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Modeling Impaired Hippocampal Neurogenesis After Radiation Exposure, Kapukotuwa Walawwe Sidath Chathuranga Kapukotuwa

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The birth of neuronal cells from neuronal stem cells is known as neurogenesis, and the granular cell layer of the dentate gyrus of hippocampus is one of the two regions in the brain this process occurs. Cognitive damages following radiation therapy for brain cancers in both children and adults have been linked to impairment of neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Studies followed using mice and rats as model animals have shown impairment in neurogenesis process following exposure to radiation. Obtaining experimental data for radiation-induced changes in neurogenesis in humans is very difficult. Model was developed and applied to mouse data previously; …

2018-May-11-Dr. Evan Los Breath Study, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Using Combined Microgravity And Radiation To Simulate Skeletal Muscle Damage In Space, Lori Caldwell

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Muscular atrophy, defined as the loss of muscle tissue, is a serious issue for immobilized patients on Earth and in human spaceflight, where microgravity prevents normal muscle loading. Developing countermeasures for atrophy in spaceflight will require extensive screening of pharmaceuticals for efficacy, safety, contraindications, and dosage schedule. Due to the cost of spaceflight and limited crew time aboard the International Space Station, high throughput screening of pharmaceuticals under real microgravity conditions is not feasible. While traditional ground-based atrophy studies using the rodent hind-limb unloading model are effective at inducing physiological changes similar to spaceflight, they are not suited for first …

Perceptions And Attitudes Of College And University Administrators Towards Secondary Agricultural Education Programs And The Ffa, Karla D. Turner-Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions and attitudes of college and university administrators toward secondary agricultural education programs and the FFA. The study followed a descriptive survey research design. A researcher-modified questionnaire was sent electronically through Qualtrics to 265 college and university administrators who were in charge or undergraduate programs in agriculture, natural resources, and related science programs were offered. One hundred one individuals responded in the study for a response rate of 38 percent. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and ANOVA. The study found that current college and university administrators of agriculture …

The Combined Effects Of Soil Fertility And Soil Amendments On The Growth And Mycorrhizal Associations Of American Ginseng (Panax Quinquefolius), Emily Ann Murray

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are fungi that form symbiotic associations with 70-90% of plant families. They are known to allow for the extension of the root system as well as an increase in plant size by assisting with the uptake of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. The role that AMF play in plant health and success has led to the development of commercial inoculum, which is used in agricultural settings. However, soil fertility, and soil amendments are known to affect AMF and plant associations. This study intends to look at how cultivated American Ginseng seedlings are affected by commercial …

A Pastoral Approach To The Topic Of Sexuality In Priestly Formation Programs In Parts Of Eastern Europe, Vitaliy Osmolovskyy

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

In this thesis, I explore a pastoral approach towards the topic of sexuality during priestly formation programs in parts of Eastern Europe, at the same time, identifying many elements that surround this particular topic in the different societies where the candidates were raised. In this world of rapid change, one in which life moves quickly and people often seek novelty, it is necessary to hold on to the fact that we are sexual beings, ones open to growth and maturity. Regardless of vocation, sexuality remains an essential component of who we are. This work engages relevant literature, ecclesial documents, some …

Quantifying Human Heat Stress In Working Environments, And Their Relationship To Atmospheric Dynamics, Due To Global Climate Change, Jonathan R. Buzan

Open Access Dissertations

Heat stress is a global issue that crosses socioeconomic status. Heat stress leads to reduced worker capacity on seasonal scales, and weekly to sub-daily timescales, incapacitation, morbidity, and mortality. This dissertation focuses on 2 distinct parts: quantification methods of heat stress, and heat stress applications. Quantification methods of heat stress Chapters 1–3 focus on historical analysis of heat stress. Chapter 1 is a detailed assessment of previous work in heat stress—methods, history, and future research outlook. Chapter 2 focuses on the implementation and quantification of a battery of heat stress metrics within the global circulation model framework. The ultimate outcome …

Laboratory Manual Ant 101: Introduction To Biological Anthropology, Susan L. Johnston

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Functional Organization Of The Brain At Rest And During Complex Tasks Using Fmri, Lauren Kelly Lynch

Open Access Dissertations

How and why functional connectivity (FC), which captures the correlations among brain regions and/or networks, differs in various brain states has been incompletely understood. I review high-level background on this problem and how it relates to 1) the contributions of task-evoked activity, 2) white-matter fMRI, and 3) disease states in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, based on the notion that brain activity during a task reflects an unknown mixture of spontaneous activity and task-evoked responses, we uncovered that the difference in FC between a task state (a naturalistic movie) and resting state only marginally (3-15%) reflects task-evoked connectivity. Instead, these …

Natural Learning Environments And The Social-Emotional Development Of Students With Sensory Processing Challenges, Denise Elizabeth West

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

This study examined the impact of a natural learning environment on the social-emotional development of students with Autism and/or Sensory Processing Disorder. For this research, social-emotional development consisted of social behavior, communication, and participation. The elements of a traditional classroom are characterized by confinement, harsh lighting/acoustics, and other habitual triggers for sensory discomfort. A natural learning environment can provide students with natural stimuli, fresh air, natural acoustics, natural lighting, etc. Additionally, the natural learning environment fosters a connection with nature, which research shows is important for the self-discovery, self-advocacy, and self-efficacy of all humans. Considering the artificial nature of the …

A Comparative Tone Analysis Of Several Bantu D30 Languages (Dr Congo), Kent Rasmussen

Linguistics & TESOL Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation presents an analysis of the tonal systems of the Bantu D30 languages. There are 34 Bantu D languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), few of which have developed orthographies (Lewis, Simons, & Fennig 2013). These languages make use of contrastive pitch (tone), which is a source of difficulty in their analysis. I begin, therefore, with a review of literature arguing for a number of positions regarding the collection, analysis, and representation of tone data. Additionally, I describe the fundamentals of consonant-tone interaction, and some background on the Bantu D30 languages, including their genetic and geographic …

Impacts Of Two Temporal Rotations From A Nontoxic Bait To A Cholecalciferol Rodenticide On Wild House Mouse Mus Musculus L. Consumption, Bait Station Interaction, And Movements, Sean Price Nolan

All Dissertations

Commensal rodents, including the house mouse (Mus musculus L.), pose a substantial risk of damage and disease towards human kind, threatening the infrastructure and food supply on which it depends. The implications of rodent infestations have become more significant as issues of public health and food safety become elevated priorities. Effective control of house mice relies heavily on rodenticides of which, the efficacy is known to be impacted by a variety of factors including palatability, social interaction and the development of behavioral aversions. In this study, analysis of consumption rates, recorded video, and capture-mark-recapture (CMR) data were utilized to investigate …

Comparison Of Psychological States Of Runners Within Urban And Rural Environments, Christian Demastus

Honors Theses

With the research on persons health and well being increasing within the past years, new questions have emerged on if certain environments can also benefit along with exercise. This study looked at the different psychological states of endurance runners as they run in urban environments and transition into rural settings. The results of this study showed significant differences between urban and rural environments. Also showed increased focus going downhill in nature and greater inward attention while moving uphill in nature. With the findings from this study, it explains why runners choose to run or train where they do.

Optimizing High-Speed Exercise Performance : Effect Of Load., Ling Bai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify an optimal load for the knee extension exercise done with Impulse (Newnan, GA). Forty-one women and twenty-nine men made six laboratory visits, including two familiarization sessions of the knee extension exercise and four real workout sessions which entailed four 30-second exercise sets, separated by 120-second rests, against four different loads (0Kg, 3.41Kg, 5.68Kg, 7.95Kg). A Latin Squares design was used to counterbalance the sequence of the sets. Average force (AF), peak force (PF), total work (TW), Impulse value, and the number of knee extension repetitions were each analyzed with a 2 (gender) …

Three Speeds Of Yoga And The Effects On Salivary Cortisol Levels In Female Nursing Students, Meagan Hennekens

All NMU Master's Theses

Purpose: Nursing students are prone to stress-related diseases, such as depression and anxiety, which are associated with chronically elevated cortisol levels due to the excessive firing of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis. This study assessed three speeds of yoga and how they acutely affected salivary cortisol levels within female nursing students. Methods: Students participated in three yoga sessions cadenced at different speeds in a non-randomized order: (i) standard-speed yoga (SSY), (ii) high-speed yoga (HSY), and (iii) slow-speed yoga (SLSY). Each class integrated sequencing concepts from the brahmana/langhana strategy (BLS) and the Para Yoga Blueprint (PYB). Cortisol samples were …

Exercise Preconditioning And Tfam Overexpression Diminish Skeletal Muscle Atrophy., Nicholas Todd Theilen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of skeletal muscle atrophy and a molecular assessment of potential preventative treatments. Chapter I begins with a background of skeletal muscle atrophy along with an analysis of associated molecular pathways. Here, we discuss how skeletal muscle atrophy is the consequence of protein degradation exceeding protein synthesis and can occur when a muscle is abnormally disused. The development of therapies prior to skeletal muscle atrophy settings to diminish protein degradation is scarce and could be useful to prevent negative clinical outcomes of patients who must unload and disuse musculature over extended periods. Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated …

Supplemental Training And Injury Prevention In The Sport Of Ultra-Running, Jessica M. Heidebrink

Senior Honors Theses

By definition, ultra-marathon running is a sport that covers any distance above the 26.2-mile marathon distance in a single race. The mountains of Virginia host many ultra-marathon races that attract endurance runners from all over the nation to participate. Training is an essential component of running an ultra. Although there is not one specific way to train for an ultra, there is research that correlates the success of the top ultra-runners and their training preferences regarding supplemental training and injury prevention. To gain a more complete understanding of how to prepare for a successful ultra-marathon, an online survey was created …

Identification Of Tissue And Circulating Biomarkers For Premalignant And Malignant Lesions, Shu-Hong Lin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recent advancement in technologies including next-generation sequencing and production-scale throughput qPCR have revolutionized the identification of biomarkers in the epidemiology field. In response to the vast amount of data generated from high-throughput technologies, novel inventions in the computer sciences fields have been applied to analyze these data. The current study demonstrates the application of such technologies in a variety of scenarios.

I first described how targeted and whole-exome sequencing were used to identify somatic mutations which marked the differences between colorectal adenomas and adenocarcinomas. A statistical test based on the unique clustering pattern of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes was …

Phosphorylation Impairs Dicer1 Function To Accelerate Aging And Tumorigenesis In Vivo, Neeraj Aryal

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Altered DICER1 protein levels are associated with developmental disorders, infertility, macular degenerative blindness, aging, and cancer in humans. Recently, post-translational regulation of Dicer1 via phosphorylation has been described in C. elegans. Oscillation of Dicer1 phosphorylation to regulate its activity is essential for germ cell development and embryogenesis in worms. These observations led us to posit that Dicer1 protein levels and activity are under tight regulation for normal mammalian homeostasis. To test whether phosphorylation of Dicer1 regulates its activity in mammals, I generated phospho-mimetic knock-in mouse models by replacing Serines 1712 and 1836 with Aspartic acids individually or together (dual …

Outbreak And Extinction Dynamics In Stochastic Populations, Garrett T. Nieddu

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Each piece of work herein examines nonlinear population dynamics using methods from deterministic dynamical systems, stochastic processes and statistical mechanics. This dissertation is the compilation of three independent – but related – pieces of work: the first investigates an isolated population that is capable of maintaining multiple carrying capacities; the second project examines a stochastic Ebola model with a zoonotic disease reservoir; and the third looks at a basic disease-invasion model to characterize outbreak vulnerability and the connectedness of supposedly separate populations.

Each of these three chapters explore the interplay between interconnected systems, without explicitly modeling the elements that are …

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Agriculture And Applied Sciences, April 27, 2018 – Bachelor Of Science – Nutrition Science, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to offer the following Baccalaureate degree(s): Bachelor of Science - Nutrition Science effective Fall 2018.

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Agriculture And Applied Sciences, April 27, 2018 – Bachelor Of Science In Dietetics, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to offer the following Baccalaureate degree(s): Bachelor of Science in Dietetics effective Fall 2018.

Determining The Effects Of Quercetin On Cadmium Toxicity In Kidney Cells, Elizabeth Dugan

Undergraduate Theses

Cadmium is a heavy transition metal that causes kidney disease via prolonged, low-level exposure due to circulating metallothioneins. These proteins transport cadmium ions to the proximal convoluted tubule, where they induce the creation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative damage from ROS can lead to kidney dysfunction and eventually failure. Previous studies have shown that antioxidants, including quercetin, which is found in most fruits and vegetables, can lessen cadmium-induced toxicity. In this study, human embryonic kidney cells were pretreated for one hour with varying concentrations of quercetin ranging from 10 - 100 μM. This was followed by 24-hour treatment with …

Curricular Report No. 2017-18-9 From The Graduate Council To The Faculty Senate: Curricular Changes, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.

To Encourage Is To Organize: Moving Higher Education Towards Open, Karen Lauritsen

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Open textbooks can significantly reduce costs for students, while giving faculty greater control of their course content. The Babson Survey Research Group found a majority of faculty classify cost as “very important" for their selection of required course materials. Yet in that same report, only 10% of faculty reported that they were “very aware” of open educational resources (Opening the Textbook: Educational Resources in U.S. Higher Education, 2017). Knowing this disconnect, how can we encourage higher education to move towards open?

The answer is… one textbook at a time. The Open Textbook Network (OTN) is a community of more than …

Curricular Report No. 2017-18-9 From The Graduate Council To The Faculty Senate: Curricular Changes, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Different Algal Lees On Physicochemical Qualities Of Baked Potato Chips, Wen-Chieh Sung, Chang Jer Wu, Chorng Liang Pan, Yu Chin Lin

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Lees of three different algae (a green alga Ulva fasciata, a brown alga Sargassum cristaefolium and a red alga Kappaphycus contonii), representing the leftovers from a seaweed polysaccharide extraction process using hot water and enzymes, were added separately to potato chip dough at a level of 2.5%. Antioxidant activity, water activity, color, firmness, overall acceptability and proximate composition of baked potato chips prepared from these dough and from dough without algal lees were evaluated. The rehydration capacity (49.87%) of red algal lees was significantly higher than that of the other lees. The firmness of baked potato chips with red algal …

Geometric Design, John Marceaux

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Anchor, Volume 131.21: April 11, 2018, Hope College

The Anchor: 2018

The Anchor began in 1887 and was first issued weekly in 1914. Covering national and campus news alike, Hope College’s student-run newspaper has grown over the years to encompass over two-dozen editors, reporters, and staff. For much of The Anchor's history, the latest issue was distributed across campus each Wednesday throughout the academic school year (with few exceptions). In recent years The Anchor moved to monthly print issues and a more frequently updated website. The Anchor is now published in print twice per academic semester. Occasionally, the volume and/or issue numbering is irregular.

Lidocaine Does Not Affect Conducted Vasodilation In Humans, Jacey Tuura, Sushant Ranadive, Timothy Curry, Michael Joyner

Undergraduate Research Celebration 2018

No abstract provided.