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Influence Of Light Availability On Tree Growth, Defense, And Emerald Ash Borer (Agrlius Planipennis) Success In White Fringetree (Chionanthus Virginicus) And Black Ash (Fraxinus Nigra), Michael S. Friedman Jan 2020

Influence Of Light Availability On Tree Growth, Defense, And Emerald Ash Borer (Agrlius Planipennis) Success In White Fringetree (Chionanthus Virginicus) And Black Ash (Fraxinus Nigra), Michael S. Friedman

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White fringetree is a host for the invasive emerald ash borer (EAB) despite being lower quality than black ash. Observations suggest that host trees grown in full sun are more resistant to EAB than those grown in shade, however chemical defense mechanisms and the impact of environmental stress have not been assessed. We quantified constitutive and induced defenses and other characteristics white fringetree and black ash phloem tissue grown under differential light conditions, and these traits were related to EAB larval performance. White fringetree had significantly lower constitutive and induced activities of defense associated enzymes and lignin but higher phenolic, …


Exploring The Impact Of Affective Processing On Visual Perception Of Large-Scale Spatial Environments, Auroabah S. Almufleh Jan 2020

Exploring The Impact Of Affective Processing On Visual Perception Of Large-Scale Spatial Environments, Auroabah S. Almufleh

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This thesis explores the interaction between emotions and visual perception using large scale spatial environment as the medium of this interaction. Emotion has been documented to have an early effect on scene perception (Olofsson, Nordin, Sequeira, & Polich, 2008). Yet, most popularly-used scene stimuli, such as the IAPS or GAPED stimulus sets often depict salient objects embedded in naturalistic backgrounds, or “events” which contain rich social information, such as human faces or bodies. And thus, while previous studies are instrumental to our understanding of the role that social-emotion plays in visual perception, they do not isolate the effect of emotion …


Fate Of White Fringetree Through The Invasion Wave Of Emerald Ash Borer And Its Variation In Resistance To Attack, Emily A. Ellison Jan 2020

Fate Of White Fringetree Through The Invasion Wave Of Emerald Ash Borer And Its Variation In Resistance To Attack, Emily A. Ellison

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Ornamental white fringetrees in IL, IN, OH, and PA were reassessed in 2018 as a follow-up study to determine the fate of the white fringetree through the invasion wave of emerald ash borer. Attack rates decline by half from 2015-2018 and only 13% of trees were infested. Health of not reinfested trees in 2018 improved suggesting resilience against EAB attack whereas currently infested trees in 2018 displayed signs of declining health. Trees differed in their resistance to EAB attack and 41 additional ornamental and wild white fringetrees were studied in OH to determine if the anti-herbivory defense chemical, oleuropein, influenced …


Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (Igf-1) Impacts P53-Regulated Gene Products In Uvb-Irradiated Human Keratinocytes And Skin Epidermis, Abdulrhaman Mohammed Mohammed Alkawwar Jan 2020

Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (Igf-1) Impacts P53-Regulated Gene Products In Uvb-Irradiated Human Keratinocytes And Skin Epidermis, Abdulrhaman Mohammed Mohammed Alkawwar

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Skin cancer is the most prevalent human malignancy and is primarily caused by ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths of sunlight. However, the fact that most skin cancers occur in people over the age of 60 indicates that advantaged age is a second skin cancer risk factor. Why geriatric skin is prone to developing skin cancers is not clear, but several studies have shown that dermal fibroblasts in geriatric skin express lower levels of the hormone insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) than young adult skin and that deficient IGF-1 signaling negatively impacts how epidermal keratinocytes respond to UVB radiation. A major regulator of the …


A Planarian Kinesin Associated Protein 3 Homolog Is Required For Spermatogenesis And Ciliogenesis, Donovan Christman Jan 2020

A Planarian Kinesin Associated Protein 3 Homolog Is Required For Spermatogenesis And Ciliogenesis, Donovan Christman

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Microtubule-based structures are an essential part of eukaryotic cells as they are involved in a number of processes such as phagocytosis, chromosome separation, intracellular transport, and cell motility. Transport along microtubules is accomplished by kinesin superfamily proteins (KIFs), which are motor proteins that bind cargo and use ATPase activity to move along microtubules in an anterograde fashion. One of the most common kinesin complexes is the heterotrimeric Kinesin 2 complex which is composed of KIF3 subunit dimers and the Kinesin Associated Protein 3 (KAP3). This complex is known as the KIF3 complex and functions along microtubules in cilia and flagella. …


Effects Of Forest Age And Composition On Coleoptera Associated With Fungal Fruiting Bodies In Southwest Ohio, Jeffrey M. Brown Jan 2020

Effects Of Forest Age And Composition On Coleoptera Associated With Fungal Fruiting Bodies In Southwest Ohio, Jeffrey M. Brown

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Mature forests often harbor greater biodiversity than younger woods. As this relationship of forest age to biodiversity has not been examined for all taxa, this study sought to document the diversity of mycophilous beetle communities in deciduous forests of southwest Ohio and understand how they vary in relation to forest age. I surveyed fungus associated beetles using baited traps at eight forested sites in the Dayton, Ohio region. Traps were surveyed three times during 2018 to account for seasonal variation, something that has not been done for this geographic region. Forest age had no significant effect on beetle abundance or …


Composition Of Dung Beetle Communities In A Tropical Montane Forest Alters The Rate Of Dung Removal More Than Species Diversity Alone, Elizabeth A. Engle Jan 2020

Composition Of Dung Beetle Communities In A Tropical Montane Forest Alters The Rate Of Dung Removal More Than Species Diversity Alone, Elizabeth A. Engle

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Dung beetles provide key ecological functions by degrading and recycling dung. I used experimentally-assembled communities to examine the role of species richness, community biomass, species diversity, species identity, and community composition in dung removal, using Ateuchus chrysopyge, Copris nubilosis, Onothophagus cyanellus, and Dichotomius satanas. I hypothesized: (1) that as species richness, biomass, and diversity increases within a community, dung removal increases; and (2) species are not functionally equivalent, so community composition should influence dung removal rates. As species richness, biomass, and diversity of experimentally-assembled communities increased, the proportion of dung removed also increased. Also, the four species in this study …


Identification Of New Metabolic Mutations In The Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces Pombe That Sensitize The Cell To Hydroxyurea, Alaa Mahdi Jan 2020

Identification Of New Metabolic Mutations In The Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces Pombe That Sensitize The Cell To Hydroxyurea, Alaa Mahdi

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Cancer is a life-threatening illness and innovative research is therefore required to fuel the development of new anti-cancer therapies. As an anti-proliferative drug, hydroxyurea (HU) has been used in the treatment of various neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases such as sickle cell anemia, psoriasis, and viral infections. HU is a well-known inhibitor of ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), an enzyme that generates dNTPs for DNA replication and repair. In our genetic screen in fission yeast looking for mutants with defects in checkpoint response, we also found a set of mutants that are highly sensitive to HU but with a functional checkpoint response. It …


Divalent Metal Cation Entry And Cytotoxicity In Jurkat T Cells: Role Of Trpm7 Channels, Alayna N. Mellott Jan 2020

Divalent Metal Cation Entry And Cytotoxicity In Jurkat T Cells: Role Of Trpm7 Channels, Alayna N. Mellott

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Humans are exposed daily to a variety of metals that can be harmful to our immune system. Although certain divalent metal cations are essential for numerous cellular functions and are critical trace elements in humans, the uptake mechanisms of these ions remain mostly unknown. Transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (TRPM7), which is expressed in a variety of human cell types, including lymphocytes and macrophages, conducts many divalent metal cations. TRPM7 channels are largely inactive under normal physiological conditions due to cytoplasmic magnesium acting as a channel inhibitor. Magnesium is a cofactor for many biochemical reactions. Low serum levels of magnesium, …


Artificially-Generated Scenes Demonstrate The Importance Of Global Properties During Early Scene Perception, Mavuso Wesley Mzozoyana Jan 2020

Artificially-Generated Scenes Demonstrate The Importance Of Global Properties During Early Scene Perception, Mavuso Wesley Mzozoyana

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During scene perception, studies have shown the importance of the global distribution of a scene. Electrophysiological studies have found these global effects concentrated corresponding to the second positive and first negative peaks (P2 and N1, respectively) of the Event-related potential (ERP) during the first 600 ms of scene perception. We sought to understand in Experiment 1, to what extent early responses to scenes were driven by mid-level global information such as the degree of naturalness or openness in a scene image in the absence of specific low-and high-level information (color and semantic object detail). This was done using artificially-generated stimuli …


Multiple Genotoxic Agents Activate Atr Kinase Signaling In Quiescent Human Cells, Mariyyah Ahmed O. Madkhali Jan 2020

Multiple Genotoxic Agents Activate Atr Kinase Signaling In Quiescent Human Cells, Mariyyah Ahmed O. Madkhali

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The ATR protein kinase is activated in response to DNA damage and other forms of genotoxic stress caused by both environmental carcinogens and anti-cancer drugs. However, much of our understanding of ATR kinase function is limited to proliferating cells in which DNA replication stress is the primary signal for ATR activation and where the major regulatory targets of ATR signaling are proteins involved in DNA synthesis and cell cycle progression. Here we have used HaCaT keratinocytes maintained in a non-replicating, quiescent state in vitro to examine how cell killing by different genotoxic agents is impacted by cell growth status and …


Invasive Species Shift Fungal Driven Decomposition In Midwestern Forests, Adam M. Reed Jan 2020

Invasive Species Shift Fungal Driven Decomposition In Midwestern Forests, Adam M. Reed

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Midwestern forests are currently impacted by two prominent invaders, Agrilus planipennis and Lonicera maackii. The Ag. planipennis induced loss of Fraxinus spp. trees can facilitate Lo. maackii invasion, which is likely altering microbial driven forest nutrient cycling. To assess these changes in microbial processes, I conducted litter bag and culture-based decomposition experiments using leaf litter from Acer spp., Quercus spp., F. nigra, F. pennsylvanica, Lindera benzoin, and Lo. maackii. For the culture-based decomposition experiment, I inoculated six species of fungi separately onto both single species and multispecies (half Lo. maackii and half native spp.) leaf litter and measured decomposition rate, …


Topical Photodynamic Therapy Generates Microvesicle Particles, Oladayo Ayobami Oyebanji Jan 2020

Topical Photodynamic Therapy Generates Microvesicle Particles, Oladayo Ayobami Oyebanji

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) involves the use of light at an appropriate wavelength acting on a photosensitizing chemical to cause cell death via generation of reactive oxygen species. PDT has been useful in the management of skin conditions (like acne, psoriasis) and cancers like superficial skin, esophageal and non-small cell lung cancers. In addition to these therapeutic effects, previous murine studies from our group have demonstrated that topical PDT induces immunosuppression in vivo. Thus, topical PDT of skin can generate systemic effects through unknown mechanisms. Our group showed that PDT induces an immunosuppressive effect which occurs partly via Platelet-Activating Factor Receptor …


Alternative Splicing Of Mdm4 In Human Melanomas, Abdullah Salem S. Alatawi Jan 2020

Alternative Splicing Of Mdm4 In Human Melanomas, Abdullah Salem S. Alatawi

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Melanoma is a potentially lethal type of skin cancer and regarded to be the third most common type of skin cancer. Although melanoma is not as common as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), it is more likely to metastasize than BCC and SCC. Interestingly, the incidence of melanoma continues to go up (expected 2% in 2020), but the deaths continue to decrease (-5.3% in 2020) due to improvements in detection and treatment. The treatment of melanoma depends on several aspects but most importantly the tumor's stage and the location. In the early stages, melanoma can be …


Role Of Exercise In Macrophage Polarization Of Perivascular Adipose Tissue And Adipose Tissue Inflammation In Hypertensive Mice Model, Venkata Sai Usha Sri Polaki Jan 2020

Role Of Exercise In Macrophage Polarization Of Perivascular Adipose Tissue And Adipose Tissue Inflammation In Hypertensive Mice Model, Venkata Sai Usha Sri Polaki

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Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. It can lead to severe health complications and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and sometimes death. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) is known as the adipose tissue (AT) surrounding all the blood vessels and plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of the vascular disease. In vascular pathologies, PVAT increases in volume and becomes dysfunctional, with altered cellular composition and molecular characteristics. Macrophages have been found to accumulate in PVAT during hypertension, which might be involved …


The Persisting Threats Of Cholera: A Cyclical Public Health Problem In Ghana, Rita Laryea Amediavor Jan 2020

The Persisting Threats Of Cholera: A Cyclical Public Health Problem In Ghana, Rita Laryea Amediavor

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The prevalence of communicable diseases continues to be one of the continent's leading causes of deaths. Cholera is a waterborne disease triggered by toxigenic strains of the Gram-negative bacteria Vibrio Cholerae O1 strain and less common O139 strain. with symptoms such as severe acute watery diarrhea and vomiting leading to dehydration, progressing to hypovolemic shock and death if not treated timely due to its short incubation period (Pasetto et al., 2018). West African countries are largely portrayed as endemic to cholera, though the dynamics of outbreaks in these developing countries remain largely uncertain. The purpose of the study is to …


Protocol Development And Optimization For Rnls Mouse Characteristic Assessment, Hasan Farid Jan 2020

Protocol Development And Optimization For Rnls Mouse Characteristic Assessment, Hasan Farid

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Protocol development and optimization are vital in the scientific method process. By having accurate protocols, one can properly assess the characteristics of their animal model for any given experiment. One animal newly adopted in our lab was the novel regulatable nuclear localization sequence (rNLS) mouse model. This novel mouse model displays symptoms of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), after the accumulation of the hTDP-43 (TAR DNA-binding protein 43) aggregate in the central nervous system. The expression of this protein occurs after the removal of deoxycycline from the mouse’s food source. Once the removal of the drug, this …


Assessment Of In Vivo Muscle Force In The R6/2 Mouse Model Of Huntington's Disease Using Newly Designed Force Rig, Steven Russell Alan Burke Jan 2020

Assessment Of In Vivo Muscle Force In The R6/2 Mouse Model Of Huntington's Disease Using Newly Designed Force Rig, Steven Russell Alan Burke

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In this thesis, we develop a system to study in vivo muscle function in a mouse model of Huntington’s disease that allows for the recording of muscle force by stimulating the motor nerves or the muscles directly after a nerve block. This allows us to distinguish between defects in the nerve, such as problems with vesicle release, and primary muscle defects, such as altered intracellular calcium homeostasis. We hypothesize that there are primary defects in R6/2 skeletal muscle that are separate from neurodegeneration or defects in the CNS. In this case, we should see defects in muscle force generation during …


Potential Role Of Ahr In Antibody Production, Mili Bhakta Jan 2020

Potential Role Of Ahr In Antibody Production, Mili Bhakta

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Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) mediates the immunosuppressive effects of 2,3,7,8 -tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (TCDD) in murine B cells. The effects of AhR activation on the regulation of expression of human immunoglobulin isotypes (μ, γ1-4, α1-2 and ε) and Ig secretion is unclear. Our previous results using CL-01 cell-line originating from a Burkitt’s lymphoma patient, demonstrated an inhibitory effect of TCDD on IgG expression but a surprising and marked loss of IgG secretion when the AhR was knocked out by siRNA or CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing. To determine if the AhR is a critical mediator of IgG expression, current study is focused on characterizing …


Apoptosis And Necrosis Drive Muscle Fiber Loss In Lipin1 Deficient Skeletal Muscle, Sandhya Ramani Sattiraju Jan 2020

Apoptosis And Necrosis Drive Muscle Fiber Loss In Lipin1 Deficient Skeletal Muscle, Sandhya Ramani Sattiraju

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Mutations in lipin1 are suggested to be a common cause of massive rhabdomyolysis episodes in children, however, the molecular mechanism involved in the regulation of myofiber death by lipin1 is not known. In this study, we utilized the skeletal muscle from cell-type-specific lipin1 knockout (Lipin1Myf5cKO) mice to define cell death pathways involved in lipin1 deficient muscles. We observed a significant increase in centrally nucleated fibers and embryonic myosin heavy chain (EMyHC)-positive regenerating fibers in Lipin1Myf5cKO mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice, indicating an increased cycle of degeneration and regeneration in lipin1 deficient muscles. Lipin1 deficient muscles had significantly elevated pro-apoptotic …


Effects Of Creatine And Nicotinamide On Experimentally Induced Senescence In Dermal Fibroblasts, Avinash Satyanarayan Mahajan Jan 2020

Effects Of Creatine And Nicotinamide On Experimentally Induced Senescence In Dermal Fibroblasts, Avinash Satyanarayan Mahajan

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Dermal fibroblasts provide structural support by producing collagen and other structural/support proteins beneath the epidermis. Fibroblasts also produce Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which binds to the IGF-1 receptors (IGF-1Rs) on keratinocytes to activate signaling pathways that regulate cell proliferation and cellular responses to genotoxic stressors like ultraviolet B radiation found in sunlight. Our group has determined that the lack of IGF-1 expression due to fibroblast senescence in the dermis of geriatric individuals is correlated with an increased incidence of skin cancer in geriatric patients. The present studies were designed to test the hypothesis that pro-energetics like creatine monohydrate and nicotinamide …


The Feeding Pattern Of C57bl/6j Mice, Yakshkumar Dilipbhai Rathod Jan 2020

The Feeding Pattern Of C57bl/6j Mice, Yakshkumar Dilipbhai Rathod

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The feeding pattern and control of energy intake in social mice are poorly understood. Here, we determined and quantify the normal nocturnal feeding pattern of group-housed male and female mice of the C57BL/6J genetic background fed a chow diet. Mice at 10 and 20weeks of age showed the expected age-dependent increase in lean and fat mass being them more pronounced in males. Under ad libitum conditions, male and female mice ate comparable amounts of food per unit of body weight irrespective of gender. The analysis of the feeding microstructure revealed that energy intake in females is the result of significantly …