Digital Commons Network^™

Early Developmental Exposure To Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Causes Hyperactivity In Larval Zebrafish That Persists Into Adulthood, Victoria Jackson

Honors Theses

Due to the increasing availability of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), evaluation of the potential adverse behavioral effects following exposure to this cannabinoid during early development is crucial. Following exposure to 0.08, 0.4, or 1 µM THC as larvae (6-96 hours post fertilization), this study measured the latent behavioral effects caused by THC through testing the fish at the following life stages: larval photomotor response (LPR) at 120 hpf, and open field testing (OFT) at 3 weeks post fertilization (juvenile), 11 wpf (onset of sexual maturity) and 24 wpf (adulthood). During the LPR test, hyperactivity in the dark phase was evident in larval …

The Neuroprotective Effects Of Estradiol And Genistein In Zebra Finch Cerebellum, Renee E. Breaux

Honors Theses

The estradiol (E2) synthetic pathway converts testosterone to E2 via aromatase (AROM) and plays an important role in neuroplasticity. However, exogenous E2 increases cancer risk and interferes with gonadal function. Phytoestrogens, plant-based estrogens, may provide neuroprotection without negative E2 effects. Genistein (GEN), a soy phytoestrogen, preferentially binds to estrogen receptor beta (ER β), which is expressed at a relatively higher concentration than ER α in the cerebellum (CB). The songbird CB is an ideal model for steroid-mediated plasticity. Songbird brains are highly plastic and CB contains all steroid-synthetic enzymes. Previous studies in zebra finches (ZF) have shown that AROM and …

American Goldfinches (Spinus Tristis): Changes In Behavior During Mycoplasma Gallisepticum Infection, Hetal Shingrani

Honors Theses

Animal sickness behavior is an important component of disease ecology and is essential to understanding wildlife diseases and how and where animals allocate resources for survival. This study examines sickness behaviors, the extent of conjunctivitis, and the presence of an antibody response in relation to a Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) respiratory infection in American goldfinches. We conducted an experimental infection of American goldfinches and recorded behavior videos, and collected blood samples, throat swabs, eye swelling, and mass data at multiple time points throughout the experiment. An ELISA-serum assay was run after the conclusion of the study to identify the presence of …

The Design Of A Pcr-Based Assay To Detect And Isolate The Serine Palmitolytransferase Gene From Environmental Bacteria, Lana Taylor

Honors Theses

Sphingolipids are a natural class of lipids that function as structural elements of cell membranes and signaling molecules for important cellular activities such as cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, recognition, and adhesion. These lipids can be found universally in eukaryotic cells as well as some species of bacteria, such as those found in the human gut microbiome and in the environment in soils. Though sphingolipid production is rare in bacteria, both eukaryotic and prokaryotic sphingolipid biosynthesis begin with the condensation of serine and palmitoyl CoA into 3-ketodihydrosphingosine catalyzed by the enzyme serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT). In recent years, several studies have shown …

Biologist Helps Unlock Secrets Of Galapagos Tortoises, Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi News

Ryan C. Garrick publishes results of DNA comparisons in the journal Heredity

Covalent Modification Of Recombinant Protein With Reactive Thiols, Sawyer Dulaney, Bailey Taylor

Honors Theses

Many diseases cause chronic and painful inflammation in different body systems. One of the front-line drug classes to treat such inflammation is Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). Despite the benefits of oral administration of NSAIDs, there are drawbacks to their long-term usage because they can cause detrimental effects on off-target systems in the body such as the liver, kidney, or the lining of the intestinal tract. An alternative to NSAIDs is the usage of hydrogels for targeted drug delivery. Hydrogels can provide drug delivery in a specific portion of the site of inflammation, thus allowing higher doses of medication to be …

The Role Of Ionic Liquids In Gold Nanorod Synthesis, Noah Grovich

Honors Theses

The term cancer is used to define a large set of medical conditions that result from uncontrolled cell proliferation. The severity of cancer ranges depending on several factors, but it is one of the leading causes of death in approximately 60% of the world. Current treatment options are often not efficacious and face many limitations especially regarding limiting the secondary damage to healthy cells. Gold nanorods have shown to be a potential solution for effectively overcoming many of these barriers, but their employment is limited due to toxicity concerns stemming from the use of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in their synthesis. …

College Students Fail To Identify Nutrition Misinformation On Social Media, Helen Mary Katool

Honors Theses

Social media has become a part of everyday life in our society and has the capability to reach billions, across age groups. Research has shown that there is a direct link between the widespread access to social media and the amount of misinformation that is circulating. In fact, unqualified and uneducated individuals share believable but inaccurate nutrition posts. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine if college students can distinguish the difference between nutrition misinformation or factual nutrition information when presented on social media. Male and female college students (>18 years old) from two classes (nutrition and …

Discovery Of Truffles (Tuber Species) In North Mississippi Pecan Orchards, Scout Hodges

Honors Theses

This thesis describes a study conducted in the years 2019-2022, which aimed to discover a new species of truffle in the state of Mississippi. Tuber lyonii, more commonly referred to as the “pecan truffle,” is an ectomycorrhizal fungus found on the roots of pecan trees in much of the southeastern region of the United States. Though there are many truffles native to the United States, the pecan truffle is one of the few that has been found to have high culinary value. Given the plethora of pecan orchards in the state of Mississippi, I decided to search for evidence …

America’S History Of Health Disparities: How Does This Affect The Future Of Healthcare In Mississippi?, Zuri O. Dixon Omere, Jazmin King

Honors Theses

America’s healthcare system runs rampant with healthcare inequalities that have an alarming effect on minorities and people of color. In order for people of color and marginalized groups to receive proper care and treatment, more attention needs to be brought to these inequalities. For example, Covid-19 reflected the health inequalities that are present in this country; minorities were more likely to become hospitalized due to Covid-19 than other non-minorities. In addition, minorities in women’s health, specifically black women, have been affected in various ways that are related to the inequalities in medicine like dying during childbirth and improper care. This …

Design Of An Implanted Vascular Access Device With A Mechanical Septum, Mallory Ann Moffett, Katherine Rose O'Quinn

Honors Theses

As populations continue to age, their need for medical care continues to rise. This is seen by the large need for implanted vascular devices (IVADs). IVADs are essential for individuals with poor venous access and patients requiring long-term venous delivered drugs. This document will explore the existing IVADs, where they fall short, and where our device, the IrisPort system, works to solve the unmet needs of patients. The IrisPort system is a needle-less port system that allows for repeated venous access without the use of a non-coring needle. Prior art searches have shown that the IrisPort is a novel solution …

Isolation Of Echimidine And Its C-7 Isomers From Echium Plantagineum L. And Their Hepatotoxic Effect On Rat Hepatocytes, Michał Gleńsk, Marta K. Dudek, Peter Kinkade, Evelyn C.S. Santos

Faculty and Student Publications

Echimidine is the main pyrrolizidine alkaloid of Echium plantagineum L., a plant domesti-cated in many countries. Because of echimidine’s toxicity, this alkaloid has become a target of the European Food Safety Authority regulations, especially in regard to honey contamination. In this study, we determined by NMR spectroscopy that the main HPLC peak purified from zinc reduced plant extract with an MS [M + H]+ signal at m/z 398 corresponding to echimidine (1), and in fact also represents an isomeric echihumiline (2). A third isomer present in the smallest amount and barely re-solved by HPLC from co-eluting (1) and (2) was …

Essential Oil Yield, Composition, And Bioactivity Of Sagebrush Species In The Bighorn Mountains, Valtcho D. Zheljazkov, Charles L. Cantrell, Ekaterina A. Jeliazkova, Tess Astatkie

Faculty and Student Publications

Sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) are dominant wild plants in large areas of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and they include several species and subspecies. The aim was to determine if there are significant differences in essential oil (EO) yield, composition, and biological activity of sagebrush within the Bighorn Mountains, U.S. The EO yield in fresh herbage varied from 0.15 to 1.69% for all species, including 0.25–1.69% in A. tridentata var. vaseyana, 0.64–1.44% in A. tridentata var. tridentata, 1% in A. tridentata var. wyomingensis, 0.8–1.2% in A. longifolia, 0.8–1% in A. cana, and 0.16% in A. ludoviciana. There was significant variability in …

Fractionation Of Sulfated Galactan From The Red Alga Botryocladia Occidentalis Separates Its Anticoagulant And Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Properties, Seon Beom Kim, Mary Zoepfl, Priyanka Samanta, Fuming Zhang

Faculty and Student Publications

Sulfation pattern and molecular weight (MW) play a key role in the biological actions of sulfated glycans. Besides anticoagulant effects, certain sulfated glycans can also exhibit anti-SARS-CoV-2 properties. To develop a more selective antiviral carbohydrate, an efficient strategy to separate these two actions is required. In this work, low MW fractions derived from the red alga Botryocladia occidentalis sulfated galactan (BoSG) were generated, structurally characterized, and tested for activity against SARS-CoV-2 and blood coagulation. The lowest MW fraction was found to be primarily composed of octasaccharides of monosulfated monosaccharides. Unlike heparin or native BoSG, we found that hydrolyzed BoSG products …

A Simple, Cost-Effective, And Green Hptlc Method For The Estimation Of Ascorbic Acid In Solvent And Ultrasound-Assisted Extracts Of Phyllanthus Emblica, Capsicum Annuum, And Psidium Guajava, Ahmed I. Foudah, Prawez Alam, Faiyaz Shakeel, Aftab Alam

Faculty and Student Publications

Greener analytical methodologies for the estimation of ascorbic acid (AA) are poorly reported in the literature. Furthermore, the green indexes of the literature’s analytical assays of AA estimation have not been assessed. As a consequence, the aim of this research is to invent and validate a simple, cost-effective, and green reverse-phase “high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC)” method for the estimating AA in the solvent extracts (SE) and ultrasound-assisted extracts (UAE) of Phyllanthus emblica, Psidium guajava, and Capsicum annuum. The greener mobile phase for AA estimation was a binary mixture of water and ethanol (70:30, v/v). At a wavelength of 265 nm, …

Selective Inhibition Of Plasmodium Falciparum Atpase 6 By Artemisinins And Identification Of New Classes Of Inhibitors After Expression In Yeast, Catherine M. Moore, Jigang Wang, Qingsong Lin, Pedro Ferreira

Faculty and Student Publications

Treatment failures with artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) threaten global efforts to eradicate malaria. They highlight the importance of identifying drug targets and new inhibitors and of studying how existing antimalarial classes work. Here, we report the successful development of a heterologous expression-based compoundscreening tool. The validated drug target Plasmodium falciparum ATPase 6 (PfATP6) and a mammalian orthologue (sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 1a [SERCA1a]) were functionally expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, providing a robust, sensitive, and specific screening tool. Whole-cell and in vitro assays consistently demonstrated inhibition and labeling of PfATP6 by artemisinins. Mutations in PfATP6 resulted in fitness costs that were …

Analysis Of Test Anxiety In Human Anatomy And Physiology I Students At The University Of Mississippi, Anne Piazza

Honors Theses

Student anxiety, specifically test anxiety, is common hindrance to student performance in various courses including Human Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Mississippi. Through a sequence of three surveys we collected demographic information, anxiety data related to the course, and test anxiety in general We researched factors that could potentially influence student anxiety such as at what point in the semester the student is evaluated, when students feel the most stressed, outcomes on previous evaluations, and perceived outcomes of the course. We also examined what effect the anxiety has on the student such as lowered performance, lowered test scores, …

Identification Of The Putative Binding Site Of A Novel Benzimidazole (Etazene) And Its Metabolites On Μ-Opioid Receptor: A Systematic Computational Study And Detection Using Human Liver Microsomes, Isuru Nipun Hewamanna

Honors Theses

The abuse of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) has risen dramatically worldwide, especially among recreational users and regular abusers. The absence of pharmacological and toxicological data on new, illicitly used, and abused opioids, results in serious adverse effects, including death. The synthetic benzimidazole opioid, Etazene (70 times higher analgesic activity than morphine), gained popularity as a recreational drug on the illegal/darknet market; however, no experimental information is available at the

molecular level on the binding mechanism and putative binding site of Etazene and its metabolites at the µ-opioid receptor (MOR). In the present study, we investigated the possibilities of MOR activation …

April 28, 2022, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Indie Illness: An Evaluation Of The Orphan Drug Act, Nicholas Castellanos

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 by subtracting the cost of incentives for drug development from the estimated value created by each drug in the form of quality-adjusted life-year gains. Data regarding costs of incentives is retrieved from the FDA as well as a report released by the National Organization for Rare Disorders. Data regarding value created by each drug is retrieved from a Freedom of Information Act request to the FDA, the CEA registry, and a report released by the US Department of Health and Human Sciences. Sufficient data was available …

The Relationship Between Ptsd-Related Symptoms And Skin Disease Symptom Severity In A Dermatological Sample, Kristin Barnett

Honors Theses

Previous research has demonstrated associations between stress and physical health conditions, including skin disease. The stress cycle, including its associated hormonal responses and stress behaviors, contributes to more severe skin disease symptoms. Psychological stress and anxiety-disorder symptoms are known to be associated with skin disease severity; however, research has yet to examine the relationships between stress disorders and skin disease severity. Therefore, stress disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) are hypothesized to have a similar relationship with skin disease severity, wherein greater severity of PTSD-related symptoms would be positively associated with skin disease severity. Participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (N …

Occupational Fine Particulate Matter Exposure And Its Associated Effects On The Cardiovascular System: A Systematic Review, Jordan Rickwa

Honors Theses

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5), the solid and liquid portion of air pollution under 2.5 microns in diameter, has been shown to cause numerous negative effects on the body. These inhalable particles are often researched for their effects on the respiratory system in outdoor settings, however systemic health impacts have been observed following inhalation of PM2.5 . Additionally, exposures to PM2.5 can occur in occupational settings but are less frequently studied compared to outdoors. This literature review seeks to identify studies that determined associations between inhaled PM2.5 and the resulting cardiovascular effects in occupational settings. We conducted a search of literature …

Targeting Platelets Using Ionic Liquid Coated Nanoparticles, Karen Mun Wong

Honors Theses

Platelets are key players in our body’s inflammatory processes upon activation, which can create physiological problems. Researchers are actively seeking solutions by targeting platelets with therapeutics. The objective of the research in this thesis was to investigate a new and potentially less invasive drug delivery platform using nanoparticles. The topic of the project was to explore the world of ionic liquids and their abilities, when coated on nanoparticles, to bind to platelets. A library of choline carboxylic acid-based ionic liquids (ILs) was first synthesized via salt metathesis while PLGA-based nanoparticles were simultaneously being synthesized via the nanoprecipitation method. The ionic …

Development Of A Non-Invasive Dna Extraction Method From Teeth, Monalisa Heng

Honors Theses

Forensic dentistry has evolved from simple morphological investigations to genetic and molecular analysis. One of the most important techniques is DNA analysis which requires viable samples from an individual or crime site. The orofacial region can be a good source for DNA samples because the tissues can resist environmental, thermal, electrical, and mechanical challenges. Teeth are especially useful as a source of genetic material because the DNA located in the pulp is surrounded by protective mineral tissue. The DNA in the pulp tissue is currently accessed through destructive methods involving crushing, pulverization, and splitting the tooth. Unfortunately, destructive methods destroy …

Fast Photochemical Oxidation And Footprinting Of Proteins Via Trifluoromethyl Radical Chemistry, Elaine Morrow

Honors Theses

Fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) is a useful tool in proteomics because of the ability for modifications to occur on the scale of microseconds which reduces the modifications to tertiary and quaternary structure allowing for more accurate labeling of the protein. Labels for FPOP are generated from various radicals in our experiments which include hydroxyl radicals and trifluoromethyl radicals. Hydroxyl radicals are easily generated by using an excimer laser (KrF laser, 248 nm) or a UV flash lamp (as a part of the Fox™ System) by the photolysis of hydrogen peroxide. Trifluoromethyl radicals, however, need hydroxyl radicals to be …

April 14, 2022, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Delta Conservation Topic For Hybrid Oxford Science Cafe, Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi News

Biologist Jason Hoeksema to discuss balancing wetland preservation with agricultural needs

Relative Energy Comparison For Various Water Clusters Using Mp2, Df-Mp2, And Ccsd(T):Mp2 Methods, Qihang Wang

Honors Theses

The study of water clusters is an important area of research in many disciplines, such as biology, physical chemistry, and environmental studies. However, due to the difficulty in studying larger water clusters, such as clathrate hydrates, it is beneficial to obtain accurate descriptions of smaller water clusters to use as models for larger systems via computational methods. By starting with small water clusters, such as (H2O)₆, and moving into larger systems it is possible to build up data on various water structures that can determine the energetics of the various geometries within a certain number of water molecules. …

Dr. David Coon Joins Ole Miss Student Health Services, Dana Engelbert

University of Mississippi News

Popular Oxford physician enhances student care choices

Ten Seniors Named 2021-22 Hall Of Fame Inductees, Edwin B. Smith

University of Mississippi News

Ole Miss students honored for service, achievement and potential for success