Digital Commons Network^™

Image Analysis Methodology For Evaluating Coating Uniformity Of Drug-Coated Angioplasty Balloons, Allison Dobson Zieschang

LSU Master's Theses

Percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty (PTA) is a surgical procedure to treat peripheral artery disease, but restenosis causes suboptimal outcomes in many patients. Drug-coated angioplasty balloons (DCBs) were developed to reduce the risk of restenosis by delivering anti-proliferative drugs to the lesion. The efficacy of DCBs depends on factors like drug loading and drug release rate, both of which are directly impacted by the coating uniformity. This thesis evaluates the uniformity of DBCs using fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), qualitative analysis, and an image processing algorithm. Uniformity was quantified by three measurements: histogram standard deviation, histogram percentage of coverage, and …

Influence Of Metabolic Interventions On Animal Aging And Lifespan, Bhaswati Ghosh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Aging is associated with metabolic rewiring. Most lifespan-extending longevity interventions target metabolic pathways. Genetic or pharmacological metabolic approaches that mediate longer lifespan and healthspan, are often linked to detrimental effects on human health. Here, I show that supplementation of botanical extracts from Artemisia scoparia (SCO), dramatically increases animal lifespan. Mechanistically, this lifespan extension is dependent on AMPK-DAF-16 signaling via inhibition of the insulin pathway. In SCO-fed worms, longer lifespan was accompanied by higher fat storage and improved resiliency to age-related physiological stress. Notably, DAF-16, the master regulator of longevity, activated the fatty acid desaturation processes, which promoted the accumulation of …

Ion Selective And Water Resistant Cellulose Nanofiber/Mxene Membrane Enabled Cycling Zn Anode At High Currents, Wangwang Xu, Xiaobin Liao, Weina Xu, Kangning Zhao, Guang Yao, Qinglin Wu

Faculty Publications

Aqueous rechargeable zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are regarded as a promising candidates for next-generation energy storage devices but strongly hindered by the limited utilization of the zinc metal anode (below 5%) due to the active water/anion corrosion. Herein, an ion selective and water-resistant cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/MXene composite membrane has been developed through molecular sieving to restrict active water and anions from the electrode/electrolyte interface through dehydration of zinc ions, avoiding the water/anion-induced corrosion/decomposition. In this way, the CNF/MXene@Zn anode exhibits significantly enhanced coulombic efficiency (99.5 % at 10 mA cm-2) and low voltage hysteresis. Moreover, coated with CNF/MXene composite membrane, …

The Global Transcription Factor Fur Is Activated By Binding A [2fe-2s] Cluster To Maintain Iron Homeostasis In Escherichia Coli, Chelsey Rene Fontenot

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Iron is an essential element for biological functions. Organisms have developed specific mechanisms to acquire, store, and export iron to manage intracellular iron homeostasis. These mechanisms are crucial not only for providing the cells with adequate iron for biological processes but also for ensuring that cells are not overloaded with excess iron, which is highly toxic. The Ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a global transcription factor for maintaining intracellular iron homeostasis in bacteria. Previously, it was postulated that when the intracellular iron content is elevated, Fur binds ferrous iron to down-regulate the iron acquisition genes and up- regulate the iron …

Design And Synthesis Of Plasmonic Nanoparticles For Nir Bioimaging: Investigating The Role Of Absorption And Scattering, Luis Dias Bumba Manuel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Nanoparticles have made vast advances in the realm of nanomedicine and bioimaging, enabling technologies such as photothermal therapy of malignant tumors and noninvasive monitoring of living tissue. Many of these innovations have only arisen in the last few decades with potential for growth in many avenues. The research shown in this work addresses some of the existing literature's void. Particularly solving synthesis challenges that have existed for more than 20 years in synthesizing Au nanoshells and establishing the potential for molecular-level deep imaging of plants. A novel investigation of the role of light absorption and scattering in bioimaging led to …

Nanosecond Infrared Laser Ablation Dynamics, Achala Priyadarshani Deenamulla Kankanamalage

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Laser ablation dynamics encompasses studies of fundamental physical processes of mid infrared laser ablation. Understanding the mechanisms of IR laser desorption and ionization can lead to improvements in laser ablation-based techniques and expansion of their applications. Control of material removal ensures both accuracy and precision of the laser ablation-based techniques. The laser ablation mechanism in the studied wavelength region, is a process of water vaporization and photothermal disruption of tissue. Glycerol was used as the ablation target to establish the methods. Experiments were first aimed at developing methods to monitor material removal during ablation using a 2.94 µm wavelength mid-IR …

Evaluation Of Reproductive Phenology, Space Use, And Ecology Of The Eastern Wild Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo Silvestris) In West-Central Louisiana, Chad Argabright

LSU Master's Theses

Nest site selection is a driving demographic force behind eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations. However, previous research was likely not focused on the actual time of nest site selection, considering that nest site selection is likely only able to occur on the day of the first egg being laid. My objective was to determine if selection for any vegetation characteristics was occurring on the first day of laying. I estimated the path taken from the roost to the nest on the first day of egg laying (i.e., laying path) using GPS data collected from 164 unique …

20-Year Assessment Of Total Suspended Sediment (Tss) Variability In Barataria Bay From Modis Ocean Color Using A Combination Of Adaptive Semi-Analytical And Neural Network Algorithms, Bijaylaxmi Sahoo

LSU Master's Theses

Barataria Bay, a hydrologically dynamic basin in the northern Gulf of Mexico, exhibits a distinct spatio-temporal distribution of total suspended sediment (TSS). However, studies on sediment distribution are limited by availability of in-situ data as well as the limitation of ocean color algorithms for suspended sediments in shallow optically complex waters. Barataria Bay TSS concentration profile is complex, influenced in the upper basin by fresh water sources such as the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion, and in the lower bay by the river plume and marine influence near the mouth of the bay. To efficiently study the sediment dynamics in the …

Beyond Compulsion: Félix Ravaisson's Conception Of Habit, Christopher Johnson

LSU Master's Theses

In opposition to a tendency present within the history of Western philosophy to regard ‘habit’ as a conservative force (represented by figures including Descartes, Spinoza, and Kant), contemporary philosophers working on habit (including Clare Carlisle and Catherine Malabou) have marshaled the thought of nineteenth century French philosopher Félix Ravaisson. With recourse to the ‘double law of habit,’ Ravaisson, in his 1838 doctoral thesis, depicts habit as both resistance and receptivity to change. I begin, in Chapter One, with a brief overview of the aforementioned negative evaluations of habit, as surveyed separately by Carlisle and Malabou. As these contemporary philosophers observe, …

Cannabis Use Across The Menstrual Cycle: The Impact Of Negative Affect And Coping Motives, Paige Morris

LSU Master's Theses

Women appear to use more cannabis during the premenstrual and menstrual phases of the menstrual cycle, presumably because women use cannabis to manage increases in negative affect associated with these phases. Yet little work has tested this hypothesis or examined individual difference variables associated with greater coping-motivated cannabis use. The current study tested whether state negative affect interacts with coping motives to predict greater cannabis use during the premenstrual and/or menstrual phases and whether trait anxiety or difficulties with emotion regulation moderate these relations. Female undergraduate students with regular monthly menstrual cycles and who were not using hormonal contraceptives ( …

The Non-Apprehension Of Selfhood And Metaphysical Freedom, Christopher Rinderle

LSU Master's Theses

In this work I take on one of the most axiomatic assumptions humans possess. The sense of self is embedded so deeply inside each one of us that to question it seems utterly ridiculous. Fortunately, I do not outright reject the notion of selfhood. I investigate what it is and is not through multiple angles – ancient and contemporary – which leads to investigations of free will and responsibility.

In the first chapter, I discuss the Buddhist anātman or non-self. I argue that the historical Buddha did not endorse the idea that the self must be overcome through enlightenment – …

Characterizing Marr Homologs That Mediate Bacterial Fitness And Survival, George Chukwuemeka Nwokocha

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Plant disease outbreaks are on the rise, threatening food security in many parts of the globe. To address these enormous challenges, new intervention strategies like bio-controls are being used as an important sustainable alternative to mitigate the negative effects of pathogens and increase the quality and productivity of agricultural crops. MarR family transcriptional regulators have been studied for their involvement in regulating bacterial virulence genes that help colonize plant hosts and therefore could serve as targets for biocontrol. The transcriptional regulator PecS, a member of the MarR family, is encoded by select bacterial pathogens and we show here that PecS …

Evaluating The Pesticide-Induced Outbreak Of Soybean Looper, Chrysodeixis Includens (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), In Louisiana Soybean, Scott Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Soybean looper, Chrysodeixis includens (Walker), has established itself as the primary lepidopteran defoliator in Midsouth soybean agroecosystems. Pesticide-induced outbreak events associated with this pest have been observed by soybean producers. The insecticides believed to prompt these incidents are routinely used for the control of other co-occuring pests, such as stink bugs. Outbreak conditions present soybean producers with conflicting management decisions for pests. Laboratory, greenhouse, and field experiments were conducted to provide a better understanding of insecticide usage impact on populations of C. includens and the arthropod community. To discern the potential mechanisms behind C. includens outbreak, a baseline for the …

The Regulation Of Autoimmunity Genes In Pancreatic Β-Cells By Nf-Κb, Thomas Malone Martin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease where the immune system targets the pancreatic islet beta-cells, which are responsible for insulin production and secretion, leading to a state of insulin insufficiency. Many of the molecular details of disease onset and progression remain poorly understood, including key aspects of cytokine signaling. Therefore, we have examined some of the consequences of inflammatory cytokine signaling as a critical module relevant to T1D. Using interleukin-1 (IL-1) signaling as a well-defined paradigm for inflammation, we investigated key components of this signaling pathway in pancreatic beta-cells. We identified ICAM-1, one of the proteins expressed in …

Quantifying Mud Settling Velocity As A Function Of Turbulence And Salinity In A Deltaic Estuary, Michael W. Mcdonell

LSU Master's Theses

Mud settling velocity is controlled by flocculation, which in turn strongly depends on turbulence and on the chemistry and biology of the water-sediment mixture. As a result, mud settling velocity can be poorly constrained in coastal areas and vary in space and time by orders of magnitude. Here we quantified mud settling velocity in Barataria Basin, a deltaic estuary in Louisiana (USA), using three independent methods: eddy covariance (one station for 200 days), floc cameras (4 stations at one time), and Rouse profile inversion (14 stations, replicated 10-30 times each). Eddy covariance indicates that settling velocity increases with turbulence, at …

Identifying Key Language Research Priorities In Autistic Children According To Parents, Taylor Hale

LSU Master's Theses

The lack of involvement of the autistic community and its stakeholders in autism research has led to a call to action. At present, autism researchers have limited knowledge about stakeholders’ priorities for research. The current study aimed to bridge the disconnect between the extant autism research and the recent neurodiversity movement by surveying key stakeholders – parents of autistic children – on their perspectives on autism research that focuses on language. Twenty-six parents of autistic children completed an online survey on their views on autism language research with an option to participate in a follow-up interview. Six parents participated in …

Snow Distribution And Influence In Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Using Remote Sensing, Katherine Mcnulty, Peter Doran, Mark Salvatore, Suniti Karunatillake

LSU Master's Theses

The McMurdo Dry Valleys is the largest ice-free area in Antarctica, but seasonal snow covers the valley floors sporadically throughout the year. In this study, a model to estimate areal snow coverage from satellite imagery was created. An area-volume model was created to estimate the amount of snow water equivalent (SWE) from the snow area extracted from the imagery. Snow cover influences the total albedo, the hydrologic budget, and the soil moisture and soil temperature in Taylor Valley (TV). Quantifying snow precipitation in TV is challenging because snow redistributes with winds, sublimates, or melts within a short period. Previous estimates …

Evaluating Form And Function Of Groundcovers And Their Environmental Impacts In Louisiana Landscapes, Thomas Maxwell Mckeown

LSU Master's Theses

Increasing environmental concerns are encouraging the adoption of sustainable landscapes that have environmental, social, and financial benefits. Ornamental groundcover systems are touted as sustainable landscape features due to the associated decreased demand of water, fertilizer, pesticide, and maintenance; however, limited research exists on soil property effects, planting density, weed density, or consumer preferences of groundcovers. This study was aimed to gain a more thorough understanding of ornamental groundcovers systems and their environmental impacts. The effects of groundcover growth habit (matting; bunching) and irrigation delivery (micro spray; overhead) on soil temperature, volumetric water content (VWC), and electric conductivity (EC) along with …

Switch-Like Behavior Of Lysosomes And Vcp Supports Spermatocyte Health And Development In Drosophila, Tyler James Butsch

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Changes to societal norms, such as the educational, marital, and child-bearing expectations have coincided with significant increases in infertility worldwide. Surprisingly, male infertility is responsible for approximately half of all infertility cases worldwide. Thus, a better understanding of sperm development, and how it is affected by age, may permit the design and application of therapeutics to treat various cases male infertility. Here, I have found that lysosomes acidify as germ cells enter the spermatocyte stage. Once active, lysosomes turn over E-cadherin, and likely other proteins, to support plasma membrane stability. Notably, aging negatively impacts lysosome acidification, which can be reversed …

Svip Dependent Tubular Lysosomal Restoration: A New Direction In Vcp Diseases, Ankita Basu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Multisystem Proteinopathy-1 (MSP-1) is a rare, autosomal dominant, degenerative disease resulting from single amino acid mis-sense mutations in the AAA+ ATPase, Valosin containing protein (VCP). Patients with VCP mutations vary widely in their pathology and clinical penetrance, making it difficult to devise effective treatment strategies. To investigate the pathology of VCP- related disease, we engineered CRISPR knock-in Drosophila models for nine MSP-1 associated VCP mutations. These mutant animals mimic human MSP-1 disease phenotypes, including progressive mobility decline and accumulation of protein aggregates, making them excellent models to study the pathology of VCP associated mutations and test potential treatment strategies. At …

Contribution Of The Microbiome On Reproductive Outcomes During Pregnancy, Kalie Beckers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A series of translational comparative studies were performed to investigate the effects of the maternal microbiome on reproductive function and outcomes. With the launch of the human microbiome project in 2007, the next generation sequencing of microbiomes is booming. It is not only in the human medicine field, but also in veterinary species. This study specifically investigates the fecal microbiome in blood pressure high sublime 5 (BPH/5) mouse model that spontaneously develops preeclampsia (PE) and obesity. Additionally, the equine reproductive tract microbiome was explored and compared to microbiome of other host body sites. The BPH/5 mouse is a translational model …

Horizontally Transferred Genes As Rna Interference Targets For Aphid And Whitefly Control, Honglin Feng, Wenbo Chen, Sonia Hussain, Sara Shakir, Vered Tzin, Femi Adegbayi, Todd Ugine, Zhangjun Fei, Georg Jander

Faculty Publications

RNA interference (RNAi)-based technologies are starting to be commercialized as a new approach for agricultural pest control. Horizontally transferred genes (HTGs), which have been transferred into insect genomes from viruses, bacteria, fungi or plants, are attractive targets for RNAi-mediated pest control. HTGs are often unique to a specific insect family or even genus, making it unlikely that RNAi constructs targeting such genes will have negative effects on ladybugs, lacewings and other beneficial predatory insect species. In this study, we sequenced the genome of a red, tobacco-adapted isolate of Myzus persicae (green peach aphid) and bioinformatically identified 30 HTGs. We then …

Melatonin Treatment Of Strawberry Fruit During Storage Extends Its Post-Harvest Quality And Reduces Infection Caused By Botrytis Cinerea, Surassawadee Promyou, Yenjit Raruang, Zhi Yuan Chen

Faculty Publications

Gray mold is a main disease of strawberry fruit (Fragaria × xananassa cv. Camino Real) caused by Botrytis cinerea, which leads to marketable value losses in the supply chain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exogenous melatonin (MT) on the physicochemical quality, antioxidant defense system, and disease resistance of strawberry fruit to B. cinerea infection. The results revealed that strawberry fruit immersed in 100 µM MT for 15 min effectively maintained its brightness and delayed the change in fruit color. MT also maintained the level of titratable acidity and slowed down the increase of total …

Louisiana Agriculture Magazine, Spring 2023

Louisiana Agriculture

In this issue of Louisiana Agriculture, Carl Motsenbocker, the executive director of Seeds to Success, and Crystal Besse, the program director, explain how local food systems are seeing a resurgence. The Seeds to Success team details how the farm to school movement is assisting this growth. They also profile the people who work to make it possible — a teacher, farmers and an AgCenter Extension agent. In additional articles, researchers examine the economic benefits of farm to school programs as well as soil mixes for home gardeners and the media used by our consumer horticulture industry.

Corrigendum To “Functional Anatomy Of The Vagus System: How Does The Polyvagal Theory Comply?” [Biological Psychology 174 (2022) 108425] (Biological Psychology (2022) 174, (S0301051122001685), (10.1016/J.Biopsycho.2022.108425)), Winfried L. Neuhuber, Hans Rudolf Berthoud

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

In the published version on page 5, subchapter 5.1 Heart and large arteries, right column, the paper by Booth et al. (2021) was erroneously quoted as describing DMX cardiac neurons conducting at about B-fiber speed. However, these authors only described DMX neurons in general and not specifically cardiac neurons. Thus, the term “cardiac” should be deleted in lines 7 and 9. Also, in line 7, conduction speed should be 6 m/s.

Reduction Of Plasma Bcaas Following Roux-En-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery Is Primarily Mediated By Fgf21, Harsh Shah, Alyssa Kramer, Caitlyn A. Mullins, Marie Mattern, Ritchel B. Gannaban, R. Leigh Townsend, Shawn R. Campagna, Christopher D. Morrison, Hans Rudolf Berthoud, Andrew C. Shin

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a challenging health concern worldwide. A lifestyle intervention to treat T2D is difficult to adhere, and the effectiveness of approved medications such as metformin, thiazolidinediones (TZDs), and sulfonylureas are suboptimal. On the other hand, bariatric procedures such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) are being recognized for their remarkable ability to achieve diabetes remission, although the underlying mechanism is not clear. Recent evidence points to branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) as a potential contributor to glucose impairment and insulin resistance. RYGB has been shown to effectively lower plasma BCAAs in insulin-resistant or T2D patients that may help …

Cerebrospinal Fluid Protein Markers Indicate Neuro-Damage In Sars-Cov-2-Infected Nonhuman Primates, Sudipa Maity, Meredith G. Mayer, Qingbo Shu, Hellmers Linh, Duran Bao, Robert V. Blair, Yanlin He, Christopher J. Lyon, Tony Y. Hu, Tracy Fischer, Jia Fan

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Neurologic manifestations are among the most frequently reported complications of COVID-19. However, given the paucity of tissue samples and the highly infectious nature of the etiologic agent of COVID-19, we have limited information to understand the neuropathogenesis of COVID-19. Therefore, to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the brain, we used mass-spectrometry–based proteomics with a data-independent acquisition mode to investigate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins collected from two different nonhuman primates, Rhesus Macaque and African Green Monkeys, for the neurologic effects of the infection. These monkeys exhibited minimal to mild pulmonary pathology but moderate to severe central nervous system (CNS) …

Pharmacological Inhibition Of Cftr Attenuates Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (Nash) Progression In Mice, Sangam Rajak, Archana Tewari, Sana Raza, Pratima Gupta, Bandana Chakravarti, Baby Anjum, Madhulika Tripathi, Brijesh K. Singh, Paul M. Yen, Amit Goel, Sujoy Ghosh, Rohit A. Sinha

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is considered a pivotal stage in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) progression and increases the risk of end-stage liver diseases such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The etiology of NASH is multifactorial and identifying reliable molecular players has proven difficult. Presently, there are no approved drugs for NASH treatment, which has become a leading cause of liver transplants worldwide. Here, using public human transcriptomic NAFLD dataset, we uncover Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance receptor (CFTR) as a differentially expressed gene in the livers of human NASH patients. Similarly, murine Cftr expression was also found to be …

Strategy For Pre-Clinical Development Of Active Targeting Microrna Oligonucleotide Therapeutics For Unmet Medical Needs, Marc Thibonnier, Sujoy Ghosh

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

We present here an innovative modular and outsourced model of drug research and development for microRNA oligonucleotide therapeutics (miRNA ONTs). This model is being implemented by a biotechnology company, namely AptamiR Therapeutics, in collaboration with Centers of Excellence in Academic Institutions. Our aim is to develop safe, effective and convenient active targeting miRNA ONT agents for the metabolic pandemic of obesity and metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), as well as deadly ovarian cancer.

Environment-Tolerant Ionic Hydrogel–Elastomer Hybrids With Robust Interfaces, High Transparence, And Biocompatibility For A Mechanical–Thermal Multimode Sensor, Ya Lu, Yiying Yue, Qinqin Ding, Changtong Mei, Xinwu Xu, Shaohua Jiang, Shuijian He, Qinglin Wu, Huining Xiao, Jingquan Han

Faculty Publications

The human skin, an important sensory organ, responds sensitively to external stimuli under various harsh conditions. However, the simultaneous achievement of mechanical/thermal sensitivity and extreme environmental tolerance remains an enormous challenge for skin-like hydrogel-based sensors. In this study, a novel skin-inspired hydrogel–elastomer hybrid with a sandwich structure and strong interfacial bonding for mechanical–thermal multimode sensing applications is developed. An inner-layered ionic hydrogel with a semi-interpenetrating network is prepared using sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a nanofiller, lithium chloride (LiCl) as an ionic transport conductor, and polyacrylamide (PAM) as a polymer matrix. The outer-layered polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers fully encapsulating the hydrogel …