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Effect Of Processing Conditions On Phytochemical Constituents Of Edible Irish Seaweed Himanthalia Elongata., Sabrina Cox, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam, Shilpi Gupta

Articles

Seaweed iswell recognized as an excellent source of phytochemicals. This study was a preliminary screening to investigate the effects of various food processing methods on the phytochemicals of Himanthalia elongata. Hydrothermal processing was carried out until an edible texture was achieved. The total phenolic content (TPC) of fresh H. elongata was 175.27 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g fresh weight (FW) while boiling significantly reduced the TPC to 25.4 mg GAE/100 g FW
(P < 0.05).A drying pretreatment before boiling reduced the cooking time therefore leading to less leaching of antioxidants upon boiling. In terms of extract, drying of H. elongata followed by boiling had the most significant effect on the phytochemicals as TPC increased by 174%. Boiled extracts had the most effective 2, 2-diphenyl- 1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity (EC50 of 12.5 mg/mL). As a comparison, seaweed subjected to the same treatments was studied in terms of antimicrobial activity.Overall, extracts fromfresh H. elongata achieved the highest inhibition.

Application Of Principal Component And Hierarchical Cluster Analysis To Classify Different Spices Based On In-Vitro Antioxidant Activity And Individual Polyphenolic Antioxidant Compounds, Mohammad Hossain, Ankit Patras, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Nigel Brunton

Articles

This study investigated the variations in antioxidant profiles between spices using pattern recognition tools; classification was achieved based on the results of global antioxidant activity assays (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl [DPPH], oxygen radical absorbance capacity [ORAC], ferric reducing antioxidant power [FRAP], microsomal lipid peroxidation [MLP] and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) [ABTS]), levels of different polyphenolic compounds (gallic acid [GA], carnosol [CAR], carnosic acid [CRA], caffeic acid [CA], rosmarinic acid [RA], luteolin-7-O-glucoside [LOG], apigenin-7-O-glucoside [APOG] and total phenols [TP]) of spices namely rosemary, oregano, marjoram, sage, basil, thyme, fennel, celery, cumin and parsley, commonly consumed in Ireland were analyzed. Rosemary showed the highest antioxidant activity measured …

Mechanosensitive Channels: What Can They Do And How Do They Do It?, Elizabeth S. Haswell, Rob Phillips, Douglas C. Rees

Biology Faculty Research

While mechanobiological processes employ diverse mechanisms, at their heart are force-induced perturbations in the structure and dynamics of molecules capable of triggering subsequent events. Among the best characterized force-sensing systems are bacterial mechanosensitive channels. These channels reflect an intimate coupling of protein conformation with the mechanics of the surrounding membrane; the membrane serves as an adaptable sensor that responds to an input of applied force and converts it into an output signal, interpreted for the cell by mechanosensitive channels. The cell can exploit this information in a number of ways: ensuring cellular viability in the presence of osmotic stress and …

The Gut Microbiome In Healthy And Severely Malnourished Humans, Tanya Yatsunenko

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Human large intestine is home to tens of trillions of microbes belonging to all three do- mains of life. The functions encoded by the genes in this community: microbiome) include processing and production of macro- and micronutrients. Much remains unknown about the factors that determine the assembly of the gut microbial community starting at birth, and if disruptions in the assembly of this `microbial metabolic organ' early in life result in physiologic and metabolic deficits later in life. The central goal of my thesis was to char- acterize development of the gut microbiome early in life, with a focus on …

Optimal Control In Gene Mutation, Juanyi Yu

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Gene mutations are the radical causes of many diseases, including inheritance diseases and cancers. Current medical treatments usually focus on changing the concentrations of related chemicals or mRNAs at the cellular level to stop protein productions or cell duplications, which can only control the diseases under certain circumstances but cannot cure them. Little research work has been done at the molecular level, the fundamental of inheritance, to search possible ways to cure those severe diseases. In this dissertation, we propose a molecular level control system view of the gene mutations in DNA replication from the finite field concept. By treating …

Photoacoustic Tomography Of Water In Phantom And Biological Tissue, Zhun Xu

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Restoring Relationships: Indigenous Ways Of Knowing Meet Undergraduate Environmental Studies And Science, Nancy Leigh Rich

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As places to engage with changing and complex ideas, institutions of higher education offer a logical site for bringing Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science. However, profound differences between Indigenous and Western knowledges, as well as ongoing colonialism, cultural biases of science, and the nature of mainstream academia, have discouraged this endeavor. Recent developments in undergraduate pedagogy now point the way.

Using critical inquiry and qualitative methodology, this comparative study developed recommendations for practice based on current undergraduate teaching practices that bring Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science across a diversity of …

Dormant Ethnobotany: A Case Study Of Decline In Regional Plant Knowledge In The Bull Run Mountains Of Virginia, Susan Rene Leopold

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation introduces and applies the concept of dormant ethnobotany, a concept that helps explain the socio-economic, cultural and ecological aspects and implications of the transition away from active use of ethnobotanical knowledge and the factors that may lead to its re-emergence. Dormant ethnobotany is the study of relationships between people and plants that are inactive, but nonetheless still alive in memories, the historic record, and folklore and thereby capable of reemergence in support of the transition to a more sustainable society. The dissertation extends the field of ethnobotany from its current roots in the dynamic ethnobotany of indigenous peoples. …

A Self-Psychological Exploration Of Multiple Sclerosis In Its Biopsychosocial Context, Elisabeth Anne Parrott

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This theoretical dissertation constructs a new frame of reference for understanding relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) using self psychology to develop a biopsychosocial formulation of the illness in order to better inform the medical treatment of patients. After conducting a critical exploration of MS in its historical context and providing a brief overview of the etiology of MS, this paper examines the phenomenology of the illness using the concepts of self psychology to further develop the theory of Engel’s (1977) biopsychosocial model. The relationship among biological, intrapsychic, and social factors and coherent conceptualization and medical treatment of multiple sclerosis is addressed. …

The Technology Of Grief: Social Networking Sites As A Modern Death Ritual, Jordan Ciel Fearon

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Technology plays a significant role in the socialization and development of society. One popular technology includes Facebook, a Social Networking Site (SNS). As Facebook has become a common site for reaching out to others for a sense of support and connection, it has also become a site to express grief and bereavement through the creation of Memorial Groups. Through a qualitative survey design, descriptive information regarding the impetus to create a Memorial Group as well as the desired utility was examined through the perspective of the creator. An online questionnaire consisting of open and closed-ended questions was completed by 68 …

Walking In Two Worlds: Living An Animistic Spiritual Worldview In The Western United States, Joanne Dorpat Halverson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

An abundance of culturally derived ideological influences inform our lives. The dominant culture exerts a powerful influence on understandings of reality. For some people, their spiritual way of being in the world deviates from cultural norms. In this qualitative study I sought to understand the lived experience of people who hold an animistic spiritual worldview and yet function well within society. They walk in two worlds. The research design employed both phenomenological and heuristic methods. To understand the socio-cultural-historical context of the study a lengthy background was provided. Six individuals who self-identified as adhering to animistic spirituality living on the …

Integrating Morita Therapy And Art Therapy: An Analysis, Ayako Sato

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study presents therapeutic interventions combining Morita Therapy with art therapy techniques. The author presents literature reviews of art therapy as well as the original Morita Therapy formulated by Shoma Morita, M.D. A new art therapy technique based on the work of Kenji Kitanishi, M.D. (2008) for outpatient treatment is also presented. A case illustration of an eleven‐year‐old Vietnamese‐American boy who presented with high anxiety and school refusal is used as an example of the effective integration of Morita Therapy with art therapy techniques formulated by the author. Even though the boy was not familiar with Morita Therapy principles, the …

The Role Of Nature In John Muir's Conception Of The Good Life, Randy R. Larsen

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Aristotle says our best moral guidance comes from considering the lives of exemplary individuals. I explore John Muir, as an exemplar of environmental virtue, and consider the role of Nature in his conception of the good life. I argue his conception consists of a web of virtue including various goods, values, and virtues. I suggest three virtues are cardinal: attentiveness, gratitude and reverence. I explore how Muir cultivated these virtues in Nature.

I argue Muir sought freedom from a popular conception of the good life, grounded in the gilded age values of money and materialism, and was sensitive to the …

Modelling The Effect Of Asparaginase In Reducing Acrylamide Formation In Biscuits, Monica Anese, Barbara Quarta, Jesus Maria Frias

Articles

The influence of asparaginase on acrylamide formation, as well as colour development, in short dough biscuits was studied. In particular, asparaginase concentration, incubation time and temperature were changed according to an experimental design. As acrylamide formation was found to vary significantly between biscuits obtained by using the same ingredients and process, a mixed effect model was used to model variation of acrylamide concentration. By contrast a fixed effect model was used for colour polynomial analysis. Within the range of study, the overall results allowed the best conditions for minimising acrylamide formation to be found. It can be suggested that acrylamide …

Bioactive Potential And Possible Health Effects Of Edible Brown Seaweeds, Shilpi Gupta, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Articles

Marine macroalgae (seaweeds) are rich in bioactive compounds that could potentially be exploited as functional ingredients for both human and animal health applications. Despite the intensive efforts that are being made to isolate and identify new compounds with potential medicinal, health or pharmaceutical activities, very few compounds with real potency are available. Bioactive compounds that are most extensively researched include sulfated polysaccharides, phlorotannins and diterpenes. These compounds have been reported to possess strong anti-viral, anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties. At the same time, the prebiotic health potential of the polysaccharides from seaweeds is also increasingly being studied either by feeding whole …

Application Of Principal Component And Hierarchical Cluster Analysis To Classify Different Spices Based On In Vitro Antioxidant Activity And Individual Polyphenolic Antioxidant Compounds, M. Hossain, A. Patras, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, N. Brunton

Articles

This study investigated the variations in antioxidant profiles between spices using pattern recognition tools; classification was achieved based on the results of global antioxidant activity assays (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl [DPPH], oxygen radical absorbance capacity [ORAC], ferric reducing antioxidant power [FRAP], microsomal lipid peroxidation [MLP] and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) [ABTS]), levels of different polyphenolic compounds (gallic acid [GA], carnosol [CAR], carnosic acid [CRA], caffeic acid [CA], rosmarinic acid [RA], luteolin-7-O-glucoside [LOG], apigenin-7-O-glucoside [APOG] and total phenols [TP]) of spices namely rosemary, oregano, marjoram, sage, basil, thyme, fennel, celery, cumin and parsley, commonly consumed in Ireland were analyzed. Rosemary showed the highest antioxidant activity measured …

Joachim Du Bellay's Occasional Poetry: The Poetics Of Female Patronage, Elizabeth Landers

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This study seeks to demonstrate that female patrons at the Valois court--particularly Marguerite de France, and, to a lesser extent Diane de Poitiers--had a defining influence on both the career and the aesthetic choices of the sixteenth-century French poet Joachim Du Bellay. Although it has often been acknowledged that Du Bellay and Marguerite enjoyed a special relationship, the current study reveals the extent to which Marguerite served as an organizing principal for Du Bellay's entire writing life. As an admired patron, she provided moral support and networking opportunities that encouraged and rewarded Du Bellay's poetic production; her erudition and literary …

New Paradigm Of Defibrillation: Towards Painless Therapy, Wenwen Li

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Sudden cardiac death: SCD) causes approximately 300,000 - 400,000 deaths a year in the United States. It usually starts as ventricular tachycardia: VT) and then degenerates into ventricular fibrillation: VF). Implantable cardioverter defibrillator: ICD) therapy is the only reliable treatment of VT/VF and has been shown to effectively reduce mortality by many clinical trials. However, high-voltage ICD shocks could result in myocardial dysfunction and damage. The majority of patients receiving ICD therapy have a history of coronary disease; their hearts develop myocardium infarction, which could provide a substrate for reentrant tachy-arrhythmias. Other than lethal ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation: AF) became …

Cardiac Remodeling Of Conduction, Repolarization And Excitation-Contraction Coupling: From Animal Model To Failing Human Heart, Qing Lou

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with rising impact with the increasing ageing population. This is in sharp contrast with the limited and non-ideal therapies available. Approximately 50% of deaths from heart failure are sudden and unexpected, and presumably the consequence of lethal ventricular arrhythmias. Despite significant reduction of mortality from sudden cardiac death achieved by ICDs and drugs such as beta-blockers, there remains a large room for improving the survivability of heart failure patients by advancing our understanding of arrhythmogenesis from molecular level to multi-cellular tissue level. Another important aspect of heart failure is …

Relational Selves In Eighteenth-Century Literature, Kate Parker

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

We imagine the eighteenth century to be the time when modern individuals constituted themselves against the forces of communal obligation, when marriage emerged as a union based on singular affection, and when heterosexuality cohered as an ideology. But Relational Selves in Eighteenth Century Literature argues that a libertine logic of communal attraction, spontaneous affiliation, and transitory affection remains central to the literary production of modern selfhood in the eighteenth century. It thus departs from well-established critical narratives that entwine the modern self with the eighteenth-century emergence of sexual complementarity, the companionate marriage, and bourgeois individualism. I show instead how eighteenth-century …

Dominant Suppression Of Early Innate Immune Mechanisms By Yersinia Pestis, Paul Price

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Disease progression of primary pneumonic plague is biphasic, consisting of a pre-inflammatory and a pro-inflammatory phase. Most lung pathogens induce a measureable inflammatory response within a few hours of infection, but Yersinia pestis is strikingly different: the first 36 hours of infection are characterized by rapid bacterial replication in the lung without generating appreciable levels of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines, histological changes in infected tissue or outward disease symptoms. The ultimate goal of this thesis was to understand the processes that contribute to the pre-inflammatory phase of disease. Upon inhalation of infectious droplets, Y. pestis can interact with a myriad of different …

Pathological And Biomedical Characteristics Of Spinal Cord Injury Determined Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Tsang-Wei Tu

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Traumatic spinal cord injury: SCI) is the most devastating injury that often causes the victim permanent paralysis and undergo a lifetime of therapy and care. It is caused by a mechanical impact that ultimately causes pathophysiological consequences which at this moment in time are an unresolved scientific challenge of great social impact. Scientists have long used animal contusion models to study the pathophysiology of SCI in the discovery of progressive secondary tissue degeneration, demyelination, and apoptosis. More importantly, most therapies that have gone to human clinical trial were first validated in spinal cord contusion models. Magnetic resonance imaging: MRI) is …

A Molecular Basis For Divergent, Unstable Actin Filaments In Toxoplasma Gondii, Kristen Skillman

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Toxoplasma gondii is an important parasitic pathogen of the phylum Apicomplexa. Parasite invasion of host cells involves a unique gliding motility mechanism that is dependent on polymerization of parasite actin. However, in non-motile parasites, the majority of actin is monomeric and filaments only assemble upon initiation of gliding motility. Actin filament turnover is crucial for motility as shown by the detrimental effects of jasplakinolide, an agent that stabilizes actin filaments. T. gondii actin: TgACTI) is functionally highly divergent from conventional actin and only polymerizes into very short filaments. To understand why T. gondii actin does not form long filaments and …

Quantitative Perfusion-Sensitive Mri Phantoms, Jeff Anderson

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Perfusion-sensitive MR methods are increasingly utilized in preclinical and clinical MR research studies with the promise of providing quantitative estimates of parameters that describe in vivo microvasculature. One of these techniques, dynamic contrast enhanced: DCE) MRI, has found particularly common use in oncology for the detection, staging, and monitoring of highly vascularized tumors. DCE-MRI has been qualitatively validated by various studies that show a high correlation between modeled parameters from DCE and histologically measured microvascular density: MVD). However, in the absence of a matching "gold-standard" technique, DCE-MRI has not yet been quantitatively validated: i.e., the accuracy of the estimated parameters …

Atrial Arrhythmogenic Substrates: The Role Of Structure And Molecular Remodeling, Christina Ambrosi

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Atrial tachyarrhythmias, specifically atrial flutter: AFl) and fibrillation: AF), affect over 2.2 million Americans, leading to more hospitalizations than any other cardiac arrhythmia. These arrhythmias are defined by the presence of reentrant circuits of excitation leading to high atrial rates and uncoordinated activation of the ventricles. The underlying mechanisms of AFl/AF have proven complex and, despite a century of research, no one effective treatment has been developed. Surgical ablation and pharmacological therapies are both fraught with risks and potential pro-arrhythmic side effects. Electrical cardioversion, on the other hand, is extremely effective in terminating these arrhythmias, but the high-energy shocks required …

The Role Of Apolipoprotein E Concentration And Isoform In Amyloid-Beta Metabolism In Vivo, Joseph Castellano

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by several pathological lesions, one of which is the accumulation of the amyloid-β: Aβ) peptide into extracellular amyloid plaques. Several autosomal dominant mutations have been shown to cause familial forms of early-onset Alzheimer's disease, but factors that modulate the risk and onset for the more common sporadic, late-onset Alzheimer's disease are less understood. The strongest identified genetic risk factor for sporadic, late-onset Alzheimer's disease is the APOE e4 allele, the presence of which dramatically increases risk and hastens the onset of the disease relative to non-carriers of the allele. Evidence that APOE …

Delineating The Steps Of Bax Pore Activation, Eric Christenson

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The BCL2 protein family is the primary gatekeeper of mitochondrial apoptosis and governs integrity of the organelles' outer membranes. Permeabilization of mitochondrial outer membranes permits egress of cytochrome c and other apoptogenic factors, resulting in apoptosome formation, caspase activation, and subsequent proteolytic demolition of cells. Proapoptotic BAX & BAK effect the release of cytochrome c while their antiapoptotic counterparts like BCL-2, BCL-X_L, & MCL-1 oppose this permeabilization. A third class of the BCL2 family, the prodeath BH3-only proteins, act as sentinels of cell stress and exert their influences by occupying antiapoptotic BCL2 members and/or activating BAX/BAK. Cell-free reconstitution …

Real-Time Bioluminescence Imaging Of Salmonella-Neoplastic Cell Interactions, Kelly Flentie

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Salmonella Typhimurium is a Gram-negative bacterial pathogen and a common cause of gastroenteritis in humans. The organism utilizes a multitude of well-studied virulence factors to invade and replicate in host intestinal epithelial cells and macrophages. Interestingly, Salmonella is also capable of localizing to tumors in in vivo model systems, and while the typical route of Salmonella infection and pathogenesis has been thoroughly investigated, the behavior of Salmonella in the tumor microenvironment has not. Therefore, to investigate Salmonella and host behavior during bacterial-neoplastic cell interactions, I utilized two high-throughput screens. In the first, I designed a bioluminescent transposon-reporter trap to identify …

Prehistoric Plant Procurement, Food Production, And Land Use In Southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico, John Hanselka

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

In this dissertation, I examine plant use, food production, and land use in the Ocampo region of southwestern Tamaulipas, northeastern Mexico. In the early 1950s Richard S. MacNeish excavated in a series of dry cave sites within the study area and discovered evidence for the local adoption of domesticated plants and the subsequent development of a mixed foraging-farming economy that persisted for millennia, before culminating in the establishment of settled farming villages. This research remains central to discussions of early Mesoamerican agriculture. However, the spectrum of land use and wild plant utilization over the prehistoric sequence remains poorly understood, as …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Itch Sensations, Seungil Kim

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Itch is a sensation which causes scratching response to protect skin against external harmful reagents. Acute itch arises in short time period after insect bites or allergen contact. Chronic itch happens in various skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis: AD) and psoriasis. Chronic itch usually continues for over six weeks and is resistant to commonly used anti-histamine drugs. While pain has caught an early attention due to its severity, the molecular mechanism of itch has not been studied in detail. Itch and pain share common features because they are transmitted by similar neuronal circuits. However, itch is a distinct somatosensation …