Digital Commons Network^™

Acute Myocardial Infarction And Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: A Comparison, Satwat Hashmi, Suhail Al-Salam

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Myocardial infarction (MI) denotes the death of cardiac myocytes due to extended ischemia. Myocardial reperfusion is the restoration of coronary blood flow after a period of coronary occlusion. Reperfusion has the potential to salvage ischemic myocardium but paradoxically can cause injury, a phenomenon called as 'reperfusion injury' (IR). Standard histologic, immunohistochemical and Elisa techniques were used to study the histopathologic, oxidative, apoptotic and inflammatory changes in MI and IR. The IL-6 levels in the LV of the MI group were significantly raised as compared to the IR group (P=0.0008). Plasma IL-6 was also significantly increased in the MI group as …

Producing Financially Literate Medical Graduates -- A National Need For A Brighter Pakistan, Rehana Rehman, Shah Jahan Katpar, Mehwish Hussain, Rakhshaan Khan

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Objective: To compare the awareness of financial wellness between male and female medical students.Methods: The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted from February to December 2011 and comprised first year medical students belonging to different medical colleges of Karachi. Students from both genders, aged 19-24 years, belonging to all ethnic groups willing to participate were included. A close-ended questionnaire evaluated aspects of financial wellness, using four-point Likert's scale: never, sometimes, mostly, and always from 0 to 4. Besides, factor analysis was performed to investigate common financial wellness among the participants.Results: Of the total 800 students approached, complete responses were received from …

Pacific Review Fall 2015, Alumni Association Of The University Of The Pacific

Pacific Magazine and Pacific Review

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Novice Instructors’ Questioning Techniques And Classroom Discourse Surrounding Those Questions, Kitty Lane Roach

Dissertations

The goals of this dissertation were to examine how novice calculus teachers used questions in their classrooms, how those questions and their use might change after video case-based course coordination, and what evidence of influence on student learning might be seen in undergraduate student achievement. This research focused on one way to elicit student ideas--by asking questions--and how professional development might facilitate asking questions as a way to learn about student thinking in calculus. This dissertation defined question depth (in terms of cognitive demand), question category (comprehension check, content check, elicit thinking, probe thinking), and discourse neighborhood as aspects of …

Initial Study And Mitigated Negative Declaration For The Humboldt Bay Power Plant Final Site Restoration Plan Implementation, N/A

Local Reports and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Demographic Threat? Proposed Reclassification Of Arab Americans On The 2020 Census, Khaled A. Beydoun

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

“Arab Americans are white?” This question—commonly posed as a demonstration of shock or surprise—highlights the dissonance between how “Arab” and “white” are discursively imagined and understood in the United States today. These four words also encapsulate the dilemma that currently riddles Arab Americans. The population finds itself interlocked between formal classification as white, and de facto recognition as nonwhite. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the government agency that oversees the definition, categorization, and construction of racial categories, currently counts people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as white. The United States Census Bureau (Census Bureau), the …

Assessing The Impacts Of Macroalgal Competition And Parrotfish Grazing On Coral Cover In The Middle Florida Keys, Kylie Smith

All Theses

The coral reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) are diverse ecosystems that support thousands of marine organisms. Unfortunately, the live coral cover on these reefs has dramatically decreased over the last 30 years even in the most protected areas of the sanctuary. Environmental changes have contributed to this decline in coral cover by creating optimal conditions for macroalgal growth. These macroalgae species are fast growing and out-compete slow growing corals for space and nutrients. Herbivores known to forage on macroalgae, including long-spined sea urchins and parrotfishes, have decreased in abundance. A synthesis of data from across the …

Environmental Effects On Fish Escape Responses: Impact Of Flow On The Escape Performance Of The Hawaiian Stream Goby, Sicyopterus Stimpsoni, Kelly Diamond

All Theses

The ability of fish to escape from predators is a critical behavior for their survival. Experimental measurements of escape performance in fishes have typically been based on trials conducted in still water; however, such environmental conditions are rare in nature due to waves and currents that expose fishes to unsteady and/or directional flow. I examined the effects of water flow and predator attack direction on the escape behavior of fish, using juveniles of the amphidromous Hawaiian goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni as a model system. In nature, these fish must escape ambush predation by the Hawaiian sleeper, Eleotris sandwicensis, while exposed …

Assessing Functional Vasodilation In The Gracilis Collateral Arteriole, Megan T. Chu

Biomedical Engineering

Peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) involves arterial occlusion due to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques. It is suggested that intermittent claudication, the most frequent clinical presentation of PAOD, is caused by impaired vasodilation. Current treatments for PAOD are not directed at improving vascular reactivity and are often insufficient. Stimulating arteriogenesis in collateral arterioles has therapeutic potential for PAOD, but because arterioles are the primary site of blood flow resistance, it is important that these treatments do not impair collateral vasodilation. Before this can be evaluated, the effects of arteriogenesis on collateral function must be studied in untreated collaterals. There is …

Infusion Of Reconstituted High-Density Lipoprotein, Csl112, In Patients With Atherosclerosis: Safety And Pharmacokinetic Results From A Phase 2a Randomized Clinical Trial, Pierluigi Tricoci, Denise M. D'Andrea, Paul A. Gurbel, Zhenling Yao, Marina Cuchel, Brion Winston, Robert Schott, Robert Weiss, Michael A. Blazing, Louis Cannon, Alison L. Bailey, Dominick J. Angiolillo, Andreas Gille, Charles L. Shear, Samuel D. Wright, John H. Alexander

Gill Heart & Vascular Institute Faculty Publications

Background CSL112 is a new formulation of human apolipoprotein A‐I (apoA‐I) being developed to reduce cardiovascular events following acute coronary syndrome. This phase 2a, randomized, double‐blind, multicenter, dose‐ranging trial represents the first clinical investigation to assess the safety and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of a CSL112 infusion among patients with stable atherosclerotic disease.

Methods and Results Patients were randomized to single ascending doses of CSL112 (1.7, 3.4, or 6.8 g) or placebo, administered over a 2‐hour period. Primary safety assessments consisted of alanine aminotransferase or aspartate aminotransferase elevations >3× upper limits of normal and study drug–related adverse events. Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic assessments included apoA‐I plasma …

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy For Adhd In College: Recommendations “Hot Off The Press”, Laura E. Knouse

Psychology Faculty Publications

ADHD leads to impairment across the lifespan including during the college years. An increasing number of studies document the academic, social, and psychological impairments associated with the disorder in college (DuPaul, Weyandt, O’Dell, & Varejao, 2009). Yet, until very recently, there were no published studies on cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches specifically tailored to college students with ADHD. Over the past year, however, four research groups have published work on skills-based cognitive-behavioral treatments for this population. My goal in this article is to briefly summarize these findings and to identify key recommendations for clinicians working with college students with the disorder that …

Neural Underpinnings Of Anxiety: Multi-Modal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Approach, Jiook Cha

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million American adults yearly. Recent conceptualization suggests that abnormal brain connectivity of the corticolimbic network underlies anxiety-related maladaptive behaviors. However, it is still unclear which brain circuits mediate specific behaviors, as well as how such brain-behavior based mechanisms contribute to the pathophysiology of anxiety. In this dissertation, we used both neurobiology and behavior to investigate the etiology of generalized anxiety disorder. Specifically, we hypothesized that distinct neural mechanisms may exist in two different constructs of the negative valence system: reactivity to imminent threat (fear) and to distal and uncertain threat (anxiety). We used behavioral paradigms …

Investigating How P110α Pi3k And Adam10 Contribute To Pancreatic Disease, Jason C. Hall

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the 4th leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with a 6% 5-year survival rate. Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a debilitating disease that raises your risk for developing PDAC 13 fold. Since current therapies are not improving patient outcome, understanding the molecular mechanisms behind the formation and progression of these diseases are imperative for finding new molecularly targeted therapy. Kras is the earliest and most commonly mutated oncogene in PDAC. Pancreatic mouse models expressing oncogenic Kras spontaneously form pancreatic tumors. Since targeting Kras directly has been unsuccessful many have tried inhibiting other molecules …

Elucidation Of Rnase R Mediated Nonstop Mrna Decay On Stalled Ribosomes, Krithika Venkataraman

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Ribosomes are macromolecular machines that catalyze the fundamental process of protein synthesis in the cell. Proper proceeding of the translation process is essential for the fitness and survival of all cells. However, stalling of ribosomes occurs on aberrant mRNA transcripts that lack the necessary information for proper decoding. Persistence of such defective mRNAs leads to futile cycles of translation and sequestration of the ribosomal machinery. Bacteria have evolved a versatile translation quality control mechanism termed trans-translation. A chimeric transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA) and its essential protein co-factor Small protein B (SmpB) are the pivotal components of this major ribosome-rescue system. As …

Signal Disruptions: Gendered Tropes And The Feminist Burlesque Of Martha Rosler, Jennifer Mary Kruglinski

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

My dissertation reveals the role of burlesque and humor in the feminist art of Martha Rosler. Rosler is acknowledged as a key figure in the feminist art movement, as well as a pioneer in video art, yet the fact that humor was integral to what I call her " feminist burlesque" --Rosler's parodic interpretation and re-presentation of the gendered imagery portrayed by the mass media--has been largely ignored in the literature surrounding her work. As such, this dissertation analyzes Rosler's feminist artwork from the 1970s that directly appropriated tropes of gender from the mass media and popular imagination in relation …

Development Of A Novel Immunization Platform, Katarzyna M. Sawicka

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Human skin defends against foreign pathogens with the physical barrier posed by its architecture as well as the large population of resident antigen presenting cells (APCs) that participate in launching both humoral and cellular immune responses. The equipment, storage, and personnel demands posed by intramuscular injection, the gold standard of immunization, hinder rapid distribution of vaccines to large populations under the time constraints of a spreading pandemic. Lower doses of immunogens, successfully delivered into the APC-rich layers of the skin, have been shown to elicit an immune response comparable to that achieved with intramuscular injection. The work disclosed in this …

Attentional Deployment Within Unpleasant Pictures: Neural Correlates & Functional Connectivity, Jamie Ferri

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Attentional deployment is an emotion regulation strategy that involves shifting attentional focus towards or away from particular aspects of emotional stimuli. Previous studies have highlighted the prevalence of attentional deployment and demonstrated that it can have a significant impact on affect and psychophysiology. However, relatively little is known about the neural basis of attentional deployment, or how individual differences impact the use and success of this strategy. In two separate fMRI studies, visual attention was directed to more or less arousing portions of unpleasant images. For five subjects from Study 1, and all subjects from Study 2, fMRI and eye-tracking …

Computational Conformal Geometry And It's Applications, Rui Shi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Conformal geometry has deep roots in pure mathematics, combining complex analysis, Riemann surface theory, algebraic geometry, differential geometry and algebraic topology. Computational conformal geometry plays an important role in digital geometry processing. Recently, theory of discrete conformal geometry and algorithms of computational conformal geometry have been developed[50]. A series of practical algorithms are presented to compute conformal mapping, which has been broadly applied in a lot of practical fields, including computer graphics, medical imaging, wireless sensor networks, visualization, and so on. In this thesis proposal, we address three applications of computational conformal geometry in medical imaging, wireless sensor networks and …

Undestanding The Influence Of Habitat Alteration On Hummingbird Species Using A Multi-Level Analysis Approach, Boris A. Tinoco

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The tropical Andes, the richest region in the world in terms of biodiversity, faces widespread anthropogenic alteration of habitats. As a result, this region harbors one of the highest concentrations of threatened species worldwide. While there has been extensive research on the effects of habitat alteration on biodiversity, studies often focus on one level of ecological organization; however all levels are inherently linked. I investigated the influence of habitat alteration on biodiversity by studying hummingbird populations, the structure of hummingbird assemblages, and hummingbird - plant interactions in habitats with different land-use types that are the result of different human-induced alteration …

Epigenetic Study With Genome-Wide Hypothesis Test And Stepwise Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (Smars), Yijin Wu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Epigenetic gene regulations are essential processes for development and differentiation in both animals and plants. With the advent and rapid advance of sequencing techniques, the high-throughput genome-wide epigenetic modification profiles have been extensively studied in the past few years. In this thesis work, we studied the relationship between gene regulation and two major epigenetic modifications, i.e. | DNA methylation and histone modifications. In the DNA methylation analysis, we studied two strains of Arabidopsis grown under different levels of carbon dioxide concentrations (430ppm vs. 810ppm) to simulate the impact of global climate change. The differentially methylated regions were identified by genome-wide …

Fenton Chemistry And Disease - The Role Of Particle-Derived Reactive Oxygen Species In Pathogenesis, Andrea Dawn Harrington

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are vital to the normal functioning of the immune system in the human body. However, when a foreign material enters the system the highly regulated balance between pro- and anti-oxidants can be disrupted, especially if the material itself can generate ROS. One way a material can generate ROS is through Fenton chemistry. The hypothesis that Fenton chemistry is an important factor in many exposure related diseases is experimentally tested using an array of complementary acellular and cellular in vitro techniques. The acellular experiments focused on determining the particle-derived formation of ROS upon dispersion in aqueous solutions, …

Exploring Rna Binding Pattern Of Rim4 In Meiosis, Che Xiao

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, translation is regulated in meiosis 1. Rim4 is an RNA binding protein with two RNA recognition motifs (RRMs). Previous studies 2 have shown that point mutations in either RRM knock out the translational repression of CLB3, SPO20, GIP1 and SPS1 in meiosis I, suggesting that the translational control of these genes may be due to Rim4. We wished to see the full range of RNAs bound by Rim4. We applied RIP-chip (RNA Immunoprecipitation/microarray) and CLIP-seq (in vivo Crosslinking and Immunoprecipitation/sequencing) to identify the RNAs co-immunoprecipitated with Rim4 in a synchronized meiosis I culture. The translationally-repressed genes co-clustering …

It's A No For Bacterial Settlement: Nitric Oxide Regulated Biofilm Formation And Protein Expression, Yueming Xu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Nitric Oxide (NO) is a diatomic signaling molecule that regulates diverse bacterial behaviors. Its effect on cell motility has been established in many microbial systems, but the molecular mechanism remains understudied. Some bacteria have an H-NOX (Heme-Nitric oxide/OXygen-binding) domain that functions as an NO sensor. It is found in the same operon with two component signaling histidine kinases or diguanylate cyclases (DGC) that synthesize and degrade cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP). C-di-GMP is a secondary signaling molecule that regulates bacterial motile to sessile lifestyle transition. In this dissertation, we dedicated our effort toward understanding the effect on bacterial biofilm by NO/H-NOX regulated …

Mass Spectrometry-Based Isotope-Coded Mass Tag (Icmt) To Study Transmembrane Peptide Dynamics And Protein-Lipid Interactions, Chiao-Yung Su

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The plasma membrane contains a diverse array of proteins, including receptors, channels, and signaling complexes, that serve as decision-making centers. Investigation of membrane protein topology is important for understanding the function of these types of proteins. Here, we report a method to determine protein topology in the membrane that utilizes labeling of cysteine with isotope-coded mass tags (ICMT). The mass tags contain a thiol reactive moiety, linker, and a quaternary ammonium group to aid ionization in the mass spectrometer and were synthesized as both light and heavy (deuterated) forms. The probes are membrane impermeable. To assess the utility of the …

Annual Sedimentary Extracellular Enzyme Activities In Great Peconic Bay -- From A Two Dimensional Perspective, Zhenrui Cao

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Extracellular enzymes (EE) initiate heterotrophic remineralization by hydrolyzing high-molecular-weight organic matter to substrates sufficiently small (~600 Da) to be transported across cell membranes. An accurate understanding of EE associated remineralization processes in sedimentary deposits requires measuring patterns of extracellular enzyme activity (EEA) with minimal disturbance. Traditional methods for measuring EEA typically involve sectioning of sediment cores and incubation. This approach at best results in an averaged one-dimensional profile with low resolution. Any natural heterogeneity in enzyme activity is obscured and the possible association of activity patterns with sedimentary structure minimized. My dissertation work focused on the development of a planar …

The Effect Of Isolation By Waterfalls And Dams On Stream Fish Morphology, Kayla M. Knoll

All NMU Master's Theses

Large dams with upstream reservoirs can cause divergent selection in fish morphology; however, the effect of isolation from small dams without upstream reservoirs is largely unknown. This study investigated the effects of isolation on stream fish body morphology and the related effect of isolation time on morphological divergence by comparing fish associated with older barriers (waterfalls) to very new barriers (dams). These effects were investigated in five species from the southern Lake Superior basin. Geometric morphometric techniques were used to quantify differences in fish body shape based on species-specific landmarks. Significant intraspecific differences between stream populations and between above-barrier and …

Cutr Connections [August 2015], Cutr

CUTR Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Kin Selection, Raymond Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

When Hamilton (1964) published his theory of inclusive fitness it had no immediate impact in the social and behavioral sciences, even though ethnographers knew kinship to be a universally fundamental factor in human social organization, especially in egalitarian societies in which humans have spent nearly all their evolutionary history. In many ways, it was a theory that perhaps anthropologists should have devised: Anthropologists knew kinship fundamentally structured cooperation, identity, coalition formation, resource exchange, marriage, and group membership in traditional societies. It was not until 1974 with the publication of Wilson’s Sociobiology (1975) and especially Richard Alexander’s The Evolution of Social …

Climate Change Resilience And Socioeconomic Impacts Of Mpas And Mpa Networks In The Caribbean - Case Study: Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Management Of Mpas And Coastal Zones In The Dominican Republic, Andrea Isabella Vogel

HCNSO Student Capstones

Many Caribbean nations have established MPAs to preserve marine biodiversity and maintain their economically important marine resources. In some Caribbean nations, in particular the Dominican Republic, most MPAs have failed in these respects and have remained “paper parks” due to being modeled along traditional conservation lines without careful consideration of socioeconomic factors, good management practices or increasingly important climate change factors. Successful Caribbean MPAs and MPA networks effectively function as refuges, attractions, sources of socioeconomic development and ecosystem-based climate change resilience mechanisms. The latter is of utmost importance to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other larger island developing states …

A Dual Function Of White Coloration In A Nocturnal Spider Dolomedes Raptor (Araneae: Pisauridae), Tai-Shen Lin, Shichang Zhang, Chen-Pan Liao, Eileen A. Hebets, I-Min Tso

Eileen Hebets Publications

Nocturnal animals frequently possess seemingly conspicuous color patterns that can function in a variety of ways (e.g. prey attraction, camouflage, predator avoidance, etc.). The use of color patterns in intraspecific signaling, especially reproductive activities, in nocturnal animals has received relatively little attention. This study tested for a dual function of color in the nocturnal fishing spider, Dolomedes raptor (Araneae: Pisauridae), whose males develop dimorphic white stripes at sexual maturation. We tested for a role in foraging as well as mate assessment. First, quantifications of the natural variation of male stripes indicated a correlation between stripe area and male body size …