Digital Commons Network^™

Cultivating The Surface Soil To Renovate A Grama Rhodes (Chloris Gayana K. Cv. Callide) Pasture In Northwest Argentine (Noa). 3. Effect Of Interval Of Implements Applied, R. N. Berti

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Bodyweight Gain Of Grazing Sheep Responses To Stocking Rate In Stipa Breviflora Steppe, Zhongwu Wang, Guodong Han, Mengli Zhao

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Supplementation Levels For Crossbred Steers Kept In Pastures Grazing Brachiaria Brizantha, I. F. Andrade, M. M. Leão, A. A. F. Baião, E. A. A. M. Baião

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Effect Of The Pasture On Milk Production From Cinisara Cows Over The Seasons, M. Alabiso, C. Giosuè, M. L. Alicata, V. Ilardi, D. Giambalvo, G. Maniaci

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Identifying And Solving Mineral Deficiencies In Sheep And Goats In Inner Mongolia, Adrian Williams, Dunyuan Hao

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

An Investigation On Diet Selection By Sheep And Goats In Steppe Regions Of Yazd Province, Iran, Anahita Rashtian, Mansour Mesdaghi, Masoume Amirkhani

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

Magnetic Resonance And Ct Imaging Biomarkers For Prediction Of Acute And Chronic Radiation-Induced Xerostomia, Anastasia Katsavochristou, Dimitrios Koumoulis

Oral Health Practice Faculty Publications

Xerostomia is a common adverse effect of radiation therapy at the head and neck area. Radiation-induced xerostomia can be severe and detrimental for the quality of life. Clinicians and radiologists have focused on the prevention of xerostomia as feasible, which has been significantly improved in the recent decades with the use of the contemporary radiation technology. However, radiation-induced xerostomia still remains one of the most devastating side effects of radiation therapy. Clinical risk factors have been identified, but the variation of its incidence and presentation has turned the focus on the investigation of parameters that would be able to predict …

A Burning River: Why New Directives May Signal A Continuance In The Downfall Of The Ohio River, Vincent G. Kleindienst

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Wheat Disease Management With Fungicides: Qoi-Resistant Parastagonospora Nodorum And Zymoseptoria Tritici, Application Timing For Leaf Disease Management, And Sprayer Configurations For Fusarium Head Blight Management, Nathaniel Heubeck White

Theses and Dissertations--Plant Pathology

Disease management in winter wheat can be improved by a properly implemented foliar fungicide program. The fungicide, application time, and application system should be selected based on the host, pathogens present, risk of fungicide resistance, and time of disease onset. These factors vary among environments and require region-specific research to determine appropriate practices. Trials were conducted to evaluate different aspects of fungicide applications for managing Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, and the Septoria tritici leaf blotch complex, caused by Zymoseptoria tritici and Parastagonospora nodorum. A survey of P. nodorum isolates from Kentucky and Illinois and …

Maternal Proximity To Mountaintop Removal Mining And Birth Defects In Appalachian Kentucky, 1997-2003, Daniel B. Cooper

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

Background: Extraction of coal through mountaintop removal mining (MTR) alters many dimensions of the landscape, and explosive blasts, exposed rock, and coal washing have the potential to pollute air and water with substances known to increase risk of developmental and birth anomalies. Previous research suggests that infants born to mothers living in MTR coal mining counties have higher prevalence of most types of birth defects.

Objectives: This study seeks to examine further the relationship between MTR activity and birth defects by employing individual level exposure estimation through precise satellite data of MTR activity in the Appalachian region and maternal residence …

When Worlds Collide: An Intersectional Approach To Understanding The Relationship Experiences Of Bisexual-Identifying Asian Men With Same And Different Gender Partners, Cheryl Kwok

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

The relationship experiences of bisexual-identifying men of color have been neglected in psychological studies of race, gender, and sexuality. Few studies, if any, have examined the relationship experiences of Asian bisexual men, even though this population’s multiple marginalized and stigmatized social identities increase their health risks (Bryant-Davis, 2007; Carter, 2007; Ching et al., 2018). Bisexuality is commonly defined by an individual’s intimate partner attraction and/or behavior (e.g., Swan & Habibi, 2018), making relationship experiences fundamental to bisexual identity. More generally, intimate relationships can contribute to and/or pose challenges to psychological well-being (Feinstein, et al., 2016; Whitton et al., 2018), yet …

Epigenetic States Regulate Tumor Aggressiveness And Response To Targeted Therapies In Lung Adenocarcinoma, Fan Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, 85% of which are lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD). Although molecular studies of NSCLC identified targetable mutations of some oncogenes including BRAF, EGFR and ALK, no targeted therapies exist for most cases. Cancer epigenetics is the study of epigenetic modifications, including histone modifications, that control gene expression in cancer. Recent advances have revealed numerous epigenetic abnormalities in human cancers, and targeting epigenetic regulators could be effective at reversing dysregulated epigenetic programs or driving sensitivity to other targeted therapies.

Inhibitors of the histone methyltransferase EZH2 have recently been approved as …

The Tumor Suppressor Par-4 Regulates Hypertrophic Obesity, Nathalia Araujo

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Prostate Apoptosis Response-4 (Par-4) is a tumor suppressor ubiquitously expressed in all tissues and able to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Although well established in the context of cancer, relatively little is known about the function of Par-4 in the healthy and non-tumorigenic context. Observations from our lab showed that Par-4 knockout mouse lines were obese and displayed adipocyte hypertrophy under a normal chow diet when compared to Par-4 wild-type mice. These Par-4 knockout mice exhibited hepatic steatosis and hyperinsulinemia as secondary consequences of obesity. Par-4 knockout mice displayed increased intestinal dietary fat absorption and its subsequent storage in …

Mechanisms Of Cadmium-Induced And Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Mutation-Driven Lung Tumorigenesis, Hsuan-Pei Lin

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Cadmium (Cd) is a ubiquitous pollutant in the environment and a known carcinogen for lung cancer. Cd has been shown to act as a weak mutagen, which suggests that it may exert tumorigenic effect through non-genotoxic ways, such as epigenetic mechanisms. The goal of this project is to investigate the mechanisms of Cd carcinogenesis focusing on the role of lncRNA dysregulations. The Cd-exposed cells formed significantly more colonies in soft agar, displayed cancer stem cell (CSC)-like property and formed tumors in nude mice. Mechanistically, the lncRNA microarray analysis revealed that chronic Cd exposure dysregulates lncRNA expressions. Q-PCR analysis confirmed the …

Delineating The Role Of Fatty Acid Metabolism To Improve Therapeutic Strategies For Colorectal Cancer, James Drury

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world, comprising over 1 million new cases each year and over 500,000 deaths. CRC, when detected at an early stage of disease development, can be effectively treated, with a 5-year survival rate of over 90%. Such standard treatments include surgical resection of the primary tumor in combination with adjuvant chemotherapy. However, even with advancements in surgical procedures and chemotherapeutic targets, when CRC progresses to a more advance stage, the 5-year survival rate decreases significantly to just under 14%. This stark decrease in patient survival rate can be directly …

Science-Based Regulation Of Pharmacological Substances In Competition Horses, Jacob Machin

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Current testing methodologies within equine forensic toxicology focus on arbitrary thresholds and zero-tolerance policy. Modern analytical chemistry’s limits of detection are low enough that oftentimes femtogram-per-milliliter amounts of a substance can readily be identified in both blood and urine of a horse. For most pharmacologically relevant compounds, these concentrations have no relevance to pharmacological effect. It is therefore crucial that testing methodologies to determine appropriate thresholds and cut-offs be developed that are driven by biological activity rather than arbitrary limits of detection. This dissertation looks to address this by suggesting a system of calculated Effective Plasma Concentrations by which a …

Development Of Tools For Atom-Level Interpretation Of Stable Isotope-Resolved Metabolomics Datasets, Huan Jin

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

Metabolomics is the global study of small molecules in living systems under a given state, merging as a new ‘omics’ study in systems biology. It has shown great promise in elucidating biological mechanism in various areas. Many diseases, especially cancers, are closely linked to reprogrammed metabolism. As the end point of biological processes, metabolic profiles are more representative of the biological phenotype compared to genomic or proteomic profiles. Therefore, characterizing metabolic phenotype of various diseases will help clarify the metabolic mechanisms and promote the development of novel and effective treatment strategies.

Advances in analytical technologies such as nuclear magnetic resonance …

Visualizing Barrier Dysfunction Using Clarity, Rachel Robbe

Lewis Honors College Thesis Collection

Epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease are two prevalent neurological disorders. The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a factor in why there are no long-term treatments for these diseases. The transporters in the neurovascular unit (NVU), which makes up the BBB, are highly specialized, so most drugs cannot pass the barrier to treat these diseases. It is unknown why drug uptake in the BBB varies in a diseased and wild-type brain, but one theory is that there are spatial differences in the NVU. One method for examining the NVU is the CLARITY tissue clearing technique which is unique in its capability to clear …

Effects Of Sleep Fragmentation On The Progression Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Lindsay Beechem

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, neuronal death, and profound cognitive impairment. Previous studies have indicated that increased Aβ and alterations in the daily sleep-wake cycle are early risk factors and possible predictors of AD. Acute sleep deprivation decreases Aβ clearance, and increased Aβ levels stimulate neuroinflammation and accelerate loss of neurons and synapses. Likewise, it has been shown that there are higher rates of sleep disorders in AD patients. However, limited studies have investigated whether sleep fragmentation accelerates the progression of AD pathology. This partial review will discuss experiments …

An Exploration Of Sleep Fragmentation And Sleep Enhancement In Mice, Frannie Salisbury

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is can be defined by amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuronal death. AD patients have characteristically fragmented sleep, with frequent nighttime awakenings and daytime naps. Decreased clearance of Aβ from disrupted sleep may be a contributing factor in the progression of AD. This study investigated how sleep fragmentation effected the progression of AD in 3xTgAD mice. Results showed that sleep fragmented mice had significantly more Aβ build-up in the hippocampus and thus greater progression of AD when compared to control mice. Improving sleep may be one way to reduce the …

Negative Regulatory Factors In Tombusvirus Replication: Known Proteins, Novel Roles, Paulina Alatriste González

Theses and Dissertations--Plant Pathology

Although host cells are a rather rich source for co-opted host factors, lipids and metabolites, positive stranded RNA viruses vastly rewire cellular pathways and remodel cellular membranes to support viral replication. To accomplish such major changes, these viruses depend on the availability of different host factors and the ability to readily assemble viral replication organelles (VROs). Genome-wide screens and proteomics approaches with Tomato Bushy Stunt Virus (TBSV) in a yeast model host indicated that tombusviruses rely on the cellular cytoskeleton to reorganize the cellular environment of their hosts. Using temperature-sensitive (ts) mutants of beta and gamma-tubulin proteins and pharmacological inhibitors, …

Machine Learning And Bioinformatic Insights Into Key Enzymes For A Bio-Based Circular Economy, Japheth E. Gado

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The world is presently faced with a sustainability crisis; it is becoming increasingly difficult to meet the energy and material needs of a growing global population without depleting and polluting our planet. Greenhouse gases released from the continuous combustion of fossil fuels engender accelerated climate change, and plastic waste accumulates in the environment. There is need for a circular economy, where energy and materials are renewably derived from waste items, rather than by consuming limited resources. Deconstruction of the recalcitrant linkages in natural and synthetic polymers is crucial for a circular economy, as deconstructed monomers can be used to manufacture …

Physicochemical And Functional Property Modification Of Myofibrillar Protein By Phenolic Compounds Under Oxidative Stress, Anqi Guo

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Polyphenol-rich spices and extracts of phenolic compounds are widely utilized in meat processing to modify product flavors. Chemically, polyphenols are reactive with myofibrillar protein (MP), the most functional fraction of all muscle proteins responsible for texture development in comminuted meat products. Such protein–polyphenol interaction is prevalent under oxidative conditions that are common in meat processing. As a large group of phytochemicals with diverse structures, phenolic compounds are known to interact with MP with varying efficacies. Yet, the structure-function relationship of polyphenols in eliciting modification of MP is poorly understood. The overall objective of this dissertation research was to elucidate the …

The Effect Of Oil Type, Oil Quality, Vitamin E, And Phytase Supplementation On Broiler Performance, Apparent Nutrient And Energy Utilization, And The Fatty Acid Profile Of Fat And Liver In Broiler Chickens, Richard A. Adefioye

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of oil type, oil quality, phytase, and vitamin E (VE) supplementation in broiler chickens. Experiment 1 used 378-day-old male by-product Cobb breeder chicks with 9 treatments, 7 replicates, and 6 birds per replicate, structured as a 2x2x2+1 factorial arrangement of treatments for 14 days. The first 8 treatments were based on a marginally non-phytate phosphorus (NPP) deficient diet (0.31%), while treatment 9 was a positive control (PC) diet with adequate NPP levels (0.45%). There were 2 levels of phytase (0 vs 1000 FTU/kg), 2 levels of oil quality (fresh soy oil; peroxide …

Animal And Plant Protein Oxidation: Chemical And Functional Property Significance, Youling L. Xiong, Anqi Guo

Animal and Food Sciences Faculty Publications

Protein oxidation, a phenomenon that was not well recognized previously but now better understood, is a complex chemical process occurring ubiquitously in food systems and can be induced by processing treatments as well. While early research concentrated on muscle protein oxidation, later investigations included plant, milk, and egg proteins. The process of protein oxidation involves both radicals and nonradicals, and amino acid side chain groups are usually the site of initial oxidant attack which generates protein carbonyls, disulfide, dityrosine, and protein radicals. The ensuing alteration of protein conformational structures and formation of protein polymers and aggregates can result in significant …

Investigations Into The Genetics Of Mixed Pathologies In Dementia, Adam Dugan

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that leads to a loss of memory and thinking skills. While tremendous progress has been made in our understanding of the genetics underlying AD, currently known genetic variants explain only approximately 30% of the heritable risk of developing AD. One hurdle to AD research is that it can only be definitively diagnosed at autopsy, making cruder, clinic-based diagnoses more common. In recent years, several brain pathologies that mimic AD’s clinical presentation have been identified including brain arteriolosclerosis, hippocampal sclerosis (HS), and, most recently, limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE). It has become …

Scalable Approaches For Auditing The Completeness Of Biomedical Ontologies, Fengbo Zheng

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

An ontology provides a formalized representation of knowledge within a domain. In biomedicine, ontologies have been widely used in modern biomedical applications to enable semantic interoperability and facilitate data exchange. Given the important roles that biomedical ontologies play, quality issues such as incompleteness, if not addressed, can affect the quality of downstream ontology-driven applications. However, biomedical ontologies often have large sizes and complex structures. Thus, it is infeasible to uncover potential quality issues through manual effort. In this dissertation, we introduce automated and scalable approaches for auditing the completeness of biomedical ontologies. We mainly focus on two incompleteness issues -- …

Evaluation Of Liquid Ice Melting Additives For Winter Maintenance Applications, Erin Lammers-Staats

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

Winter weather can often pose difficulties for transportation agencies as they work to clear roads of snow and ice quickly so that motorists can travel safely and efficiently. Kentucky has made efforts to maximize efficiency within its winter maintenance program by focusing on optimized equipment usage and personnel time management. This study’s objective was to evaluate novel anti-icers and calculate how their performance compared to the current performance of brine and calcium chloride mixture. New brine additives claim to offer better results, but there is very little guidance about how to systematically evaluate new anti-icers. The author developed a testing …

Characterization Of Modulation And Coherence In Sensorimotor Rhythms Using Different Electroencephalographic Signal Derivations, Stephen Dundon

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a widely used technique for monitoring and analyzing brain activity in experimental, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. Since EEG is sensitive to noise and artefact sources, referential signals at different locations can be combined in different ways to improve signal quality and better localize cortical activity. Four signal derivations were compared against referential EEG in terms of their ability to measure the alpha rhythm modulation (or reactivity) and spatial coherence associated with an eye closure task: a common average reference (CAR), a local average reference (LAR), a large Laplacian (LL), and a focal Laplacian (FL) estimated using a …

Productivity And Efficiency Difference Among Kentucky Grain Farms, Ahmed Yahya Hussein

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This paper attempts to estimate productivity and efficiency for Kentucky grain farms by applying a two-stage Date Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and DEA-based Malmquist method. The study covers the years 1999-2015. Also, productivity and efficiency testing hypotheses among different farm sizes and years are estimated. In the first step, productivity and efficiency indices are estimated through deterministic DEA. In the second stage, a panel regression is run with exogenous variables to explain the productivity and efficiency variation. In general small farms were found to be the least scale efficient compared to mid-sized and large farms, even though the results show overall …