Digital Commons Network^™

Infants In Orange: An International Model-Based Approach Prison Nurseries, Jennifer Warner

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

Prison nurseries are used throughout the world as a way to strengthen the initial mother-child bond and ensure that mothers are given a chance to raise their children, even if it's behind bars. Ms. Warner outlines the differences between prison nurseries in countries like Germany, Colombia, and Kenya, and reveals that the United States is vastly different from the rest. While most countries offer prison nurseries, only nine states within the United States utilize a prison nursery, which means the majority of United States jails and prisons routinely separate newborns from their incarcerated mothers. Ms. Warner urges her readers and …

Antiproliferative And Antiestrogenic Activities Of Bonediol An Alkyl Catechol From Bonellia Macrocarpa, Rosa Moo-Puc, Edgar Caamal-Fuentes, Sergio R. Peraza-Sánchez, Anna Slusarz, Glenn Jackson, Sara K. Drenkhahn, Dennis B. Lubahn

Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to investigate antiproliferative activity of bonediol, an alkyl catechol isolated from the Mayan medicinal plant Bonellia macrocarpa. Bonediol was assessed for growth inhibition of androgen-sensitive (LNCaP), androgen-insensitive (PC-3), and metastatic androgen-insensitive (PC-3M) human prostate tumor cells; toxicity on normal cell line (HEK 293) was also evaluated. Hedgehog pathway was evaluated and competitive 3H-estradiol ligand binding assay was performed. Additionally, antioxidant activity on Nrf2-ARE pathway was evaluated. Bonediol induced a growth inhibition on prostate cancer cell lines (IC50 from 8.5 to 20.6 µM). Interestingly, bonediol binds to both estrogen receptors (ERα (2.5 …

Effects Of A Dietary Supplement On Golf Drive Distance And Functional Indices Of Golf Performance, Tim N. Ziegenfuss, Scott M. Habowski, Robert Lemieux, Jennifer E. Sandrock, A. William Kedia, Chad M. Kerksick, Hector L. Lopez

Faculty Scholarship

Background

Limited research exists examining the impact of nutrition on golfing performance. This study’s purpose was to determine the impact of daily supplementation with an over-the-counter dietary supplement on golf performance.

Methods

Healthy men (30.3 ± 6.9 y, 183.1 ± 5.6 cm, 86.7 ± 11.9 kg), with a 5–15 handicap were assigned in a double-blind, placebo-controlled manner to ingest for 30 days either a placebo (PLA, n = 13) or a dietary supplement containing creatine monohydrate, coffea arabica fruit extract, calcium fructoborate and vitamin D (Strong Drive™, SD, n = 14). Subjects ingested two daily doses for the first two …

Increased Phosphate Transport Of Arabidopsis Thalianapht1;1 By Site-Directed Mutagenesis Of Tyrosine 312 May Be Attributed To The Disruption Of Homomeric Interactions, Elena B. Fontenot, Sandra Feuer Ditusa, Naohiro Kato, Danielle M. Olivier, Renee Dale, Wei Yi Lin, Tzyy Jen Chiou, Megan A. Macnaughtan, Aaron P. Smith

Faculty Publications

& Sons Ltd. Members of the Pht1 family of plant phosphate (Pi) transporters play vital roles in Pi acquisition from soil and in plantaPi translocation to maintain optimal growth and development. The study of the specificities and biochemical properties of Pht1 transporters will contribute to improving the current understanding of plant phosphorus homeostasis and use-efficiency. In this study, we show through split in vivo interaction methods and in vitro analysis of microsomal root tissues that Arabidopsis thalianaPht1;1 and Pht1;4 form homomeric and heteromeric complexes. Transient and heterologous expression of the Pht1;1 variants, Pht1;1^Y312D, Pht1;1^Y312A and Pht1;1^{Y312F …}

Il-1Β Reciprocally Regulates Chemokine And Insulin Secretion In Pancreatic Β-Cells Via Nf-Κb, Susan J. Burke, Krisztian Stadler, Danhong Lu, Evanna Gleason, Anna Han, Dallas R. Donohoe, Richard C. Rogers, Gerlinda E. Hermann, Michael D. Karlstad, J. Jason Collier

Faculty Publications

© 2015 the American Physiological Society. Proinflammatory cytokines impact islet β-cell mass and function by altering the transcriptional activity within pancreatic β-cells, producing increases in intracellular nitric oxide abundance and the synthesis and secretion of immunomodulatory proteins such as chemokines. Herein, we report that IL-1β, a major mediator of inflammatory responses associated with diabetes development, coordinately and reciprocally regulates chemokine and insulin secretion. We discovered that NF-κB controls the increase in chemokine transcription and secretion as well as the decrease in both insulin secretion and proliferation in response to IL-1β. Nitric oxide production, which is markedly elevated in pancreatic β-cells …

Increased Phosphate Transport Of Arabidopsis Thalianapht1;1 By Site-Directed Mutagenesis Of Tyrosine 312 May Be Attributed To The Disruption Of Homomeric Interactions, Elena B. Fontenot, Sandra Feuer Ditusa, Naohiro Kato, Danielle M. Olivier, Renee Dale, Wei Yi Lin, Tzyy Jen Chiou, Megan A. Macnaughtan, Aaron P. Smith

Faculty Publications

& Sons Ltd. Members of the Pht1 family of plant phosphate (Pi) transporters play vital roles in Pi acquisition from soil and in plantaPi translocation to maintain optimal growth and development. The study of the specificities and biochemical properties of Pht1 transporters will contribute to improving the current understanding of plant phosphorus homeostasis and use-efficiency. In this study, we show through split in vivo interaction methods and in vitro analysis of microsomal root tissues that Arabidopsis thalianaPht1;1 and Pht1;4 form homomeric and heteromeric complexes. Transient and heterologous expression of the Pht1;1 variants, Pht1;1^Y312D, Pht1;1^Y312A and Pht1;1^{Y312F …}

Faculty Senate Newsletter, January 2015, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from President: In one of his Proverbs of Hell, the late-Enlightenment poet William Blake shows the devil recommending that we “Bring out number weight and measure in a year of dearth.” Blake’s advice, uttered by the Provost of Perdition, throws a bituminous light on our contemporary preoccupation with assessment. Academic people everywhere not only labor under, but amicably collaborate in the production of statistics, measurements, evaluations, “metrics,” and a menagerie of purportedly informative numbers. We have arithmetical estimates of everything—except assessment itself. The absence of evidence for the efficacy of assessment is, if not overwhelming, at least imposing. Faculty …

Freedom From Thought, Jane Bambauer

Emory Law Journal

This short Essay explores when ignorance can be supported or even coerced by law, and when it cannot. In the end, although freedom from thought has much to offer to the development of privacy and dignitary rights, interests in self-ignorance are better handled through norms than through law. Like other forms of privacy, First Amendment commitments are likely to frustrate legal efforts to support or coerce self-ignorance. If a speaker wishes to disclose information, the government is unlikely to be able to interfere with that disclosure unless the speaker¿s interests are demonstrably weak. However, when both the speaker and the …

Induced Jasmonate Signaling Leads To Contrasting Effects On Root Damage And Herbivore Performance, Jing Lu, Christelle Aurélie Maud Robert, Michael Riemann, Marco Cosme, Laurent Mène-Saffrané, Josep Massana, Michael Joseph Stout, Yonggen Lou, Jonathan Gershenzon, Matthias Erb

Faculty Publications

© 2015 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved. Induced defenses play a key role in plant resistance against leaf feeders. However, very little is known about the signals that are involved in defending plants against root feeders and how they are influenced by abiotic factors. We investigated these aspects for the interaction between rice (Oryza sativa) and two root-feeding insects: the generalist cucumber beetle (Diabrotica balteata) and the more specialized rice water weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus). Rice plants responded to root attack by increasing the production of jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid, whereas in contrast to in herbivore-attacked …

Factors Influencing Expression Of Antixenosis In Soybean To Anticarsia Gemmatalis And Spodoptera Frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), Arlindo Leal Boiça Júnior, Bruno Henrique Sardinha De Souza, Eduardo Neves Costa, Zulene Antonio Ribeiro, Michael Joseph Stout

Faculty Publications

© The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. This study aimed to evaluate some factors that influence the expression of antixenosis in soybean genotypes against Anticarsia gemmatalis Hübner and Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Free-choice and no-choice feeding assays were performed with the resistant soybean genotype IAC 100 and the susceptible genotype BRSGO 8360 using A. gemmatalis and S. frugiperda larvae. The following factors that may affect expression of resistance were evaluated: one larva versus two larvae per leaf disc; use of larvae without prior feeding suspension versus larvae starved …

Role Of Resistant Starch In Improving Gut Health, Adiposity, And Insulin Resistance, Michael J. Keenan, June Zhou, Maren Hegsted, Christine Pelkman, Holiday A. Durham, Diana B. Coulon, Roy J. Martin

Faculty Publications

© 2015 American Society for Nutrition. The realization that low-glycemic index diets were formulated using resistant starch led to more than a decade of research on the health effects of resistant starch. Determination of the metabolizable energy of the resistant starch product allowed for the performance of isocaloric studies. Fermentation of resistant starch in rodent studies results in what appears to be a healthier gut, demonstrated by increased amounts of short-chain fatty acids, an apparent positive change in the microbiota, and increased gene expression for gene products involved in normal healthy proliferation and apoptosis of potential cancer cells. Additionally, consumption …

Role Of Resistant Starch In Improving Gut Health, Adiposity, And Insulin Resistance, Michael J. Keenan, June Zhou, Maren Hegsted, Christine Pelkman, Holiday A. Durham, Diana B. Coulon, Roy J. Martin

Faculty Publications

© 2015 American Society for Nutrition. The realization that low-glycemic index diets were formulated using resistant starch led to more than a decade of research on the health effects of resistant starch. Determination of the metabolizable energy of the resistant starch product allowed for the performance of isocaloric studies. Fermentation of resistant starch in rodent studies results in what appears to be a healthier gut, demonstrated by increased amounts of short-chain fatty acids, an apparent positive change in the microbiota, and increased gene expression for gene products involved in normal healthy proliferation and apoptosis of potential cancer cells. Additionally, consumption …

Prowashonupana Barley Dietary Fibre Reduces Body Fat And Increases Insulin Sensitivity In Caenorhabditis Elegans Model, Chenfei Gao, Michael L. King, Zachary L. Fitzpatrick, Wenqian Wei, Jason F. King, Mingming Wang, Frank L. Greenway, John W. Finley, Jeffrey H. Burton, William D. Johnson, Michael J. Keenan, Frederick M. Enright, Roy J. Martin, Jolene Zheng

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Prowashonupana barley (PWB) is high in β-glucan with moderate content of resistant starch. PWB reduced intestinal fat deposition (IFD) in wild type Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans, N2), and in sir-2.1 or daf-16 null mutants, and sustained a surrogate marker of lifespan, pharyngeal pumping rate (PPR), in N2, sir-2.1, daf-16, or daf-16/daf-2 mutants. Hyperglycaemia (2% glucose) reversed or reduced the PWB effect on IFD in N2 or daf-16/daf-2 mutants with a sustained PPR. mRNA expression of cpt-1, cpt-2, ckr-1, and gcy-8 were dose-dependently reduced in N2 or daf-16 mutants, elevated in daf-16/daf-2 mutants with reduction in cpt-1, …

Comparative Gut Microbiota Of 59 Neotropical Bird Species, Sarah M. Hird, César Sánchez, Bryan C. Carstens, Robb T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Hird, Sánchez, Carstens and Brumfield. The gut microbiota of vertebrates are essential to host health. Most non-model vertebrates, however, lack even a basic description of natural gut microbiota biodiversity. Here, we sampled 116 intestines from 59 Neotropical bird species and used the V6 region of the 16S rRNA molecule as a microbial fingerprint (average coverage per bird ~80,000 reads). A core microbiota of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria was identified, as well as several gut-associated genera. We tested 18 categorical variables associated with each bird for significant correlation to the gut microbiota; host taxonomic categories were most frequently …

School Gardens: Cultivating A Child’S Nutritional Habits, Environmental Knowledge, And Sustainability Practices, Jeffrey Meltzer

Honors Theses

School gardens have existed since the late nineteenth century and today are becoming increasingly popular in many parts of the world, including where I studied in Maine and Australia (AUS). Multiple organizations support school gardens in Maine, including the Maine School Garden Network, which has over 125 registered school gardens. In AUS, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation primarily supports the school garden movement and has over 800 registered school gardens. While many researchers have studied school gardens, few have compared two countries, focused on environmental sustainability, or investigated Maine in particular. This thesis combines information from literature reviews, and …

The Growing Crisis In Maine: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Olivia Avidan

Honors Theses

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a Maine epidemic. In addition to having medical repercussions, NAS is intrinsically linked to social, political and economic factors. NAS is a conglomeration of symptoms, short-term and long-term, that affect a child that has been exposed to opioids in utero. These factors that impact NAS are interdependent. The past decade is characterized by a dramatic rise in NAS cases in Maine. This paper explores the social, political and economic landscape surrounding NAS in an effort to describe fully the syndrome’s effect on both individuals and the community as a whole.

Panorama 2015, Karen Villarreal, Stephanie Melchor

UTPA Archives - Panorama Magazine

No abstract provided.

Auxin-Mediated Growth Of Rice In Cadmium-Contaminated Soil, Hussna Farooq, Hafiz Naeem Asghar, Muhammad Yahya Khan, Muhammad Saleem, Zahir Ahmad Zahir

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Pollution from heavy metals is a global problem that is very dangerous to the environment. Among the heavy metals, cadmium is receiving more and more attention because it is one of the most ecotoxic, making it very harmful for biological activity in soil, biodiversity, plant metabolism, and human and animal health. Phytohormones, produced by plants, control or regulate germination, growth, metabolism, or other physiological activities, and they can alleviate the toxic effects of heavy metals on plant growth. Auxin is the most abundant natural growth hormone, controlling apical dominance, tropism, elongation of shoots, and initiation of roots in plants. However, …

Assessment Of Fruit Characteristics And Genetic Variation Among Naturally Growingwild Fruit Elaeagnus Angustifolia Accessions, Aydin Uzun, Buket Çeli̇k, Turan Karadeni̇z, Kadi̇r Uğurtan Yilmaz, Cafer Altintaş

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Elaeagnus angustifolia L. is a deciduous wild-growing fruit species that plays significant roles in maintaining ecosystem functions in arid regions. In the present study, the fruit characteristics and genetic variations among 56 E. angustifolia accessions collected from the Central Anatolian region of Turkey were determined. The majority of the variations were observed in fruit characteristics. Results revealed that fruit weights varied between 0.59 g and 2.56 g, fruit lengths between 1.13 cm and 2.58 cm, fruit widths between 0.86 cm and 1.67 cm, fruit shape indexes between 0.52 and 0.92, and pedicle lengths between 1.95 mm and 7.74 mm. The …

Allelopathic Effects Of S. Canadensis On The Germination Of Native Prairie Plants, James David Megenhardt

Masters Theses

Solidago canadensis has become a aggressive species of North American prairie forb throughout the world and within restored prairies throughout North America, causing the loss of biodiversity within those ecosystems. While reproductive methods of wind dispersed seeds and clonal expansion through rhizomes has helped S. canadensis colonize and spread through these ecosystems, S. canadensis also releases allelopathic chemicals which may inhibit the germination and growth of competing species. What was unknown is if these same allelopathic chemicals which give S. canadensis an edge within foreign ecosystems might also explain why S. canadensis is so prolific in restored North American …

Motivational Interviewing For Parent-Child Health Interventions: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Belinda Borrelli, Erin M. Tooley

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Purpose: Motivational interviewing (MI) is a patient-centered approach focusing on building intrinsic motivation for change. This paper presents a meta-analysis of parent-involved MI to improve pediatric health behavior and health outcomes.

Methods: Study inclusion criteria: (1) examined modifiable pediatric health behaviors (< 18 years old); (2) used MI or motivational enhancement; (3) conducted a randomized controlled trial with a comparison group (non-MI control or active treatment group); (4) conducted the intervention with only a parent or both a parent and child; and (5) were written in English. Twenty-five studies (with 5,130 participants) were included and independently rated. Weighted mean effect sizes, using random-effects assumptions, were calculated.

Results: Relative to comparison groups, MI was associated with significant improvements in health behaviors (e.g., oral health, diet, physical activity, reduced screen time, smoking cessation, reduced second hand smoke) and reduction in body mass index. Results suggest that MI may also outperform comparison groups in terms of dental caries, but more studies are needed. MI interventions were more …

Assessing The Impact Of Pre-Meal To-Go Containers On Consumption And Satiety, Claudia Bueno

Masters Theses

Lack of portion control is one of the main causes of obesity. Restaurants offer portions larger than recommended by the USDA. This can lead to portion distortion among consumers and increased consumption. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of offering a to-go box before a meal on reducing consumption.

In this quasi-experimentally designed study, a convenience sample of diners (N=35) served as subjects. The experimental group (n=18) was offered a to-go box before the meal, and the control group (n=17) was offered a to-go box after the meal. The food was …

Imaging The Early Cold War: Photographs In Life Magazine, 1945-1954, Kathryn L. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Life’s early coverage of the Cold War (1945-1954) in order to explicate this publication’s creation and reinforcement of prescriptive attitudes about this ideological engagement through photographically illustrated news. By uncovering Life’s editorial approach this project proposes a new diagnostic for evaluating documentary images by re-configuring Hayden White’s incisive theory of emplotment—the process of engendering historical narratives with meaning— through semiotic models proposed by Louis Hjelmslev and Roland Barthes, thereby offering a useful tool for future scholars to re-examine modern media’s transition towards prizing visual immediacy over critical engagement.

Life’s editors’ link narrative devices …

High School Teacher And Administrator Perceptions Of Student Health Promotion: An Exploratory Study, Sarah B. Conklin

Theses and Dissertations

The current study explored the high school health promotion environment with regards to physical activity, nutrition, and sedentary behaviors from the perspective of high school health and physical education teachers and administrators. Specifically, potential strategies for a prevention program to promote student physical activity participation and healthy eating, and decrease student sedentary time were explored.

Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with physical education teachers to explore potential strategies to promote student health behaviors. Next, interviews were conducted with high school administrators to determine the feasibility of recommended strategies. Teachers and administrators in the current study expressed a need for strategies …

Role Of Extracytoplasmic Rna Polymerase Sigma 70 Factor, Pg0214, In The Survival Of Porphyromonas Gingivalis And In Adaptation To Environmental Stress., David M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a gram-negative anaerobic, pathogenic bacterium is a major etiological agent in the initiation and progression of periodontal disease. Due to the ever-changing environment of the oral cavity, inhabitants like Porphyromonas gingivalis must possess the ability to adapt to changes in environmental conditions like pH, temperature, oxygen tension, and metal concentration. P. gingivalis should therefore have an efficient regulatory system in order to adapt and survive in the oral cavity. This response adaptation occurs at the transcriptional level, which involves alternative sigma factors. Extracytoplasmic function sigma (ECF-s) factors are the largest group of alternative sigma factors that play …

Relieving Post-Stroke Fatigue Using A Group-Based Educational Training Approach, Catherine E. Emery

Theses and Dissertations

Post-stroke fatigue is a common problem that may limit participation in everyday activities. Emerging evidence suggests that group-based training in fatigue management may be an efficient means of reducing the effects of post-stroke fatigue. This mixed methods, quasi-experimental study proposed to determine whether a group-based educational program could be successful in relieving post-stroke fatigue and improving participation in daily activities. A convenience sample of stroke survivors (n=20) from retirement communities in southeastern PA were invited to participate in the research. Participants were screened for depression, motor and cognitive recovery, and sleep quality. Fatigue was measured using the Fatigue Severity Scale …

Kensington Center For Health: An Exploration Of Health, Wellness And The Built Environment., Rose Peck

Theses and Dissertations

This is a project that explores how design can integrate medical treatment and community support. The high prevalence of chronic disease is creating a national healthcare crisis. Chronic disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Consideration of a holistic sense of well-being that focuses on disease resistance, resilience, and self-management is necessary to realize and sustain health outcomes. Community engagement is imperative to improve adherence rates for lifestyle changes. This project aims to design a community wellness space that is focused on prevention, resilience and self-management. A new typology of a community-anchored wellness clinic …

An Association Study Between Adult Blood Pressure And Time To First Cardiovascular Disease, Yongjia Pu

Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated the association between the time to hypertension event and multiple baseline measurements for adults, yet other survival cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes such as high cholesterol and heart attack have been somewhat less considered. The Fels Longitudinal Study (FLS) provides us an opportunity to connect adult blood pressure (BP) at certain ages to the time to first CVD outcomes. The availability of long-term serial BP measurements from FLS also potentially allows us to evaluate if the trend of the measured BP biomarkers over time predicts survival outcomes in adulthood through statistical modeling.

METHODS: When the reference …

A Comparison Of Vitamin D Levels In Children With Early Childhood Caries, Vanessa O. Hofilena

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To determine if there is an association between early childhood caries (ECC) and vitamin D deficiency, as measured via a serum sample. An exploratory goal was to investigate the possibility of measuring vitamin D with a salivary assay. Methods: Serum samples of patients who were scheduled for a dental or otolaryngology procedure under general anesthesia were assessed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), parathyroid hormone and calcium. Results: Our analysis indicates that the vitamin D levels of the controls and ECC group were significantly different. There were significant inverse correlations between: 1) PTH levels and vitamin D and 2) decayed, missing, …

Motivational Factors For Treating Patients With Special Health Care Needs, Arpi Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess what training and motivational factors dental providers report in providing dental care to PSHCN (patients with special healthcare needs. Materials and Methods: An electronic questionnaire was sent to n=104 fourth year dental students, n=147 general dentists with a specific continuing education course pertaining to PSCHN, and n=140 pediatric dentists in Virginia. The questionnaire consisted of four sections including Demographics, Professional Attitudes, Special Needs Patients and Motivational Factors, and PSCHN Cases. Results: The overall response rate for our study was 21%. The response rates of dental students, general dentists, …