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The Effect Of Maternal Dietary Habits During Pregnancy On Neonate Leptin Methylation Patterns And Gestational Age, Sean Fitzpatrick

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The health of a newborn baby is inextricably linked to the health status of its mother and in turn the mother’s diet during pregnancy. Leptin (LEP) is an adipokine hormone involved in metabolism regulation and has been linked fetal development through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). Prior work suggests that gestational epigenetic alterations the LEP gene may be sensitive to adverse exposures during pregnancy, which in turn could explain variation in neonate outcomes. However, no prior work has examined this possibility explicitly. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between dietary patterns of mothers during pregnancy and their …

A Hybrid Cognitive Architecture With Primal Affect And Physiology, Christopher L. Dancy

Faculty Journal Articles

Though computational cognitive architectures have been used to study several processes associated with human behavior, the study of integration of affect and emotion in these processes has been relatively sparse. Theory from affective science and affective neuroscience can be used to systematically integrate affect into cognitive architectures, particularly in areas where cognitive system behavior is known to be associated with physiological structure and behavior. I introduce a unified theory and model of human behavior that integrates physiology and primal affect with cognitive processes in a cognitive architecture. This new architecture gives a more tractable, mechanistic way to simulate affect-cognition interactions …

University Of Nebraska At Omaha Department Of Biomechanics Annual Report Spring 2019, Department Of Biomechanics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Biomechanics Annual Report

This report contains:

A letter from the Director: Dr. Nick Stergiou

Articles about Updates: Center for Research in Human Movement Variability

Articles about the Updates: Department of Biomechanics

Articles on Exciting News

Article about Beyond the Boarders

Articles on Outreach

and Highlights

Exploration Of Thiol-Michael Addition Bioconjugation To Extend Polymers Of A Protein-Based Hydrogel, Elaine Wallin Smith

Honors Theses

Hydrogels have been explored for many biomedical applications, including targeted, in situ drug delivery to avoid the negative side effects associated with systemic delivery. In our work, we are exploiting the high affinity, calcium-dependent binding between calmodulin and its target peptides to create a biomaterial for in situ, extracellular drug delivery. Genes were engineered to make two protomers, Calmodulin Collagen-Like Protein (CCLP) and Peptide Collagen-Like Protein (PCLP), that will spontaneously self-assemble in situ due to the high Ca2+ concentration in the extracellular space and provide tunable, targeted drug delivery in a biocompatible hydrogel. One important factor that would dictate the …

Engineering Stem Cell Cardiac Patch With Microvascular Features Representative Of Native Myocardium, Zichen Qian, Dhavan Sharma, Wenkai Jia, Daniel Radke, Timothy Kamp, Feng Zhao

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The natural myocardium is a highly aligned tissue with an oriented vasculature. Its characteristic cellular as well as nanoscale extracellular matrix (ECM) organization along with an oriented vascular network ensures appropriate blood supply and functional performance. Although significant efforts have been made to develop anisotropic cardiac structure, currently neither an ideal biomaterial nor an effective vascularization strategy to engineer oriented and high-density capillary-like microvessels has been achieved for clinical cardiovascular therapies. A naturally derived oriented ECM nanofibrous scaffold mimics the physiological structure and components of tissue ECM and guides neovascular network formation. The objective of this study was to create …

Automatic 13C Chemical Shift Reference Correction Of Protein Nmr Spectral Data Using Data Mining And Bayesian Statistical Modeling, Xi Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a highly versatile analytical technique for studying molecular configuration, conformation, and dynamics, especially of biomacromolecules such as proteins. However, due to the intrinsic properties of NMR experiments, results from the NMR instruments require a refencing step before the down-the-line analysis. Poor chemical shift referencing, especially for ¹³C in protein Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) experiments, fundamentally limits and even prevents effective study of biomacromolecules via NMR. There is no available method that can rereference carbon chemical shifts from protein NMR without secondary experimental information such as structure or resonance assignment.

To solve this problem, we …

Spheroid-3d And Monolayer-2d Intestinal Electrochemical Biosensor For Toxicity/Viability Testing: Applications In Drug Screening, Food Safety, And Environmental Pollutant Analysis, Evangelia Flampouri, Shahzad Imar, Kieran O'Connell, Baljit Singh

Articles

The rise of three-dimensional cell culture systems that provide in vivo-like environments for pharmaco-toxicological models has prompted the need for simple and robust viability assays suitable for complex cell architectural structures. This study addresses that challenge with the development of an in vitro enzyme based electrochemical sensor for viability/cytotoxicity assessment of two-dimensional (2D) monolayer and three-dimensional (3D) spheroid culture formats. The biosensor measures the cell viability/toxicity via electrochemical monitoring of the enzymatic activity of nonspecific esterases of viable cells, through the hydrolysis of 1-naphthyl acetate to 1-naphthol. The proposed sensor demonstrated strong correlation (r = 0.979) with viable …

A Low-Intensity, Hybrid Design Between A "Traditional" And A "Course-Based" Research Experience Yields Positive Outcomes For Science Undergraduate Freshmen And Shows Potential For Large-Scale Application, Thushani Rodrigo-Peiris, Lin Xiang, Vincent M. Cassone

Biology Faculty Publications

Based on positive student outcomes, providing research experiences from early undergraduate years is recommended for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. To this end, we designed a novel research experience called the “STEMCats Research Experience” (SRE) for a cohort of 119 second-semester freshmen with diverse college preparatory levels, demographics, and academic majors. The SRE targeted student outcomes of enhancing retention in STEM majors, STEM competency development, and STEM academic performance. It was designed as a hybrid of features from apprenticeship-based traditional undergraduate research experience and course-based undergraduate research experience designs, considering five factors: 1) an authentic research experience, 2) …

Development Of A Methodology For Predicting Consumer Acceptance And Preference Toward Beverages, Shilpa Shailesh Samant

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Consumer behavior toward food/beverages is influenced by multisensory attribute perceptions as well as emotional experiences. Traditional methods of sensory testing lack the ability to capture emotional responses and as a result, measuring food/beverage-evoked emotions remains a research challenge. There were three objectives of this dissertation study. Firstly, this study aimed to develop prediction models of acceptance of and preference for basic taste solutions using sensory attribute intensities and emotional responses. Secondly, this study aimed to extend the findings of the first objective to develop prediction models of commercially-available vegetable juice products in terms of (a) acceptance and preference under blind-tasting …

Co-Infection Of Zika And Dengue Virus In Aedes Aegypti And Aedes Albopictus Mosquitoes, Felicia Vazquez

Theses and Dissertations

The term co-infection describes an event when multiple pathogens infect a single host. For vector-borne diseases, a vector may become co-infected by feeding either on a single host that has multiple pathogens or feeding multiple hosts, each of which may be infected. Co-infection in non-vector hosts has been shown to influence immune response and eventual outcome of disease, and is likely to have a similar impact on vector species. With multiple vector-borne diseases circulating in South Texas, the potential for co-infection exists. We examined when mosquitoes are infected with one virus and subsequently infected with another. We hypothesized that the …

The Influence Of Time Spent In Beginning And End-State Postures On Grasp Choice, Rachel Modersitzki

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The choice to end comfortably often requires adoption of uncomfortable beginning states, demonstrating that a sequence of movement is planned in advance of movement onset. Many factors may influence the choice of comfortable end-state postures including the greater precision and speed afforded by postures at joint angle mid-ranges (Short & Cauraugh, 1999). There has been no evaluation of the hypothesis that postures are chosen based on minimizing time spent in postures. Typically, the time spent in beginning and end-states are not explicitly constrained, but the end-state posture is likely held for the longer amount of time due to greater precision …

Living Inside The Box: Environmental Effects On Mouse Models Of Human Disease., John P Sundberg, Paul N Schofield

Faculty Research 2018

The impact of the laboratory environment on animal models of human disease, particularly the mouse, has recently come under intense scrutiny regarding both the reproducibility of such environments and their ability to accurately recapitulate elements of human environmental conditions. One common objection to the use of mice in highly controlled facilities is that humans live in much more diverse and stressful environments, which affects the expression and characteristics of disease phenotypes. In this Special Article, we review some of the known effects of the laboratory environment on mouse phenotypes and compare them with environmental effects on humans that modify phenotypes …

Louisiana Urban And Suburban Homeowners’ Fertilizer Management Behavioral Beliefs, Intentions, And Past Behaviors, Natalie Levy

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nutrient runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus from improper lawn and landscape fertilization practices contributes to water quality issues within the Mississippi River drainage basin and the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NRC, 2009a; Robbins & Birkenholtz, 2003). The implementation of fertilizer best management practices has become a critical strategy for reducing nutrient runoff (Carey et al., 2012a; Carey et al., 2013; U.S. EPA, 2005). The purpose of this study was to determine if relationships exist among selected perceptual measures regarding home lawn and landscape fertilizer management practices among Louisiana urban and suburban homeowners. Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was …

Design And Synthesis Of Circadian Clock Modulators And The Study Of Lov Domain Protein Lkp2 In Arabidosis Thaliana And Brassica Rapa, Aditi Nagar

Chemistry Theses and Dissertations

Circadian rhythms are self-autonomous endogenous clocks synchronized with the rotation of the Earth. With the Earth’s rotation and revolution on its axis, the internal clock undergoes oscillation in the period of ~24 hour and governs day to day activities in most organisms. In humans, it regulates the day to day physiological activities. Today’s modern lifestyle has an impact on health: shift work, jet lag, and irregular eating habits contribute to the misalignment of the endogenous circadian oscillator, thereby, increasing the risk of many metabolic disorders including diabetes, irregular blood pressure, sleep disorders, obesity, depression, and cancer. The primary goal of …

The Effect Of Midsole Cushioning On The Kinetics, Kinematics, And Control Of Running, Brian Joseph Prejean

Kinesiology Dissertations - Archive

The incidence of musculoskeletal injuries associated with the stress of running, known as running-related injuries (RRIs), has risen in conjunction with the resurgence of running as a health-related physical activity approximately half a century ago, with some reports giving an annual prevalence as high as 79% of practitioners surveyed. Running shoes with increased amounts of midsole cushioning have been promoted to reduce the risk of sustaining RRIs by absorbing some of the high magnitude and frequency ground reaction forces (GRFs) imposed on the leg with every stride. However, individual variability, as well as the ability of the motor system to …

Advancing Risk Assessment: Mechanistic Dose-Response Modelling Of Listeria Monocytogenes Infection In Human Populations, Ashrafur Rahman, Daniel Munther, Aamir Fazil, Ben Smith, Jianhong Wu

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. The utility of characterizing the effects of strain variation and individual/subgroup susceptibility on dose-response outcomes has motivated the search for new approaches beyond the popular use of the exponential dose-response model for listeriosis. While descriptive models can account for such variation, they have limited power to extrapolate beyond the details of particular outbreaks. By contrast, this study exhibits dose-response relationships from a mechanistic basis, quantifying key biological factors involved in pathogen-host dynamics. An …

Effects Of Serving Temperature On Sensory Perception And Acceptance Of Brewed Coffee, Matthew James Chapko

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coffee continues to be one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide. How an individual perceives a cup of coffee is impacted by a plethora of factors including origin, growing climate, roasting level, and consumption habits. This thesis utilized both trained descriptive panelists and untrained consumer panelists to analyze how serving/consumption temperature modulates sensory perception of brewed coffee in regards to appearance, aroma, flavor, taste, and mouthfeel. Three varieties of coffee (Colombia, Ethiopia, and Kenya) were brewed and served to panelists at four temperatures: 70, 55, 40, and 25 °C. In one study (Study 1, Chapter 3), results from descriptive …

The Iceman's Last Meal Consisted Of Fat, Wild Meat, And Cereals., Frank Maixner, Dmitrij Turaev, Amaury Cazenave-Gassiot, Marek Janko, Ben Krause-Kyora, Michael R Hoopmann, Ulrike Kusebauch, Mark Sartain, Gea Guerriero, Niall O'Sullivan, Matthew Teasdale, Giovanna Cipollini, Alice Paladin, Valeria Mattiangeli, Marco Samadelli, Umberto Tecchiati, Andreas Putzer, Mine Palazoglu, John Meissen, Sandra Lösch, Philipp Rausch, John F Baines, Bum Jin Kim, Hyun-Joo An, Paul Gostner, Eduard Egarter-Vigl, Peter Malfertheiner, Andreas Keller, Robert W Stark, Markus Wenk, David Bishop, Daniel G Bradley, Oliver Fiehn, Lars Engstrand, Robert L Moritz, Philip Doble, Andre Franke, Almut Nebel, Klaus Oeggl, Thomas Rattei, Rudolf Grimm, Albert Zink

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

The history of humankind is marked by the constant adoption of new dietary habits affecting human physiology, metabolism, and even the development of nutrition-related disorders. Despite clear archaeological evidence for the shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture in Neolithic Europe [1], very little information exists on the daily dietary habits of our ancestors. By undertaking a complementary -omics approach combined with microscopy, we analyzed the stomach content of the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old European glacier mummy [2, 3]. He seems to have had a remarkably high proportion of fat in his diet, supplemented with fresh or dried wild meat, cereals, and …

Menthol, A Unique Urinary Volatile Compound, Is Associated With Chronic Inflammation In Interstitial Cystitis., Muhammad Shahid, Min Young Lee, Austin Yeon, Eunho Cho, Vikram Sairam, Luis Valdiviez, Sungyong You, Jayoung Kim

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Chronic inflammation is a potential systemic risk factor for many bladder dysfunctions, including interstitial cystitis (IC). However, the underlying mechanism through which a healthy bladder protects itself from inflammatory triggers remains unknown. In this study, we identified odor compounds in urine obtained from IC patients and healthy controls. Using comprehensive solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-TOF-MS) profiling and bioinformatics, we found that levels of urinary volatile metabolites, such as menthol, were significantly reduced in IC patients, compared to healthy controls. In an attempt to understand the mechanistic meaning of our volatile metabolites data and the role of menthol in the immune …

Are Humans Natural? Exploring Relational Values In The Human-Nature Relationship In An Evolutionary Context, Nathan Ruhl

Open Educational Resources

This learning module is a three-part series of learning activities focused around the following themes:

1. The words “nature” and “natural” mean different things to different people;
2. Humans and other species both effect and are affected by the environment;
3. Most “human-traits” are not unique to humans and are adaptive traits shared by other species.

The larger goal of this set of learning activities is to promote a holistic/equalistic view of the human-environment relationship by leveraging humanistic content to support learning goals in both introductory post-secondary courses and general education courses (secondary or post-secondary) in the biological sciences. The learning activities in …

Cell Size Control In Budding Yeast By Titration Of Regulatory Proteins, John Tyson

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Hematological Changes In Response To A Drastic Increase In Training Volume In Recreational Cyclists, Jessie Axsom

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Changes in blood volume contribute to improvement in oxygen utilization (VO2max) with chronic endurance exercise training. Although hematological changes resulting from long-term endurance training have been well documented, it has not been well established whether an increased volume of endurance training preferentially affects plasma volume or red blood cell volume. To answer this question, I studied seven female and four male recreational cyclists before and after exposure to drastic increases (632%) in training volume. Following the 10-week training period, the mean hematocrit (Hct) of the 11 subjects who completed the study significantly (p0.05) correlated with the change in self-reported weekly …

The Combined Effects Of Soil Fertility And Soil Amendments On The Growth And Mycorrhizal Associations Of American Ginseng (Panax Quinquefolius), Emily Ann Murray

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are fungi that form symbiotic associations with 70-90% of plant families. They are known to allow for the extension of the root system as well as an increase in plant size by assisting with the uptake of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. The role that AMF play in plant health and success has led to the development of commercial inoculum, which is used in agricultural settings. However, soil fertility, and soil amendments are known to affect AMF and plant associations. This study intends to look at how cultivated American Ginseng seedlings are affected by commercial …

Exercise Preconditioning And Tfam Overexpression Diminish Skeletal Muscle Atrophy., Nicholas Todd Theilen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of skeletal muscle atrophy and a molecular assessment of potential preventative treatments. Chapter I begins with a background of skeletal muscle atrophy along with an analysis of associated molecular pathways. Here, we discuss how skeletal muscle atrophy is the consequence of protein degradation exceeding protein synthesis and can occur when a muscle is abnormally disused. The development of therapies prior to skeletal muscle atrophy settings to diminish protein degradation is scarce and could be useful to prevent negative clinical outcomes of patients who must unload and disuse musculature over extended periods. Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated …

Phosphorylation Impairs Dicer1 Function To Accelerate Aging And Tumorigenesis In Vivo, Neeraj Aryal

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Altered DICER1 protein levels are associated with developmental disorders, infertility, macular degenerative blindness, aging, and cancer in humans. Recently, post-translational regulation of Dicer1 via phosphorylation has been described in C. elegans. Oscillation of Dicer1 phosphorylation to regulate its activity is essential for germ cell development and embryogenesis in worms. These observations led us to posit that Dicer1 protein levels and activity are under tight regulation for normal mammalian homeostasis. To test whether phosphorylation of Dicer1 regulates its activity in mammals, I generated phospho-mimetic knock-in mouse models by replacing Serines 1712 and 1836 with Aspartic acids individually or together (dual …

Determining The Effects Of Quercetin On Cadmium Toxicity In Kidney Cells, Elizabeth Dugan

Undergraduate Theses

Cadmium is a heavy transition metal that causes kidney disease via prolonged, low-level exposure due to circulating metallothioneins. These proteins transport cadmium ions to the proximal convoluted tubule, where they induce the creation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative damage from ROS can lead to kidney dysfunction and eventually failure. Previous studies have shown that antioxidants, including quercetin, which is found in most fruits and vegetables, can lessen cadmium-induced toxicity. In this study, human embryonic kidney cells were pretreated for one hour with varying concentrations of quercetin ranging from 10 - 100 μM. This was followed by 24-hour treatment with …

Effect Of Different Algal Lees On Physicochemical Qualities Of Baked Potato Chips, Wen-Chieh Sung, Chang Jer Wu, Chorng Liang Pan, Yu Chin Lin

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Lees of three different algae (a green alga Ulva fasciata, a brown alga Sargassum cristaefolium and a red alga Kappaphycus contonii), representing the leftovers from a seaweed polysaccharide extraction process using hot water and enzymes, were added separately to potato chip dough at a level of 2.5%. Antioxidant activity, water activity, color, firmness, overall acceptability and proximate composition of baked potato chips prepared from these dough and from dough without algal lees were evaluated. The rehydration capacity (49.87%) of red algal lees was significantly higher than that of the other lees. The firmness of baked potato chips with red algal …

Nocturnal Activation Of Melatonin Receptor Type 1 Signaling Modulates Diurnal Insulin Sensitivity Via Regulation Of Pi3k Activity, Sharon Owino, Aida Sánchez-Bretaño, Cynthia Tchio, Erika Cecon, Angeliki Karamitri, Julie Dam, Ralf Jockers, Giuseppe Piccione, Hye Lim Noh, Taekyoon Kim, Jason K. Kim, Kenkichi Baba, Gianluca Tosini

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

Recent genetic studies have highlighted the potential involvement of melatonin receptor 1 (MT1) and melatonin receptor 2 (MT2) in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. Here, we report that mice lacking MT1 (MT1 KO) tend to accumulate more fat mass than WT mice and exhibit marked systemic insulin resistance. Additional experiments revealed that the main insulin signaling pathway affected by the loss of MT1 was the activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K). Transcripts of both catalytic and regulatory subunits of PI3K were strongly downregulated within MT1 KO mice. Moreover, the suppression of nocturnal melatonin levels within WT mice, by exposing mice to …

Human Optimization And Performance Enhancement In Flight Via Real-Time Biofeedback (Project Have Hope), Michael S. Fritts

Theses and Dissertations

A four-phase, chronological, and build-up approach was implemented that commenced with basic hardware testing in a centrifuge and culminated in flights augmented by real-time biofeedback displays. A prototype Portable Electrocardiogram Unit (PECGU) was designed and proven to accurately measure heart rate (HR) and display percent heart rate reserve (%HRR). Results showed that %HRR was not a sole predictor of cognitive state. Cognitive responses indicated some correlation with %HRR, but were influenced by environment (centrifuge vs. flight). Subjective perceived exertion levels did not show statistically significant changes during test with biofeedback. A G-tracking task was evaluated during centrifuge and flight tests. …

An Individualized, Perception-Based Protocol To Investigate Human Physiological Responses To Cooling, Crystal L. Coolbaugh, Emily C. Bush, Elizabeth S. Galenti, E Brian Welch, Theodore F. Towse

Peer Reviewed Articles

Cold exposure, a known stimulant of the thermogenic effects of brown adipose tissue (BAT), is the most widely used method to study BAT physiology in adult humans. Recently, individualized cooling has been recommended to standardize the physiological cold stress applied across participants, but critical experimental details remain unclear. The purpose of this work was to develop a detailed methodology for an individualized, perception-based protocol to investigate human physiological responses to cooling. Participants were wrapped in two water-circulating blankets and fitted with skin temperature probes to estimate BAT activity and peripheral vasoconstriction. We created a thermoesthesia graphical user interface (tGUI) to …