Digital Commons Network^™

Beta-Catenin Cleavage Enhances Transcriptional Activation, Tatiana Goretsky, Emily M. Bradford, Qing Ye, Olivia F. Lamping, Tomas Vanagunas, Mary Pat Moyer, Patrick C. Keller, Preetika Sinh, Josep M. Llovet, Tianyan Gao, Qing-Bai She, Linheng Li, Terrence A. Barrett

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Nuclear activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling is required for cell proliferation in inflammation and cancer. Studies from our group indicate that β-catenin activation in colitis and colorectal cancer (CRC) correlates with increased nuclear levels of β-catenin phosphorylated at serine 552 (pβ-Cat⁵⁵²). Biochemical analysis of nuclear extracts from cancer biopsies revealed the existence of low molecular weight (LMW) pβ-Cat⁵⁵², increased to the exclusion of full size (FS) forms of β-catenin. LMW β-catenin lacks both termini, leaving residues in the armadillo repeat intact. Further experiments showed that TCF4 predominantly binds LMW pβ-Cat⁵⁵² in the nucleus of inflamed and …

Selection Of Housekeeping Genes And Demonstration Of Rnai In Cotton Leafhopper, Amrasca Biguttula Biguttula (Ishida), Satnam Singh, Mridula Gupta, Suneet Pandher, Gurmeet Kaur, Pankaj Rathore, Subba Reddy Palli

Entomology Faculty Publications

Amrasca biguttula biguttula (Ishida) commonly known as cotton leafhopper is a severe pest of cotton and okra. Not much is known on this insect at molecular level due to lack of genomic and transcriptomic data. To prepare for functional genomic studies in this insect, we evaluated 15 common housekeeping genes (Tub, B-Tub, EF alpha, GADPH, UbiCF, RP13, Ubiq, G3PD, VATPase, Actin, 18s, 28s, TATA, ETF, SOD and Cytolytic actin) during different developmental stages and under starvation stress. We selected early (1^st and 2 …

Phylogenetic Analysis And Characterization Of A Sporadic Isolate Of Equine Influenza A H3n8 From An Unvaccinated Horse In 2015, Chithra C. Sreenivasan, Sunayana S. Jandhyala, Sisi Luo, Ben M. Hause, Milton Thomas, David E. B. Knudsen, Pamela Leslie-Steen, Travis Clement, Stephanie E. Reedy, Thomas Chambers, Jane Christopher-Hennings, Eric Nelson, Dan Wang, Radhey S. Kaushik, Feng Li

Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center Faculty Publications

Equine influenza, caused by the H3N8 subtype, is a highly contagious respiratory disease affecting equid populations worldwide and has led to serious epidemics and transboundary pandemics. This study describes the phylogenetic characterization and replication kinetics of recently-isolated H3N8 virus from a nasal swab obtained from a sporadic case of natural infection in an unvaccinated horse from Montana, USA. The nasal swab tested positive for equine influenza by Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Further, the whole genome sequencing of the virus confirmed that it was the H3N8 subtype and was designated as A/equine/Montana/9564-1/2015 (H3N8). A BLASTn search revealed …

Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis: A Novel Surgical Model For Moyamoya Syndrome, Jill M. Roberts, Michael E. Maniskas, Justin F. Fraser, Gregory J. Bix

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Moyamoya is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by progressive stenosis of the intracranial internal carotid arteries. There are two forms: Disease and Syndrome, with each characterized by the sub-population it affects. Moyamoya syndrome (MMS) is more prominent in adults in their 20’s-40’s, and is often associated with autoimmune diseases. Currently, there are no surgical models for inducing moyamoya syndrome, so our aim was to develop a new animal model to study this relatively unknown cerebrovascular disease. Here, we demonstrate a new surgical technique termed internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS), to mimic MMS using micro-coils on the proximal ICA. We tested for …

Antagonistic Actions Of Juvenile Hormone And 20-Hydroxyecdysone Within The Ring Gland Determine Developmental Transitions In Drosophila, Suning Liu, Kang Li, Yue Gao, Xi Liu, Weiting Chen, Wei Ge, Qili Feng, Subba Reddy Palli, Sheng Li

Entomology Faculty Publications

In both vertebrates and insects, developmental transition from the juvenile stage to adulthood is regulated by steroid hormones. In insects, the steroid hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), elicits metamorphosis, thus promoting this transition, while the sesquiterpenoid juvenile hormone (JH) antagonizes 20E signaling to prevent precocious metamorphosis during the larval stages. However, not much is known about the mechanisms involved in cross-talk between these two hormones. In this study, we discovered that in the ring gland (RG) of Drosophila larvae, JH and 20E control each other’s biosynthesis. JH induces expression of a Krüppel-like transcription factor gene Kr-h1 in the prothoracic gland (PG), a …

Effects Of Environmental Conditions On C-Fos Expression In Rat Nucleus Accumbens After Remifentanil, Usman Z. Hamid, Rebecca S. Hofford, Michael T. Bardo

Oswald Research and Creativity Competition

Previous studies have shown that adolescents raised in impoverished conditions are more likely to develop drug abuse in adulthood. In addition, both stress-inducing living conditions (impoverishment/isolation) and drugs of abuse may lead to an increase in the c-fos transcription factor in the reward circuit of the brain, particularly in the nucleus accumbens. The aim of the current study was to quantify the number of c-fos positive cells in the nucleus accumbens of enriched and isolated rats exposed to the opioid remifentanil. Thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were raised in either enriched or isolated conditions for one month, after which they received …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Blue Light Poly(Β-Amino Ester)S, Nicholas John Kohrs

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Volumetric muscle loss (VML) is a debilitating injury which results in full or partial loss of function. Current clinical options utilize tissue grafts and bracing to restore function. Tissue graft implantation oftentimes leads to serious complications, some of which end in graft rejection and thereby necessitate further surgeries and procedures. Polymeric scaffolds show promise as scaffolding systems due to their mechanical properties and overall degradation profiles. Scaffolds need appropriate mechanical properties, 10-60 kPa modulus, and overall degradation times, five days to two weeks, to initiate tissue regeneration. Poly(β-amino ester)s (PBAE), a class of synthetic polymers, act as a safe biocompatible …

Hemp: How The Comeback Crop Is Budding In The Bluegrass, Elizabeth F. Ousley

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Essays On U.S. Beef Markets, Elham Darbandi

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation includes three essays on U.S. beef market. Each essay has looked at this market from a different point of view. The first essay investigates the price adjustment along the different levels of this market. The second essay discusses the impact of food safety incidents on export levels in this market. The third essay considers the environmental loading of U.S. beef market. A summary of each article is as follows.

The first essay (chapter 2) analyzes price adjustment of the U.S. beef sector with a focus on the Great Recession. To this purpose, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) …

Pipelines, Electrical Lines, And Little Pink Houses: Do Any Limits On "Public Use" Remain In Eminent Domain Law?, Kristin J. Hazelwood

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

That property is more than mere dirt, brush, or rugged terrain is made obvious by the fervor with which individuals will defend their right to inhabit or use that property. Property can be valuable to individuals for myriad reasons, including an ancestral connection to the property; "historic, religious, and cultural significance;" or emotional attachment. The desire to preserve the right to use property or to protect it from environmental harm can create atypical activists, such as the Sisters of Loretto in Kentucky. The sisters opposed the construction of the pipeline across their pristine property and voiced their disapproval of the …

Missed Work Due To Occupational Illness Among Hispanic Horse Workers, Ashley M. Bush, Susan C. Westneat, Steven R. Browning, Jennifer Swanberg

Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center Faculty Publications

Occupational illnesses are inadequately reported for agriculture, an industry dominated by a vulnerable Hispanic population and high fatal and nonfatal injury rates. Work-related illnesses can contribute to missed work, caused by a combination of personal and work factors, with costs to the individual, employer, and society. To better understand agricultural occupational illnesses, 225 Hispanic horse workers were interviewed via community-based convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and log binomial regression modeling were used to: (1) describe the prevalence of missed work due to work-related illnesses among Hispanic horse workers, (2) examine work-related and personal factors associated with missed work, and …

Will Racing Reclaim Its Seat On The Throne? A New Tax Regulation And Pari-Mutuel Betting, Keziah K. Colleton

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Select Antimicrobial Resistance Trends In Kentucky’S Bovine Population And Antibiogram Development, Jessica Morehouse

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a complex problem that affects all of society and is driven by many interconnected factors. It is important to monitor AMR trends in veterinary medicine to accurately pursue appropriate antibiotic treatment of ill animals. Antibiogram development is also an important tool in guiding the veterinary practitioner in treating empirically or while a culture and susceptibility is being performed.

Methods: This study compared bacterial susceptibility in voluntary samples submitted to the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the Murray State University Breathitt Veterinary Center between 2012 and 2017. Equality of proportions was used to compare …

Forage News [2018-01], Department Of Plant And Soil Sciences, University Of Kentucky

Forage News

• 2017 Long-term Summary of Kentucky Forage Variety Trials
• Timely Tips for January
• KFGC Membership Renewal
• Maximizing Success with Frost Seedings of Clover
• USDA Hay Market Prices - Dec. 5, 2017
• 2018 AFGC Conference Coming January 15-16

Cycads, Flying Foxes, And Brain Disease In Humans, Logan Disney

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Cycads are a group of ancient gymnosperms with a rich fossil history. While they once dominated the world’s forests, their adaptation to warm climates has now restricted them to tropical areas. They are not widely eaten by humans due to their known toxicity, but some indigenous groups of the Pacific Islands, such as the Chamorro people of Guam, have developed methods of washing the seeds for safe consumption. Cycad seeds are a common dietary item of several mammals. One such mammal, the flying fox, is considered a delicacy to several indigenous groups. In the mid-twentieth century, these groups also expressed …

Analysis Of Campus Accessibility At The University Of Kentucky, Molly Mathistad

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The paper reviews the accessibility satisfaction ratings and suggestions provided by University of Kentucky (UK) students who live with disabilities. A detailed survey was distributed to all students registered with the UK Disability Resource Center (DRC), inquiring about individual satisfaction with campus aspects such as the DRC, utilized accommodations, campus environment, student and faculty sensitivity, and the potential benefit of accommodation space(s) around campus. Participants listed dozens of potential solutions to problems which they and others face on campus daily, all of which are detailed in results sections of the paper. The most commonly mentioned issues included faculty sensitivity training, …

El Poder Del Centro: Espacios Y Lugares De La Pampa, Aníbal A. Biglieri

Hispanic Studies Faculty Publications

Este artículo trata de la representación de la noción de la pampa en la obra decinco pintores argentinos y en relación con las descripciones de la región devarios novelistas y poetas argentinos de los siglos XIX, XX y XXI. El análisis sebasa en la distinción entre los conceptos de espacios y lugares, y en la forma enque estos últimos se constituyen a partir de un centro de equilibrio (Arnheim,1982). Los cuadros estudiados son Horizonte (1981) y Pampa, (1981), de MiguelOcampo; Un potrero (ca. 1900-03), de Ángel Della Valle; Paisaje, de EnriquePolicastro; La chacra (1950), de Raúl Soldi; y La tropilla …

The Potential Electoral Influence Of Internet Memes, Sierra K. Hatfield

Oswald Research and Creativity Competition

The rising popularity of social media has affected the communication methods of political candidates within the United States. Given the online presence of candidates in recent years, this paper argues that it’s time to consider internet memes – one of the many facets most commonly found on social media – as political rhetoric. This paper seeks to discern which components of an internet meme are most effective in persuading a young voter, using a visually rhetorical approach to understand which characteristics make it most effective. The study also seeks to find which demographics are most likely to be influenced, using …

Using Graduated Guidance To Teach Imitation Of Manual Signs To Children With Intellectual Disabilities, Jacqueline Horsman

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of graduated guidance procedure on teaching imitation of manual signs to students with moderate to severe disabilities. Sessions began with student initiation and were embedded across already established reinforcement routines across the student’s day. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to evaluate these effects.

A Markedly Different Approach: Investigating Pie Stops Using Modern Empirical Methods, Phillip Barnett

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

In this thesis, I investigate a decades-old problem found in the stop system of Proto-Indo-European (PIE). More specifically, I will be investigating the paucity of */b/ in the forms reconstructed for the ancient, hypothetical language. As cross-linguistic evidence and phonological theory alone have fallen short of providing a satisfactory answer, herein will I employ modern empirical methods of linguistic investigation, namely laboratory phonology experiments and computational database analysis. Following Byrd 2015, I advocate for an examination of synchronic phenomena and behavior as a method for investigating diachronic change.

In Chapter 1, I present an overview of the various proposed phonological …

Promoting Cognitive Conflict In Health Care Ethics: Moral Reasoning With Boundary Cases, Julia Bursten, Samantha Finkelstein

Philosophy Faculty Publications

As many college students are at a time of tremendous personal and academic growth, introductory philosophy courses have the potential to equip students with practical critical reasoning skills. Despite this, many introductory courses in this domain emphasize students’ learning about pre-existing dialectics in the abstract, rather than over self-reflection and development of personal philosophical perspectives. In doing so, we may be failing to support the needs of pre-professional students looking to prepare themselves for their careers ahead. In this practitioner paper, we report our efforts as a practicing philosophy instructor (Bursten) and a learning scientist (Finkelstein) to iterate on the …

3d Human Face Reconstruction And 2d Appearance Synthesis, Yajie Zhao

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

3D human face reconstruction has been an extensive research for decades due to its wide applications, such as animation, recognition and 3D-driven appearance synthesis. Although commodity depth sensors are widely available in recent years, image based face reconstruction are significantly valuable as images are much easier to access and store.

In this dissertation, we first propose three image-based face reconstruction approaches according to different assumption of inputs.

In the first approach, face geometry is extracted from multiple key frames of a video sequence with different head poses. The camera should be calibrated under this assumption.

As the first approach is …

The Consumption And Sales Pattern Of Ugly Apples In South Korea, Hyun Jong Lee

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Approximately half of all wasted food is fruits and vegetables. One major cause of food waste is abnormal aesthetics; even if it is just as delicious as its normal counterpart. Food with a non-standard appearance (hereafter called ugly food) can be expelled by the markets. To reduce such waste, ugly food campaigns, which were developed in Europe and spread throughout the world, advocate for the consumption of ugly food. To study the problem of ugly food waste, this thesis examines ugly apples, since apples are the most common, representative, and readily accessible fruit. The objective of this thesis is to …

Insights Into Key Gene Regulatory Networks In Borrelia Burgdorferi, William Kenneth Arnold

Theses and Dissertations--Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics

Gene regulatory networks are composed of interconnected regulatory nodes created by regulatory factors of multiple types. All organisms finely tune gene expression in order to adapt to and survive within their current niche. Obligate parasitic bacteria are under extreme pressure to quickly and appropriately adapt their gene regulatory programs in order to survive within their given host. Borrelia burgdorferi is one such organism and persists in nature by alternating between two hosts; Ixodes spp. ticks and small vertebrate animals. These two hosts represent drastically different environments; requiring a unique gene regulatory program to survive and transmit between them. Microbiologists have …

Fishhooks And Tripwire: A Particularized Implementation Of The Right To Roam To The Appalachian Trail, Katherine J. Moore

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

A Voice In The Wilderness: John Paul Stevens, Election Law, And A Theory Of Impartial Governance, Joshua A. Douglas, Cody S. Barnett

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Justice John Paul Stevens retired from the Supreme Court almost a decade ago and turned ninety-eight years old in April 2018. How should we remember his legacy on the Supreme Court? This Article places his legacy within his election law jurisprudence. Specifically, Justice Stevens provided a consistent theory, which we term “impartial governance,” that has had a lasting impact on the field. This theory undergirds Justice Stevens’s creation of the important Anderson-Burdick-Crawford balancing test that federal courts use to construe the constitutionality of laws that impact the right to vote, such as voter ID laws. It is part of his …

Going Gaga: Pop Fandom As Online Community Of Practice, John D. N. Carter

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Among various fan sites dedicated to pop stars, GagaDaily is one prominent online collective that centers around Lady Gaga. This study is a piece of ethnographic research focused on two claims – GagaDaily constitutes a Community of Practice (Eckert, 2006) in an online setting, and the regular use of humor by users fulfills social and pragmatic roles in the discourse. Communicative phenomena (both textual and graphic) that characterize the linguistic repertoire of GagaDaily members were catalogued from the first 100 pages of one thread within the forums. These data were grouped into categories corresponding to different dimensions of language use …

Emerald Ash Borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Host Expansion; Trading An Optimal Host For Enemy Free Space?, David G. Olson

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), is an aggressive invader from Asia that has killed millions of trees in North America. Recently EAB has been documented developing in a novel host, white fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus. I evaluated larval performance in two common ash species and white fringetree by infesting excised bolts with emerald ash borer eggs. In addition I evaluated several plant characteristics to determine which most influence larval development. I also conducted choice and no choice assays using the classical biological control agent, Tetrastichus planipennisi (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), to assess its ability to locate larval EAB in …

Dna Barcoding As A Tool For Species Discovery And Documentation In The Superfamily Ichneumonoidea, Sarah Meierotto

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Changes to traditional taxonomic methods to incorporate new technologies and methods have already improved the quality of species hypotheses, but more work can be done to improve the speed of new species documentation. The mitochondrial COI DNA barcode has been successfully used to identify species with high accuracy since the early 2000s, and has been used in conjunction with morphological examinations and other DNA markers to discover and delimit new species. This thesis explores the application of DNA barcodes as the primary data for delimitation and diagnosis of new species of ichneumonoids.

The genera Zelomorpha and Hemichoma are revised and …

Assessing The Application Of The Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) In Earthwork Volume Measurement, Xi Wang

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Earthwork operations are often one of the major cost items on infrastructure construction projects. Because earthwork is largely influenced by unstable construction conditions and organization plans, it becomes the emphasis and difficulties of the cost control in the construction process. Therefore, precise estimates of actual earthwork volumes are important for both owners and contractors alike to ensure appropriate payments are made. However, measuring work on site requires lots of time and labors because of various and irregular site conditions. Conventional measurement methods, such as planned quantities from the drawings or estimates from equipment activity, are rough estimates with significant opportunities …