Digital Commons Network^™

Transgene Delivery Via Microelectromechanical Systems, Aubrey Marie Mueller Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The invention of pronuclear microinjection initiated the field of transgenic research. Over 30 years later microinjection remains the most straight-forward and most commonly used transgene delivery option. In this work we address the current progress of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) used as transgenic delivery mechanisms. The nanoinjector is a specially designed MEMS device which uses electrostatic charge to manipulate transgene molecules. The process of nanoinjection was designed as an alternative to microinjection which causes less damage to developing embryos, improves embryo survival, birth rates, and overall efficiency of injections. In vivo testing of nanoinjection demonstrates it is both safe and effective. …

Effects Of Oxygen Deprivation On Pilot Performance And Cognitive Processing Skills: A Pilot Study, David Francis Shideler

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, pilots flying above 14,000 ft. are required to use supplemental oxygen. The purpose of this study was to examine how oxygen deprivation below 14,000 ft. affects pilot performance using the Frasca Mentor Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD), and cognitive processing skills using the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM(TM)) cognitive test. The study was conducted in a Normobaric High Altitude Laboratory at simulated altitudes of 5,000 ft. and 14,000 ft. In this pilot study, only five participants were tested; non-significant results of the analysis were anticipated; however, as oxygen levels decreased and time of …

A Reexamination Of The Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus Collaris Collaris) In Arkansas, Ashley A. Grimsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Loss of suitable habitat is a threat to species worldwide. Habitat destruction, including loss, change, and fragmentation of habitat, is the leading cause of species extinction. Eastern collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris collaris) are habitat specialists on glades. Both C. c. collaris and glade habitats are rare and of special concern in the state of Arkansas. Many glade populations have already been extirpated in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. Increasing knowledge of the distribution, habitat structure, and population dynamics of C. c. collaris is important to ensure the survival of this species in Arkansas.

A literature review of …

A Physiological Signal Processing System For Optimal Engagement And Attention Detection., Ashwin Belle

Theses and Dissertations

In today’s high paced, hi-tech and high stress environment, with extended work hours, long to-do lists and neglected personal health, sleep deprivation has become common in modern culture. Coupled with these factors is the inherent repetitious and tedious nature of certain occupations and daily routines, which all add up to an undesirable fluctuation in individuals’ cognitive attention and capacity. Given certain critical professions, a momentary or prolonged lapse in attention level can be catastrophic and sometimes deadly. This research proposes to develop a real-time monitoring system which uses fundamental physiological signals such as the Electrocardiograph (ECG), to analyze and predict …

Ostracism Is Lost In Translation: When Being Ignored And Excluded Does Not Matter, Han Kang

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

How do you feel when people around you start conversing in a language you do not understand? In addition to feeling ostracized, you may also wonder if they are talking about you. Participants were either talked to or not talked to in three different language conditions: English, English-Chinese, and Chinese. Participants experienced more distress when being ostracized than included by English, but they found inclusion more distressing than ostracism by English-Chinese. Additionally, more paranoid attributions were made by participants who were included, rather than ostracized by those speaking an unfamiliar language. This study is the first to show that, under …

Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - July 22, 2012, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the July 22, 2012 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's newsletter - Watercooler.

Contents Include:

• College of Medicine Welcomes Dr. John Gosche
• High School Students Visit USA Hospitals During Summer Scrubs Program
• Dr. David Robertson to Speak at Medical Student Research Day
• Scientific Discovery at USA College of Medicine Leads to Formation of Biotech Company
• Dr. Allen Perkins Elected President of the Alabama Academy of Family Physicians

A New Body Shape Index Predicts Mortality Hazard Independently Of Body Mass Index, Nir Y. Krakauer, Jesse C. Krakauer

Publications and Research

Background Obesity, typically quantified in terms of Body Mass Index (BMI) exceeding threshold values, is considered a leading cause of premature death worldwide. For given body size (BMI), it is recognized that risk is also affected by body shape, particularly as a marker of abdominal fat deposits. Waist circumference (WC) is used as a risk indicator supplementary to BMI, but the high correlation of WC with BMI makes it hard to isolate the added value of WC. Methods and Findings We considered a USA population sample of 14,105 non-pregnant adults () from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) …

Measuring And Evaluating Physical Strain To Improve Construction Workforce Productivity, Umberto Carlo Gatti

Civil Engineering ETDs

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a reciprocal relationship between physical strain and workforce productivity and safety performance. Hence, a monitoring technology able to assess physical strain through the analysis of workers physiological parameters may be an important step in improving safety and productivity. However, clear relationships between physical strain, safety, and productivity have yet to be determined. Moreover, previous studies showed limitations regarding the monitoring of physiological parameters. Innovative monitoring devices, called Physiological Status Monitors (PSMs), have overcome the past limitations enabling real-time monitoring of workers' physiological parameters. Thus, this research evaluated PSM suitability for construction workforce monitoring by …

Hypoxia-Sensitive Gene Expression In The Gastrocnemius Muscle Following Chronic Hind Limb Ischemia, Andrew Tilton

Biological Sciences

Chronic ischemia, caused by the formation atherosclerotic plaque occlusions in major conduit arteries, is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in western societies. Vascular remodeling can help compensate for the adverse effects of atherosclerotic plaque formation. Vascular remodeling relies heavily on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a critical protein that contributes to all forms of vascular formation and remodeling including angiogenesis, arteriogenesisand vasculogenesis. VEGF itself is up-regulated by the transcription factor, hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α), which becomes activated in low oxygen environments.

Through the use of animal chronic hindlimb ischemia models, these genes can be evaluated as …

Health Parameters Across The Lifespan Among The Ache Of Paraguay, John D. Wagner

Anthropology ETDs

This work provides an integrative approach for assessing population health among a group of indigenous South American forager-farmers, the northern Aché of eastern Paraguay. The Aché were full-time hunting and gathering nomads up until the time of first peaceful contact in the early 1970s when they experienced a devastating virgin-soil population epidemic that killed approximately 40% of the population, where all age and sex groups were affected more or less equally with the exception of a higher survival rate among reproductive-aged women. The Aché are now settled on several reservations and have fully recovered their population numbers. The Aché have …

Biology, Saint Mary's College Of California

Undergraduate Academic Catalog

No abstract provided.

2+2 Pre-Nursing Program, Saint Mary's College Of California

Undergraduate Academic Catalog

No abstract provided.

Pre-Professional Curricula, Saint Mary's College Of California

Undergraduate Academic Catalog

No abstract provided.

Development And Validation Methodology Of The Nuss Procedure Surgical Planner, Krzysztof J. Rechowicz

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Pectus excavatum (PE) is a congenital chest wall deformity which is characterized, in most cases, by a deep depression of the sternum. A minimally invasive technique for the repair of PE (MIRPE), often referred to as the Nuss procedure, has been proven to be more advantageous than many other PE treatment techniques. The Nuss procedure consists of placement of a metal bar(s) underneath the sternum, thereby forcibly changing the geometry of the ribcage. Because of the prevalence of PE and the popularity of the Nuss procedure, the demand to perform this surgery is greater than ever. Therefore, a Nuss procedure …

Human Skeletal Muscle Feed Arteries: Evidence Of Regulatory Potential, S. J. Ives, R. H. I. Andtbacka, Song-Young Park, A. J. Donato, J. R. Gifford, R. D. Noyes, L. A. Lesniewski, R. S. Richardson

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Aim

Recently, it has been recognized that human skeletal muscle feed arteries can be harvested during exploratory surgery for melanoma. This approach provides vessels for in vitro study from a wide spectrum of relatively healthy humans. Although, the regulatory role of skeletal muscle feed arteries in rodent models has been documented, whether such vessels in humans possess this functionality is unknown.

Methods

Therefore, skeletal muscle feed arteries (~950 μm OD) from 10 humans (48 ± 4, 27–64 years) were studied using pressure myography. Vessel function was assessed using potassium chloride (KCl), phenylephrine (PE), acetylcholine (ACh) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) concentration–response …

Gut Immune Maturation Depends On Colonization With A Host-Specific Microbiota, Hachung Chung, Sünje J. Pamp, Jonathan A. Hill, Neeraj K. Surana, Sanna M. Edelman, Erin B. Troy, Nicola C. Reading, Eduardo J. Villablanca, Sen Wang, Jorge R. Mora, Yoshinori Umesaki, Diane Mathis, Christophe Benoist, David A. Relman, Dennis L. Kasper

United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Publications

Gut microbial induction of host immune maturation exemplifies host-microbe mutualism. We colonized germ-free (GF) mice with mouse microbiota (MMb) or human microbiota (HMb) to determine whether small intestinal immune maturation depends on a coevolved host-specific microbiota. Gut bacterial numbers and phylum abundance were similar in MMb and HMb mice, but bacterial species differed, especially the Firmicutes. HMb mouse intestines had low levels of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells, few proliferating T cells, few dendritic cells, and low antimicrobial peptide expression—all characteristics of GF mice. Rat microbiota also failed to fully expand intestinal T cell numbers in mice. Colonizing …

Nanoherbals In Human Healthcare: A Proposed Research And Development Roadmap I, Ahmad S, Hashim U

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

Bioactive secondary metabolites derived from herbs are examined for their suitability of conversion into nanoforms having flexible morphological controls, surface stabilizations and surface functionalization. This can lead to stable chemical conjugations based on molecular recognition for their possible applications in the form of smart pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmaceuticals and many other related areas of human healthcare using green chemistry routes. Using the principles of nanoscience and technology in association with genomics and proteomics, an attempt has been made to decipher whether a suitable form of drug discovery and targeted drug delivery like schemes arefeasible in case of such nano phytochemicals using …

The Invisible Gland: Affect And Political Economy, Jeff Pruchnic

Criticism

Review of

The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social, ed. Patricia Ticineto Clough with Jean Halley. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. Pp. xiii + 313. $84.95 cloth, $23.95 paper.)

and

The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behavior, ed. W. Russell Neuman, George E. Marcus, Ann N. Crigler, and Michael MacKuen. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Pp. 453. $60.00 cloth, $24.00 paper.)

Mechanisms For Sweetness123, John D. Fernstrom, Steven D. Munger, Anthony Sclafani, Ivan E. De Araujo, Ashley Roberts, Samuel Molinary

Publications and Research

A remarkable amount of information has emerged in the past decade regarding sweet taste physiology. This article reviews these data, with a particular focus on the elucidation of the sweet taste receptor, its location and actions in taste transduction in the mouth, its nontaste functions in the gastrointestinal tract (e.g., in enteroendocrine cells), and the brain circuitry involved in the sensory processing of sweet taste. Complications in the use of rodents to model human sweet taste perception and responses are also considered. In addition, information relating to low-calorie sweeteners (LCS) is discussed in the context of these issues. Particular consideration …

Taking Nature Back: Why Tax Strategy Law Is Relevant To Gene Patents, Amy E. Sestric

Missouri Law Review

On July 29, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the validity of several controversial patents in Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office.' The patents, exclusively assigned to Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Myriad), claim two human genes fundamental to understanding, researching, and diagnosing common strains of familial breast and ovarian cancers. Patients expressed concern that Myriad's exclusivity over the two genes made diagnosis excessively expensive and precluded the availability of independent second opinion testing. Although the Supreme Court of the United States vacated and remanded the Federal Circuit's decision, the Federal …

Discrete Targeting Of Peptide And Non-Peptide Neurotransmitters By A Single Neuron, Daniel Kueh

Dissertations

The heart excitor (HE) motor neuron in the medicinal leech, Hirudo, releases acetylcholine (ACh) and a peptide, FMRFamide, to regulate the contractile activity of the heart tube and associated side vessels. Consistent with Dale’s Principle, it was assumed that both neurotransmitters were coreleased by all presynaptic varicosities. However, discrete peptide-positive and peptide-negative varicosities can be found consistently at particular sites of innervation on the heart tube. Dual-labeled HE neurons were produced by pressure injecting Neurobiotin into single HE neurons and applied antibodies against FMRFamide on the same preparations. Consistent with initial expectations, peptide-labeled varicosities were numerous and widely distributed …

Technical Desiderata For The Integration Of Genomic Data Into Electronic Health Records., Daniel R Masys, Gail P Jarvik, Neil F Abernethy, Nicholas R Anderson, George J Papanicolaou, Dina N Paltoo, Mark A Hoffman, Isaac S Kohane, Howard P Levy

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The era of "Personalized Medicine," guided by individual molecular variation in DNA, RNA, expressed proteins and other forms of high volume molecular data brings new requirements and challenges to the design and implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). In this article we describe the characteristics of biomolecular data that differentiate it from other classes of data commonly found in EHRs, enumerate a set of technical desiderata for its management in healthcare settings, and offer a candidate technical approach to its compact and efficient representation in operational systems.

Preparation And Characterization Of Electrospun Poly(D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Scaffolds For Vascular Tissue Engineering And The Advancement Of An In Vitro Blood Brain Barrier Model, Deven Chandrakant Patel

Master's Theses

Developing an in vitro Blood Brain Barrier model that will replicate the physiological, anatomical, and functional characteristics of the native BBB has gained significant attention. Such a model would enable prediction of the penetration of CNS targeting drug candidates across the BBB, allow pre-screening and optimization strategies to be developed for new drugs and gene delivery formulations, and permit research groups to further understand how a dysfunctional BBB is involved in the pathogenesis of several neurological diseases.

The Tissue Engineering laboratory at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo is currently in the process of developing a dynamic in …

Flying Qualities Built-In-Test For Unmanned Aerial Systems, Alton Pak-Hin Chiu

Master's Theses

This paper presents a flying qualities built-in-test for UAS application with the scope limited to the longitudinal axis. A doublet input waveform excites the AV and both α and q are used by EUDKF to estimate the A and B matrices which are short period approximations of the system. ζ, ω, GM, PM, observability, and controllability are calculated to determine flying qualities with the results displayed to the AVO in a color-coded, easy to interpret display.

While SID algorithms have been flying in vehicles with adaptive control schemes, vehicles with other schemes (such as classical feedback) lack this built-in self …

Exploring Post-Translational Arginine Modification Using Chemically Synthesized Methylglyoxal Hydroimidazolones, Tina Wang, Rendy Kartika, David A. Spiegel

Faculty Publications

The methylglyoxal-derived hydroimidazolones (MG-Hs) comprise the most prevalent class of non-enzymatic, post-translational modifications of protein arginine residues found in nature. These adducts form spontaneously in the human body, and are also present at high levels in the human diet. Despite numerous lines of evidence suggesting that MG-H-arginine adducts play critical roles in both healthy and disease physiology in humans, detailed studies of these molecules have been hindered by a lack of general synthetic strategies for their preparation in chemically homogeneous form, and on scales sufficient to enable detailed biochemical and cellular investigations. To address this limitation, we have developed efficient, …

The Cyprus Question: Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?, Cristen Borling

USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

Since WWII, ethnic conflict has been the most common and the most violent form of human conflicts. These brutal disputes have inflicted unimaginable human suffering through the destabilization of entire regions, devastation of economic development, and the deracination of entire communities. Violent ethnic conflicts have been re-writing the geo-political map as we know it and forcing colossal changes to the realm of diplomatic relations. Despite the wide-ranging implications of ethno-conflict, insufficient analysis has been paid to their resolution worldwide. Most of the culture conflicts drawing our attention today are based on historic or ancestral claims. Interestingly, ancient history may be …

Spring Commencement Program, May 5, 2012, Coastal Carolina University

Commencement Programs

Program of Commencement Exercises at Coastal Carolina University.

Early Flute Pedagogy: The Utilization Of Alternative Types Of Flutes For Young Children, Erin Murphy

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The typical practice in flute pedagogy is to start teaching the beginning flute student at approximately ten years of age. When compared to many other instrument disciplines, such as violin and piano, this is a relatively late starting age. The delay is primarily due to the large size and weight of the modern orchestral flute, as well as its lung capacity requirements. Not only do the physical limitations of the modern flute make early study difficult, but if disregarded, they also may pose health risks for the young beginner. This paper will discuss the importance of early childhood musical study …

Structure-Activity Relationship Model For Estrogen Receptor Ligands., Huihui Wu 1979-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Xenoestrogens are spread throughout the environment affecting our daily lives and may produce potential toxic effects on human health. The purpose of this study was to develop a mechanistically reliable model capable of identifying xenoestrogens. Our hypothesis was that there are identifiable structural characteristics among a diverse set of estrogen receptor ligands that differentiate estrogenic and nonestrogenic compounds. The model's learning set was developed by collecting compounds from the National Center for Toxicological Research Estrogen Receptor Binding database (NCTRER) . The categorical-SAR (cat-SAR) expert system was used to build the models and perform leave-none-out, leave-one-out, leave-many-out and external validations for …

Genome Wide Analysis Of Hepatic Gene Silencing In Mammalian Cell Variants, Jeffrey L. Kurkewich

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Using microarray data, a genome wide analysis of hepatic gene-silencing in four hepatoma variant cell lines was carried out. The purpose of this analysis was to identify candidate genes that may be able to restore liver function in non-functional cell variants, ultimately giving insight into the mechanisms behind global hepatic gene expression. Based on a selection scheme allowing only for genes activated or repressed at least 5 fold in 2 out of the 4 variant cell lines, 225 genes were found to be repressed while a total of 76 genes were found to be activated. Of the repressed genes identified, …