Life Sciences Commons^™

Functional Analysis In The Home Setting Of An Older Adult With Neurocognitive Disorder, Emily Norton

Masters Theses

Currently within the behavioral gerontology literature there are no published studies that include a functional assessment in the home setting. The primary goal of the present study was to address this gap by conducting a functional analysis on a challenging behavior of an older adult with neurocognitive disorder in the home. This study occurred in two phases. During phase one, researchers conducted an antecedent functional analysis on the bizarre speech of an 81-year-old female with suspected dementia across four conditions (television on, no interactions initiated; television on, interactions initiated; television off, no interactions initiated; television off, interactions initiated). Results from …

Evolution Of Caffeine Biosynthetic Enzymes And Pathways In Flowering Plants, Ruiqi Huang

Dissertations

Convergent evolution generally refers to the independent evolution of similar biological function more than once in unrelated species. Caffeine is thought to have evolved by convergence, and is naturally produced through secondary metabolism in plants to defend against pathogen attack and insect feeding or to attract pollinators. The same caffeine biosynthetic pathway has been elucidated in Camellia (tea) and Coffea (coffee), in which xanthosine is sequentially methylated to caffeine via 7-methylxanthine and theobromine. However, although the same catalysis pathway is used, different (paralogous) enzymes in the SAMT/BAMT/theobromine synthase (SABATH) multigene family are used in the two species. In my dissertation, …

Gpu-Pcc: A Gpu Based Technique To Compute Pairwise Pearson’S Correlation Coefficients For Big Fmri Data, Taban Eslami, Muaaz Gul Awan, Fahad Saeed

Parallel Computing and Data Science Lab Technical Reports

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive brain imaging technique for studying the brain’s functional activities. Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient is an important measure for capturing dynamic behaviors and functional connectivity between brain components. One bottleneck in computing Correlation Coefficients is the time it takes to process big fMRI data. In this paper, we propose GPU-PCC, a GPU based algorithm based on vector dot product, which is able to compute pairwise Pearson’s Correlation Coefficients while performing computation once for each pair. Our method is able to compute Correlation Coefficients in an ordered fashion without the need to do post-processing reordering …

Neuroprediction And Criminal Law, Fritz Allhoff

Spring Convocation

No abstract provided.

The Neurochemistry And Social Flow Of Singing: Bonding And Oxytocin, Jason R. Keeler, Brittany L. Neuser, John M. Spitsbergen, Daniel J.M. Waters, John-Mary Vianney

BRAIN Lab Research

Music is used in healthcare to promote physical and psychological well-being. As clinical applications of music continue to expand, there is a growing need to understand the biological mechanisms by which music influences health. Here we explore the neurochemistry and social flow of group singing. Four participants from a vocal jazz ensemble were conveniently sampled to sing together in two separate performances: pre-composed and improvised. Concentrations of plasmaoxytocin and adrenocorticotropichormone (ACTH) were measured before and after each singing condition to assess levels of social affiliation, engagement and arousal. Avalidated assessment off low state was administered after each singing condition to …

Evolutionary Convergence Of The Caffeine Biosynthetic Pathway In Chocolate Followed Duplication Of A Constrained Ancestral Enzyme, Andrew J. O'Donnell

Masters Theses

Caffeine biosynthesis is widely distributed in flowering plants and requires three consecutive methylation steps of xanthine alkaloids. Genes that have previously been reported to participate in the multi-step pathway in Coffea sp. (coffee) and Camellia sinensis (tea) encode members of the SABATH family of methyltransferases. Two genes highly expressed in fruits of Theobroma cacao (cacao) are orthologous to the caffeine genes in tea and appear to have diversified following gene duplication. Biochemical characterization of the enzymes (XMTs) encoded by these genes strongly suggest an unprecedented major pathway to theobromine, a precursor to caffeine. These findings imply that caffeine biosynthesis evolved …

Regulation Of Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Gdnf) Production In Voluntary And Involuntary Muscle, John-Mary Vianney

Dissertations

Glia cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a survival factor for subpopulations of neurons, including somatic and autonomic motor neurons. These neurons depend, in part, on GDNF that is synthesized and secreted by their target tissues. It has been shown that a number of tissues in the periphery express GDNF and these target tissues differ in their composition, function, and in the case of different muscle cell types, their contractile characteristics. Whether the processes regulating GDNF production in these different tissues is similar or different is poorly understood. The broad goal of this study is to examine factors that normally …

Electrical Stimulation Has Opposing Effects On Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Expression In Voluntary And Involuntary Muscle, John-Mary Vianney, John Spitsbergen

Research and Creative Activities Poster Day

Glia cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a potent survival factor for sub-populations of neurons including somatic and autonomic motor neurons. These neurons depend, in part, on GDNF that is synthesized and secreted by their target tissues. Whether the processes regulating GDNF production in these tissues is similar or different is poorly understood. The current study compares the regulation of production of GDNF in skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle following electrical and chemical stimulation. We show that electrical stimulation has opposing effects on GDNF production in cardiac and skeletal muscle, where GDNF levels increase with long-term electrical stimulation in skeletal …

Expression Of The Chemokine Receptor, Cxcr4, And Its Ligand, Sdf-1, Are Increased In Purkinje Cells Of The Multiple System Atrophy Cerebellum, Megan Welter

Masters Theses

Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) is a sporadic, neurodegenerative disease that consists of three conditions: autonomic dysfunction, Parkinsonism and cerebellar ataxia. Our lab conducted an Affymetrix global gene expression analysis using pons tissue of MSA patients to determine genes that are differentially expressed when compared to non- MSA controls. This study identified upregulated genes, including the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4, CXCR4, to which stromal cell-derived factor-I (SDF-1) is the natural ligand. The CXCR4/SDF-1 signaling pair has been sho.wn to play multiple roles in the brain, such as inducing neuronal apoptosis and promoting leukocyte recruitment during inflammation. The MSA cerebellum presents …

Exercise Alters Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (Gdnf) Protein Content In The Spinal Cord, Monica Janine Mccullough

Dissertations

Neurotrophic factors may play a role in exercise-induced neuroprotective effects; however, it is not known if exercise mediates changes in glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) protein levels in the spinal cord. The aim of the studies described herein was to determine if exercise alters GDNF protein expression in the lumbar spinal cord of healthy and diseased animals. The lumbar spinal cord was analyzed from adult rats aged 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-months, and from transgenic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mice and wild-type mice aged 3 months. Animals had undergone either forced wheel running, voluntary wheel running or swimming for …

Cholinergic Neurons Regulate And Utilize Gdnf Secreted By C2c12 Skeletal Muscle Cells In Culture, John-Mary Vianney, John Spitsbergen

Biological Sciences Faculty and Graduate Student Research

Glialcell line-derived neurotrophicfactor (GDNF) has been regarded as a potent survival factor for a subpopulation of neurons. It has been shown that GDNF expression is upregulated in skeletal muscle of patients with early stage of neuromuscular diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Previous results from our laboratory showed that neural cells regulate GDNF secretion by skeletal muscle; non-innervated skeletal muscle appear to secrete more GDNF compared to innervated skeletal muscle. Two aims were examined in the current study. First, to examine whether neural cells inhibit GDNF through acetylcholine release. Second was to examine whether differentiated NG108-15 neural cells secrete …

The Mozart Effect: Evidence For The Arousal Hypothesis, Edward A. Roth, Kenneth A. Roth

BRAIN Lab Research

This study investigated the effect of music listening for performance on a 25-question portion of the analytical section of the Graduate Record Exam by 72 undergraduate students (M age 21.9 yr.). Five levels of an auditory condition were based on Mozart Piano Sonata No. 3 (K. 2811, Movement I (Allegro); a rhythm excerpt; a melody excerpt; traffic sounds; and silence. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the stimuli. After a 5-min., 43-sec. (length of the first Allegro movement) listening period, participants answered the questions. Analysis indicated participants achieved significantly higher mean scores after all auditory conditions than those in …

Exposure Of Nervous System Cells To Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs), Results In Alterations Of Neurotrophic Factor Expression, Gordon H. Gurley

Dissertations

Toxic insult by PCBs results in learning and memory deficits in humans. Alterations in expression of neurotrophic factors (NF) and/or their receptors have been linked to changes in learning and memory. How PCBs affect cognition is not known. We suggest that PCBs affect cognition by altering NF expression.

We exposed cultured C6 rat glioblastoma cells (an astrocyte cell-line) to medium containing PCB (Aroclor 1254 (10ppm)). Control cells were treated with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or regular medium. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to determine glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor(GDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) concentrations in all samples. We also …

Changes In Gdnf Protein Content Of Skeletal Muscle Following Involuntary Exercise Are Long Lived, Kyle R. Kinnell, Monica J. Czarnopys, John Spitsbergen

Biological Sciences Faculty and Graduate Student Research

Glial-cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a neurotrophic factor produced by skeletal muscle. GDNF has been shown to be potent survival factor for motor neurons. We have previously shown that GDNF content in skeletal muscle is altered following exercise and GDNF levels 24 hours after the last bout of exercise are significantly different than those measured immediately after exercise. We sought to determine how long after exercise do GDNF protein levels remain altered. We removed extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and Soleus (SOL), 24 hr, 72 hr and 1 week following the last bout of involuntary exercise. Muscles were processed …

Neuroplasticity And Functional Recovery: Training Models And Compensatory Strategies In Music Therapy, Felicity Baker, Edward A. Roth

BRAIN Lab Research

New research developments in the recovery of function following neurological trauma as well as basic and applied research relevant to music perception and production, seem to point to the suggestion that specific music therapy interventions that directly address the restoration of function as opposed to developing compensatory mechanisms, in certain circumstances, may now be a more appropriate treatment approach. We will address the issue of appropriate timing for the introduction of each strategy and discuss potential outcomes of each approach. As one might imagine, much of this research is published in the neurological journals, which music therapists may not regularly …

Exposure Of Nervous System Cells To Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs) Results In Significant Alterations In Levels Of Expression Of Neurotrophic Factors, Charles F. Ide, Jay C. Means, Trisha M. Basford, John Spitsbergen

Biological Sciences Faculty and Graduate Student Research

Toxic insult by PCBs results in learning and memory deficits in humans. Alterations in expression of neurotrophic factors and/or their receptors have been linked to changes in cognition. How PCBs affect cognition is not known. We propose that PCBs affect cognition by altering neurotrophic factor expression or effects. We exposed cultured C6 glial cells in medium containing PCB (Aroclor 1254 (10ppm)). Control cells were treated with DMSO or regular medium. Cells were incubated at 37o C for up to 72 hours. Medium samples were taken at 6hr, 24hr, 48hr, and 72hr intervals. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were used to determine …