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Extreme Hybrid Growth, Genomic Imprinting, The Large X Effect, And The Drivers Of Speciation In Mammals, Thomas David Brekke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Mammalian hybrids often show abnormal growth, indicating that developmental inviability may play an important role in mammalian speciation. Yet it is unclear if this recurrent phenotype reflects a common genetic basis. Here I describe patterns of hybrid inviability between two closely related species of dwarf hamsters, Phodopus campbelli and P. sungorus. Using genetic crosses, I found extreme parent-of-origin dependent growth in hybrid embryos and placentas. Abnormal growth in hybrid mammals has been empirically linked to genomic imprinting, the parent-specific silencing of a single allele that occurs in many genes involved in regulating embryonic growth. Epigenetic disruptions of genomic imprinting activate …

School Supports For Lgbtq Students: Counteracting The Dangers Of The Closet, Lauri Mae Lindquist

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Researchers have reported that being proud and open about one’s sexual and/or gender identity is related to fewer negative psychological outcomes. However, this process of identity development is often impeded by environmental factors, such as minority stress. Through his minority stress hypothesis, Meyer (2003) suggests that suggests that living in a society that is intolerant of central features of the self (e.g., sexual orientation and gender identity) increases the level of stress in individuals with minority statuses. These environmental stressors are consistently shown by research to account for the disproportionate amount of negative psychological and academic outcomes experienced by sexual …

Impact Of A Diesel Spill On Macroinvertebrate Communities In Ponds In S.E. Alabama, Usa, Katie E. Winkles

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, macroinvertebrate communities were examined to determine an indication of the water quality in ponds on a wetlands property after a diesel spill. In 2012, a train derailed, and at least 3000 gallons of diesel fuel leached into a small pond of the wetlands. Even after clean-up attempts there remains major concerns that the contamination spread throughout the wetlands. This concern led to the present study. Macroinvertebrates were the chosen focus due to their sensitivity to changes in the environment. Two field trials were conducted in which Hester-Dendy multiplate samplers were placed in ponds to allow macroinvertebrates to …

Screening For Pathogenic Escherichia Coli In The Chattahoochee River, Columbus, Georgia, Micah A. Staples

Theses and Dissertations

Escherichia coli testing is frequently used to indicate the possible presence of harmful pathogens, but E. coli itself can be pathogenic. Serotype 0157:H7, enterohemorrhagic E. coli, is likely the most medically important pathogenic strain of E. coli in the United States. In this study, we surveyed for 0157:H7 and three strains of another pathogenic subtype: enterotoxigenic E. coli. We isolated E. coli colonies from samples taken from the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia at two different locations, above and below wastewater outputs. We used PCR to test for the individual subtypes and then used a nested PCR protocol …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of The Csu Peer Leader Program On Student Performance In 2014-2015, Harrison E. Sharitt

Theses and Dissertations

In efforts to retain students and increase student performance, Columbus State implemented a Peer Leader program. With access to archival data on the CSU Peer Leader Program, the goal of this project was to determine if the program at CSU had a significant impact on students’ course performance. The impact of the program was assessed by performing multiple regression analyses and ANOVA. Preliminary results showed that Columbus State’s Peer Leader program had a small, but statistically significant, positive impact on students’ final course grades.

The Involvement Of Estrogen Receptors In Astrocyte Survival, Lauren M. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Estrogens are a class of hormones that are demonstrated to be neuroprotective. The levels of estrogen in the body decline during menopause which can cause a variety of symptoms. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a treatment option for menopause, however, it has been demonstrated to have adverse side effects. Of the treatment options for adverse side effects of HRT, Selective estrogen Down-regulators do not appear to have an agonist effects on estrogen receptors while Selective estrogen receptor Modulators do. The aim of this study was to determine the role that estrogen receptors play in the survival of astrocytes when placed …

Phylogenetic Analyses Of Andean And Amazonian Tree Communities In Ecuador, Samantha J. Worthy

Theses and Dissertations

The forests of Ecuador are known for their high levels of diversity and endemism, classifying the country as a biodiversity hotspot. Both the western Amazon and Andean montane forests are richly populated with tropical tree species that have been little studied in a community phylogenetic context. The implementation of elevational transects and trait based analyses having proven useful in gaining a better understanding of how environmental factors are affecting the tree community structure in these habitats. The goal of this research was to evaluate the magnitude ofDNA barcode diversity among Amazonian and Andean tree species. Specifically, the objectives were to …

Web Based Bioinformatics Tool For Contributing Content To The Anti-Microbial Peptide Editable Database, Abraham Herrera

Open Access Master's Theses

The goal of the work described in this thesis is to improve the software tool used to extract relevant data from an existing larger database, the Protein Data Bank (PDB), in order to populate the newly designed AMPed database that has been developed by Professor Lenore Martin's microbial peptide research group at URI. However, not all data from the PDB site can be automatically loaded into the AMPed database. Thus, this work describes a user-friendly secure web-based tool for manually transferring, editing, and contributing structural and anti-microbial experimental data generated by research labs around the globe into the AMPed.

Once …

Allergic Diseases And Internalizing Behaviors In Early Childhood., Maya K. Nanda, Grace K. Lemasters, Linda Levin, Marc E. Rothenberg, Amal H. Assa'ad, Nicholas Newman, David Bernstein, Gurjit Khurana-Hershey, James E. Lockey, Patrick H. Ryan

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between allergic diseases and internalizing disorders has not been well characterized with regard to multiple allergic diseases or longitudinal study. The objective of this study was to examine the association between multiple allergic diseases in early childhood with validated measures of internalizing disorders in the school-age years.

METHODS: Children enrolled in the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study underwent skin testing and examinations at ages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 years. At age 7, parents completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), a validated measure of childhood behavior and emotion. …

Proceedings Of The Working Group Session On Fertility Preservation For Individuals With Gender And Sex Diversity., Courtney Finlayson, Emilie K. Johnson, Diane Chen, Elizabeth Dabrowski, Yasmin Gosiengfiao, Lisa Campo-Engelstein, Ilina Rosoklija, Jill Jacobson, Margarett Shnorhavorian, Mary Ellen Pavone, Molly B. Moravek, Herbert J. Bonifacio, Lisa Simons, Janella Hudson, Patricia Y. Fechner, Veronica Gomez-Lobo, Rachel Kadakia, Angela Shurba, Erin Rowell, Teresa K. Woodruff

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Children and adolescents with gender and sex diversity include (1) gender-nonconforming and transgender individuals for whom gender identity or expression are incongruent with birth-assigned sex (heretofore, transgender) and (2) individuals who have differences in sex development (DSD). Although these are largely disparate groups, there is overlap in the medical expertise necessary to care for individuals with both gender and sex diversity. In addition, both groups face potential infertility or sterility as a result of desired medical and surgical therapies. The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (Lurie Children's) gender and sex development program (GSDP) provides specialized multidisciplinary …

An Overview Of Causal Directed Acyclic Graphs For Substance Abuse Researchers, Michael Lewis, Alexis Kuerbis

Publications and Research

Background. Within substance abuse research, quantitative methodologists tend to view randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as the “gold standard” for estimating causal effects, in part due to experimental manipulation and random assignment. Such methods are not always possible due to ethical and other reasons. Causal directed acyclic graphs (causal DAGs) are mathematical tools for (1) precisely stating researchers' causal assumptions and (2) providing guidance regarding the specification of statistical models for causal inference with nonexperimental data (such as epidemiological data). Purpose. This manuscript describes causal DAGs and illustrates their use in regards to a long standing theory within the field of …

Intrinsic Inter-Subject Variability In Functional Neuroimaging: Verification Using Blind Source Separation Features, Shruti Gopal Vij

Theses

The holy grail of brain imaging is the identification of a biomarker, which can identify an abnormality that can be used to diagnose disease and track the effectiveness of treatment and disease progression. Typically approaches that search for biomarkers start by identifying mean differences between groups of patients and healthy controls. However, combining data from different subjects and groups to be able to make meaningful inferences is not trivial. The structure of the brain in each individual is unique in size and shape as well as in the relative location of anatomical landmarks (e.g. sulci and gyri). When looking for …

W425-005e-01 - Student Organizations: Departmental Clubs: Various Records, Student Organizations

University Archives Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

W429.1-012l-01 - Accreditation And Association Membership Records: National Accreditation Of State Directors For Teacher Education And Certificate (Nasdtec): Self Study Records, Accreditation And Association Membership

University Archives Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

W442-001a-01 - Office Of Affirmative Action: Affirmative Action Officer: Departmental Applicants, Office Of Affirmative Action

University Archives Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

W442-001 - Office Of Affirmative Action: Subject File, Office Of Affirmative Action

University Archives Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Measuring Adherence With Antidepressant Medication: Comparison Of Hedis And Pdc Methodologies, Carmen Monica Telinoiu

Open Access Master's Theses

Depression is a significant problem for the managed care system. Antidepressant medication helps ameliorate the symptoms of depression yet adherence to medication is known to be poor. The current approach to adherence measurement (i.e HEDIS) is limited or lacking. Other methods are used (e.g Proportion of Days Covered –PDC) in other chronic diseases to measure adherence. Medication adherence is a growing concern for clinicians and other health care stakeholders (e.g payer) because of the increasing evidence that non-adherence is prevalent and places patients at an increased risk for adverse health outcomes and higher cost of care.

We conducted a retrospective …

Graphical User Interface For Antimicrobial Peptide Database, Tripti Garg

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis describes the design and implementation of Anti-Microbial Peptide Editable Database (“AMPed”), a tool to enable researchers to efficiently search, display, manipulate and store data about antimicrobial peptides. The tool is implemented as a secure website, created primarily using PHP and MySQL. The website exposes the data collected from a wide variety of sources via a set of common rules and nomenclature making it easy and intuitive for researchers to work with it. The website was evaluated on a variety of web browsers, as well as with a variety of users. It solves the need of non-technical users who …

Growth, Grazing And Starvation Survival In Three Heterotrophic Dinoflagellate Species, Sean Anderson

Open Access Master's Theses

We measured growth and grazing rates of three heterotrophic dinoflagellate species Oxyrrhis marina, Gyrodinium dominans and G. spirale exposed to starved versus continuously-fed prey conditions and assessed their starvation survival ability. All three dinoflagellate species survived long periods (>10 days) without prey, up to 118 days in the case of O. marina. After 1-3 weeks, starvation led to a 17-57% decrease in grazer cell volume and cells became more deformed and transparent over time. Starved grazers rapidly ingested new prey within 3 hours as evidenced by increased cell volumes of 4-17%. Grazer cultures that were starved had …

Bile Acids And Premature Labor In Intrahepatic Cholestasis Of Pregnancy, Sangmin You

Open Access Master's Theses

The association between serum bile acid levels and preterm birth has been reported. Clinical studies have shown that significant increase of serum bile acids during intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is associated with higher rate of preterm birth. However, the role of bile acids in preterm birth has not been established. In this study, we found that preterm birth was induced in mice by increasing plasma bile acids with cholic acid (CA) or carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) treatment. CCl4 treatment increased plasma bile acids by causing acute liver injury which down-regulated bile salt export pump (BSEP) in the liver. The data …

Thalassiosira Community Composition And Diversity In Narragansett Bay, Sarah Flickinger

Open Access Master's Theses

Diatoms contribute 40-45% of marine primary production. Understanding the contributions of individual species to diatom communities is important in light of warming ocean waters and changing food webs. Here, the diatom genus Thalassiosira, which exhibits irregular pulses in abundance in Narragansett Bay, is examined using data from the Narragansett Bay Long Term Phytoplankton Time Series. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) at the highly-variable V4 region of the 18S ribosomal gene identified fourteen Thalassiosira taxa in monthly samples over a six-year time period (December 2008-December 2014), seven of which had not previously been identified in this time series. During the same time …

Effect Of Disease State On Human Carboxylesterase 1 Expression And Activity, Abdullah Aljutayli

Open Access Master's Theses

Background: Human carboxylesterase 1, CES1, is a phase I drug metabolizing enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of about 20% of therapeutic agents. Factors, such as metabolic syndrome, ethnicity, gender and genetic polymorphism can influence the activity and/or the expression of drug metabolizing enzymes. Consequently, these factors can affect the pharmacokinetics of drugs leading to toxicity or therapeutic failure.

Objective: The objective of our study is to investigate the possible influence of ethnicity, gender, age, genetic polymorphism, metabolic syndrome or fatty liver on CES1 gene expression and activity.

Methods: Expression of CES1 hepatic mRNA was measured in 89 …

Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis For Biologic Therapies In Rheumatoid Arthritis, Yizhou Ye

Open Access Master's Theses

Meta-analysis can only compare studies with the same interventions, while a network meta-analysis can analyze studies with different interventions. Without medical data for direct comparisons, network meta-analysis can utilize existing trials to assess the relative efficacy of competing treatments. Three classes of statistical models are proposed to perform a network meta-analysis: fixed-effects, random-effects, and mixed-effects (meta-regression). The most appropriate model should be selected with the aid of a series of statistical tests including I2 statistic for heterogeneity and DIC for model fitness. Bayesian network meta-analysis provides pooled effect sizes (odds ratio for dichotomous outcome) for each treatment and their 95% …

Immunohistochemical Localization Of Rf-Amide And Gabaa Receptors In The Hypostome And Tentacles Of Hydra Vulgaris, Jessica Eason

Open Access Master's Theses

This study examined the distribution and localization of the neuropeptide arginine phenylalanine-amide (RF-amide) and GABA_A receptors in the hypostomal and tentacular nerve net of the cnidarian polyp Hydra vulgaris. Immunohistochemical techniques were used to visualize two distinct anti-GABAA α-1 subunit positivereceptor ring structures, nerve cell bodies, neurites and epithelial cells, as well as an anti-RF-amide positive nerve ring, nerve cell bodies and neurites throughout the ectoderm of the hypostome and tentacles of ablated hypostomes. One proximal anti- GABA_A positive-receptor ring, exclusively labeling ectodermal effector cells, coinciding with an anti-α-tubulin- positive proximal nerve ring labeling nerve fibers is …

The Perceived Ability To Cope And Adapt To Management Changes In Young And Old Fishers In Two New England Fishing Ports, Angela Elena Silva

Open Access Master's Theses

The present research aims at examining commercial fishermen’s subjective resilience to management changes in two Southern New England fishing ports. This study also aims at analyzing the relationship between job satisfaction and level of occupational attachment with fishermen’s perceived ability to adapt and cope to change. The two age groups examined were categorized into a younger and older generation by splitting the mean age value of 46.6 to

Evaluating The Effect Of Minimal Risk Natural Products For Control Of The Tick, Ixodes Scapularis, Megan C. Dyer

Open Access Master's Theses

I evaluated the knock-down and residual activity of eleven minimal risk natural products (MRNP) against host-seeking nymphal stage blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis Say) using a novel micro-plot product screening system in a landscape setting similar to a wooded residential property. The micro-plot system reduced variability between testing sites typically seen in larger field trials and provided the opportunity to compare results of studies conducted under the same environmental conditions, saving both time and money by confining product application and tick sampling to a 0.3 m diameter arena. By seeding the arenas with a known number of laboratory-raised blacklegged tick …

Risk Classification In High Dimensional Survival Models, Daven Amin

Open Access Master's Theses

Sparse regression models are an actively burgeoning area of statistical learning research. A subset of these models seek to separate out significant and non-trivial main effects from noise effects within the regression framework (yielding so-called “sparse” coefficient estimates, where many estimated effects are zero) by imposing penalty terms on a likelihood-based estimator. As this area of the field is relatively recent, many published techniques have not yet been investigated under a wide range of applications. Our goal is to fit several penalty-based estimators for the Cox semiparametric survival model in the context of genomic covariates on breast cancer survival data …

Development And Testing Of A Pressure Sensor Integrated Foil, Alexander Robert Stott

Open Access Master's Theses

Autonomous underwater vehicles are becoming increasingly more prevalent in exploring and studying the bodies of water found all over the world. Having a way to detect and identify the surrounding environment in close range would allow vehicles to move more efficiently and safely through hazardous environments or in groups of many. This study took biological inspiration from the fish sensory organ known as the lateral line to design, fabricate, and test a pressure sensor integrated foil. It examined the ability of pressure sensors to detect flow structures as well as variation in flow structures during a dynamic, flapping foil sinusoidal …

Fifteen Years Of Rhode Island Oyster Restoration: A Performance Evaluation And Cost-Benefit Analysis, Matthew Griffin

Open Access Master's Theses

Federal, state and local non-profit organizations have long recognized the ecological and socioeconomic importance the oyster, Crassostrea virginica, represents to coastal communities. Shellfish restoration programs in Rhode Island date to the early 1900s and have been making considerable progress and gaining popularity in the past decade. To better understand both short and long term performance of oyster restoration in Rhode Island a compilation of all oyster restoration activities from 2000 to 2015 was undertaken. Restoration performance was assessed by comparisons of growth, survival, disease and recruitment over eleven years in two distinct programs; Roger Williams University’s Oyster Gardening for …

Smart Fog Computing Interface For Healthcare Domain Applications, Admir Monteiro

Open Access Master's Theses

Technology is advancing tremendously in this day and age where more and more devices are being deployed in the market of digital devices; so much so that the market is being oversaturated with many different kinds of digital devices to simplify our everyday needs in life. This advancement can have negative consequences, however, there may also be benefits that stem from this technological advancement- especially in healthcare.

One possible benefit is to utilize the device’s capabilities to give real time feedback to people with medical diagnoses. Furthermore, that device could be connected to a stream of other devices to have …