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Variation In Genetic Structure And Dispersal Of Juvenile Green Turtles, Gustavo Stahelin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Sea turtles are long-lived, globally distributed animals with a complex life-history. Individuals from different populations often share the same foraging areas (mixed stock aggregations). Understanding patterns of dispersal and connectivity between reproductive populations and mixed stock aggregations is fundamental for the development of effective conservation plans. Recently, green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations in several reproductive areas have increased, providing an opportunity to evaluate how demographic changes in reproductive areas impact dispersal to, and the composition of, mixed stock aggregations. In this dissertation, I evaluated how dispersal from reproductive populations in the Greater Caribbean to mixed stock aggregations may have …

Possible Relationship Between Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation And Recovery From Resistance Training, Saagar R. Patel

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between Omega-3 Fatty Acid supplementation and recovery from resistance training. Omega-3 Fatty Acids are a type of polyunsaturated fatty acid that is commonly found in marine sources. Omega-3 Fatty Acids are widely known for offering cardiovascular health benefits and for their anti-inflammatory properties, but their role in resistance training recovery is a relatively novel area of research. This review was conducted by qualitatively analyzing a collection of studies that have been published on the relationship between Omega-3 Fatty Acid supplementation and recovery from resistance training in either resistance-trained or untrained …

Effect Of Molecular Crowders On The Activation Of Cholera Toxin By Protein Disulfide Isomerase, Niral Shah

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Cholera toxin (CT) is a classic A-B type protein toxin that has an A subunit (A1 + A2) and a pentameric B subunit. The catalytic A1 domain is linked to the A2 domain via a disulfide linkage. CTA1 must be dissociated from the rest of the toxin to cause a cytopathic effect. Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) can reduce the CTA1/CTA2 disulfide bond, but disassembly of the reduced toxin requires the partial unfolding of PDI that occurs when it binds to CTA1. This unfolding event allows PDI to push CTA1 away from the rest of the toxin.

My research question is …

Benefits Of A Family-Based Judo Program For Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jeslin George

Honors Undergraduate Theses

A diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can impact the entire family. Parents of children with ASD reportedly have greater stress levels, family conflict, financial concerns, and poor health habits than parents of neurotypical (NT) children. While many parent-focused interventions have been developed, these interventions focus on parent training and child behavior outcomes rather than the health and well-being of the parents. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of a 15-week family judo program on physical and psychosocial health in parents of children with ASD. A total of 18 parents of children with ASD participated in a weekly …

Biomarker Identification For Breast Cancer Types Using Feature Selection And Explainable Ai Methods, David E. La Rosa Giraud

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper investigates the impact the LASSO, mRMR, SHAP, and Reinforcement Feature Selection techniques on random forest models for the breast cancer subtypes markers ER, HER2, PR, and TN as well as identifying a small subset of biomarkers that could potentially cause the disease and explain them using explainable AI techniques. This is important because in areas such as healthcare understanding why the model makes a specific decision is important it is a diagnostic of an individual which requires reliable AI. Another contribution is using feature selection methods to identify a small subset of biomarkers capable of predicting if a …

Refining The Use Of Stable Isotope Analysis In Detecting Wildlife Laundering, Kevin Guilfoyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The international wildlife trade has caused significant declines in wild populations. Captive breeding can reduce the pressure on wild populations caused by overcollection, but if not properly monitored, wildlife laundering can lead to further population declines. Improving the forensic ability to detect wildlife laundering will assist in monitoring the wildlife trade and enforcing regulations, thereby aiding recovery of wild populations. Stable isotope analysis has grown in importance as a forensic tool, but improvements are needed. Here, stable isotope analysis (δ13C) on eggshells of captive bred and wild sourced island apple snails (Pomacea maculata) distinguished between the two; eggshells of captive …

Exploring Population Structure And Diversity Across Time In Population Of American Flamingos (Phoenicopterus Ruber), Jessica Folsom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Dispersal and connectivity within a population often promotes overall diversity and adaptive potential, therefore a disruption of existing patterns of connectivity by local extinction can have significant consequences for the affected species. However, the extent of these impacts on recovery is not always known. American flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) present an ideal opportunity to investigate how changes in gene flow influence within population diversity and genetic structure over the span of a century for a recovering population. Flamingos were highly sought-after by hunters for their meat and feathers, and as a result, the Florida population was extirpated by the beginning of …

Behavioral, Morphological And Genetic Differentiation Among Populations Of Enyaliopsis, Laura Macamo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The study of biodiversity is a fundamental part of the study of the ecosystem's function and stability and how changes in the habitat shape the interaction between species. In recent years, the classification of species benefited from the analysis of several types of data to aid the distinction of morphologically similar species. Enyaliopsis iaculator (Naskrecki and Guta, 2019) is a species endemic to central Mozambique. Different populations of E. iaculator were reported to exhibit differences in the time of the day the mating call is displayed, but no morphological differences were reported. Since call behavior tends to be species specific …

Identification And Influence Of Species-Informative 16s Ribosomal Rna Sequences And Evaluation Of Ocean Biofilms, Nikhil Bose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences are commonly analyzed for taxonomic and phylogenetic purposes because they contain variable regions that help distinguish genera. However, intra-genus classification is difficult due to high sequence similarity among closely related species. The biological impact of nucleotide variants in 16S variable regions are often unknown and hence their sequence differences are weighted evenly during classification, which provides poor species identity confidence. In this dissertation, I determined that analysis of intra-genus 16S allelic variants can provide species information and that nucleotide changes in 16S rRNA variable regions can impact ribosome quality. In one study, I analyzed …

Preclinical Assessment Of Psychoplastogens For Treatment Of Psychiatric Symptoms And Neuroplasticity Deficits In Huntington Disease, Nicholas Skiados

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Huntington disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by a CAG trinucleotide repeat expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene. HD manifests as a triad of psychiatric, cognitive, and motor symptoms, the latter of which defines symptomatic onset of the disease. Psychiatric symptoms including aggression and depression often emerge decades prior to motor symptom onset. Psychiatric disorders are closely linked with dysregulated neural plasticity, the ability of the brain to form new synaptic connections. Neural plasticity is impaired in HD, potentially playing a role in psychiatric symptoms. However, the association between plasticity and psychopathology in HD has yet to be thoroughly …

Dormant Propagules In Demographic Studies: A Recurrent Bias And Potential Solutions, Federico Borghesi

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

In the face of unprecedented anthropogenic change, we increasingly turn to emergent technologies and extensive data sets for solutions that complement much needed systemic changes in our societies. These technological solutions, however, must be approached with care. We must recognize and address biases in the way data has been accumulated. In demographic studies, dormant life stages, such as seed banks, and other cryptic factors have often been neglected. The potential consequences of these omissions have been extensively described in the literature. In the first chapter, I analyze patterns of seed bank omissions in demographic models, finding unjustified omissions are widespread …

Clay As A Control Technique For Karenia Brevis: Water Chemistry Dynamics And Physiological Impacts On Benthic Invertebrates, Victoria Devillier

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Clay-based compounds are globally the most advanced and widely used method of direct suppression of marine harmful algal blooms, and are currently undergoing investigation as an option to control Karenia brevis blooms in Florida. Before clay may be accepted for widespread use, there are multiple concerns and challenges that must be addressed regarding the environmental safety of this method, such as effects on water quality, the fate of toxins, and potential impacts of clay treatment to non-target organisms. To contribute to ongoing assessments of clay as a potential control method for K. brevis blooms, we conducted experiments with a formulation …

Role Of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Response In Parainfluenza Virus Acute To Persistent Infections, Lauren L. Abbitt

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Persistent viral infections are a major health concern, with persistently infected (PI) cells being a source of continued shedding of virus and generation of viral mutants. Here, we hypothesized that cells persistently infected with the enveloped virus parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) would show altered expression of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress proteins and increased resistance to death caused by drug-induced ER stress. To test this, lysates of mock-infected, PIV5 acute-infected, and PIV5 PI human lung A549 cells were collected and levels of ER stress proteins were compared. Western blotting revealed that immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (BiP/GRP78) was present in higher …

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder And Identity: The Role Of Ego-Dystonicity, Andrea B. Mullin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) has been linked to a dysmorphic construction of self that is closely tied to mental illness (Bhar & Kyrios, 2007). Although associations have been found, no study has determined the impact of OCD on one's self-perception, to better understand how to resolve patients' dysmorphic construction and fear of oneself. College students (N = 410; M = 20.60, SD = 4.27) completed an anonymous online survey for course credit. The survey consisted of a demographic questionnaire, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (Foa et al., 2002), theEgo-Dystonicity Questionnaire (Purdon et al., 2007), and the Self-concept Identity Measure (Kaufman et …

Investigating The Effects Of Paraquat On Kidney Disease Biomarkers In Hek293 Cells, Zounaira Shahzad

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Farmworkers in Apopka, FL, have been subjected to overhead pesticide exposure since the 1940s. Pesticides including Paraquat (PQ), Metribuzin and Aldicarb were sprayed onto the field while farmworkers worked. In "Fed Up: The High Cost of Cheap Food," farmworkers recalled the physical toll these conditions took on their bodies, blaming pesticides for their diseases, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD). While established that pesticides, specifically PQ, may be involved in some forms of Parkinson's disease, no explicit connection has been identified for SLE, CKD, and other diseases experienced by farm workers. This study evaluated whether pesticides could contribute to kidney …

Analysis Of Lepilemur Edwardsi Seasonal Acoustic Activity, Samantha Henry

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has historically been used as a noninvasive technique to study biodiversity, activity patterns, distribution, and species dispersal. The use of acoustic data has expanded in ecological research; however, studies focusing on primates are underrepresented, especially for nocturnal species. This study seeks to increase the understanding of acoustic activity in the nocturnal Milne-Edwards' sportive lemur (Lepilemur edwardsi). This species is endangered and endemic to the lowland dry forests in northwest Madagascar. Specifically, this study aims to describe the daily and annual acoustic activity patterns of the L. edwardsi. The PAM survey was conducted using …

Narrating The Fragmenting Brain: Alzheimer's Disease Neuronarratives, Bonnie Cross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

This dissertation examines the representation of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) neuronarratives (NN), works that centralize the brain or consciousness in the plot, in multiple modalities to support that argument that neuronarratives should be expanded into a transmedia genre. These modalities include neurogames, neurocomics, and neuromemoirs. These three modalities were analyzed to determine how selfhood and social networks are represented by characters or authors with Alzheimer's Disease. As AD is often viewed as the loss of selfhood and is associated with isolation, these works combat these stigmas and complicate representations of the disease. The use of images was also examined in neurogames …

The Effect Of E-Cigarette Vape On Oral Cell Proliferation Using 3d Spheroids As A Preclinical Model, Vikram Chinnaiyan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

E-cigarettes have recently become increasingly popular, especially amongst middle and high school students. Although they are marketed as safer alternatives to tobacco cigarettes, they produce toxic metals and carcinogenic nitrosamines. This thesis studies the effects of e-cigarette aerosol on the growth and proliferation of oral epithelial cells because the consequences of vaping, including a potential risk for aberrant growth leading to cancer, are not well understood. Cells were grown in matrigel, causing the formation of three-dimensional spheroids modeling the physiological architecture of the oral epithelium. Those spheroids were chronically exposed to vape with different treatment conditions to study the functional …

Acute Effects Of Sprint Interval Training And Blood Flow Restriction On Neuromuscular And Muscle Function, David Gonzalez Rojas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of continuous (CBFR) and intermittent (IBFR) blood flow restriction (BFR) applied during sprint interval training (SIT) on performance, muscle, and neuromuscular function. Fifteen men completed SIT with CBFR, IBFR, and No-BFR. Each SIT bout consisted of 2, 30-s maximal sprints on a cycle ergometer with a resistance of 7.5% of body mass. Concentric peak torque (CPT), maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) torque, and muscle thickness (MT) were measured before and after the SIT protocols during each visit. During the maximal strength assessments, surface electromyography (sEMG) was recorded and during each …

Evolutionary History And Adaptation To Salinity In American Alligators, John Konvalina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Stressful environments can commonly be found at the edge of a species range and may be a driver for adaption in suboptimal environments. Furthermore, the edge of a species' range can expand and contract over time, resulting in multiple independent invasions of the same stressful habitat. Elucidating population genetic structure and demographic history can aid in determining the which geologic factors impact range distributions and when climatic changes occurred driving genetic patterns observed in contemporary populations. Moreover, populations at the edge of the species range may adapt to the stressful environments that occur at the range edge and exhibit genetic …

Host Cell Responses Modulate Oncolytic Viral Treatment Of Neuroblastoma Cells, Kritika Kedarinath

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive pediatric cancer that is poorly responsive to traditional cancer therapies. Oncolytic viral (OV) vectors such as Zika virus (ZIKV) and Parainfluenza virus type 5 (P/V virus) are promising neuroblastoma therapeutics, but the role of innate immune responses in the effectiveness of OV killing is not well understood. Previous studies showed the neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-AS (expressing low CD24) had low permissivity for ZIKV infection, and this restriction was relieved by ectopic CD24 expression (CD24-high cells). Compared to permissive CD24-high cells, the non-permissive CD24-low cells had elevated basal levels of IRF-1, NF?B and phosphorylated STAT1; these cells …

Investigating Plant Physiological Responses To Global Phylogenetic Diversity Of Glomeromycotina, David Z. Mowbray

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ubiquitous symbionts of terrestrial plant species with associations predominantly characterized as mutualistic. In addition to well-documented enhancement of host growth response, more recent analyses have demonstrated the conferral of host benefits under numerous biotic and abiotic stressors. However, much of the established evidence originates from studies involving limited AM fungal diversity. Accordingly, this study sought to evaluate the potential effects of inoculation on plant host physiological traits within a growth chamber environment, investigate potential correlations between host trait responses, & assess the degree of phylogenetic signal observed in trait responses due to the presence of …

Analyzing The Effectiveness Of Kinesio-Taping In Golf-Induced Chronic Low Back Pain Management, Yushan Zhang

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of Kinesio-Taping (KT) in golf-induced chronic low-back pain management. The golfing population continues to grow each year, and the risks of golf-induced chronic low back pain (CLBP) remain high. The Kinesio-taping technique is a non-invasive treatment intervention utilized in sports injury rehabilitation and prevention. Due to the lack of research on KT in golf-related injuries, this study addresses the injury mechanism of golf-induced CLBP and the proposed physiological mechanism and therapeutic effects on the musculoskeletal system of KT. This study is a comprehensive review of the golf swing, prevalence and …

The Y-Chromosome's Role In Sexually Dimorphic Evolution And Mother's Curse Compensation, Tobias Nielsen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The Y-chromosome and mitochondria (containing mtDNA) appear entirely dissimilar, the former being a sex chromosome found in the nucleus and the latter an organelle with thousands of copies in the cytoplasm. However, both experience uniparental inheritance, with Y-chromosomes being patrilineal and mitochondria matrilineal. This leads to various other similarities including haploidy, high mutation rates, and limited or lack of genetic recombination. Moreover, the low number of protein-coding genes contained on both led to the belief that neither contributes significantly to the adaptive evolution of complex traits. However, recent studies show the Y-chromosome and mitochondria both influence roughly 10% of male …

Synergistic Impacts Of Climate Change And Human Induced Stressors On The Apalachicola Bay Food Web, Kira Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Apalachicola Bay, an estuary located in northwest Florida, is likely to experience an increase in climate change and human-induced stressors, such as sea level rise and changes in freshwater inflow, in the future. A coupled hydrodynamic and food web modeling approach was used to simulate future scenarios of low and high river flow and sea level rise in Apalachicola Bay from 2020 to 2049 and demonstrate the range of temporal and spatial changes in water temperature, salinity, fisheries species populations and the broader food web. Concurrent with model development, a survey of Apalachicola Bay stakeholders was conducted to assess stakeholder …

Computational Strain Analysis In Microbiome Datasets With Application To Skin Disease, Minerva Fatimae Ventolero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Identifying bacterial strains is important not only for human health research but also for various environmental and industrial applications. The plethora of available shotgun metagenomic datasets provide an unprecedented opportunity to discover novel bacterial strains in different environmental niches. In this thesis, we evaluated the existing novel-strain-based tools and showed that their performance is still suboptimal. Due to the difficulty in distinguishing strains of similar abundance by available tools, the SMS (strains in multiple samples) tool was developed to de novo identify bacterial strains in multiple shotgun metagenomic samples. We showed that SMS distinguishes strains of similar abundance well and …

The Effects Of Neural And Mechanical Interventions On Muscle Size Versus Function During Short Term Immobilization Of The Lower Limb, Kylie Harmon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Limb immobilization is a commonly used therapeutic intervention during periods of recovery from injury. To improve rehabilitation outcomes, interventions that curtail the severe decrements in muscular size and strength that occur during immobilization are critically needed. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of two distinct interventions during one week of knee-joint immobilization on muscular size, strength, and neuromuscular function. Thirty-nine healthy, college-aged adults (21 males and 18 females) participated in this study. Participants were randomized into one of four groups: immobilization only (n = 9) , immobilization + action observation/mental imagery (AOMI) (n = 10), immobilization …

Harnessing The Power Of The Nitro Group In Natural Product Synthesis, Katelyn Bobek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

The high reactivity and electron-withdrawing ability of the nitro group makes it a powerful tool in synthesizing a diverse range of bioactive natural products. The potential of the nitro group was employed via two main methodologies: iron (III)-mediated oxidative dearomatization and oxime carbonate butyrolactone formation to reach three important heterocyclic scaffolds; spiro, tropone and γ-butyrolactone. Nitro precursors were enantioselective synthesized by key nitro-aldol (Henry) and nitro-Michael reactions. A library of polysubstituted butyrolactone oxime carbonates were formed under mild DMAP and Boc2O conditions from readily available δ-nitroalcohols in good to high yields with broad functional group tolerability. Six lignan γ-butyrolactone natural …

G-Quadruplex Reporters: Structural Studies And Application For Visual And Fluorescent Detection Of Point Mutations In Nucleic Acid Sequences, Ryan Connelly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

DNA-based diagnostics traditionally utilize hybridization probes: strands of DNA complimentary to a target sequence that, upon binding, generate a signal to indicate the presence of the target. The classic hybridization probes are the molecular beacon (MB) and TaqMan probes, both single DNA strands with a fluorophore and quencher at opposing ends. Despite their widespread use in applications such as qPCR due to their ability to multiplex with a variety of bound fluorophores, these probes have several shortcomings: temperature limitations for selective target recognition and differentiating single-nucleotide polymorphisms, intrinsic design limitations to interrogate some target sequences, and a high relative cost …

Deciphering The Role And Clinical Application Of The Fgfr4-Klb-Fgf19 Axis In Colorectal Neoplastic Progression, Michael Rohr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common and third deadliest cancer worldwide with rising incidence rates attributed to environmental risk factors like diet. Investigating how these factors impact carcinogenesis requires an understanding of how transcriptional events evolve with respect to neoplastic progression. We employed meta-transcriptomics and latent trajectory modeling to establish a compendium of profiled healthy, adenoma, and CRC samples scored by their position along a pseudotemporal axis. By interpolating a continuous scale from cross-sectional data, dynamic processes occurring throughout disease progression can be analyzed more accurately. For example, smaller pseudotimes represented pre-malignant dysplasia and was characterized by cellular …