivo using microdialysis techniques. Toluene inhalation produced dose-dependent increases in DA levels as well as changes in locomotor activity. These effects were potentiated by pre-treatment with the GABAA antagonist bicuculline via reverse microdialysis delivery. These results suggest that the DA dynamics of toluene abuse are related to toluene's previously explored effects on the GABA system. …

The Impact Of Down Syndrome And Folate Depletion On Genomic Stabilizing Pathways Of Lymphoblastoid Cells, Khadijah Ibrahim Alnabbat

Wayne State University Theses

Understanding the role of nutrition plays in Down syndrome (DS) could help in the development and implementation of strategies that help overcome the negative consequences phenotypes of Down syndrome. Conserving genome integrity is crucial for cells to survive, and thus understanding how genetic defects induce damage to genomic DNA and impair subsequent repair of this damage is important. Evidence accumulated points to increased DNA damage and mutation accumulation associated with a decline in DNA repair capacity, Base Excision Repair (BER) in particular. Thus, the successful clinical management of DS resides in understanding the metabolic imbalance provoked by overexpression of genes …

Investigating The Anisotropy Of Magnetic Susceptibility And Other Rock Magnetic Properties Of The Beaver River Diabase In Northeastern Minnesota, Samer H. Hariri

Wayne State University Theses

The Beaver River Diabase (BRD) is a series of mafic dikes and sills within the Beaver Bay Complex (BBC) of northern Minnesota, which formed during the development of the ~1.1 Ga Midcontinent Rift (MCR). The BRD is one of the youngest and most extensive intrusive phases of the BBC. The BRD dikes and sills were emplaced into the medial levels of the 6-10 kilometer-thick North Shore Volcanic Group and occur over an arcuate area extending 120 by 20 kilometers. The BRD is composed of fine- to medium-grained ophitic olivine gabbro and does not display obvious foliation or lineation features and …

The Investigation Of The Molecular Mechanism Of Rhodopsin Activation By Small Angle Neutron Scattering And Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Techniques, Kurt William Van Delinder

Wayne State University Theses

Rhodopsin is a visual pigment found within the rod photoreceptor cells of the retina. It is a visual protein found within human beings and commonly shared amongst other vertebrate species. The major pigment protein is responsible for converting photons into chemical signals, which stimulates biological processes in the nervous system, and this allows the ability to then sense light [4]. The process of how rhodopsin is activated is believed to be understood with the introduction of a time ordered sequence of intermediate states. However, there are still major gaps and inconsistencies regarding the large-scale conformational changes that follow photoactivation. The …