Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Tmem178 In Regulation Of Osteo-Immune Activation And Inflammatory Bone Loss, Corinne Elaine Decker

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Pathological bone loss in human disease such as arthritis is largely due to excessive osteoclast recruitment as a consequence of localized inflammation. Innate immune cells, namely neutrophils and macrophages, infiltrate the joint space and release pro-inflammatory cytokines as well as proteases to drive local tissue damage and inflammation. Importantly, IL-1 and TNF-a in particular act on the synovial fibroblasts as well as directly on osteoclast precursors to potently augment osteoclast differentiation and thus bone resorption. Current therapeutics to treat pathological bone loss are widely unsuccessful at targeting both the resorptive and inflammatory components of disease. We have previously demonstrated that …

Defining The Roles Of Outer Membrane Proteins And Host Cathelicidins In Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli Infection, Elizabeth Sarah Danka

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The Gram-negative bacterium uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the causative agent of up to 85% of community-acquired urinary tract infections (UTIs). This thesis work aimed to better define interactions between UPEC and host antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The bacterial outer membrane is constantly interacting with the external environment, and contains many integral proteins with defined roles in pathogenesis. The E. coli outer membrane protein OmpA is a highly conserved, integral beta-barrel membrane protein with four extracellular loops. We found that the loops of OmpA individually influence binding and invasion of UPEC during infection. Loop 2 appears to be essential for binding …

Spatial And Epigenetic Regulation Of T-Cell Receptor Beta Gene Assembly, Kinjal Majumder

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The adaptive immune system endows mammals with a sophisticated mechanism to recognize foreign proteins via surface antigen receptors that are expressed on the surface of all lymphocytes. This defense network is generated by V(D)J recombination, a set of sequentially controlled DNA cleavage and repair events that assembles functional antigen receptor genes from distally located Variable (V), Diversity (D) and Joining (J) gene segments. However, the recombination process must be stringently regulated to prevent formation of chromosomal translocations, which can lead to tumors. The process of V(D)J recombination is controlled at the levels of tissue, stage and allele specificity by a …

Peripheral And Central Mechanisms Of Temporal Pattern Recognition, Christa Ann Baker

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Encoding information into the timing patterns of action potentials, or spikes, is a strategy used broadly in neural circuits. This type of coding scheme requires downstream neurons to be sensitive to the temporal patterns of presynaptic inputs. Indeed, neurons with temporal filtering properties have been found in a wide range of sensory pathways. However, how such response properties arise was previously not well understood. The goal of my dissertation research has been to elucidate how temporal filtering by single neurons contributes to the behavioral ability to recognize timing patterns in communication signals. I have addressed this question using mormyrid weakly …

Atypical Cadherin Dachsous Regulates The Cytoskeleton And Gastrulation Movements During Zebrafish Development, Nanbing Li

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Dachsous (Dchs), an evolutionarily conserved atypical cadherin, regulates planar cell polarity, tissue size, and cell adhesion in Drosophila. However, its functions in vertebrates are just beginning to be elucidated. Inactivating one of two murine homologs, Dchs1, leads to multi-organ defects and postnatal lethality. Recent studies in humans suggest that mutations in DCHS1 cause pleiotropic Van Maldergem syndrome. My thesis work focuses on the functional characterization of zebrafish dchs1b and dchs2 genes. Mutations in dchs1b and dchs2 genes affect several aspects of embryogenesis, including gastrulation. Unexpectedly, dchs1b is also essential for the earliest vertebrate developmental stage, egg activation. We show that …

Mechanisms Underlying Memory Deficits Following West Nile Virus Neuroinvasive Disease, Michael John Vasek

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Neurocognitive sequelae are observed in >50% of patients who survive neuroinvasive infections with encephalitic arboviruses, such as the mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV). Early diagnosis and high survival rates from WNV neuroinvasive disease (WNND) (>90%) have thus led cumulatively to approximately ten thousand patients living with neurocognitive impairments, with 1-3000 cases accruing yearly, yet underlying mechanisms responsible for these deficits have not been investigated.Within the last 15 years, studies have begun uncover many pathways which are utilized both by the developing CNS as well as the immune system, including the use of cytokines in the regulation of progenitor cell …

Looking For The Silver Lining: Benefit Finding After Hurricanes Katrina And Rita In Middle-Aged, Older, And Oldest-Old Adults, Katie E. Stanko, Katie E. Cherry, Kyle S. Ryker, Farra Mughal, Loren D. Marks, Jennifer Silva Brown, Patricia F. Gendusa, Marisa C. Sullivan, John Bruner, David A. Welsh, L. Joseph Su, S. Michael Jazwinski

Faculty Publications

Looking for potentially positive outcomes is one way that people cope with stressful events. In two studies, we examined perceived “silver linings” after the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita among indirectly affected adults. In Study 1, middle-aged (ages 47–64 years), older (ages 65–89 years), and oldest-old (ages 90–95 years) adults in the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study (LHAS) responded to an open-ended question on perceived silver linings in a longitudinal assessment carried out during the immediate impact (1 to 4 months after landfall) and post-disaster recovery phase (6 to 14 months post-storm). Qualitative grounded theory methods were employed to analyze these …

An Overview Of The Triceratops, Sarah Kanavy

The Compass

A long, long time ago, magnificent creatures roamed the Earth. Although these creatures may have varied greatly in size, shape, color, or dietary needs, the one thing that these creatures all had in common was a specific clade: Dinosauria. A part of this clade was one dinosaur in particular, Triceratops horridus, which is Greek for “three-horn face”. They received this name because of the three horns protruding from their face: two long ones above their eyes and a shorter one from their nose. Fossil evidence shows that Triceratops horridus lived during the Late Cretaceous period and was one of the …

Estimated Mouse Population At The Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust Vs. Reported Incidence Of Lyme Disease In Pennsylvania, Erika Clark

The Compass

The purpose of this research paper is to determine if the mouse population at the PennyPack Trust is correlated with occurrence of Lyme disease state wide.

Mark-recapture studies of white footed mice, Peromyscus Leucopus, were held at the PennyPack Ecological Restoration Trust in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania in order to estimate the population sizes over six years. The common method of ear tagging has been shown not to interfere with the daily activities of mice, or increase their chances of mortality.

White-footed mice are primary hosts of the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, which is the vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that …

Note Taking Effectiveness In The Modern Classroom, K.M. Beck

The Compass

The technological revolution has forever changed the way that people in many different environments work and learn. The modern classroom is no exception; it is rapidly changing due to the influx of technology such as laptops, tablets, smart boards, etc. This study will examine the effect that such technology has had on the modern day learning environment. Specifically, what effect does typing lecture notes on a laptop instead of writing them by hand have on test scores? Previous literature on this topic varies greatly, and covers a number of different facets of note-taking behavior. Early work in memory identifies three …

Platonic And Attic Laws On Slavery, Wendy Gallagher

The Compass

Plato called them ἀνδπάποδα (human-footed stock) and Aristotle said they were δουλοπρεπής απὀ τη φύση (servile by nature), but most slaves (δουλεἰα) were once free men and women that quickly found themselvesservants in a Greek democracy. Those that served as slaves were often repaying a debt, on the losing side of a war, or considered a slave by birth. In antiquity Athens was a city focused on knowledge and philosophy, yet they found slavery to be an acceptable institution defended by the philosophers themselves. Those that challenged slavery argued more for the unnatural aspects of the master/slave dynamic rather than …

Annual Report Of Center For International Law And Justice: 2014-2015

Annual Reports of the Center for International Law and Justice

No abstract provided.

Expression Of Emotional Arousal In Two Different Piglet Call Types, Linhart Pavel, Victoria F. Ratcliffe, David Reby, Marek Špinka

Bioacoustics Collection

Humans as well as many animal species reveal their emotional state in their voice. Vocal features show strikingly similar correlation patterns with emotional states across mammalian species, suggesting that the vocal expression of emotion follows highly conserved signalling rules. To fully understand the principles of emotional signalling in mammals it is, however, necessary to also account for any inconsistencies in the way that they are acoustically encoded. Here we investigate whether the expression of emotions differs between call types produced by the same species. We compare the acoustic structure of two common piglet calls—the scream (a distress call) and the …

Proceedings Of The 2015 Berry Summer Thesis Institute, University Of Dayton. University Honors Program

Proceedings of the Berry Summer Thesis Institute (2013-Present)

Thanks to a gift from the Berry Family Foundation and the Berry family, the University Honors Program launched the Berry Summer Thesis Institute in 2012. The institute introduces students in the University Honors Program to intensive research, scholarship opportunities and professional development. Each student pursues a 12-week summer thesis research project under the guidance of a UD faculty mentor. This contains the product of the students' research.

Public Services Annual Report 2014-2015, Deborah Mongeau

Public Services Reports

Annual report of the Public Services Department at the University of Rhode Island Libraries.

Nosh-Sulindac (Avt-18a) Is A Novel Nitric Oxide- And Hydrogen Sulfide-Releasing Hybrid That Is Gastrointestinal Safe And Has Potent Anti-Inflammatory, Analgesic, Antipyretic, Anti-Platelet, And Anti-Cancer Properties, Khosrow Kashfi, Mitali Chattopadhyay, Ravinder Kodela

Publications and Research

Sulindac is chemopreventive and has utility in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis; however, side effects preclude its long-term use. NOSH-sulindac (AVT-18A) releases nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide, was designed to be a safer alternative. Here we compare the gastrointestinal safety, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic, anti-platelet, and anti-cancer properties of sulindac and NOSH-sulindac administered orally to rats at equimolar doses. Gastrointestinal safety: 6 h post-administration, number/size of hemorrhagic lesions in stomachs were counted. Tissue samples were frozen for PGE2, SOD, and MDA determination. Anti-inflammatory: 1 h after drug administration, the volume of carrageenan-induced rat paw edemas was measured for 5 h. Anti-pyretic: …

Exotic Addiction, Melissa A. Morgan

Duke Law Journal Online

With an annual profit between $10 and $20 billion, animal smuggling has become the third largest illegal trade in the world, behind only drugs and firearms, and the results are devastating to humans and animals alike. Zoonotic diseases are spreading, animal attack incidents are increasing, and several species are rapidly approaching extinction. This raises several questions that have been largely unanswered: What is causing the increase in demand? How serious are the effects? Why isn’t the law effective in preventing this? What can be done to slow this trend? This Comment attempts to answer these questions by investigating the causes …

A Comparative Study On Phenolic Substances In Selected Black Legumes That Inhibit Digestive Enzymes, Yuqing Tan

Theses and Dissertations

Antioxidant-rich plant foods can inhibit starch and lipid digestion that are relevant to the management of type-II diabetes. Our objective was to compare the three phenolic substances (total phenolic, total flavonoids, and condensed tannin content) in crude, semi-purified extracts from eight types of foods (purified by XAD-7 column), five fractions (semi-purified extracts fractionated by Sephadex LH-20 column) from black legumes, and to compare their antioxidant capacities. The IC50 values of these crude extracts, semi-purified extracts and fractions against alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase and lipase were measured. Results showed that Fraction V from black soybean had the lowest IC50 value (0.25 mg/mL) against …

Use Of Vocal Prosody To Express Emotions In Robotic Speech, Joe Crumpton

Theses and Dissertations

Vocal prosody (pitch, timing, loudness, etc.) and its use to convey emotions are essential components of speech communication between humans. The objective of this dissertation research was to determine the efficacy of using varying vocal prosody in robotic speech to convey emotion. Two pilot studies and two experiments were performed to address the shortcomings of previous HRI research in this area. The pilot studies were used to determine a set of vocal prosody modification values for a female voice model using the MARY speech synthesizer to convey the emotions: anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. Experiment 1 validated that participants perceived …

Transcriptional And Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Hepcidin And Iron Metabolism By Lipid Signaling In The Liver, Sizhao Lu

Theses & Dissertations

Although iron is required for essential biological processes, excess iron is detrimental due to oxidative damage induced by iron-mediated Fenton reactions, which promote tissue injury. Cellular iron uptake, transport and storage must therefore be tightly regulated. This task is accomplished mainly through hepcidin, the key iron-regulatory hormone. Hepcidin is synthesized primarily in hepatocytes as a circulatory antimicrobial peptide. It controls iron metabolism by inhibiting iron absorption from the duodenum and iron release from reticuloendothelial macrophages. Besides synthesizing hepcidin, the liver plays an important role in maintaining iron homeostasis by serving as the main storage organ for excess iron. Patients with …

Variables In The Introduction Of The Species, Streptocephalus Sealii, Spinytail Fairy Shrimp Into A Local Seasonal Wetland, Jane Anne Porterfield

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this capstone is what factors play a role in the introduction of a wingless aquatic invertebrate to a recently restored mitigation wetland. The motivation for this capstone was the discovery of a fairy shrimp, Streptocephalus sealii in a Rosemount, Minnesota wetland in 2012. This organism was previously recorded from two other sites in Minnesota at least 35 miles from this location. Its appearance in a mitigation wetland generated questions as to whether restoration materials brought in the species or the mitigation created the environment in which the organism could thrive. This study investigates both of …

How Do The Life Stories Of Non-Traditional Students Impact Their Educational Journeys, Janna Lynn Graham

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question highlights the importance of personal narrative and explores the notion that reframing one’s story can have a strong impact on future success. The author discusses research pertaining to disconnected learners and examines the way in which personal stories influence classroom motivation. The data collection process takes an autobiographical approach as three non-traditional students share their educational life histories. Students’ stories are comprehensively explored through interviews, a review of student records, and observations. Each documented educational journey emphasizes the significance of individual stories and the importance of acknowledging the unique struggles faced by non-traditional students.

Targeted Magnetite Tissue Delivery For Antiretroviral Pharmacokinetics, Tianyuzi Li

Theses & Dissertations

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics studies are required for bench to bedside translation of any new drug, formulation or device. Multifunctional magnetite nanocarriers enable magnetic resonance imaging tracking of nanomaterial encased antiretroviral drugs serving to improve the effectiveness of formulation developments. Targeting ligands used to deliver nanoparticles to HIV harboring cells can be tested using multifunctional magnetite nanocarriers. To this end, two types of magnetite nanocarriers were developed. These included small magnetite antiretroviral therapy particles. The second were ALN-PEG coated magnetite particles for testing macrophages targeting ligands. Overall, these works should serve to speed the development of long acting nanoformulated ART to …

Improving Antibiotic Resistant Infection Transmission Situational Awareness In Enclosed Facilities With A Novel Graphical User Interface For Tactical Biosurveillance, Valeriya V. Kettelhut

Theses & Dissertations

Serious challenges associated with antibiotic resistant infections (ABRIs) force healthcare practitioners (HCP) to seek innovative approaches that will slow the emergence of new ABRIs and prevent their spread. It was realized that traditional approaches to infection prevention based on education, retrospective reports, and biosurveillance often fail to ensure reliable compliance with infection prevention guidelines and real-time problem solving. The objective of this original research was to develop and test the conceptual design of a situational awareness (SA)-oriented information system for coping with healthcare-associated infection transmission.

Constantly changing patterns in spatial distribution of patients, prevalence of infectious cases, clustering of contacts, …

Development Of Polymer Peptide Conjugates For Enhanced Pancreatic Cancer Imaging, Wen Shi

Theses & Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US with very poor prognosis. All clinically available biomarkers and diagnostic tools either fail to detect early stage PDAC or suffer from low specificity and sensitivity. There is an urgent need for diagnostic agents with greater efficacy for PDAC detection and staging. Nanomaterials such as N-(2-Hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymers can effectively target tumors, and offer novel opportunities for the development of effective diagnostic agents for cancer. However, a major problem of many nanomaterials-based diagnostics is their opsonization and sequestration by the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), leading …

The Role Of Glutaminase 1 In Hiv-1 Associated Neurocognitive Disorders And In Brain Development, Yi Wang

Theses & Dissertations

Glutaminase is the enzyme that converts glutamine into glutamate, which serves as a key excitatory neurotransmitter and one of the energy providers for cellular metabolism. Glutamate is essential for proper brain functioning but at excess levels, it is neurotoxic and has a key role in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative diseases, including HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). However, the detailed mechanism of glutamate-mediated neurotoxicity remains unclear. In part I, we identified the regulation of glutaminase 1 (GLS1) in the central nervous system (CNS) of HAND animal models including HIV-Tat transgenic (Tg) mouse and HIVE-SCID mouse, since GLS1 is the dominant …

Effects Of Maternal Immune Activation And Repeated Maternal Separation On Postpartum Behaviors In The Female Rat Offspring, Shinnyi Chou

Theses & Dissertations

Early life stress can induce persistent brain and behavioral alterations. As a lifetime history of clinical symptoms similar to those caused by early adversities may predict postpartum dysfunctions, these stressors likely contribute to their etiology. Postpartum neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g. postpartum depression, anxiety and depression) are costly, yet due to the complex neuronal reorganization during this period, insights into how early adversities-induced CNS functional changes affect postpartum processes remain limited, especially under multiple stressors. Thus, there is a need to determine postpartum functions altered by early stress, in order to increase understandings of risks associated with postpartum maladaptations. Accordingly, this work …

Protecting Ecosystems, Culture, And Human Rights In Chile Through Indigenous And Community-Conserved Territories And Areas, William G. Crowley

Capstone Collection

In environmental conservation circles around the world, the contributions of indigenous peoples and local communities to the sustainable maintenance of ecosystems and natural resources are being given increased attention. Whether for cultural, spiritual, economic, or other purposes, the use of traditional and local knowledge of habitat and resource management is slowly making its way into the modern environmental movement, and is being incorporated into the dominant conservation paradigms. These managed areas, known as Indigenous and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas, or ICCAs, are defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as “natural and/or modified ecosystems containing significant biodiversity …

Ccr5 And The Blood Brain Barrier During Hiv-1 Infection And Cell-Cell Communications, Shawna M. Woollard

Theses & Dissertations

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1) infection often results in blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction and central nervous system (CNS) impairment. Since most viral strains that cross the BBB and enter the CNS are macrophage-tropic and use the C-C chemokine receptor type-5 (CCR5) to enter and infect target cells, we hypothesized that CCR5 plays a major role in monocytes-endothelial interactions and HIV-induced BBB dysfunction. Because the cytoskeleton is responsible for cellular morphology and motility, we further hypothesized that HIV-induced monocyte-endothelial interactions and transendothelial migration involve cytoskeletal changes and that CCR5 blockers would also affect these changes. To this end we used two small …

The Involvement Of Let-7 Mirna In The Regulation Of Retinal Progenitor Cells, Xiaohuan Xia

Theses & Dissertations

Emerging evidence has shown that miRNA-mediated gene regulation plays an important role in the development of the central nervous system (CNS). One of the developmental mechanisms may involve let-7 miRNAs and their up-stream regulator, Lin28a and Lin28b in regulating neural stem cells (NSCs). Recently, let-7 has been observed to influence the differentiation of NSCs along neuronal versus glial lineage. However, there is also a report suggesting that the neurogliogenic decision is independent of let-7. These paradoxical results might represent contextual roles of let-7 and lin28 during the CNS development. We have tested this premise in the mammalian retina, a reliable …