Digital Commons Network^™

Empirical Study: Exploring Medication Adherence For Medicaid Insured Asthma Patients In Louisiana, Archana Nittala

LSU Master's Theses

Asthma is a chronic disease whose effects are controlled/ prevented using appropriate medication. Although benefits of asthma medication is well known, poor medication adherence among asthma patients has been reported. Medication non-adherence is associated to increased healthcare costs, unnecessary hospital utilization, readmission and even death in few cases. The overarching goal of this research was to evaluate the impact of medication non-adherence on hospital admissions, and identify key factors that result in medication non-adherence for Medicaid insured asthma patients.

To achieve these objectives, Correlation analysis, T-tests, Multivariate logistic analysis and odds ratios were performed. Based on results of the study, …

Enhancing The Performance Of Anaerobic Bioreactors For The Biological Degradation Of Volatiles Organic Compounds In Groundwater Using Alternate Electron Acceptors, Leslie Michele Pipkin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Engineered anaerobic bioreactors (ABR) constructed from mixed media and sand can biodegrade high concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Sustainable treatment of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), chlorinated ethenes and ethanes were used to investigate the use of engineered ABRs, while also analyzing the system performance of a full-scale ABR system. Experimentations conducted on environmental and biological factors that affect ABR system performance was conducted through serum bottles, columns, and reactor studies.

Column and reactor ABR systems were designed to treat VOCs via biodegradation in groundwater with varying terminal electron acceptors (TEAs). Laboratory-scale column ABRs were constructed to treat …

Effects Of Elicitor Induced Host Plant Resistance On Lepidopteran Insecticide Efficacy, Abigail Cox

LSU Master's Theses

Soybean looper (SBL), Chrysodeixis includens (Walker), is an important defoliating Lepidopteran pest of southern U.S. soybean and utilizes other agronomic crops and weeds as hosts. With increasing resistance to insecticides, alternative control strategies such as induced host plant resistance were evaluated against SBL. Jasmonic acid (JA) is an elicitor of host plant resistance, and was selected to determine its fit in an IPM plan for SBL. JA was applied to the top of meridic SBL diet and fed to SBL; no effects were found. JA applied as an exogenous elicitor to cotton, sweet potato, okra, cowpea, and soybean did result …

Rice Hull Bioreactor For Recirculating Aquaculture, Marlon A. Greensword

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The engineering of floating media biofilters has been optimized over the years. The backwashing process has made them more energy and water efficient. Likewise, moving bed bioreactors (MBBR) are gaining interest and popularity because they are relatively affordable to build. Yet, developing countries’ aquaculture production remains largely excluded from the advances made in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This discrepancy is partially driven by the high costs of media such plastic beads and Kaldnes (KMT) media, commonly used in MBBR.

This dissertation evaluates the usability and profitability of rice hulls (RH), an abundant by-product in many developing nations, as a sinking …

Epigenetic Response Of Imprinted Domains During Carcinogenesis, Corey L. Bretz, Ingeborg M. Langohr, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Imprinted domains have been identified as targets for aberrant DNA methylation during carcinogenesis, but it remains unclear when these epigenetic alterations occur and how they contribute to tumor progression. Epigenetic instability at key cis-regulatory elements within imprinted domains can concomitantly activate proto-oncogenes and turn off tumor suppressor genes. Thus, to further characterize the epigenetic response of imprinted domains during carcinogenesis, we compared the stability of DNA methylation at a variety of cis-regulatory elements within imprinted domains in two fundamentally different mouse tumors, benign and malignant, induced by the KrasG12D mutation. Results: We report that imprinted …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Pt(Ii) Complexes With Pyridyl Ligands: Elongated Octahedral Ion Pairs And Other Factors Influencing 1H Nmr Spectra, Nerissa A. Lewis, Svetlana Pakhomova, Patricia A. Marzilli, Luigi G. Marzilli

Faculty Publications

© 2017 American Chemical Society. Our goal is to develop convenient methods for obtaining trans-[PtII(4-Xpy)2Cl2] complexes applicable to 4-substituted pyridines (4-Xpy) with limited volatility and water solubility, properties typical of 4-Xpy, with X being a moiety targeting drug delivery. Treatment of cis-[PtII(DMSO)2Cl2] (DMSO = dimethyl sulfoxide) with 4-Xpy in acetonitrile allowed isolation of a new series of simple trans-[PtII(4-Xpy)2Cl2] complexes. A side product with very downfield H2/6 signals led to our synthesis of a series of new [PtII(4-Xpy)4]Cl2 salts. For both series in CDCl3, the size of the H2/6 δ[coordinated minus "free" 4-Xpy H2/6 shift] decreased as 4-Xpy donor ability …

A Preliminary Study To Evaluate Issues Involved Under In Vivo Conditions Of A Delivery System Containing Immobilized Lactobacillus Plantarum Ncimb 8826 On Rice Bran Fiber Extract, Chen Liu

LSU Master's Theses

Gut diseases like diarrhea, irritable bowel symptoms, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can be treated with probiotics therapy. Probiotics have been recognized for their ability to promote the development of gut health and improve immune system. However, a difficulty involved with the use of probiotics is the need for and the ability to deliver a sufficient concentration of viable probiotic to the appropriate site. This can be difficult since the most common (and probably easiest) method of delivering the probiotic is orally. As such, the probiotic must be capable of surviving the hostile conditions of passage through the G.I. tract. …

A Comparison Of Soils And Their Associated Microbial Communities As Affected By Sugarcane Cultivation, Adam Francis Bigott

LSU Master's Theses

In Louisiana, sugarcane has been grown in the same soils for over 200 years. A phenomenon wherein soils with a long-term sugarcane cropping history produce decreased yields compared to adjacent land without a recent history of sugarcane cultivation has been documented in multiple sugarcane growing regions. Research in both Louisiana and internationally has shown positive plant growth responses when soils with a long-term cultivation history are sterilized or treated with selective biocides, suggesting there is a biological component to the underlying soil health issue. In this study, soil microbial ecology was compared for paired sites with short and long-term sugarcane …

Executive Dysfunction Or State Regulation: A Dimensional Comparison Of Two Neuropsychological Theories Of Attention Disorder Symptoms Using Rdoc Paradigms, Justin Hull Ory

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Two leading theories regarding the neurocognitive basis of attentional disorders are the executive dysfunction theory and the state regulation theory. The executive dysfunction theory takes a top-down approach, explaining the symptoms of ADHD as a byproduct of general deficits in executive functioning—particularly disinhibition. The state regulation theory takes a bottom-up approach, explaining the symptoms of ADHD as a failure to be sufficiently aroused by, and subsequently engage with, less stimulating or rewarding tasks. These two theories predict different patterns of performance on tasks of executive functioning and attention, and research has demonstrated mixed support for both theories. The present study …

Becoming Engineers: Exploring Gender, Choice And Intersectional Identities Among Women In Undergraduate Engineering, Emily Gwen Blosser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Women’s participation in engineering remains one of the areas in American higher education in which gender inequality remains particularly pronounced. Much has been written about the chilly climate, unwelcoming occupational practices, and significant social barriers in engineering, which cause women to exit the field. Yet recent literature also suggests that woman’s minority status results not only from their attrition, but also from their relatively slow movement into engineering majors. In this sense, it is important that we begin to ask not only why women leave engineering, but also what reasons those women who actually pursue engineering as a college major, …

An Initial Psychometric Evaluation Of The Korean Version Of The Matson Evaluation Of Social Skills With Youngsters-Ii (K-Messy-Ii), Jina Jang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Social skills impairment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often considered a hallmark of the disorder. Impairments in social skills impede the development of meaningful social relationships in individuals with ASD. As children get older, social relationships and environments become more complex, further increasing social skills impairments and distress. Although social skill training has received a lot of attention in the last decade, more reliable and valid social skills measures that are adapted to use in the ASD population are needed. Given that social norms and expectations differ across cultures, more culturally valid measures are needed. The Matson Evaluation of …

Reproductive And Metabolic State Differences In Olfactory Responses To Amino Acids In A Mouth Brooding African Cichlid Fish, Alexandre A. Nikonov, Julie M. Butler, Karen E. Field, John Caprio, Karen P. Maruska

Faculty Publications

© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | Journal of Experimental Biology. Olfaction mediates many crucial life-history behaviors such as prey detection, predator avoidance, migration and reproduction. Olfactory function can also be modulated by an animal's internal physiological and metabolic states. While this is relatively well studied in mammals, little is known about how internal state impacts olfaction in fishes, the largest and most diverse group of vertebrates. Here we apply electroolfactograms (EOGs) in the African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni to test the hypothesis that olfactory responses to food-related cues (i.e. L-amino acids; alanine and arginine) vary with …

Investigating Core Shale Depositional Environments Of Late Pennsylvanian Cyclothems Utilizing Geochemical Proxies To Test The Superestuarine Model, Bryce A. Mathis

LSU Master's Theses

The Late Paleozoic Midcontinent Sea (LPMS) inundated vast areas of the North American interior during glacio-eustatic transgressions, depositing widespread black shales facies within the core shale intervals of major cyclothems. These black shale deposits are unique because no modern analogs can adequately explain the depositional environments and model for organic matter preservation across such vast ancient epicontinental settings. One possible explanation is that a superestuarine circulation system developed across the LPMS during humid interglacial phases, which promoted strong water column stratification and benthic anoxia.

The goal of this research was to test the validity of the superestuarine estuarine model and …

Impacts Of Coastal Acidification On Louisiana Plankton, Amy Mallozzi

LSU Master's Theses

Anthropogenic input of carbon dioxide (CO₂) has an increasingly acidifying effect on the world’s oceans with the potential to impact biogeochemical cycles and food web dynamics. Coastal Louisiana is an area highly vulnerable to changing climate, but the unique local water chemistry created by input from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers makes the manifestation of elevated CO₂ and its biological implications difficult to predict. Louisiana estuaries are highly productive and support a large commercial market for the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. This study explores the use of experimental microcosms to expose natural phytoplankton assemblages and larval …

Information Theoretic Study Of Gaussian Graphical Models And Their Applications, Ali Moharrer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In many problems we are dealing with characterizing a behavior of a complex stochastic system or its response to a set of particular inputs. Such problems span over several topics such as machine learning, complex networks, e.g., social or communication networks; biology, etc. Probabilistic graphical models (PGMs) are powerful tools that offer a compact modeling of complex systems. They are designed to capture the random behavior, i.e., the joint distribution of the system to the best possible accuracy. Our goal is to study certain algebraic and topological properties of a special class of graphical models, known as Gaussian graphs. First, …

Capturing Plasmon-Molecule Dynamics In Dye Monolayers On Metal Nanoparticles Using Classical Electrodynamics With Quantum Embedding, Holden T. Smith, Tony E. Karam, Louis H. Haber, Kenneth Lopata

Faculty Publications

© 2017 American Chemical Society. A multiscale hybrid quantum/classical approach using classical electrodynamics and a collection of discrete three-level quantum systems is used to simulate the coupled dynamics and spectra of a malachite green monolayer adsorbed to the surface of a spherical gold nanoparticle (NP). This method utilizes finite difference time domain (FDTD) to describe the plasmonic response of the NP within the main FDTD framework and a three-level quantum description for the molecule via a Maxwell/Liouville framework. To avoid spurious self-excitation, each quantum molecule has its own auxiliary FDTD subregion embedded within the main FDTD grid. The molecular parameters …

Evaluation Of Fitting And Adjustment Methods For Taper And Volume Prediction Of Black Pine In Turkey, Ramazan Özçelik, Quang V. Cao

Faculty Publications

A modified form (Cao, Q.V. South. J. Appl. For. 33[2]:58–61, 2009) of the taper model of T.A. Max and H.E. Burkhart (For. Sci. 22[3]:283–289, 1976) was used in this study to predict taper and volume of black pine. A total of 16 methods were evaluated, including 4 fitting methods (optimized for taper, cumulative volume, taper and cumulative volume, and taper and total volume) and 4 adjustment strategies (unadjusted, adjusted to match dbh, predicted total volume, and dbh and predicted total volume). Results showed that adjustment did not improve the performance of the taper model. Also for this data set, the …

A Mixed Methods Study Of The Performance And Dynamics Of University Technology Transfer And Commercialization, Berk Dogan

LSU Master's Theses

The technology transfer and commercialization encompasses various activities involved in acquiring intellectual property rights for the inventions, marketing of the inventions, and diffusing into the public domain through commercialization. Although many scholars have studied technology transfer within the academic institutions' context, the process has been assumed to be sequential. The technology transfer process is a complex process to be generalized as a linear sequential process. A mixed methods approach has been used to triangulate the findings from the literature review and descriptive analyses to conceptualize an alternative model that reflects the actual process more accurately. It was found that the …

Earthquake Risks In Haiti: An Analysis Of Response And Preparedness Strategies For The Design Of A New Mitigation Approach, Patrick Alteus

LSU Master's Theses

Earthquakes can have enormous consequences on affected countries. To minimize these harsh consequences, an effective disaster management plan is necessary and a reasonable strategy is necessary to recover and get back to a normal life when they happen. Studies from scientists show that it is difficult to predict when an earthquake will occur. Because of this unpredictability, high-risk countries need to act continuously in order to deal with any sudden strike that may occur by stressing on the mitigation and preparedness activities and by designing appropriate response plans. In Haiti, a well-known earthquake-prone country, the preparedness and mitigation plans have …

Nanoparticle-Based Drug-Delivery Systems Studied By Second Harmonic Generation, Raju Ram Kumal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Second harmonic generation (SHG) is used to study different types of colloidal nanoparticle drug-delivery systems. The surface charge density, electrostatic surface potentials, and ion adsorptions of 50 nm colloidal gold nanoparticle samples coated with mercaptosuccinic acid are determined using SHG measurements under varying NaCl and MgCl₂ concentrations in water. Numerical solutions to the spherical Poisson-Boltzmann equation are fit to the SHG results to account for the nanoparticle surface curvature and ion adsorption to the Stern layer interface, showing excellent agreement with electrophoretic mobility measurements. In another study, nanoparticles of gold, silver and polystyrene are functionalized with microRNA using a …

Integrin ΑVΒ8 Adopts A High Affinity State For Soluble Ligands Under Physiological Conditions, Ping Hu, Bing Hao Luo

Faculty Publications

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. It has been proposed that integrins adopt a low affinity conformation under physiological conditions. Integrin can either be activated through cytoplasm or by binding of cations such as Mn2+ to the head domain. The cytoplasmic activation pathway, that is, inside-out signaling has been regarded as the physiological pathway for integrin activation. Integrin β8 is important for neuron vascular development. However, due to the highly divergent cytoplasmic domain, this integrin probably does not rely on inside-out signaling for affinity regulation. We therefore hypothesized that the β8 integrin uniquely assumes a constitutively high affinity state under physiological …

Repeated Evolution Of Vertebrate Pollination Syndromes In A Recently Diverged Andean Plant Clade, Laura P. Lagomarsino, Elisabeth J. Forrestel, Nathan Muchhala, Charles C. Davis

Faculty Publications

© 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution. Although specialized interactions, including those involving plants and their pollinators, are often invoked to explain high species diversity, they are rarely explored at macroevolutionary scales. We investigate the dynamic evolution of hummingbird and bat pollination syndromes in the centropogonid clade (Lobelioideae: Campanulaceae), an Andean-centered group of ∼550 angiosperm species. We demonstrate that flowers hypothesized to be adapted to different pollinators based on flower color fall into distinct regions of morphospace, and this is validated by morphology of species with known pollinators. This supports the existence of …

Retinoic Acid Inhibits White Adipogenesis By Disrupting Gadd45a-Mediated Zfp423 Dna Demethylation, Bo Wang, Xing Fu, Mei Jun Zhu, Min Du

Faculty Publications

© The Author (2017). Retinoic acid (RA), a bioactive metabolite of Vitamin A, is a critical mediator of cell differentiation. RA blocks adipogenesis, but mechanisms remain to be established. ZFP423 is a key transcription factor maintaining white adipose identity. We found that RA inhibits Zfp423 expression and adipogenesis via blocking DNA demethylation in the promoter of Zfp423, a process mediated by growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible protein alpha (GADD45A). RA induces the partnering between retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and tumor suppressor inhibitor of growth protein 1 (ING1), which prevents the formation of GADD45A and ING1 complex necessary for locus-specific Zfp423 DNA …

2H–13C Correlation Solid-State Nmr For Investigating Dynamics And Water Accessibilities Of Proteins And Carbohydrates, Martin D. Gelenter, Tuo Wang, Shu Yu Liao, Hugh O’Neill, Mei Hong

Faculty Publications

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. Site-specific determination of molecular motion and water accessibility by indirect detection of 2H NMR spectra has advantages over dipolar-coupling based techniques due to the large quadrupolar couplings and the ensuing high angular resolution. Recently, a Rotor Echo Short Pulse IRrAdiaTION mediated cross polarization (RESPIRATIONCP) technique was developed, which allowed efficient transfer of 2H magnetization to 13C at moderate 2H radiofrequency field strengths available on most commercial MAS probes. In this work, we investigate the 2H–13C magnetization transfer characteristics of one-bond perdeuterated CDn spin systems and two-bond H/D exchanged C–(O)–D and C–(N)–D spin systems in …

Structural And Mutational Analyses Of The Leptospira Interrogans Virulence-Related Heme Oxygenase Provide Insights Into Its Catalytic Mechanism, Anabel Soldano, Sebastián Klinke, Lisandro H. Otero, Mario Rivera, Daniela L. Catalano-Dupuy, Eduardo A. Ceccarelli

Faculty Publications

© 2017 Soldano 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. Heme oxygenase from Leptospira interrogans is an important virulence factor. During catalysis, redox equivalents are provided to this enzyme by the plastidic-type ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase also found in L. interrogans. This process may have evolved to aid this bacterial pathogen to obtain heme-iron from their host and enable successful colonization. Herein we report the crystal structure of the heme oxygenase-heme complex at …

Estradiol Modulates Neural Response To Conspecific And Heterospecific Song In Female House Sparrows: An In Vivo Positron Emission Tomography Study, Christine R. Lattin, Frank A. Stabile, Richard E. Carson

Faculty Publications

© 2017 Lattin 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. Although there is growing evidence that estradiol modulates female perception of male sexual signals, relatively little research has focused on female auditory processing. We used in vivo 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to examine the neuronal effects of estradiol and conspecific song in female house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We assessed brain glucose metabolism, a measure of neuronal activity, in …

Anaerobic Copper Toxicity And Iron-Sulfur Cluster Biogenesis In Escherichia Coli, Guoqiang Tan, Jing Yang, Tang Li, Jin Zhao, Shujuan Sun, Xiaokang Li, Chuxian Lin, Jianghui Li, Huaibin Zhou, Jianxin Lyu, Huangen Ding

Faculty Publications

© 2017 American Society for Microbiology. While copper is an essential trace element in biology, pollution of groundwater from copper has become a threat to all living organisms. Cellular mechanisms underlying copper toxicity, however, are still not fully understood. Previous studies have shown that iron-sulfur proteins are among the primary targets of copper toxicity in Escherichia coli under aerobic conditions. Here, we report that, under anaerobic conditions, iron-sulfur proteins in E. coli cells are even more susceptible to copper in medium. Whereas addition of 0.2 mM copper(II) chloride to LB (Luria-Bertani) medium has very little or no effect on iron-sulfur …

Varietal Preferences And Within-Orchard And Tree Distribution Of Newly Recorded Gall Midges, Dasineura Amaramanjarae And Procontarinia Mangiferae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), From Commercial Mango Cultivars In Pakistan, H. M. Rehman, R. Mahmood, M. Razaq, R. Saeed, M. Jamil, G. V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

Gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) damage mango by feeding on flowers and fruit tissues, inducing galls on leaves, and providing inoculums of anthracnose. Dasineura amaramanjarae Grover and Procontarinia mangiferae (Felt), two gall midges that damage flowers in all mango-growing areas of the world, have recently been recorded in Pakistan, and studies were conducted in 2011 and 2012 on the within-tree and orchard distribution patterns and cultivar preference of both species in Pakistan at one location (Rahim Yar Khan). Both gall midge species were found on all mango cultivars examined (Chaunsa, Fajri, Dusehri, Surkha, Sindhri, and Anwar Ratul), with the most damage …

Role Of The Aphid Species And Their Feeding Locations In Parasitization Behavior Of Aphelinus Abdominalis, A Parasitoid Of The Lettuce Aphid Nasonovia Ribisnigri, Govinda Shrestha, Henrik Skovgård, Gadi V.P. Reddy, Tove Steenberg, Annie Enkegaard

Faculty Publications

Aphid species feeding on lettuce occupy distinct feeding sites: the lettuce aphid Nasonovia ribisnigri prefers to feed on heart leaves, whereas the potato aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae feeds only on outer leaves. The aphid parasitoid Aphelinus abdominalis, known to be able to regulate M. euphorbiae on many crops, has recently been indicated as a promising biocontrol candidate also for use against N. ribisnigri, a major pest of lettuce. This study therefore examined A. abdominalis parasitization preference between N. ribisnigri and M. euphorbiae and its ability to parasitize aphids feeding on different parts of lettuce plants. In addition, life history traits of …

Genistein Crosses The Bioartificial Oviduct And Alters Secretion Composition, Constantine A. Simintiras, Roger G. Sturmey

Faculty Publications

The dietary derived isoflavone and oestrogen analogue, genistein, is known to perturb fundamental reproductive events such as implantation and embryo cleavage. However the question of whether genistein is able to traverse the oviduct epithelial monolayer and impact oviduct fluid secretion remains unclear. This study tests these research questions using a bioartificial oviduct to show that genistein permeates the oviduct lumen in vitro with a biphasic (burst and plateau) kinetic profile, faster than spontaneous diffusion, and alters the amino acid composition of in vitro derived oviduct fluid (ivDOF) but not as an oestrogen analogue. In addition to offering insights into the …