Digital Commons Network^™

Bariatric Surgery Alters Mitochondrial Function In Gut Mucosa, Robert C. Ross, Elizabeth C. Heintz, Elizabeth R.M. Zunica, R. Leigh Townsend, Amanda E. Spence, Philip R. Schauer, John P. Kirwan, Christopher L. Axelrod, Vance L. Albaugh

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Background: The obesity pandemic has worsened global disease burden, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Metabolic/bariatric surgery (MBS) is the most effective and durable obesity treatment, but the mechanisms underlying its long-term weight loss efficacy remain unclear. MBS drives substrate oxidation that has been linked to improvements in metabolic function and improved glycemic control that are potentially mediated by mitochondria—a primary site of energy production. As such, augmentation of intestinal mitochondrial function may drive processes underlying the systemic metabolic benefits of MBS. Herein, we applied a highly sensitive technique to evaluate intestinal mitochondrial function ex vivo in a …

Expanding Non-Invasive Approaches For Fish-Health Monitoring: A Survey Of The Epidermal Mucous Metabolomes Of Phylogenetically Diverse Freshwater Fish Species, Drew R. Ekman, Marina G. Evich, Jonathan D. Mosley, Jon A. Doering, Kellie A. Fay, Gerald T. Ankley, Timothy W. Collette

Faculty Publications

There is a pressing need for more-holistic approaches to fisheries assessments along with growing demand to reduce the health impacts of sample collections. Metabolomic tools enable the use of sample matrices that can be collected with minimal impact on the organism (e.g., blood, urine, and mucus) and provide high-throughput, untargeted biochemical information without the requirement of a sequenced genome. These qualities make metabolomics ideal for monitoring a wide range of fish species, particularly those under protected status. In the current study, we surveyed the relative abundances of 120 endogenous metabolites in epidermal mucus across eight freshwater fish species belonging to …

Exposing The Error Hidden In Plain Sight: A Critique Of Calder's (1983) Group Selectionist Seed-Dispersal Hypothesis For Mistletoe “Mimicry” Of Host Plants, Kyle E. Harms, David M. Watson, Luis Y. Santiago-Rosario, Sarah Mathews

Faculty Publications

Some mistletoe species (Loranthaceae) resemble their host plants to a striking degree. Various mechanisms have been proposed for the developmental origins of novel traits that cause mistletoes to appear similar to their hosts, as well as for the adaptive phenotypic evolution of such traits. Calder (1983) proposed a logically flawed group selectionist seed-dispersal hypothesis for mistletoes to resemble their hosts. Calder's (1983) hypothesis does not provide a viable potential explanation for mistletoe resemblance to hosts.

Effect Of Sampling Method On Detection Of The Equine Uterine Microbiome During Estrus, B. A. Heil, M. Van Heule, S. K. Thompson, T. A. Kearns, E. L. Oberhaus, G. King, P. Daels, P. Dini, J. L. Sones

Faculty Publications

Bacterial endometritis is among the most common causes of subfertility in mares. It has a major economic impact on the equine breeding industry. The sensitivity of detecting uterine microbes using culture-based methods, irrespective of the sample collection method, double-guarded endometrial swab, endometrial biopsy, or uterine low-volume lavage (LVL), is low. Therefore, equine bacterial endometritis often goes undiagnosed. Sixteen individual mares were enrolled, and an endometrial sample was obtained using each method from all mares. After trimming, quality control and decontamination, 3824 amplicon sequence variants were detected in the dataset. We found using 16S rRNA sequencing that the equine uterus harbors …

Editorial Introduction: Exploring Policy Theories, Narratives, And Policing, Geoboo Song, Melissa K. Merry, Holly L. Peterson, Davor Mondom, Briana Huett, Izehi Oriaghan, Creed Tumlison, Camille Gilmore, Gwen Arnold, Aaron Smith-Walter, Saba Siddiki, Heasun Choi

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Ethanol Preservation On High-Molecular Weight Dna, Maia Jackson

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Effectiveness Of Static Versus Dynamic Language Assessments, Lauren Betzer

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Lipid Oxidative Damage In Mitochondria From Artemia Franciscana Embryos: Anoxic Challenge Followed By Normoxic Recoveries Of Increasing Duration, Samantha Shirmer

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Reactive Oxygen Species Production By Isolated Mitochondria From Embryos Of Artemia Franciscana During Normoxic Recovery After Anoxia, Olivia G. Moncrief

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Conducting Enchantment: Organized Sound And Ritual Spaces In Modern And Ancient Worlds, Haley Stuckey

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Entorhinal Cortical Delta Oscillations Drive Memory Consolidation, Juhee Haam, Suman Gunin, Leslie Wilson, Sydney Fry, Briana Bernstein, Eric Thomson, Hayden Noblet, Jesse Cushman, Jerrel L. Yakel

Faculty Publications

Long-term memories are formed by creating stable memory representations via memory consolidation, which mainly occurs during sleep following the encoding of labile memories in the hippocampus during waking. The entorhinal cortex (EC) has intricate connections with the hippocampus, but its role in memory consolidation is largely unknown. Using cell-type- and input-specific in vivo neural activity recordings, here we show that the temporoammonic pathway neurons in the EC, which directly innervate the output area of the hippocampus, exhibit potent oscillatory activities during anesthesia and sleep. Using in vivo individual and populational neuronal activity recordings, we demonstrate that a subpopulation of the …

The Impact Of Participation In 4-H Camp On The Connectedness To Nature Of Urban 4-H Members, Derek S. Landrum

LSU Master's Theses

Overnight summer camps are beneficial experiences that provide 4-H members from urbanized areas the chance to experience the outdoors and appreciate nature. Previous research shows that time in the outdoors can increase connection to nature. Furthermore, connection to nature is associated with adoption of pro‑environmental behavior, lowering of negative emotions, and positive general well-being. For this thesis, the researcher is interested in finding out if participation in 4-H summer camp has a significant effect on participant’s connection to nature as measured by the Children’s Environmental Perceptions Scale (CEPS) and the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale (INS). Previous work has …

Yeast Crf1p: An Activator In Need Is An Activator Indeed, Sanjay Kumar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ribosome biogenesis is an energetically costly process, and tight regulation is required for stoichiometric balance between components. This requires coordination of RNA polymerases I, II, and III. Lack of nutrients or the presence of stress leads to downregulation of ribosome biogenesis, a process for which mechanistic target of rapamycin complex I (mTORC1) is key. mTORC1 activity is communicated by means of specific transcription factors, and in yeast, which is a primary model system in which transcriptional coordination has been delineated, transcription factors involved in regulation of ribosomal protein genes include Fhl1p and its cofactors, Ifh1p and Crf1p. Ifh1p is an …

Productivity Of Wood Ducks, Black-Bellied Whistling-Ducks, And Hooded Mergansers Using Nest Boxes In Louisiana, Dylan L. Bakner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Resident female wood ducks (Aix sponsa) in the southeastern United States are managed through nest box programs, with the goal of enhancing local hunting opportunities. Historically, hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) were the only other cavity-nesting waterfowl species in the southeastern United States known to use these nest boxes. However, the recent northward range expansion of black-bellied whistling-ducks (Dendrocygna autumnalis) has extended into the range of wood ducks and mergansers. All three species are brood parasites, potentially using one another as hosts for their parasitic eggs and impacting their reproductive output. My research evaluated the …

Integrated Pest Management And Behavior Of Stored Grain Beetles, Ethan Doherty

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The lesser grain borer, Rhyzopertha dominica, and the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae, are two of the most destructive pests of stored rice. Their management has relied heavily upon fumigant insecticides. However, amid growing concerns that fumigant-resistant pests are becoming widespread, there is an urgent need for diversified management techniques and integrated pest management. Here, we explored management techniques and the behavior of these beetles. Host plant resistance toward both beetles was evaluated for 13 varieties of rice. We found large differences among varieties for both beetles in all resistance measures. We found that while nutritional components of a …

Becoming Avian: Amazonian Featherworks From The John P. O’Neill Collection, Madeline R. Blanchard

LSU Master's Theses

In 1998 ornithologist John P. O’Neill donated an ethnographic collection of 434 objects he was gifted from researcher Charles Fugler or purchased from persons in Pucallpa, Peru, during his time there studying Amazonian birds. I evaluate 18 feathered objects. According to O’Neill, the cultures responsible for the items are the Cashinahua, Aguaruna, Achual, and Arawak. Eighteen of these items are beautifully crafted arrangements of feathered clothing and objects. The collection includes five headdresses, five bouquets, a hat, a necklace, three tassels, a backrack, a scarf, and a hair tie.

The objects and the seventeen species of bird used are active …

Do Fishery Meeting Attendees Represent The Fishing Industries?, Dominique Seibert

LSU Master's Theses

Public meetings are a highly utilized tool for disseminating important or useful information. Many agencies rely on them to reach various stakeholders and community representation at these meetings is important. A substantial amount of research has been conducted on various aspects of public meetings including different techniques, factors impacting attendance, and representativeness, that is attendees’ opinions representing the opinions at-large. A noticeable gap in the research includes information on public fishery meetings, commercial fishing industries, and their members’ participation. With the U.S. commercial fishing industries supporting more than a million jobs and providing more than a 200-billion-dollar economic impact annually, …

The Effects Of Amira Learning On Literacy Development In Early Childhood Education, Caroline C. Tolentino

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of an Artificial Intelligence software, Amira Learning, on literacy development in early childhood education. Specifically, the research investigated the impact of Amira Learning software usage, the feedback it provided, and teachers' perspectives on its alignment with the Science of Reading. The study employed quantitative analyses of oral reading fluency outcomes and compared the pretest and posttest scores of the students after the 6-week usage of the software.

Nikolai Medtner And The Beethoven Tradition In Performance And Pedagogy, Jamie E. Gurt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The compositions of Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) have received increasing attention in both performance and scholarship. This monograph explores the influence of the Beethoven tradition in Medtner’s piano sonatas with a focus on performance and pedagogy. An examination of Medtner’s biography contextualizes Medtner’s training in composition and performance, as well as philosophical and personal influences. Next, the study examines Medtner’s writings on Beethoven as well as current scholarship on the piano sonatas of the two composers, observing influences in overall formal and stylistic characteristics. Exploring performance and pedagogy, the study considers examples from Medtner’s recordings of his Sonata Tragica, Op. …

Structural And Functional Characterizations Of The Two Mini-Ferritins In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Revealed The Coexistence Of A Classic Dps (Pa0962) And A Dps-Like (Pa4880) Protein, Rajapaksha Pathirannahalage Nimesha Hansani Rajapaksha

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the P. aeruginosa genome, gene PA0962 codes for a probable DNA-binding protein from starved cells (Pa Dps). Pa Dps is assembled from 12 monomers, each consisting of a four-helix bundle fold typical of Dps proteins. A subunit dimer of Pa Dps harbors two ferroxidase centers. Assembly of a dodecameric structure of Pa Dps is favored by the presence of divalent metal ions and at pH 6.0 in the absence or presence of divalent cations. Pa Dps is unable to form the large DNA-protein complexes typical of many Dps proteins. Instead, Pa Dps acts on plasmid DNA to form relaxed …

Are We There Yet?, Marion S. Freistadt

LSU Master's Theses

To solve the Climate Crisis, a global Energy Transition is required. The primary contemporary tool for tackling these two massive problems is modeling, both biophysical climate models and IAMS (Integrated Assessment Models) which combine socioeconomic and technological progress with Climate Change. However, the proliferation and complexity of modeling systems make it difficult for most people to contribute substantively to solutions. In particular, stakeholders, policymakers, nonspecialists and activists require sufficient understanding of modeling to impact outcomes.

In this thesis, after summarizing the Climate Crisis and potential Energy Transition solutions, I review current modeling approaches. Models can be considered in terms of …

Rangewide Migratory Connectivity And Migration Ecology In Swainson's Warblers (Limnothlypis Swainsonii) Derived From Multisensor Geolocators, Garrett Rhyne

LSU Master's Theses

Successful conservation of Neotropical migratory passerines requires a detailed understanding of their annual cycle ecology, including wintering and breeding distributions, migratory pathways and stopovers, and migratory phenology. It is also important to evaluate the extent of geographic isolation between separate breeding populations during the nonbreeding season, known as migratory connectivity. Swainson’s Warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) is a species of conservation concern that, due to their secretive nature and selection of dense forest habitats, is poorly studied and lacks migratory information. Our objective was to track Swainson’s Warblers across their breeding populations (Mississippi Valley, Coastal Plains, and Appalachian) to detail …

Tumultuous Devotions: Female Entrapment & Empowerment In The Lais Of Marie De France, Trent Dunkin

Tête à Tête: Journal of Francophone Studies

No abstract provided.

Lrtransformer: Learn-Region Transformer For Object-Agnostic Point Cloud Segmentation, Dipesh Gyawali

LSU Master's Theses

3D point cloud segmentation segments the 3D point cloud data into different regions/instances depending on their features that have numerous applications in robotics, autonomous driving, digital twinning, augmented reality, etc. The majority of the existing point cloud segmentation methods depend on class labels to identify 3D objects in the surroundings. Our work focuses on segmenting point clouds into different regions/instances in an object-agnostic manner for any number of objects in the environment. Given the point cloud, our method can segment the entire scene into multiple instances without depending on object shape and size. We leverage the power of the self-attention …

Ready Worker One? High-Res Vr For The Home Office, Anastasia Ruvimova, Felipe Fronchetti, Boden A. Kahn, Luiz Henrique Susin, Zekeya Hurley, Thomas Fritz, Mark Hancock, David Shepherd

Faculty Publications

Many employees prefer to work from home, yet struggle to squeeze their office into an already fully-utilized space. Virtual Reality (VR) seemingly offered a solution with its ability to transform even modest physical spaces into spacious, productive virtual offices, but hardware challenges - such as low resolution - have prevented this from becoming a reality. Now that hardware issues are being overcome, we are able to investigate the suitability of VR for daily work. To do so, we (1) studied the physical space that users typically dedicate to home offices and (2) conducted an exploratory study of users working in …

Regional Variation In The Trophic Ecology Of Wahoo (Acanthocybium Solandri) In The Western Atlantic Ocean, Brendan Gough, Alexandra Prouse, Michael A. Dance, R. J.David Wells, Jay R. Rooker

Faculty Publications

Intrinsic tracers, such as stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen, are common dietary markers that accumulate in the muscle tissue of consumers and can be used to determine the dietary sources and trophic positions of consumers. The aim of this study was to assess regional variation in the trophic ecology of wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri) using bulk stable isotopes. Muscle biopsies of wahoo were collected from four regions in the western Atlantic Ocean: the eastern Gulf of Mexico, western Gulf of Mexico, Northwest Atlantic Ocean, and Caribbean Sea. Muscle tissue δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values for wahoo ranged …

White Adipose Tissue Heterogeneity In The Single-Cell Era: From Mice And Humans To Cattle, Hunter Ford, Qianglin Liu, Xing Fu, Clarissa Strieder-Barboza

Faculty Publications

Adipose tissue is a major modulator of metabolic function by regulating energy storage and by acting as an endocrine organ through the secretion of adipokines. With the advantage of next-generation sequencing-based single-cell technologies, adipose tissue has been studied at single-cell resolution, thus providing unbiased insight into its molecular composition. Recent single-cell RNA sequencing studies in human and mouse models have dissected the transcriptional cellular heterogeneity of subcutaneous (SAT), visceral (VAT), and intramuscular (IMAT) white adipose tissue depots and revealed unique populations of adipose tissue progenitor cells, mature adipocytes, immune cell, vascular cells, and mesothelial cells that play direct roles on …

A Single-Cell Atlas Of Bovine Skeletal Muscle Reveals Mechanisms Regulating Intramuscular Adipogenesis And Fibrogenesis, Leshan Wang, Peidong Gao, Chaoyang Li, Qianglin Liu, Zeyang Yao, Yuxia Li, Xujia Zhang, Jiangwen Sun, Constantine Simintiras, Matthew Welborn, Kenneth Mcmillin, Stephanie Oprescu, Shihuan Kuang, Xing Fu

Faculty Publications

Background: Intramuscular fat (IMF) and intramuscular connective tissue (IMC) are often seen in human myopathies and are central to beef quality. The mechanisms regulating their accumulation remain poorly understood. Here, we explored the possibility of using beef cattle as a novel model for mechanistic studies of intramuscular adipogenesis and fibrogenesis. Methods: Skeletal muscle single-cell RNAseq was performed on three cattle breeds, including Wagyu (high IMF), Brahman (abundant IMC but scarce IMF), and Wagyu/Brahman cross. Sophisticated bioinformatics analyses, including clustering analysis, gene set enrichment analyses, gene regulatory network construction, RNA velocity, pseudotime analysis, and cell–cell communication analysis, were performed to elucidate …

Louisiana Agriculture Magazine, Fall 2023, Lsu Agcenter

Louisiana Agriculture

Hemp has been cultivated for thousands of years. It was grown widely in the United States until the mid-1900s, when laws limited the growth of hemp and later banned it entirely. Since the 2018 Farm Bill removed legal barriers to growing the crop, Louisiana created a structure to regulate hemp farming in 2019.

Because little information existed about hemp in Louisiana, the LSU AgCenter created the Industrial Hemp Working Group to study the crop, create production practices and help growers interested in this ancient plant.

This issue of Louisiana Agriculture focuses on the work of these researchers and the growers …

Fall 2023 Catalog, Lsu Press

LSU Press Seasonal Catalogs

No abstract provided.