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Preparation And Preliminary Characterization Of Alligator Mississippiensis Keratin-Rich Extracts, Cristian Josue Macoto Calix

LSU Master's Theses

The state of Louisiana has become the lead producer of alligator skins and meat in the United States. More than 300,000 alligators are harvested annually from farm and wild sources. Simultaneously, the industry generates thousands of pounds of waste during the processing of alligators. This waste contains valuable fibrous proteins such as keratins. This study aimed to identify keratin in keratin-rich extracts prepared from alligator backstraps. Alligator backstrap samples were collected from alligator processing facilities located in Springfield, Louisiana. The percentage of protein extracted with 2-mercaptoethanol (2BME), 2BME and dithiothreitol (DTT), DTT, or sodium metabisulfite (SMBS) was calculated. Sodium Dodecyl …

Radical Containing Combustion Derived Particulate Matter Enhance Pulmonary Th17 Inflammation Via The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor, Sridhar Jaligama, Vivek S. Patel, Pingli Wang, Asmaa Sallam, Jeffrey Harding, Matthew Kelley, Skylar R. Mancuso, Tammy R. Dugas, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Pollutant particles containing environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) are formed during many combustion processes (e.g. thermal remediation of hazardous wastes, diesel/gasoline combustion, wood smoke, cigarette smoke, etc.). Our previous studies demonstrated that acute exposure to EPFRs results in dendritic cell maturation and Th17-biased pulmonary immune responses. Further, in a mouse model of asthma, these responses were enhanced suggesting exposure to EPFRs as a risk factor for the development and/or exacerbation of asthma. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) has been shown to play a role in the differentiation of Th17 cells. In the current study, we …

An Examination Of Preimplantation Embryos And Endometrium Developed During Induced Aluteal Cycles In The Mare, Chelsey Audra Leisinger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Changes to the embryonic environment that occur within the first few days of development can have significant effects on subsequent fetal development. The following studies investigate the effects of progesterone-deprivation during the early preimplantation period in the mare. The first study described embryo morphology (diameter, stage, and quality grade) collected from mares with induced aluteal cycles. The second study evaluated the effect of induced aluteal cycles on the future fertility of embryo collections as a potential method for cycle manipulation of embryo donor mares. The third study characterized embryonic and endometrial transcript expression of progesterone-mediated transcripts as well as those …

Specialized Fibroblast Differentiated States Underlie Scar Formation In The Infarcted Mouse Heart, Xing Fu, Hadi Khalil, Onur Kanisicak, Justin G. Boyer, Ronald J. Vagnozzi, Bryan D. Maliken, Michelle A. Sargent, Vikram Prasad, Iñigo Valiente-Alandi, Burns C. Blaxall, Jeffery D. Molkentin

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Academic Press. All rights reserved. Fibroblasts are a dynamic cell type that achieve selective differentiated states to mediate acute wound healing and long-term tissue remodeling with scarring. With myocardial infarction injury, cardiomyocytes are replaced by secreted extracellular matrix proteins produced by proliferating and differentiating fibroblasts. Here, we employed 3 different mouse lineage-tracing models and stage-specific gene profiling to phenotypically analyze and classify resident cardiac fibroblast dynamics during myocardial infarction injury and stable scar formation. Fibroblasts were activated and highly proliferative, reaching a maximum rate within 2 to 4 days after infarction injury, at which point they expanded 3.5-fold …

The Physical Limnology Of A Permanently Ice-Covered And Chemically Stratified Antarctic Lake Using High Resolution Spatial Data From An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Robert H. Spigel, John C. Priscu, Maciej K. Obryk, William Stone, Peter T. Doran

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Authors Limnology and Oceanography published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography We used an Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctic Explorer to make measurements of conductivity and temperature in Lake Bonney, a chemically stratified, permanently ice-covered Antarctic lake that abuts Taylor Glacier, an outlet glacier from the Polar Plateau. The lake is divided into two lobes – East Lobe Bonney (ELB) and West Lobe Bonney (WLB), each with unique temperature and salinity profiles. Most of our data were collected in November 2009 from WLB to examine the influence of …

Allele And Dosage Specificity Of The Peg3 Imprinted Domain, Corey L. Bretz, Wesley D. Frey, Ryoichi Teruyama, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Bretz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The biological impetus for gene dosage and allele specificity of mammalian imprinted genes is not fully understood. To address this, we generated and analyzed four sets of mice from a single breeding scheme with varying allelic expression and gene dosage of the Peg3 domain. The mutants with abrogation of the two paternally expressed genes, Peg3 and Usp29, showed a significant decrease …

Peanuts That Keep Aflatoxin At Bay: A Threshold That Matters, Kiran K. Sharma, Arunima Pothana, Kalyani Prasad, Dilip Shah, Jagdeep Kaur, Deepak Bhatnagar, Zhi Yuan Chen, Yenjit Raruang, Jeffrey W. Cary, Kanniah Rajasekaran, Hari Kishan Sudini, Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur

Faculty Publications

Aflatoxin contamination in peanuts poses major challenges for vulnerable populations of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Developing peanut varieties to combat preharvest Aspergillus flavus infection and resulting aflatoxin contamination has thus far remained a major challenge, confounded by highly complex peanut–Aspergilli pathosystem. Our study reports achieving a high level of resistance in peanut by overexpressing (OE) antifungal plant defensins MsDef1 and MtDef4.2, and through host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) of aflM and aflP genes from the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway. While the former improves genetic resistance to A. flavus infection, the latter inhibits aflatoxin production in the event of infection providing durable …

Childhood Adversity, Daily Stress, And Marital Strain In Same-Sex And Different-Sex Marriages, Rachel Donnelly, Debra Umberson, Rhiannon A. Kroeger

Faculty Publications

Childhood adversity has enduring consequences for individuals throughout life, including increased reactivity to stress that may contribute to marital strain in adulthood. Past research on gendered experiences of heterosexual spouses raises questions about how the influence of childhood adversity might differ for men and women in same-sex marriages. We analyze dyadic diary data from 756 individuals in 106 male same-sex, 157 female same-sex, and 115 different-sex marriages to consider how childhood adversity moderates the association between daily stress and marital strain. Results suggest that the negative consequences of daily stress for marital strain are amplified by past childhood adversity with …

Identification Of Candidate Resistance Genes Of Cotton Against Aspergillus Flavus Infection Using A Comparative Transcriptomics Approach, Muthamilarasan Mehanathan, Renesh Bedre, Venkata Mangu, Kanniah Rajasekaran, Deepak Bhatnagar, Niranjan Baisakh

Faculty Publications

A comparative transcriptome analysis was performed using the genes significantly differentially expressed in cotton, corn and peanut in response to aflatoxin producing fungus Aspergillus flavus with an objective of identifying candidate resistance genes in cotton. Two-way analyses identified 732 unique genes to be differentially regulated by the fungus with only 26 genes common across all three crops that were considered candidate A. flavus resistance genes with an assumption that these genes have specific roles in conferring the resistance trait. Genes of membrane cellular component involved in DNA binding with involvement in defense responses were highly represented among the differentially expressed …

Plant Responses To Fertilization Experiments In Lowland, Species-Rich, Tropical Forests, S. Joseph Wright, Benjamin L. Turner, Joseph B. Yavitt, Kyle E. Harms, Michael Kaspari, Edmund V.J. Tanner, Jelena Bujan, Eric A. Griffin, Jordan R. Mayor, Sarah C. Pasquini, Merlin Sheldrake, Milton N. Garcia

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the Ecological Society of America We present a meta-analysis of plant responses to fertilization experiments conducted in lowland, species-rich, tropical forests. We also update a key result and present the first species-level analyses of tree growth rates for a 15-yr factorial nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) experiment conducted in central Panama. The update concerns community-level tree growth rates, which responded significantly to the addition of N and K together after 10 yr of fertilization but not after 15 yr. Our experimental soils are infertile for the region, and species whose regional distributions are strongly associated …

Climate Change And An Invasive, Tropical Milkweed: An Ecological Trap For Monarch Butterflies, Matthew J. Faldyn, Mark D. Hunter, Bret D. Elderd

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by the Ecological Society of America While it is well established that climate change affects species distributions and abundances, the impacts of climate change on species interactions has not been extensively studied. This is particularly important for specialists whose interactions are tightly linked, such as between the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the plant genus Asclepias, on which it depends. We used open-top chambers (OTCs) to increase temperatures in experimental plots and placed either nonnative Asclepias curassavica or native A. incarnata in each plot along with monarch larvae. We found, under current climatic conditions, adult monarchs had higher …

A Virtual Screen For Protein Targets: Elucidating Druggability In The Human Proteome With Efindsite, Omar Kana

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Participation And Representation: Does Risk Acceptance Influence The Decision Making Of Political Actors?, Joshua Daniel Hostetter

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Are political actors influenced by their acceptance of risk? By political actors I mean individuals in society or government that have an influence on political outcomes. By risk acceptance I mean the degree to which an individual is comfortable with uncertainty and willing to challenge the status quo. The purpose of the present dissertation is to further enhance scholarly understanding of the causal psychological mechanisms that influence political behavior by considering individual risk acceptance.

Kam’s (2012) theoretical framework suggests that risk-accepting individuals are more likely to participate in politics because they seek out exciting and novel activities. She does …

Investigating Uranium Incorporation In Modern Carbonates By Sequential Extraction: Applied To The Permian - Triassic Boundary In Lung Cam, Vietnam, Christopher Michael Wray

LSU Master's Theses

The Uranium (U) isotopic system can be used to model the extent of global-scale ocean anoxia by utilizing the 238U/235U ratios as a paleo-redox indicator (δ238U). While recent studies have shown promise with the use of this novel proxy, variability is seen in modern carbonate sediment samples suggesting that more work is needed in order to understand elemental U uptake during early marine diagenesis. This thesis utilizes a sequential extraction methodology in order to understand the distribution of authigenic U within carbonate sediments.

This thesis consists of four parts, (1) an evaluation and modification of a sequential extraction methodology for …

Quality Function Deployment Method And Its Application On Wearable Technology Product Development, Mir Salahuddin

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate consumers and product developer’s expectations of wearable technology products in the context of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) framework. The specific objectives were to: 1) Explore the quality features that consumers consider most important when purchasing wearable technology product. 2) Explore the technical features product developers consider most important in the development of wearable technology. 3) Identify the technical features that wearable technology product developers need to focus on to meet the customer requirements.

The Qualtrix online survey system was used to collect demographic, quantitative and essay length written responses from participants. …

Assessment Of Mercury Content In Louisiana's Freshwater Fish And Its Association To Se Concentrations, Alexander David Reyes-Avila

LSU Master's Theses

Ample evidence has demonstrated the neurotoxic properties of organic Hg to humans. However, recent studies have proposed the protective effects of Se against organic Hg detected in marine fish. Louisiana’s freshwater bodies are exploited by recreational anglers that enjoy fishing as recreational activity and food source. Thus, testing of Hg in Louisiana was resumed in 2017 to update the state advisories. However, before drawing conclusions based solely on organic Hg, it might be useful to see how much Se is present in freshwater fish. The main objective of this study was to determine the Se:Hg molar ratio in Louisiana’s freshwater …

From Colorism To Conjurings: Tracing The Dust In Beyoncé'S Lemonade, Cienna Davis

Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education

Colorism creates relentless tension and pressure in the lives of Black women. Pop-star Beyoncé Gisele Knowles-Carter is an interesting case in the discussion of colorism because her career has expressed a rich intimacy to Southern Black culture and female empowerment while also playing into tropes of the mulatta “fancy girl,” whose relative proximity to whiteness adheres social value within mainstream culture. Finding aesthetic and thematic parallels between Beyoncé’s recent project Lemonade (2016) and Julie Dash’s cult-classic film Daughters of the Dust (1991) I draw a critical connection between Yellow Mary Peazant and Beyoncé, the prodigal child and the licentious “post-racial,” …

Characterizing Putative Algal Bicarbonate Transporters In S. Cerevisiae & E. Coli Systems Using Transgenic Vectors, James J. Mickler

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Incremental Landscape At A Baton Rouge Oil Refinery: Temporal Framework For Phytoremediation In Louisiana Cancer Alley, Dahyung Yang

LSU Master's Theses

There is a rising need for clear guidance for phytoremediation applications in contaminated land, in anticipation of the severity of the pollution problem in the petrochemical industrial area. Results of a demographic survey of Louisiana neighborhoods adjacent to petrochemical plants indicated that both deep-rooted environmental issues and social inequity are an inherent part of many communities. This research simulated a temporal framework for incremental landscape at a Baton Rouge oil refinery and its surrounding neighborhood using phytoremediation principles with local plants and insects. Through this novel ecosystem, the site will become biodiverse, and community members will be able to explore …

Within Season Hematological Changes In College Athletes With Sickle Cell Trait, Michael E. Owens

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: To explore the hematological differences in African-American athletes with sickle cell trait (SCT) and healthy controls (CON) before preseason camp and the changes that occur after a full season. METHODS: Sixteen (n=8 SCT; n=8 position matched, CON) NCAA Division 1 athletes (12 football, 2 each women’s soccer and volleyball) had blood drawn before preseason camp, after and at the end of the season, and analyzed for Hb electrophoresis (Hb-A, Hb-A2, Hb-S, and Hb-F), complete blood count with differential, chemistry panel 26, and prothrombin time, activity and international normalized ratio (INR). RESULTS: Baseline total Hb was …

Effect Of Vitrification On Epigenetic Modifications And The Meiotic Spindle Of Bovine Oocytes, Emilio Jose Gutierrez-Castillo

LSU Master's Theses

While oocyte vitrification has become a common practice, it still faces some challenges such as the low survival rates after warming, probably related to cryoinjuries and cryoprotectant (CPA) toxicity. Evidence suggests that vitrification might have an effect on the patterns of some epigenetic marks including DNA methylation and histone acetylation. During fertilization and embryogenesis, key events for healthy and adequate embryo development take place, not only governed by the information contained within the DNA sequence, but also by epigenetic mechanisms.

This study was aimed at determining the effect of vitrification and CPA exposure, using a combination of ethylene glycol (EG) …

Development Of An Autodissemination Strategy For The Deployment Of Novel Control Agents Targeting The Common Malaria Mosquito, Anopheles Quadrimaculatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae), Daniel R. Swale, Zhilin Li, Jake Z. Kraft, Kristen Healy, Mei Liu, Connie M. David, Zhijun Liu, Lane D. Foil

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Swale et al. Background: The reduced efficacy of current Anopheline mosquito control methods underscores the need to develop new methods of control that exploit unique target sites and/or utilizes novel deployment methods. Autodissemination methodologies using insect growth regulators (IGRs) is growing in interest and has been shown to be effective at controlling Aedes mosquitoes in semi-field and field environments, yet little information exists for Anopheline mosquitoes. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that female-driven autodissemination of an IGR combined with a new mechanism of action insecticide (Kir channel inhibitor) could be employed to reduce Anopheline populations. Methodology: We studied …

Multiple Episodes Of Extensive Marine Anoxia Linked To Global Warming And Continental Weathering Following The Latest Permian Mass Extinction, Feifei Zhang, Stephen J. Romaniello, Thomas J. Algeo, Kimberly V. Lau, Matthew E. Clapham, Sylvain Richoz, Achim D. Herrmann, Harrison Smith, Micha Horacek, Ariel D. Anbar

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Explaining the ∼5-million-year delay in marine biotic recovery following the latest Permian mass extinction, the largest biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic, is a fundamental challenge for both geological and biological sciences. Ocean redox perturbations may have played a critical role in this delayed recovery. However, the lack of quantitative constraints on the details of Early Triassic oceanic anoxia (for example, time, duration, and extent) leaves the links between oceanic conditions and the delayed biotic recovery ambiguous. We report high-resolution U-isotope (δ238U) data from carbonates of the uppermost Permian to lowermost Middle Triassic Zal section (Iran) …

Paclitaxel Enhances Oncolytic Potential Of Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 In Cancer Cells, Misagh Naderi

LSU Master's Theses

Taxanes are spindle poisons that bind to and stabilize microtubules resulting in mitotic arrest. Herpes simplex Typ-1 (HSV-1) virions utilize the microtubular network for intracellular transport during both virus entry and virus egress from infected cells. It has been reported previously that taxanes may synergize with oncolytic herpes simplex viruses in the treatment of experimental prostate and breast tumors in mice. Other reports have indicated that taxanes may inhibit viral replication in infected cells. In this study the previously characterized Oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (OSVP), which was constructed in Kousoulas lab was used in conjugation with paclitaxel (taxol) …

From The Water: Interpreting The Legacy Of Bayou Teche, Joni Elizabeth Emmons

LSU Master's Theses

The Bayou Teche, winding 135 miles from its origin in Port Barre to meet the Atchafalaya River in Patterson, has played an integral role in the environmental, economic, industrial, and cultural development of South Louisiana. The Teche has been called “Louisiana’s most famous bayou” and has been home to two Native American tribes, European settlers, Acadian exiles, African and Carribean slaves, and American colonists, each group contributing to the dynamic identity of the region. Current bayou conditions evidence such an exchange, bearing witness to the range of values that have shaped the bayou’s ecological and cultural context since its earliest …

Effect Of Increasing Levels Of Monosilicic Acid On Arsenic And Phosphorus Sorption In Soil, Flávia Bastos Agostinho

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Arsenic (As) accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa) grains has increased human’s daily intake. Studies have shown that arsenite is taken up through known silicon (Si) transporters in rice. Moreover, the availability of As in soil is affected by chemically similar ligands that have high affinity to oxides surfaces, such as Si and phosphorus (P). Studies were conducted to: (I) investigate the role of elevated levels of Si on the concentration of different As fractions in soil and on As uptake by rice; (II) evaluate the effect of increasing monosilicic acidconcentrations on As sorption and kinetics in soil; and …

Metacarpal Ratio And Its Relation To Sexual Dimorphism In Primates With Different Mating Strategies, Emilee Hart

LSU Master's Theses

The digit ratio (2D:4D) is a sexually dimorphic trait in mammalian hands that is a result of levels of prenatal androgen exposure (PNAE) during limb development. Previous studies have shown that females have a higher ratio than males and that sexual dimorphism in the ratio is greater in species with polygynous mating strategies and high levels of intermale aggression compared to monogamous species with low intermale aggression. This study used metacarpals instead of phalanges to test the hypotheses that the metacarpal ratio (2Mc:4Mc) will be higher in females than males within a species and that the ratio would be more …

Waste Management By Waste: Removal Of Acid Dyes From Wastewaters Of Textile Coloration Using Fish Scales, S M Fijul Kabir

LSU Master's Theses

Removal of hazardous acid dyes by economical process using low-cost bio-sorbents from wool industry wastewaters is of a pressing need, since it causes skin and respiratory diseases and disrupts other environmental components. Fish scales (FS), a by-product of fish industry, a type of solid waste, are usually discarded carelessly resulting in pungent odor and environmental burden. In this research, the FS of black drum (Pogonias cromis) were used for the removal of acid dyes (acid red 1 (AR1), acid blue 45 (AB45) and acid yellow 127 (AY126)) from wool industry wastewaters by absorption process with a view to …

Effects Of Application Timing And Soil Type On Optimal N Rate Requirement Of Sugarcane (Saccharum Spp.) And Changes In Soil Inorganic And Leaf N Concentrations, Joseph Martin Garrett

LSU Master's Theses

Research is limited on the effects of soil types and early nitrogen (N) fertilizer applications to N management strategies in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) production in Louisiana. This study was established in 2015 at two locations in St. Gabriel, LA to 1) determine the effect of fertilizer application timing and soil type on the optimal N rate requirement and yield of sugarcane and 2) relate the relationship of soil and leaf N content to yield at different growth stages with sugarcane yield. Treatments were set in a randomized block design on a clay soil and in a complete randomized …

Data-Driven Computational Approach To Study Bio-Molecular Interactions, Misagh Naderi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Proteins commonly convey their functions in coordination with other proteins, small molecules and/or other biological assemblies such as sugars, lipids, DNA or RNA. Understanding the nature of these interactions is therefore central to improving our knowledge of biological systems. This body of work is a consolidation of three different computational approaches to study bio-molecular interactions: large-scale protein-ligand modeling, fragment-based cheminformatics, and computational analysis of interactions in single proteins.

The first issue that is addressed in this study is the scarcity of atomic crystal structures of protein-drug complexes. In general, a drug molecule’s affinity for multiple protein targets may causes unsolicited …