Digital Commons Network^™

Treating Proximal Tibial Growth Plate Injuries Using Poly(Lactic-Co-Glycolic Acid) Scaffolds, Amanda Clark, J. Zach Hilt, Todd A. Milbrandt, David A. Puleo

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Growth plate fractures account for nearly 18.5% of fractures in children. Depending on the type and severity of the injury, inhibited bone growth or angular deformity caused by bone forming in place of the growth plate can occur. The current treatment involves removal of the bony bar and replacing it with a filler substance, such as a free fat graft. Unfortunately, reformation of the bony bar frequently occurs, preventing the native growth plate from regenerating. The goal of this pilot study was to determine whether biodegradable scaffolds can enhance native growth plate regeneration following a simulated injury that resulted in …

Current And Emerging Treatment Options For Anca-Associated Vasculitis: Potential Role Of Belimumab And Other Baff/April Targeting Agents, Aleksander Lenert, Petar Lenert

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) comprises several clinical entities with diverse clinical presentations, outcomes, and nonunifying pathogenesis. AAV has a clear potential for relapses, and shows unpredictable response to treatment. Cyclophosphamide-based therapies have remained the hallmark of induction therapy protocols for more than four decades. Recently, B-cell depleting therapy with the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab has proved beneficial in AAV, leading to Food and Drug Administration approval of rituximab in combination with corticosteroids for the treatment of AAV in adults. Rituximab for ANCA-associated vasculitis and other clinical trials provided clear evidence that rituximab was not inferior to cyclophosphamide for remission …

Finding Our Way Through Phenotypes, Andrew R. Deans, Suzanna E. Lewis, Eva Huala, Salvatore S. Anzaldo, Michael Ashburner, James P. Balhoff, David C. Blackburn, Judith A. Blake, J. Gordon Burleigh, Bruno Chanet, Laurel D. Cooper, Mélanie Courtot, Sándor Csösz, Hong Cui, Wasila Dahdul, Sandip Das, T. Alexander Dececchi, Agnes Dettai, Rui Diogo, Robert E. Druzinsky, Michel Dumontier, Nico M. Franz, Frank Friedrich, George V. Gkoutos, Melissa Haendel, Luke J. Harmon, Terry F Hayamizu, Yongqun He, Heather M. Hines, Nizar Ibrahim, Laura M. Jackson, Pankaj Jaiswal, Christina James-Zorn, Sebastian Köhler, Guillaume Lecointre, Hilmar Lapp, Carolyn J. Lawrence, Nicolas Le Novère, John G. Lundberg, James Macklin, Austin R. Mast, Peter E. Midford, István Mikó, Christopher J. Mungall, Anika Oellrich, David Osumi-Sutherland, Helen Parkinson, Martín J. Ramírez, Stefan Richter, Peter N. Robinson, Alan Ruttenberg, Katja S. Schulz, Erik Segerdell, Katja C. Seltmann, Michael Sharkey, Aaron D. Smith, Barry Smith, Chelsea D. Specht, R. Burke Squires, Robert W. Thacker, Anne Thessen, Jose Fernandez-Triana, Mauno Vihinen, Peter D. Vize, Lars Vogt, Christine E. Wall, Ramona L. Walls, Monte Westerfeld, Robert A. Wharton, Christian S. Wirkner, James B. Woolley, Matthew J. Yoder, Aaron M. Zorn, Paula Mabee

Entomology Faculty Publications

Despite a large and multifaceted effort to understand the vast landscape of phenotypic data, their current form inhibits productive data analysis. The lack of a community-wide, consensus-based, human- and machine-interpretable language for describing phenotypes and their genomic and environmental contexts is perhaps the most pressing scientific bottleneck to integration across many key fields in biology, including genomics, systems biology, development, medicine, evolution, ecology, and systematics. Here we survey the current phenomics landscape, including data resources and handling, and the progress that has been made to accurately capture relevant data descriptions for phenotypes. We present an example of the kind of …

Collagen Crosslinking Reagent Utilized To Modify The Mechanical Properties Of The Soft Palate In Equine Snoring And Apnea Applications, Stephanie L. Hunt

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Snoring is a sleep disruption that can lead to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which interrupts breathing by obstructing the airway. Injecting a protein crosslinker, such as genipin, into the soft palate could decrease the severity of snoring and OSA by stiffening the soft palate. Equine soft palates modeled human palates due to a high incidence of awake snoring and apnea.

The pilot in vivo study treated six horses with two 100 mM injections of the buffered genipin reagent. The efficacy phase horses underwent respiratory audio recordings to document snoring changes using Matlab and ImageJ in the time and frequency domains. …

How Do Perceived Gender Roles Influence The Number Of Attempted Medical Interventions Of Infertile Couples?, Erin Aiello

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Infertility affects 1 in 8 couples and the literature discusses the emotional effects infertility has on an individual. One option for infertility is to attempt medical interventions and the literature in the field does not explain why some people attempt more interventions than others. Using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), Cycle 6, this quantitative study aims to understand the relationship between traditional gender roles and values and the attempted number of medical interventions by individuals within a relationship experiencing infertility. The results from this study indicate that both males and females that are in relationship …

Husband's Response To Infidelity, Toby Q. Jenkins

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Infidelity is the most often cited reason for divorce in the United States and much of the world. Providing therapy for a couple trying to recover from infidelity is one of the most difficult and complex presenting problems for therapists. Much of the existing research that predicts responses to infidelity subscribes to an evolutionary psychology perspective, predicting response by gender differently based on motives concerning procreation. Males would find sexual infidelity more threatening because paternity would be uncertain, females would find emotional infidelity more threatening because of the risk of resources and protection being diverted to another female’s offspring. Much …

Continuous 1.3-Million-Year Record Of East African Hydroclimate, And Implications For Patterns Of Evolution And Biodiversity, Robert P. Lyons, Christopher Scholz, Andrew S. Cohen, John W. King, Erik T. Brown, Sarah J. Ivory, Thomas C. Johnson, Alan L. Deino, Peter N. Reinthal, Michael M. Mcglue, Margaret W. Blome

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

The transport of moisture in the tropics is a critical process for the global energy budget and on geologic timescales, has markedly influenced continental landscapes, migratory pathways, and biological evolution. Here we present a continuous, first-of-its-kind 1.3-My record of continental hydroclimate and lake-level variability derived from drill core data from Lake Malawi, East Africa (9–15° S). Over the Quaternary, we observe dramatic shifts in effective moisture, resulting in large-scale changes in one of the world’s largest lakes and most diverse freshwater ecosystems. Results show evidence for 24 lake level drops of more than 200 m during the Late Quaternary, including …

Privacy Preserving Data Mining For Numerical Matrices, Social Networks, And Big Data, Lian Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Motivated by increasing public awareness of possible abuse of confidential information, which is considered as a significant hindrance to the development of e-society, medical and financial markets, a privacy preserving data mining framework is presented so that data owners can carefully process data in order to preserve confidential information and guarantee information functionality within an acceptable boundary.

First, among many privacy-preserving methodologies, as a group of popular techniques for achieving a balance between data utility and information privacy, a class of data perturbation methods add a noise signal, following a statistical distribution, to an original numerical matrix. With the help …

Targeting Methylglyoxal And Ppar Gamma To Alleviate Neuropathic Pain Associated With Type 2 Diabetes, Ryan B. Griggs

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Neuropathic pain affects up to 50% of the 29 million diabetic patients in the United States. Neuropathic pain in diabetes manifests as a disease of the peripheral and central nervous systems. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is far greater than type 1 (90%), yet the overwhelming focus on type 1 models this has left the mechanisms of pain in type 2 diabetes largely unknown. Therefore I aimed to improve the current mechanistic understanding of pain associated with type 2 diabetes using two preclinical rodent models: Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats and db/db mice. In addition, I highlight the translational importance …

Establishment Of Biotrophy By The Maize Anthracnose Pathogen Colletotrichum Graminicola: Use Of Bioinformatics And Transcriptomics To Address The Potential Roles Of Secretion, Stress Response, And Secreted Proteins, Ester Alvarenga Santos Buiate

Theses and Dissertations--Plant Pathology

Colletotrichum graminicola is a hemibiotrophic pathogen of maize that causes anthracnose leaf and stalk rot diseases. The pathogen penetrates the host and initially establishes an intracellular biotrophic infection, in which the hyphae are separated from the living host cell by a membrane that is elaborated by the host, apparently in response to pathogen signals. A nonpathogenic mutant (MT) of C. graminicola was generated that germinates and penetrates the host normally, but is incapable of establishing a normal biotrophic infection. The mutated gene is Cpr1, conserved in eukaryotes and predicted to encode a component of the signal peptidase complex. How …

Adolescent Oral Health In Kentucky, 2007 National Survey Of Childhood Health Analysis, Kory Brinker

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

Research indicates that children raised by their grandparents can have poorer health outcomes than their peers living in mother or father based households. There is, however, little research that indicates how childhood oral health is affected by grandparents raising grandchildren. This study investigated grandparent based family structures, and how this family structure affects oral health of Kentucky children. Using data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, 113 Kentucky children were identified as living with a grandparent as a primary caregiver. Chi-Square analyses were utilized to assess the oral health status of these children, as well as what role …

An Examination Of The Psychometric Properties Of The Working Model Of The Child Interview Coding Scheme With Biological Mothers Who Have Maltreated, Brian D. Gustman

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

There are hundreds of thousands of children living in foster care in the United States on any given day. Mental health professionals may be called upon to assist with evaluating the parental capacity of these children’s parents in order to inform reunification decisions. One of the key parental capacity domains to be evaluated is the relationship between parent and child (Schmidt et al., 2007). The Working Model of the Child Interview coding scheme (WMCI; Zeanah et al., 1996) is one tool for evaluating this relationship. There is a significant practice-to-research gap with this measure. To date, no peer-reviewed studies have …

Saving Our Sisters: Effects Of A Computer-Based Version Of Sista On The Hiv-Related Behaviors Of African American Women, Krystal Frieson

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are infectious diseases wreaking irreparable havoc on the lives of millions all around the world. Of those infected and affected by HIV in the United States, African Americans disproportionately bear the burden of this disease, which has resulted in a major crisis within the African American community. In 2010, African Americans accounted for approximately 44% of all new HIV infections among adolescents, 13 years of age and older, and adults [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012). These statistics become even more dismal when both race and gender enter the …

Nutritional Assessment Of Preschool Children In An Urban Ecuadorian Community, Elizabeth A. Bronner

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Objectives: The goal of this project was to determine the nutritional needs of preschool age children to help guide intervention development. The research aims were 1) to examine and describe young child (ages one to five) nutritional status as it relates to key nutrients associated with stunting and wasting; 2) to determine what key macro- and micro-nutrient deficiencies (primarily iron and zinc) are associated with wasting and stunting.

Methodology:

Study sample: Sixty-seven families with children ages one to five who participating in routine health care clinic visits during the UK Shoulder to Shoulder Global health brigade visits.

Study …

Impact Of Welfare Participation During Childhood On Adult Income, Curran A. Prettyman

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

This paper analyzes the impact of welfare participation during childhood on adult income. In the United States, welfare programs have a long history originating from the 1800s, and over $20 billion are currently allocated to various anti-poverty programs, such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Supplemental Security Income. Many people believe that these programs effectively eradicate childhood poverty. However, ordinary least squares and instrumental variables regression models suggest welfare programs are counterproductive. On average, holding all else constant, with 95% confidence, the total dollar amount of funding received from welfare programs during childhood is statistically significant to a …

The Characteristic Imset Polytope Of Bayesian Networks With Ordered Nodes, Jing Xi, Ruriko Yoshida

Statistics Faculty Publications

In 2010, M. Studený, R. Hemmecke, and S. Lindner explored a new algebraic description of graphical models, called characteristic imsets. Compared with standard imsets, characteristic imsets have several advantages: they are still unique vector representatives of conditional independence structures, 0-1 vectors, and more intuitive in terms of graphs than standard imsets. After defining a characteristic imset polytope (cim-polytope) as the convex hull of all characteristic imsets with a given set of nodes, they also showed that a model selection in graphical models, which maximizes a quality criterion, can be converted into a linear programming problem over the cim-polytope. However, in …

The Parlous State Of Academia: When Politics, Prestige And Proxies Overtake Higher Education's Teaching Mission, Viviane Callier, Richard H. Singiser, Nathan L. Vanderford

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

Original and significant research benefits the careers of those running universities and brings prestige to their institution. World class teaching, by and large, does not, and this has important consequences for higher education's tripartite mission. Most notably, emphasis on the research mission of major higher education institutions dwarfs that of the teaching mission and this is to the detriment of teachers and students. Policy interventions are needed to address this discrepancy.

Discrimination Of Mild Cognitive Impairment And Alzheimer's Disease Using Transfer Entropy Measures Of Scalp Eeg, Joseph Mcbride, Xiaopeng Zhao, Nancy Munro, Gregory Jicha, Charles Smith, Yang Jiang

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a neurological condition related to early stages of dementia including Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study investigates the potential of measures of transfer entropy in scalp EEG for effectively discriminating between normal aging, MCI, and AD participants. Resting EEG records from 48 age-matched participants (mean age 75.7 years)-15 normal controls, 16 MCI, and 17 early AD-are examined. The mean temporal delays corresponding to peaks in inter-regional transfer entropy are computed and used as features to discriminate between the three groups of participants. Three-way classification schemes based on binary support vector machine models demonstrate overall discrimination accuracies …

Surface Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles For Cancer Therapy Applications, Robert J. Wydra

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Despite recent advances, cancer remains the second leading cause of deaths in the United States. Magnetic nanoparticles have found various applications in cancer research as drug delivery platforms, enhanced contrast agents for improved diagnostic imaging, and the delivery of thermal energy as standalone therapy. Iron oxide nanoparticles absorb the energy from an alternating magnetic field and convert it into heat through Brownian and Neel relaxations. To better utilize magnetic nanoparticles for cancer therapy, surface functionalization is essential for such factors as decreasing cytotoxicity of healthy tissue, extending circulation time, specific targeting of cancer cells, and manage the controlled delivery of …

Biomimetic Oral Mucin From Polymer Micelle Networks, Sundar Prasanth Authimoolam

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Mucin networks are formed by the complexation of bottlebrush-like mucin glycoprotein with other small molecule glycoproteins. These glycoproteins create nanoscale strands that then arrange into a nanoporous mesh. These networks play an important role in ensuring surface hydration, lubricity and barrier protection. In order to understand the functional behavior in mucin networks, it is important to decouple their chemical and physical effects responsible for generating the fundamental property-function relationship. To achieve this goal, we propose to develop a synthetic biomimetic mucin using a layer-by-layer (LBL) deposition approach. In this work, a hierarchical 3-dimensional structures resembling natural mucin networks was generated …

Noncontact Diffuse Correlation Tomography Of Breast Tumor, Lian He

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Since aggressive cancers are frequently hypermetabolic with angiogenic vessels, quantification of blood flow (BF) can be vital for cancer diagnosis. Our laboratory has developed a noncontact diffuse correlation tomography (ncDCT) system for 3-D imaging of BF distribution in deep tissues (up to centimeters). The ncDCT system employs two sets of optical lenses to project source and detector fibers respectively onto the tissue surface, and applies finite element framework to model light transportation in complex tissue geometries. This thesis reports our first step to adapt the ncDCT system for 3-D imaging of BF contrasts in human breast tumors. A commercial 3-D …

Association Of Molecular Pathology V. Myriad Genetics, Inc.: Determining The Scope Of The Supreme Court's Holding For Patentable Subject Matter, Ashley Winkler

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Using Coal Fly Ash In Agriculture: Combination Of Fly Ash And Poultry Litter As Soil Amendments For Bioenergy Feedstock Production, E. Kudjo Dzantor, Ekundayo Adeleke, Vanaha Kankarla, Oluwatosin Ogunmayowa, Dafeng Hui

Coal Combustion and Gasification Products Journal Archive

Increasing fiscal, human, and environmental costs of coal fly ash (FA) management are leading to advocacy for greater beneficial uses of the by-products as soil amendments in agriculture. Greenhouse experiments were conducted in Armour silt loam (ASL) soil that was amended with FA (10%, wt/wt) with and without poultry litter (PL 5 75 mg N/kg). Biomass productivity of eastern gamagrass (GG), a warm-season perennial grass, was measured to serve as complementary biofuel feedstock to switchgrass (SG). FA was obtained from a site at the 2008 ash spill in Kingston, TN. GG and SG were grown individually in 15-cm-wide 3 41-cm-high …

Impact Of Algae Supplemented Diets Combined With Antioxidants On The Nutritional Profile, Quality Attributes, And Storage Stability Of Chicken Breast Meat, Rebecca G. Norcross

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Consumers’ demands for ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are at all-time high. Algae, a common source of PUFAs, and antioxidants are both used as supplements in livestock feeds, are known to affect the overall quality of meat. To implement PUFA deposits into broiler meat, this study evaluated combining antioxidants and algae in broiler feed to enhance the breast meat quality. Broilers were fed diets supplemented with 50 IU Vitamin E or 200 g/ton EconomasE (EcoE, an antioxidant pack) plus 10 IU Vitamin E, with or without 0.5% algae extract (SP-1). The feed oil was partially oxidized soybean oil (POV: 86 …

Determining Soil Texture By Feel, Edwin L. Ritchey, Joshua M. Mcgrath, David Gehring

Agriculture and Natural Resources Publications

Soil texture refers to the proportion of sand, silt, and clay in a soil. Texture influences almost every aspect of soil use, both in agricultural and engineering applications, and even how natural ecosystems function. Many scientists consider soil texture the most important soil property as it can influence soil/water relationships, gas exchange, and plant nutrition. Accurately determining soil texture in a lab requires time and money; therefore, it is often necessary to estimate soil texture in the field by feel, which can be very accurate if done correctly.

Layered, Flexible Drug Delivery Films For The Prevention Of Fibrotic Scar Tissue Formation, Cheryl L. Rabek

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Open wounds account for about 50% of military injuries and 10% of non‐fatal traffic injuries. Scar tissue formation in these wounds may be reduced or prevented if treated with a combination of molecules whose release is tuned to the healing phases. The goal of this research was to develop flexible, layered drug delivery films for sequential, localized release of anti‐inflammatory, anti‐oxidant, and anti‐fibrotic molecules to soft tissue.

Films were composed of cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP) and Pluronic F‐127 (Pluronic). To impart flexibility, plasticizers, triethyl citrate (TEC) or tributyl citrate (TBC), were added. Mechanical analysis was performed on films as prepared …

A Conjoint Analysis Study Of Preferences And Purchasing Behavior Of Potential Adopters Of The Bureau Of Land Management Wild Horses, Omotoyosi O. Adekunle

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study uses conjoint analysis to examine the preferences of buyers for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horses based on physical attributes of wild horses and individual characteristics of the buyers. Generalized ordered logit models and multinomial logit models are used to study the impact of the buyers’ demographic characteristics such as age, gender, knowledge about wild horse care, and number of wild horses previously adopted on physical attributes of the horses such as color, age, height, training status, temperament, conformation, and unique markings. Using a choice experiment, taken together, these attributes determine buyer’s preferences for a wild horse. …

From Silicon Valley To The Kitchen Table: Innovative Online Agriculture & Food Start-Ups And The Law, Matthew A. Forcum

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute Annual Technical Report Fy 2014, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

KWRRI Annual Technical Reports (USGS’s 104b Grant Program)

The 2014 Annual Technical Report for Kentucky consolidates reporting requirements for the Section 104(b) base grant award into a single document that includes: 1) a synopsis of each research project that was conducted during the period, 2) citations for related publications, reports, and presentations, 3) a description of information transfer activities, 4) a summary a student support during the reporting period, and 5) notable awards and achievements during the year.

Connecting The Dots: Social Capital And The College-Going Beliefs Of Rural Appalachian Students, Amanda R. Butz

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

First-generation students and students of lower socioeconomic status often prepare for postsecondary education without the benefit of information provided by their families, resulting in lower levels of college access (Lundberg, 2007). Few researchers have sought to understand how potential first-generation college students might go about obtaining the necessary information for a successful transition to college. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine to whom students talk about college and to explore the potential reciprocal relationship between resources for and information about college provided by others and students’ educational beliefs.

This dissertation consisted of two empirical studies. In the first …