Digital Commons Network^™

High Resolution X-Ray Diffraction Analysis Of Cb1 Receptor Antagonists As A Means To Explore Binding Affinity, Steven P. Fournet

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Charge density studies have been conducted on ten CB₁ cannabinoid receptor antagonists via high resolution x-ray crystallography. Bond critical point values and various other properties derived from these studies including the electrostatic potential were analyzed in correlation to the affinity of each compound with the CB₁ receptor. Correlation/anti-correlation was found between several properties and K_i. The data was also interpreted by principal component analysis with three principal components accounting for 85% of the data variation. Data mining was limit due to the low sample count and the requirements set for the inclusion of correlated/anti-correlated variables …

Sistas On The Move: An Ethnographic Case Study Of Health And Friendship In Urban Space Among Black Women In New Orleans, Valerie A. Mcmillan

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Black women are disproportionately affected by adverse health conditions, such as obesity and heart disease. For example, more black women currently die from complications associated with diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure than any other ethnic group in the United States (Gourdine 2011). There are however, increasing numbers of everyday black women who defy these statistics and are positive role models for all women. One such group of women is the New Orleans chapter of Sistas On The Move (SOTM), an all-female running group that emphasizes the importance of black women’s health and builds community around physical activity. Through …

The Effects Of Ecological Context And Individual Characteristics On Stereotyped Displays In Male Anolis Carolinensis, Catherine Policastro

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Displays are ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom. While many have been thoroughly documented, the factors affecting the expression of such displays are still not fully understood. We tested the hypotheses that display production would be affected by ecological context (i.e. the identity of the receiver) and intrinsic qualities of the signaler (i.e. heavyweight and lightweight size class) in the green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. Our results supported these predictions and show that a) ecological context, specifically displaying to conspecifics, has the greatest impact on display production; b) size class influenced display rate with heavyweight males displaying more to green …

Synthesis Of Novel Azetidines, Amber Thaxton

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Azetidine is a four-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring that has recently received a great deal of attention as a molecular scaffold for the design and preparation of biologically active compounds. Structure-activity studies employing functionalized azetidines have led to the development of variety of drug molecules and clinical candidates encompassing a broad spectrum of biological activities.

Herein, the synthesis a novel series of 3-aryl-3-arylmethoxyazetidines is described. Selected 3-aryl-3-arylmethoxyazetidines were evaluated for their binding affinity to multiple monoaminergic transporters for the potential treatment of methamphetamine addiction. It was discovered that this scaffold exhibits high binding affinity (nM) for both the serotonin and dopamine …

Wastewater Disinfection In Enclosed Recirculation Systems With Electromagnetic Waves, Luis G. Mosquera

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Finding the most cost-effective and environmental friendly way to treat and disinfect wastewater has been raising concerns around the world. Failure in performing disinfection of wastewater before returning it to the environment could have terrible consequences to human health and the ecosystem. The risks associated to continue with current practices have led to the creation of stringent regulations.

In this research the HYDROPATH technology is tested while attaching a HydroFlow 60i unit to a reactor that works as a closed recirculation system. To determine the feasibility of the HydroFlow 60i unit as an alternative method to chlorine, the EPA method …

The Effects Of Chronic Simvastatin Treatment On The Expression Of Behavioral Symptoms In A Transgenic Mouse Model Of Huntington’S Disease, Ashley Whitmarsh

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Huntington’s disease (HD) is a heritable, neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric disturbances. An unstable CAG expansion within the gene normally encoding for the Huntingtin protein is responsible. The expanded mutant form of Huntingtin and the putative protein co-factor Rhes interact and cause cell death within the striatum. We hypothesized chronic treatment with simvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug, would disrupt the biosynthetical pathway which gives both Rhes and its target cells binding sites and render Rhes inactive. Healthy and HD mice were treated with simvastatin or a vehicle. Animals’ motor behavior was assessed with three separate tests over …

Stories From A Golden State, Sara R. Paul

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Interaction Of Post-Partum Depression And Maternal Knowledge Of Infant Development On Change In Sensitive And Responsive Parenting During Early Infancy, Julie Weiss

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sensitive and responsive parenting during early infancy is highly understudied, particularly in families with a low socioeconomic status. Longitudinal data from 41 mothers and their 4 to 16 week old infants found that accurate maternal knowledge of infant development positively affected parenting contemporaneously and over time while depression did not affect parenting in this sample. Implications for intervention and research are discussed.

Effects Of Prescribed Burns On Grassland Breeding Birds At Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, Elizabeth A. Ruffman

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

There has been a critical decline in grassland bird populations due to habitat fragmentation and deterioration, and suppression of natural fires. Alteration of the disturbance cycle may lead to changes in vegetation structure and thus habitat suitability for breeding grassland birds. Management practices at the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, including the use of prescribed fire, are in need of evaluation. My study asked what frequency of prescribed burns is necessary to support breeding grassland birds and whether vegetation structure varies among burn units. In this study, bird abundance and species richness did not differ significantly among burn units …

Philosophy And Counseling: A Case Study, Matthew Wegmann

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Philosophical tenets have been at the heart of the counseling process since its inception. This study explores the factors present within a graduate-level counseling class that directly teaches these philosophical foundations through an exploration of dialectics and its impact on the medium of conversation. Interviews were conducted with both the professor that created the class as well as its current instructor along with focus groups of both current program students and program alumni. The fundamental aim was to understand the processes at work within the class and their influence on its students. The results suggest that by bringing the students …

Curated Reasoning By Formal Modeling Of Provenance, Kevin B. Shaw

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The core problem addressed in this research is the current lack of an ability to repurpose and curate scientific data among interdisciplinary scientists within a research enterprise environment. Explosive growth in sensor technology as well as the cost of collecting ocean data and airborne measurements has allowed for exponential increases in scientific data collection as well as substantial enterprise resources required for data collection. There is currently no framework for efficiently curating this scientific data for repurposing or intergenerational use.

There are several reasons why this problem has eluded solution to date to include the competitive requirements for funding and …

Statistical And Comparative Phylogeography Of Mexican Freshwater Taxa In Extreme Aquatic Environments, Lyndon M. Coghill

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Phylogeography aims to understand the processes that underlie the distribution of genetic variation within and among closely related species. Although the means by which this goal might be achieved differ considerably from those that spawned the field some thirty years ago, the foundation and conceptual breakthroughs made by Avise are nonetheless the same and are as relevant today as they were two decades ago. Namely, patterns of neutral genetic variation among individuals carry the signature of a species’ demographic past, and the spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity across a species’ geographic range can influence patterns of evolutionary change. Aquatic systems …

High Yield Solvothermal Synthesis Of Hexaniobate Based Nanocomposites Via The Capture Of Preformed Nanoparticles In Scrolled Nanosheets, Shivaprasad Reddy Adireddy

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The ability to encapsulate linear nanoparticle (NP) chains in scrolled nanosheets is an important advance in the formation of nanocomposites.These nanopeapods (NPPs) exhibit interesting properties that may not be achieved by individual entities. Consequently, to fully exploit the potential of NPPs, the fabrication of NPPs must focus on producing composites with unique combinations of morphologically uniform nanomaterials. Various methods can produce NPPs, but expanding these methods to a wide variety of material combinations can be difficult. Recent work in our group has resulted in the in situ formation of peapod-like structures based on chains of cobalt NPs. Building on this …

A Multi-Gene By Environment Perspective Of Adhd Symptomatology In Young Children, Amber L. Allison

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heritable disorder, which has detrimental effects on childhood development and is associated with maladaptive functioning in adulthood. Despite this, we are far from an understanding of the etiology and possible trajectories of ADHD, possibly due to investigations focusing on the contribution of single genes. In fact, single genes are likely not influential enough to alter behavior, but the additive effect of many genes may predispose an individual toward certain behaviors. Further, environmental input can activate or suppress genetic expression, thereby leading to vast individual differences in both normative behavior and psychopathological illness, including …

Coupling Of The Hpa And Hpg Axes, Andrew Dismukes

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) and –Gonadal (HPG) axes have been considered mutually inhibitory; however, emerging evidence supports the proposition that this might not necessarily be the case. This idea is termed “coupling,” in which the HPA-HPG axis are mutually activated or deactivated. Coupling is examined across three data sets with different time-courses of stress exposure, and results demonstrate HPA-HPG co-activation occurs. Furthermore, stress exposure influences this relationship. The discussion shows how it is physiologically possible to have positive coupling or co-activation between these axes according to complex regulatory feedback systems and overlapping neural structures. Findings are interpreted developmentally, because adolescence may …

Assessing The Responses Of Adult, Juvenile, And Larval Fish Assemblages To The Closure Of The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, An Artificial Tidal Pass In Southeastern Louisiana, Rebecca Weatherall Cope

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The creation of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in 1963 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) represents one of the most catastrophic, anthropogenic stressors ever to impact the Lake Pontchartrain estuary in southeastern Louisiana, USA. The artificial tidal pass provided a direct route from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans. It allowed for high saline waters to enter Lake Pontchartrain, resulting in detrimental changes to the biotic community of the Lake and surrounding wetland areas. In July 2009, the USACE closed the MRGO in hopes of restoring natural ecosystems. This study assesses changes in the adult, …

Nutrient Limitation In Three Lowland Tropical Forests In Southern China Receiving High Nitrogen Deposition: Insights From Fine Root Responses To Nutrient Additions, Feifei Zhu, Muneoki Yoh, Frank S. Gilliam, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition to tropical forests may accelerate ecosystem phosphorus (P) limitation. This study examined responses of fine root biomass, nutrient concentrations, and acid phosphatase activity (APA) of bulk soil to five years of N and P additions in one old-growth and two younger lowland tropical forests in southern China. The old-growth forest had higher N capital than the two younger forests from long-term N accumulation. From February 2007 to July 2012, four experimental treatments were established at the following levels: Control, N-addition (150 kg N ha^–1 yr^–1), P-addition (150 kg P ha^–1 yr^{–1 …}

Who Edits The Editors? Snake Hill And Archaeological Reports, Al B. Wesolowsky

Northeast Historical Archaeology

A review of Snake Hill: An Investigation of a Military Cemetery from the War of 1812, edited by Susan Pfeiffer and Ronald F. Williamson, provides a coign of vantage regarding two aspects of particular concern to historical archaeologists. One is the increasing number of historical cemeteries that, because of recent legislation and a broadening of research domains, are being investiagted by archaeologists. The other, closely related, aspect is the need for strong editorial oversight in preparing for the press reports that comprise the contributions of diverse specialists. Snake Hill was a good project that resulted in a report that, while …

Bones And Burial Registers: Infant Mortality In A 19th-Century Cemetery From Upper Canada, Ann Herring, Shelley Saunders, Gerry Boyce

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The fortunate conjunction of a large skeletal sample (n=576) and reliable burial records (n=1,564) for St. Thomas' Anglican Church cemetery (1821-1874) makes it possible to make inferences about patterns of infant death in 19th-century Belleville, Ontario. Analysis of both sets of data indicates that males and females were equally likely to die during infancy and that environmental factors played an important role in Belleville's mortality profile. The parish records reveal elevated risks of infant death in the summer, probably from the weanling diarrhea complex, owing to unsanitary conditions and the presence of acute infectious diseases in the town. The importance …

Paraeducators Transition From Silent Partners To Collaborators With Science Teachers In Urban Middle Schools, Kimberly Staples Ph.D.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Within middle school classrooms a diverse body of students require specialized instruction and science teachers with unique abilities to implement a reform-based science curriculum. To achieve the goal of success for all, students who are English language leaners and with exceptionalities, such as learning disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders, are often assigned paraeducators to support science learning. However, professional development often focuses on immersing paraeducators through a broad model of curricular modifications and general support strategies. This study reports findings of a three-year professional development project for middle level science teachers and paraeducators designed to increase science conceptual understanding …

Exploring The Oncogenic Role Of P27 In Regulating Tumor Progression, Dekuang Zhao

Open Access Dissertations

p27 is a cell cycle regulator and an atypical tumor suppressor. However, p27 gene deletions or mutations are rarely observed in human cancers. Instead, p27 is frequently degraded or mislocalized to the cytoplasm in aggressive human cancers. Phosphorylation at T157 or T198 by different PI3K effector kinases leads to p27 cytoplasmic accumulation. However, the functional contribution of phosphorylated and cytoplasmic p27 to cancer progression remains unknown. By introducing a cell cycle defective (CK-) and double phosphomimetic p27 mutant (T157D/T198D or DD), we found that phosphorylation of p27 at T157 or T198 by PI3K/mTOR directly regulated tumor cell migration and invasion. …

Septins Of Platyhelminths: Identification, Phylogeny, Expression And Localization Among Developmental Stages Of Schistosoma Mansoni, Ana E. Zeraik, Gabriel Rinaldi, Victoria H. Mann, Anastas Popratiloff, Ana P.U. Araujo, Ricardo Demarco, Paul J. Brindley

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

Septins are a family of eukaryotic GTP binding proteins conserved from yeasts to humans. Originally identified in mutants of budding yeast, septins participate in diverse cellular functions including cytokinesis, organization of actin networks, cell polarity, vesicle trafficking and many others. Septins assemble into heteroligomers to form filaments and rings. Here, four septins of Schistosoma mansoni are described, which appear to be conserved within the phylum Platyhelminthes. These orthologues were related to the SEPT5, SEPT10 and SEPT7 septins of humans, and hence we have termed the schistosome septins SmSEPT5, SmSEPT10, SmSEPT7.1 and SmSEPT7.2. Septin transcripts were detected throughout the developmental cycle …

Sickle Cell Disease Erythrocyte Stiffness And Cytoadhesion Investigated Via Atomic Force Microscopy, Jamie L. Maciaszek

Doctoral Dissertations

The biomechanical properties of red blood cells (RBCs), including increased stiffness and abnormal cytoadherence, are integral components in the cascade of events resulting to vasoocclusive episodes (VOEs) in sickle cell disease (SCD). VOEs are the main cause of morbidity in SCD and sickle cell trait (SCT). Using experimental techniques based on atomic force microscopy (AFM), we studied the stiffness and adhesion of RBCs from SCD patients and from subjects with SCT. We found that SCD and SCT RBCs are three-fold stiffer than normal RBCs. Further, a ten-fold increase in the stiffness of sickled RBCs was measured upon deoxygenation. In an …

Measuring Changes In Tactile Sensitivity In The Hind Paw Of Mice Using An Electronic Von Frey Apparatus, Tijana Martinov, Madison Mack, Akilah Sykes, Devavani Chatterjea

Faculty Publications

Measuring inflammation-induced changes in thresholds of hind paw withdrawal from mechanical pressure is a useful technique to assess changes in pain perception in rodents. Withdrawal thresholds can be measured first at baseline and then following drug, venom, injury, allergen, or otherwise evoked inflammation by applying an accurate force on very specific areas of the skin. An electronic von Frey apparatus allows precise assessment of mouse hind paw withdrawal thresholds that are not limited by the available filament sizes in contrast to classical von Frey measurements. The ease and rapidity of measurements allow for incorporation of assessment of tactile sensitivity outcomes …

A Tree-Ring Based Reconstruction Of Logan River Streamflow In Northern Utah, Eric B. Allen, Tammy M. Rittenour, R. Justin Derose, Matthew F. Bekker, Roger Kjelgren, Brendan M. Buckley

Wasatch Dendroclimatology Research

[1] We created six new tree-ring chronologies in northern Utah, which were used with preexisting chronologies from Utah and western Wyoming to reconstruct mean annual flow for the Logan River, the largest tributary of the regionally important Bear River. Two reconstruction models were developed, a “Local” model that incorporated two Rocky Mountain juniper chronologies located within the basin, and a “Regional” model that also included limber pine and pinyon pine chronologies from a larger area. The Local model explained 48.2% of the variability in the instrumental record and the juniper chronologies better captured streamflow variability than Douglas-fir collected within the …

The Diversity Of Quantitative Trait Loci In Yeast Sporulation Efficiency, Kimberly Lorenz

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

A complex trait is one that exhibits continuous phenotypic variation due to genetic variation in many quantitative trait genes: QTGs). The ultimate goal of genetics is to relate genotype to phenotype; in the case of complex traits this requires a better understanding of what types of genes harbor causal natural variation, and what form the variation takes. Here I describe two experiments using the model complex trait of sporulation efficiency in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, one to specifically investigate how small effects contribute to a quantitative trait and the other to determine whether certain types of genes are more likely …

Newly Identified Immune Receptor May Activate B Cells In Autoimmunity, Greg Williams

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Nelson V. State Appellant's Brief Dckt. 40661

Idaho Supreme Court Records & Briefs, All

No abstract provided.

Building Healthy Work Environments In Academic Communities And Healthcare Settings: The Ultimate "Giving Back To Move Forward", David P. Hrabe

Biennial Convention (CONV)

Session presented on: Monday, November 18, 2013:

The health and wellness of the American people is in critical condition. Although cardiovascular disease is technically the leading cause of death in Americans, behaviors are truly the number one killer, due to smoking, overeating, lack of physical activity, non-adherence to medications and suicidal gestures. Overweight and obesity will soon surpass tobacco as the number one cause of preventable death and disease in the United States. With the rapid increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, the Centers for Disease Control predict that one out of three Americans will have diabetes by …

A Tree-Ring Based Reconstruction Of Logan River Streamflow, Northern Utah, Eric B. Allen, Tammy M. Rittenour, R. Justin Derose, Matthew F. Bekker, Roger Kjelgren, Brendan M. Buckley

Geosciences Faculty Publications

We created six new tree‐ring chronologies in northern Utah, which were used with preexisting chronologies from Utah and western Wyoming to reconstruct mean annual flow for the Logan River, the largest tributary of the regionally important Bear River. Two reconstruction models were developed, a “Local” model that incorporated two Rocky Mountain juniper chronologies located within the basin, and a “Regional” model that also included limber pine and pinyon pine chronologies from a larger area. The Local model explained 48.2% of the variability in the instrumental record and the juniper chronologies better captured streamflow variability than Douglas‐fir collected within the Logan …