Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Vascular And Auditory Changes After Repetitive Traumatic Brain Injury, Courtney Lynn Penn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects over 2.87 million people in the US each year. The large majority of these injuries can be classified as mild. However, evidence suggests that even mild TBIs can lead to long-lasting symptoms that greatly impact quality of life. This is particularly true when an individual sustains multiple TBIs (repetitive TBI, rTBI). Much of the damage caused by rTBI is due to secondary injury mechanisms that cause the initial injury site to spread and worsen over time. No therapies currently exist which can mitigate secondary injury, and monitoring this phase of rTBI is difficult. Development of …

Bioinformatic Analysis Predicts Microglial Dysfunction In Murine Aging, Amadu Idrisa Jalloh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Age-related disease is a growing concern as the global geriatric population increases. Neurodegenerative diseases scale unfavorably in prevalence with aging and inflict disastrous consequences to human health and well-being. These disorders are challenging to investigate because they arise from complex molecular origins. The neuroimmune system is a common factor among these diseases and microglia play an important role in maintaining homeostasis in the central nervous system. Aging progressively impairs microglia by decreasing their ability to adapt and respond to noxious environmental stimuli or injury. Microglial dysfunction aggravates neurodegenerative pathology when microglia are unable to regulate neuroinflammation effectively. We investigated aging …

A Multiple Input Multiple Output Framework For The Automatic Optical Fractionator-Based Cell Counting In Z-Stacks Using Deep Learning, Palak Dave

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quantifying cells in a defined region of biological tissue is critical for many clinical and preclinical studies, especially in pathology, toxicology, cancer, and behavior. Unbiased stereology is the state-of-art method for quantification of the total number and other morphometric parameters of stained objects in a defined region of biological tissue. As part of a program to develop accurate, precise, and more efficient automatic approaches for quantifying morphometric changes in biological tissue, our group has shown that both deep learning-based and hand-crafted algorithms can estimate the total number of histologically stained cells at their maximal profile of focus in extended depth …

Possibilities Of Using Neuromarketing Tools In The Hospitality Industry, Serdar Bulbul

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Usage of neurosciences in social sciences has emerged new perspectives and methods for marketing and tourism marketing. Neuro-marketing and Neuro-tourism are some of those concepts. In the hospitality industry, marketing is in a complex state because the decision-making processes of the guests are unpredictable. For this reason, hotel managements are unable to satisfy guest’s requests and demands with traditional methods. Therefore, Neuro-marketing has importance because this new way of marketing has a high chance to replace currently used methods. Usage of Neuro-marketing in the hospitality industry could satisfy the guest requests while generating new marketing perspectives on hotel management. This …

Reelin Supplementation For The Rescue Of Fragile X Syndrome., Nicole K. Morrill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reelin is a large, extracellular matrix glycoprotein involved in neuronal migration during embryonic brain development and synaptic plasticity in the adult brain. Reelin consists of eight EGF-like repeats and undergoes natural cleavage at two sites, between repeats 2 and 3 and repeats 5 and 6, resulting in five naturally occurring fragments. The role of Reelin in the developing central nervous system has been extensively characterized, and loss of Reelin or disruption in the signaling cascade may contribute to the cognitive impairments seen in numerous neurodevelopmental or aging diseases such as schizophrenia, autism, depression, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease. Reelin’s signaling potentiates …

Small Heat Shock Protein 22 Preserves Neuronal Function In A Murine Model Of Tauopathy, Santiago Rodriguez Ospina

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Proteinopathies is a family of diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of protein. There are a multitude of proteinopathies, like tauopathy and synucleinopathy that contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Creutzfeldt-Jakob, Pick’s disease, Frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Currently, one focus of research in the field is mitigating aggregation-prone proteins contributing to disease state. One method of targeting aggregation is the use of chaperones. Chaperones are molecular machinery that help maintain homeostasis in the cells, through various roles and mechanisms, one of those methods is to regulate protein aggregation. Chaperones can achieve this by affecting protein-protein interactions, …

Contribution Of Retinal Ganglion Cells To Brown-Norway Rat Spatiotemporal Visual Perception And The Electroretinogram, Nicholas P. Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) are the sole cells through which visual information is transmitted from the eye to the brain. As such, RGC dysfunction has a dramatic effect on vision and perception. Retinal neurodegenerative diseases, such as glaucoma, are one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. The study of these diseases requires well-characterized models in order to swiftly and effectively develop diagnostic tools and therapeutics. This dissertation aims to characterize specific properties of the visual system of the Brown-Norway rat. First, visual processing was evaluated in awake, freely moving rats. Contrast sensitivities of Brown-Norway rats were characterized by discrimination-driven …

Early Indicators Of Cognitive Dysfunction: The Role Of Mild Behavioral Impairment, Hillary J. Rouse

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Older age is associated with an increased risk for cognitively impairing diseases such as dementia. Despite significant research to find ways to cure this disease, there has been little success. However, a critical need when an intervention is discovered is a need to find ways to identify people who are at the greatest risk of developing dementia earlier in the disease process so that interventions can be implemented at that time. This could potentially lessen their risk or delay when they are diagnosed. Using longitudinal data from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), the aims of this current dissertation were …

Activity-Dependent Regulation Of Extracellular Ube3a In A Novel Angelman Syndrome Rat Model, Andie Dodge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic and neurologic disorder affecting approximately 1 in every 15,000 people. This disorder is characterized by seizures, absence of speech, motor and cognitive deficits, ataxia, and notably an abnormal happy demeanor with frequent smiling and laughter. A neuron-specific loss of function of the maternal allele of UBE3A, encoding for an E3 ubiquitin ligase, leads to the manifestation of AS. There are currently no cures for AS and few therapeutic options to abate symptoms. Although much investigation is required, research using the null mutation AS mouse model suggests a plausible case for pharmacological intervention.

Major …

Cognition In Health And Disease: Two Mouse Model Studies, Heather Lynn Mahoney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cognitive and circadian dysfunction are common aspects of neuropsychiatric disease that are often overlooked in disease models and treatment strategies. In this work, we first evaluated the potential for cognitive enhancement in healthy adult mice by targeting a kinase involved in regulation of the molecular circadian clock. We then developed and characterized a model of neuropsychiatric disease that could present a target for rescuing circadian and cognitive deficits using this treatment.

Time-of-day effects have been noted in a wide variety of cognitive behavioral tests, and perturbation of circadian rhythms impairs hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. We first asked whether casein kinase …

Evaluation Of Aging And Genetic Mutation Variants On Tauopathy, Amber M. Tetlow

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid β plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles (NFTs). While research has demonstrated amyloid pathology occurs prior to tau pathology, or tauopathy, tau has proven to be more toxic. Tauopathy is associated with cognitive declines and neurodegeneration. These findings have highlighted the importance of further understanding tauopathy. In the progression of tauopathy, there is an observable immune response that can be measured by glial cells such as microglia. Activated microglia are known to exacerbate tauopathy rather than reducing the pathology. Research has indicated that with increased age there is an increased risk for AD-related tauopathy …

Immune Modulation As A Therapeutic Target In An Α-Synuclein Model Of Parkinson’S Disease, Meena Subhashini Subbarayan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder affecting about 1.5 million people in the United States with more than 60,000 people diagnosed each year. It is classically characterized by four major symptoms: tremor, postural instability, stiffness in joints, and slow movement (bradykinesia). Pathologically PD is characterized by up to 70% loss of dopaminergic neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) of midbrain and accumulation of presynaptic protein called α-synuclein (α-syn) within dopaminergic neurons that extend to the striatum. This disrupts the nigrostriatal pathway leading to the motor symptoms seen in PD patients. Microglia, the innate immune cells …

Ssh1 Impedes P62/Sqstm1 Flux And Tau Clearance Independent Of Cofilin Activation, Cenxiao Fang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accumulation of toxic protein assemblies and damaged mitochondria are key features of neurodegenerative diseases, which arise in large part from clearance defects in the autophagy-lysosome system. The autophagy cargo receptor p62/SQSTM1 plays a major role in the clearance of ubiquitinated cargo through Ser403 phosphorylation by multiple kinases. However, no phosphatase is known to physiologically dephosphorylate p62 on this activating residue. RNAi-mediated knockdown and overexpression experiments using genetically encoded fluorescent reporters and defined mutant constructs in cell lines, primary neurons, and brains show that SSH1, the canonical cofilin phosphatase, mediates the dephosphorylation of phospho-Ser403-p62, thereby impairing p62 flux and phospho-tau clearance. …

Indicators Of Mild Cognitive Impairment Associated With Language Processing And Production, Diana Julbe-Delgado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research purpose of the present study was to (1) examine cognitive-linguistic features related to processing and production across a series of tasks that are representative of everyday discourse and (2) compare older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) across linguistic features. Twenty-seven participants, including 12 individuals with- and 15 individuals without MCI, were enrolled from a larger study (Hudak et al., 2019). Cognitive status was initially assessed as part of the larger study using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al., 2005). Participants who scored ≤ 25 on the MoCA received a standardized neuropsychological evaluation and …

Hybrid Electro-Plasmonic Stimulation Of Primary Neurons, Ratka Damnjanovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biomedical prosthetics utilizing electrical stimulation have limited, effective spatial resolution due to spread of electrical currents to surrounding tissue, causing nonselective stimulation. So, precise spatial resolution is not possible for traditional neural prosthetic devices, such as cochlear implants. More recently, alternative methods utilize optical stimulation, mainly infrared, sometimes paired with nanotechnology for stimulating action potentials, which has its own drawbacks, as it may heat surrounding tissue. Recently, we employed plasmonic stimulation methods utilizing gold nanoparticle-coated nanoelectrodes to convert visible light pulses into localized surface plasmon resonance transduction for stimulation of electrically excitable cells, which had limited success. Here, we report …

Mass Spectrometry Discovery-Based Proteomics To Examine Anti-Aging Effects Of The Nutraceutical Nt-020 In Rat Serum, Samantha M. Portis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Aging is a complex physiological process that leads to the deterioration of all cells and tissues throughout the body. Aging is a major risk factor for the onset of many degenerative diseases in both the central nervous system (CNS) and the periphery, but even nonpathological aging (“normal” aging) is associated with chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and decreased stem cell proliferation and regenerative capacity. This decreased regenerative capacity in stem cell niches is thought to be a key component underlying the aging process and many disease states associated with aging.

While the exact biological mechanisms underlying impaired stem cell proliferation and …

Utilizing Social Media To Spread Knowledge: The Association Of Pathology Chairs Experience At The 2018 Annual Meeting, Dana Razzano, Yonah C. Ziemba, Adam L. Booth, Priscilla Markwood, Christina T. Hanos, Nicole Riddle

Pathology and Cell Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Social Media Engagement At Academic Conferences: Report Of The Association Of Pathology Chairs 2018 And 2019 Annual Meeting Social Media Committee, Yonah C. Ziemba, Dana Razzano, Timothy C. Allen, Adam L. Booth, Scott R. Anderson, Anne Champeaux, Michael D. Feldman, Valerie Fitzhugh, Simone Gittens, Marilea Grider, Mary Gupta, Christina Hanos, Karen Kelly, Tarush Kothari, Jennifer Laudadio, Amy Y. Lin, Kamran M. Mirza, Kathleen T. Montone, Priscilla S. Markwood

Pathology and Cell Biology Faculty Publications

The use of social media at academic conferences is expanding, and platforms such as Twitter are used to share meeting content with the world. Pathology conferences are no exception, and recently, pathology organizations have promoted social media as a way to enhance meeting exposure. A social media committee was formed ad hoc to implement strategies to enhance social media involvement and coverage at the 2018 and 2019 annual meetings of the Association of Pathology Chairs. This organized approach resulted in an 11-fold increase in social media engagement compared to the year prior to committee formation (2017). In this article, the …

First-Time Characterization Of Viable But Non-Culturable Proteus Mirabilis: Induction And Resuscitation, Reham Wasfi, G. R. Abdellatif, H. M. Elshishtawy, Hossam M. Ashour

USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications

Pathogenic bacteria can enter into a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state under unfavourable conditions. Proteus mirabilis is responsible for dire clinical consequences including septicaemia, urinary tract infections and pneumonia, but is not a species previously known to enter VBNC state. We suggested that stress-induced P. mirabilis can enter a VBNC state in which it retains virulence. P. mirabilis isolates were incubated in extreme osmotic pressure, starvation, low temperature and low pH to induce a VBNC state. Resuscitation was induced by temperature upshift and inoculation in tryptone soy broth with Tween 20 and brain heart infusion broth. Cellular ultrastructure and gene …

Mapping Reward Values To Cues, Locations, And Objects: The Influence Of Reward Associations On Visual Attention, Constanza De Dios

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous work has attempted to fit reward-driven attentional selection as being exogenous (stimulus-driven) or endogenous (goal-driven). However, recent work suggests that reward’s effects on attention depend on the type of stimulus feature that the motivational information is imparted during learning (incentive salience). If true, then reward should not be limited to solely impacting early perceptual or late categorization processes attention. The current study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to test the idea that reward’s effects on attention depend on the process that the reward information is embedded – early perceptual or late categorization. Results demonstrated reward-driven effects on perceptual representation when …

An Eye Opener In Stroke: Mitochondrial Dysfunction And Stem Cell Repair In Stroke-Induced Retinal Ischemia, Hung Vu Thien Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stoke is a leading cause of disability and mortality across the globe, making it a global health crisis. However, treatments for stroke remain limited with narrow therapeutic time window. Visual impairment negatively affects patients’ quality of life. During stroke, the disruption in blood flow might affect both brain and eye resulting in cerebral and retinal ischemia. Currently, there is a lack of treatment option that targets both cerebral and retinal ischemia. Ischemic stroke pathology is complex and multiphasic. The ischemic event is followed by a secondary cascade of inflammatory cytokines exacerbating the initial focal injury and expanding into the penumbra. …

Cyclophilin 40 As A Novel Disaggregase, Jeremy Dustin Baker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The negative health and economic impacts of neurodegenerative diseases on Americans is astounding and accelerating with an aging population. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that 5.7 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a number which is expected to increase to 14 million by 2050. In economic terms, AD and other neurodegenerative disorders will cost the US over $275 billion in 2018, rising to over $1 trillion annually by 2050. AD causes gross brain atrophy and is most damaging throughout the cortex and the hippocampus, regions required for higher cognitive function and memory. AD presents as tangles within neurons composed of …

Proteolysis Of Cx3cl1 Impacts Cx3cr1 Signaling And Therapeutic Benefits In A Tauopathy Model, Dylan John Finneran

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder and the most common form of dementia. The hallmark pathologies of AD are extracellular aggregates of amyloid-beta, intracellular aggregates of microtubule associated protein tau and increased neuroinflammation. Current therapeutics offer only symptomatic relief and clinical trials investigating therapeutic benefits of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have yielded no positive results. Therefore, recent work has focused on immunomodulators, such as CD200 and fractalkine, as potential therapeutic targets for AD.

Fractalkine (CX3CL1; FKN) is expressed as a transmembrane protein with an N-terminal chemokine domain followed by a long, mucin-like stalk. FKN can signal as a membrane-bound …

Demonstration Of Monolithic-Silicon Carbide (Sic) Neural Devices, Evans K. Bernardin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Brain Machine Interfaces (BMI) provide a communication pathway between the electrical conducting units of the brain (neurons) and external devices. BMI technology may provide improved neurological and physiological functions to patients suffering from disabilities due to damaged nervous systems. Unfortunately, microelectrodes used in Intracortical Neural Interfaces (INI), a subset of the BMI device family, have yet to demonstrate long-term in vivo performance due to material, mechanical and electrical failures. Many state-of-the-art INI devices are constructed using stacks of multiple materials, such as silicon (Si), titanium (Ti), platinum (Pt), parylene C, and polyimide. Not only must each material tolerate the biological …

Integrative Signaling Of Mitochondria, Trpa1 And Trpv1 In Vagal Neurons, Katherine Stanford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sensory nerves detect conditions in the external and internal environment and permit behavioral and physiological responses to maintain homeostasis and ensure survival. As such, sensory nerves detect a wide variety of stimuli including heat, touch, pH, and vibration. The precise nature of these responses is dependent upon the initiating stimulus and site of activation. Potentially threatening stimuli (noxious heat, cellular damage, chemical irritants) activate nociceptive sensory nerves through the gating of ion channels expressed at sensory nerve terminals, thereby evoking defensive reflexes such as cough, watering eyes and limb withdrawal as well as sensations of pain or discomfort. While these …

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: A Tool For Veteran Reassimilation, Gino L. Collura

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates veteran participation in the martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) as a tool of reassimilation for veterans suffering from anxiety, stress and/or combat PTSD associated with military deployment. From the onset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn, challenges associated with U.S. Veteran assimilation and reintegration have been increasing. Coping with long term displacement, trauma, loss, and making sense of identity shifts between being an active duty service member and civilian can often present challenges when navigating back into civilian life.

By utilizing a neuroanthropological lens, ethnographic inquiry, surveys, semi-structured interviews, and …

Effects Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury On Ethanol Consumption And The Combined Effects On Neuroinflammation, Cognition, And Behavior In Mice, Jessica L. Hoffman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between alcohol consumption and traumatic brain injury (TBI) often focuses on alcohol consumption increasing the likelihood of incurring a TBI, rather than alcohol use outcomes after TBI. This focus is in part due to the large numbers of TBI patients visiting emergency rooms notable levels of alcohol in their blood. Additionally, increases in alcohol use disorders following TBI can be predicted by previous history of alcohol use. However, studies have also shown patients without a history of an alcohol use disorder can experience increases in problem drinking after single or multiple TBIs. Due to the diffuse impact of …

Therapeutic Modulation Of Alzheimer’S Disease With Biological (Hucbs) And Pharmacological (Lispro) Approaches, Md Ahsan Habib

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dementia is the top global public health threat of the twenty first century. Within the dementia spectrum, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia that occurs with aging and accounts for about 60% - 80% of diagnosed cases. But currently available discoveries failed to develop disease-modifying therapies for all patients living with AD. Recent discoveries can only partially slow down cognitive decline in a small subset of patients with limited effectiveness. The heterogeneity and complexity of the pathophysiology of AD indicate that a single drug approach may not be sufficient to prevent disease onset and progression. Human …

Targeting The Hsp90/Aha1 Complex For The Treatment Of Tauopathies, Lindsey Brooke Shelton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The microtubule associated protein, tau, is involved in regulating microtubule stability and axonal transport. When tau becomes hyperphosphorylated it can disassociate from the microtubules and start to aggregate. These tau aggregates are the hallmarks of many diseases known as tauopathies. The heat shock protein 90 kDa (Hsp90) chaperone network is highly involved in modulating client proteins, including tau. However, during aging and disease the Hsp90 chaperone network becomes highly imbalanced with some Hsp90/co-chaperone complexes increasing, while others are repressed. This imbalance in Hsp90/co-chaperone complexes could result in a worsening of tau pathology in Alzheimer’s disease.

Hsp90 inhibition has been of …

Neural Mechanisms Of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation In The Treatment Of Tinnitus, Andrea S. Lowe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Millions of people suffer from tinnitus, a disorder for which there is currently no effective treatment or cure. My dissertation work provides insight into the neural correlates of this pervasive hearing disorder and examines how a newly emerging therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), affects the central auditory system in the generation of the tinnitus percept. This work has a multifold focus of: i) developing and modeling the function of a miniature magnetic coil that can be used for TMS in rodents, ii) establishing a reliable mouse model of tinnitus that can be used for assessing TMS treatment-induced changes, iii) measuring …