Digital Commons Network^™

Systematics, Ecology, And Social Biology Of The Musk Duck (Biziura Lobata) Of Australia., Kevin Grant Mccracken

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Musk Ducks (Biziura lobata) exhibit a number of unusual morphological and behavioral traits. The most notable of these include: greatly abducted hind-limbs for underwater swimming efficiency, extreme sexual size dimorphism and pronounced structural dimorphism, lek display activity, elaborate sexual display repertoires, and the distinctly non-waterfowl-like trait of provisioning young with all their food from the time of hatch until fledging. Despite such peculiarities and obvious theoretical potential in the areas of comparative morphology, sexual selection, and brood ecology, few studies of Musk Ducks have been undertaken, and those to date have been either small in scope and design, or focused …

Biological Diversity And Cultural Survival: Mopan Maya Traditional Culture And Environmental Change In Southern Belize., Michael Kenneth Steinberg

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation is a study of the causal relationship between the decline of cultural diversity and environmental diversity. My study investigates the larger-scale economic, political, and social factors that result in the rejection of traditional land use strategies and how these changing strategies ultimately lead to an overall decline in environmental diversity in the Mopan Maya landscape in southern Belize. Five Mopan Maya cultural biogeographic case studies are presented, including the management of maize diversity, the species composition and variability of kitchen gardens, swidden-fallow agroforestry practices, traditional bee keeping, and hunting game and habitat preferences. These topics were chosen because …

Production Of L-(+) Lactic Acid From Blackstrap Molasses By Lactobacillus Casei Subspecies Rhamnosus Atcc 11443., Narumol Thongwai

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Lactobacillus casei subspecies rhamnosus grew on non-supplemented blackstrap molasses. The bacteria grew best at the optimal temperature of 40 +/- 2°C, and at pH 5.5. Addition of yeast extract to molasses shortened the lag phase and increased cell mass. In batch fermentations without pH control, the highest ratio of lactic acid produced to cell mass was 12 from non-supplemented molasses. For pH controlled batch fermentations, the ratio's of lactic acid produced/cell mass were 81, 79, 51 and 31 for 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8% yeast extract supplementation, respectively. Non-supplemented molasses, 8% Brix, produced 28 +/- 2 g/l of lactic acid …

Development Of Immunochemical Methods For Gossypol Analysis., Xi Wang

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Gossypol is a reactive polyphenolic compound present in the cotton plant. During cottonseed processing, gossypol can react with other compounds to form bound gossypol. Gossypol analyses using chemical methods do not always agree with its bioavailability to animal possibly because of various bound forms of gossypol with different stabilities in vivo and the (+/-)-gossypol enantiomers with different biological activities. The objectives of this research were to produce anti-gossypol antibodies and use antibodies to study gossypol chemistry and to analyze gossypol in cottonseed samples and cottonseed by-products. Polyclonal antibodies were produced from rabbits after they were immunized with gossypol-LPH (Limulus polyphemus …

Isolation Of Antimutagenic Compounds In Corn And Cottonseed., Henry Njapau

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Food, which ensures the sustenance of life, has also been implicated in the development or prevention of numerous diseases including cancer. Cancer may be a result of hereditary factors or genomic instability induced by DNA damage, from the intrinsic chemistry of cells or extrinsic factors like aflatoxin B1. Aflatoxin B1, produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, is a common contaminant of corn and cottonseed and a proven mutagen and animal carcinogen. Increased scientific knowledge and establishment of regulation have reduced but not eliminated exposure to aflatoxin B1. Complete elimination may be uneconomical for producers and may deprive consumers of …

Sire Differences For Growth And Carcass Traits Of Purebred Brahman Steers., Trent Smith

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Purebred Brahman steers (n = 169) sired by 23 Gray and 8 Red Brahman bulls were evaluated for postweaning growth and carcass traits. Spring-born paternal half-sib male calves were purchased from private producers at weaning, backgrounded, and grazed on ryegrass for an average of 161 d. Following grazing, the steers were shipped to a commercial feedlot in south Texas for feeding. Steers were slaughtered in groups of about 45 head when they reached an approximate average endpoint weight of 530 kg and 1 cm backfat. All carcasses were subjected to high voltage electrical stimulation during slaughter. After a 24 hr …

Experimental Mammalian Predator Removal And Other Factors Affecting Dabbling Duck Reproduction In North Dakota., Pamela Renee Garrettson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

In the prairie pothole region, high predation rates often reduce duck nest success below the 15--20% thought necessary for population stability. Lethal removal of mammalian predators of duck nests is one potential management option, but there is little reliable information about the effects on nest success of removing mammalian predators without using poisons. On 16 4,150-ha blocks, half of them trapped during spring and summer, I found higher ( P < 0.001) nest success on trapped sites (45%) than on untrapped sites (17%). There were no year (P = 0.296), year-treatment (P = 0.423), or species-treatment (P > 0.895) effects. Nest success of blue-winged teal (Anas discors) and gadwalls (A. strepera) was higher than that of mallards ( A. platyrhynchos) and pintails (A. acuta, P = 0.028) on …

Gaps In College Biology Students' Understanding Of Photosynthesis: Implications For Human Constructivist Learning Theory And College Classroom Practice., Phyllis Baudoin Griffard

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The main research question of this study was: What gaps in biochemical understanding are revealed by a range of university introductory biology students as they work through a critically acclaimed multimedia program on photosynthesis, and what are the corresponding implications for elaboration of the Ausubel-Novak-Gowin Learning Theory (ANG, now Human Constructivism)? Twelve students, mixed for ability, gender and ethnicity, were recruited from two sections of "Bio 101." Before and after instruction in photosynthesis, in-depth clinical interviews were conducted during which participants completed a range of cognitive tasks such as sorting, concept mapping, explaining and predicting. Some tasks involved interacting with …

Development Of Pseudostationary Phases For Separations In Electrokinetic Chromatography., Judson Leroy Haynes Iii

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The research presented in this dissertation covers pseudo-stationary phase development for separations in electrokinetic chromatography (EKC). Micelles and cyclodextrins have traditionally served as the most popular pseudo-stationary phases (PSPs) used in EKC. However, the development and implementation of PSPs, which have improved properties over traditional ones, are necessary to extend the utility of electrokinetic chromatography. This dissertation covers research contributions, chapter by chapter, to the area of PSP development made by the author. In addition to this, Chapter 1 covers a brief history of chromatography and the fundamentals of capillary electrophoresis and EKC. The first pseudo-stationary phase developed was a …

The Evolution Of The Red River Valley Settlement System, 1714--1860., Keumsoo Hong

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Since the first European settlement was established in the middle of Indian territory in 1714, the Red River Valley had experienced a dramatic transformation until the end of the antebellum period. The trajectory of the evolution can be divided into five vertical cross sections. The formative phase (1714--1803) features the colonial regimes in political arena, less-specialized regional economies, nascent urban units laden heavily with defensive functions, and coerced labor system. The settlement system resembled a semi-primate pattern with Natchitoches on the summit. The period of the Territory of Orleans (1804--1812) corresponded to the transition phase. During this interim, traditional staples …

A 4,000 Year Pollen Record Of Vegetation Changes, Sea Level Rise, And Hurricane Disturbance In Atchafalaya March Of Southern Louisiana, Xinyu Zhou

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Sediment cores from the Atchafalaya Marsh in southern Louisiana were intensively studied by means of pollen and loss-on-ignition analyses to reconstruct the history of late-Holocene environmental changes and hurricane strikes in the area. The data indicate that the coring site was occupied by a fresh marsh about 4000 years ago. Afterwards, the fresh marsh was replaced by a brackish marsh in the following 400 years. The marsh became a salt marsh in response to sea level rise beginning 3250 yr BP. During 2800-1200 yr BP, the study site became an estuarine environment inundated by sea water as a result of …

Activation Of Signal Transducers And Activators Of Transcription 1 And 3 By Leukemia Inhibitory Factor, Oncostatin-M, And Interferon-Γ In Adipocytes, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Steven J. Lumpkin, Jordan B. Fishman

Faculty Publications

We have recently demonstrated that signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) 1, 3, 5A, 5B, and 6 are expressed in both cultured and native adipocytes. Our current studies have focused on the activation of STATs 1 and 3 by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), oncostatin-M (OSM), and interferon-γ, (IFNγ) in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. IFNγ is shown to be a potent activator of STAT 1 as indicated by both tyrosine phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. However, LIF and OSM, which are potent inducers of STAT 3, are less potent activators of STAT 1 as measured by both tyrosine phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. Both …

Isolation Of A Highly Active Photosystem Ii Preparation From Synechocystis 6803 Using A Histidine-Tagged Mutant Of Cp 47, Terry M. Bricker, Jason Morvant, Najy Masri, Holly M. Sutton, Laurie K. Frankel

Faculty Publications

Site-directed mutagenesis was used to produce a Synechocystis mutant containing a histidine tag at the C terminus of the CP 47 protein of Photosystem II. This mutant cell line, designated HT-3, exhibited slightly above normal rates of oxygen evolution and appeared to accumulate somewhat more Photosystem II reaction centers than a control strain. A rapidly isolatable (<7 >h) oxygen-evolving Photosystem II preparation was prepared from HT-3 using dodecyl-β-d-maltoside solubilization and Co2+ metal affinity chromatography. This histidine-tagged Photosystem II preparation stably evolved oxygen at a high rate (2440 μmol O2 (mg chl)-1 h-1), exhibited an α-band absorption maximum at 674 nm, …

Nucleotide And Predicted Amino Acid Sequences Of All Genes Encoded By The 3' Genomic Portion (9.5 Kb) Of Respiratory Bovine Coronaviruses And Comparisons Among Respiratory And Enteric Coronaviruses, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Xiaoqing Lin, Johannes Storz

Faculty Publications

The 3'-ends of the genomes (9538 bp) of two wild-type respiratory bovine coronavirus (RBCV) isolates LSU and OK were obtained by cDNA sequencing. In addition, the 3'-end of the genome (9545) of the wild-type enteric bovine coronavirus (EBCV) strain LY-138 was assembled from available sequences and by cDNA sequencing of unknown genomic regions. Comparative analyses of RBCV and EBCV nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences revealed that RBCV-specific nucleotide and amino acid differences were disproportionally concentrated within the S gene and the genomic region between the S and E genes. Comparisons among virulent and avirulent BCV strains revealed that virulence-specific …

Louisiana Agriculture Magazine, Fall 1998, Lsu Agricultural Experiment Station

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

The Mouse Deafness Locus (Dn) Is Associated With An Inversion On Chromosome 19, Ana M. Viñas, Stacy S. Drury, Margaret M. Deangelis, Zhining Den, Jer Min Huang, Charles I. Berlin, Jay D. Hunt, Mark A. Batzer, Prescott L. Deininger, Bronya J.B. Keats

Faculty Publications

Recombination data for the mouse deafness locus (dn) on chromosome 19 are consistent with the presence of an inversion for which one of the breakpoints is between D19Mit14 and D19Mit96, a distance of less than 226 kb. Fluorescence in situ hybridization studies using a bacterial artificial chromosome on interphase (G1) nuclei provide additional support for the presence of an inversion. The dn gene is probably the orthologue of the human DFNB7/DFNB11 gene on chromosome 9. Copyright (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Hematite And Calcite Coatings On Fossil Vertebrates, Huiming Bao, Paul L. Koch, Robert P. Hepple

Faculty Publications

Hematite coatings are common on vertebrate fossils from Paleocene/Eocene paleosol deposits in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. In general, hematite coatings are found only on fossils and are limited to soils exhibiting hydromorphic features and moderate maturity. Petrographic and isotopic evidence suggests that hematite and micritic calcite formed at nearly the same time in a pedogenic environment, whereas sparry calcite formed later at greater burial depths. The parent material of paleosols is rich in iron, supplying an ample source of iron for hematite formation. Decomposition of animal tissues around bones may enhance the weathering of iron-bearing minerals in soils surrounding carcasses, …

Hematite And Calcite Coatings On Fossil Vertebrates, Huiming Bao, Paul L. Koch, Robert P. Hepple

Faculty Publications

Hematite coatings are common on vertebrate fossils from Paleocene/Eocene paleosol deposits in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. In general, hematite coatings are found only on fossils and are limited to soils exhibiting hydromorphic features and moderate maturity. Petrographic and isotopic evidence suggests that hematite and micritic calcite formed at nearly the same time in a pedogenic environment, whereas sparry calcite formed later at greater burial depths. The parent material of paleosols is rich in iron, supplying an ample source of iron for hematite formation. Decomposition of animal tissues around bones may enhance the weathering of iron-bearing minerals in soils surrounding carcasses, …

A Cloned Erwinia Chrysanthemi Hrp (Type Iii Protein Secretion) System Functions In Escherichia Coli To Deliver Pseudomonas Syringae Avr Signals To Plant Cells And To Secrete Avr Proteins In Culture, Jong Hyun Ham, David W. Bauer, Derrick E. Fouts, Alan Collmer

Faculty Publications

The Hrp (type III protein secretion) system is essential for the plant parasitic ability of Pseudomonas syringae and most Gram-negative bacterial plant pathogens. AvrB and AvrPto are two P. syringae proteins that have biological activity when produced via heterologous gene expression inside plant cells or when produced by Hrp+ bacteria. Art-like proteins, presumably injected by the Hrp system on bacterial contact with plant cells, appear to underlie pathogenic interactions, but none has been observed outside of the bacterial cytoplasm, and identifying novel genes encoding them is tedious and uncertain without a phenotype in culture. Here we describe a cloned Hrp …

Adrenomedullin Gene Expression Is Developmentally Regulated And Induced By Hypoxia In Rat Ventricular Cardiac Myocytes, Stephania Cormier-Regard, Son V. Nguyen, William C. Claycomb

Faculty Publications

Adrenomedullin is a recently discovered hypotensive peptide that is expressed in a variety of cell and tissue types. Using the technique of differential display, the adrenomedullin gene was observed to be differentially expressed in developing rat heart. Reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the level of adrenomedullin mRNA was significantly higher in adult ventricular cardiac muscle as compared with embryonic day 17 ventricular cardiac muscle. Adrenomedullin receptor mRNA was constitutively expressed throughout development of the ventricular heart. Two potential hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) consensus binding sites were identified in the mouse adrenomedullin promoter at -1095 and -770 nucleotides from …

Hypertension Treatment And Control In Sub-Saharan Africa, Justin Burdon, R. W. Montgomery, Richard Walker, N. Unwin, K. G.M.M. Alberti, Richard Cooper, Walinjom Muna

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Assembly Of A High-Resolution Map Of The Acadian Usher Syndrome Region And Localization Of The Nuclear Ef-Hand Acidic Gene, Margaret M. Deangelis, John P. Doucet, Stacy Drury, Stephen T. Sherry, Myles B. Robichaux, Zhining Den, Mary Z. Pelias, Gregory M. Ditta, Bronya J.B. Keats, Prescott L. Deininger, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

Usher syndrome type 1C (USH1C) occurs in a small population of Acadian descendants from southwestern Louisiana. Linkage and linkage disequilibrium analyses localize USH1C to chromosome 11p between markers D11S1397 and D11S1888, an interval of less than 680 kb. Here, we refine the USH1C linkage to a region less than 400 kb, between genetic markers D11S1397 and D11S1890. Using 17 genetic markers from this interval, we have isolated a contiguous set of 60 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) that span the USH1C critical region. Exon trapping of BAC clones from this region resulted in the recovery of an exon of the nuclear …

Purification, Crystallization And Preliminary X-Ray Diffraction Studies Of Retinal Dehydrogenase Type Ii, Audrey L. Lamb, Xianshu Wang, Joseph L. Napoli, Marcia E. Newcomer

Faculty Publications

One enzyme which catalyzes the last step of the formation of the hormone retinoic acid from vitamin A (retinol) is retinal dehydrogenase type II (RalDH2). RalDH2, expressed in the Escherichia coil BL21(DE3) strain, was purified and crystallized using ammonium sulfate as a precipitant. These crystals belong to the space group P212121 (a = 108, b = 150, c = 168 Å, α = β = γ = 90°).

Louisiana Agriculture Magazine, Summer 1998, Lsu Agricultural Experiment Station

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

Replication Banding And Sister-Chromatid Exchange Of Chromosomes Of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus Punctatus), Q. Zhang, W. R. Wolters, T. R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

A replication banding procedure using fluorouracil (FU) and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was developed for use with cultured leukocytes of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). Analyzable banding patterns were produced on chromosomes stained with a fluorochrome plus Giemsa (FPG) method. The consistency of the chromosomal bands was evaluated by computer-assisted image analysis. Banding patterns of representative chromosomes including those bearing nucleolus organizer regions (NOR) were reproducible. A standard RBG-banded karyotype (R bands by BrdU and Giemsa) was established with idiograms of each chromosome. We also developed procedures to study sister- chromatid exchange (SCE) and sister-chromatid differentiation (SCD) in cultured leukocytes, without addition of …

Enigmatic Phylogeny Of Skuas: An Alternative Hypothesis, M. J. Braun, R. T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

Last year, Cohen et al. presented molecular data suggesting the surprising result that both currently recognized genera of skuas, Stercorarius and Catharacta (Aves: Stercorariidae), are not monophyletic. However, the most enigmatic conclusion from their analysis, that S. pomarinus is sister to C. skua, rests solely on mtDNA sequence data. When the mtDNA data are analysed in a maximum likelihood framework that accounts for variation in evolutionary rates, Catharacta monophyly cannot be rejected. None of the best trees that can be derived from two nuclear data sets of Cohen et al. support the controversial pomarinus-C. skua node. We propose an alternative …

Synthesis Of Novel Amino Acids And 310- And Alpha-Helical Alpha, Alpha-Disubstituted Amino Acid Rich Antimicrobial Peptides, Thomas Scott Yokum

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Amphipathic peptides rich in α, α-disubstituted amino acids (ααAAs) were synthesized and examined for antimicrobial activity and helix preference in various solvent systems. Also, a series of polar, ααAAs were synthesized for incorporation into helical peptides and a red-shifted tryptophan analog was synthesized as a fluorescent probe.

A series of short, amphipathic, 3₁₀- and α-helical peptides containing 50 to 80 percent ααAAs was synthesized. Various combinations of 1-aminocyclohexane-lcarboxylic acid, α-aminoisobutyric acid, and 4-aminopiperidine-4-carboxylic acid were incorporated using preformed acid fluorides. In vitro testing revealed that most of these peptides show direct antibacterial activity against E. coli and …

Spatial Partitioning Of Hosts (Thomomys Bottae) By Parasitic Chewing Lice Of The Genera Geomydoecus And Thomomydoecus, Melanie Ann Babin

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Nucleic Acid Binding Characterization Of The Gar Domain Of Nucleolin, Adlah Sukkar

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Obesity And Body Fat Distribution On Ambulatory Blood Pressure In Children And Adolescents, Empar Lurbe, Vicente Alvarez, Youlian Liao, Jose Tacons, Richard Cooper, Beatriz Cremades, Isabel Torro, Josep Redón

Faculty Publications

To assess the relationship between obesity, body fat distribution, and blood pressure in children and adolescents, various measures of obesity and the waist-to-hip circumference ratio were related to casual and ambulatory blood pressure as measured using a SpaceLabs 90207 monitor during a regular school day. Seventy obese and 70 nonobese children aged 6 to 16 years were included in the study. Regardless of the time period analyzed (24 h, daytime, or nighttime), ambulatory blood pressure and casual blood pressure were significantly higher among the obese children. The differences in systolic blood pressure observed between the groups were attributable to the …