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Analyzing Physiological Stress Response Using Dermal Swabs In Plethodon Montanus, John Tester

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Upon exposure to environmental stressors, amphibians such as Plethodon montanus will release corticosterone (CORT) thus causing a behavioral and physiological response to cope with the stress. Currently, there are several invasive ways of collecting CORT in salamanders. However, these techniques typically require euthanasia of the organism. We hypothesized that exposure of P. montanus to stressful handling conditions will result in elevations of CORT that can be detected through dermal swabbing. To test this, two experiments were conducted which involved swabbing the dorsal side of the trunk before and immediately after exposing P. montanus to two different environmental stressors. The first …

Analysis Of An Improved Cyanophora Paradoxa Genome Assembly, Dana C Price, Ursula W Goodenough, Robyn Roth, Jae-Hyeok Lee, Thamali Kariyawasam, Marek Mutwil, Camilla Ferrari, Fabio Facchinelli, Steven G Ball, Ugo Cenci, Cheong Xin Chan, Nicole E Wagner, Hwan Su Yoon, Andreas P M Weber, Debashish Bhattacharya

Open Access Publications

Glaucophyta are members of the Archaeplastida, the founding group of photosynthetic eukaryotes that also includes red algae (Rhodophyta), green algae, and plants (Viridiplantae). Here we present a high-quality assembly, built using long-read sequences, of the ca. 100 Mb nuclear genome of the model glaucophyte Cyanophora paradoxa. We also conducted a quick-freeze deep-etch electron microscopy (QFDEEM) analysis of C. paradoxa cells to investigate glaucophyte morphology in comparison to other organisms. Using the genome data, we generated a resolved 115-taxon eukaryotic tree of life that includes a well-supported, monophyletic Archaeplastida. Analysis of muroplast peptidoglycan (PG) ultrastructure using QFDEEM shows that PG is …

Novel Cell Adhesion/Migration Pathways Are Predictive Markers Of Hdac Inhibitor Resistance In Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma, Jared M Andrews, Jennifer A Schmidt, Kenneth R Carson, Amy C Musiek, Neha Mehta-Shah, Jacqueline E Payton

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Treatment for Cutaneous T Cell Lymphoma (CTCL) is generally not curative. Therefore, selecting therapy that is effective and tolerable is critical to clinical decision-making. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), epigenetic modifier drugs, are commonly used but effective in only ~30% of patients. There are no predictive markers of HDACi response and the CTCL histone acetylation landscape remains unmapped. We sought to identify pre-treatment molecular markers of resistance in CTCL that progressed on HDACi therapy.

METHODS: Purified T cells from 39 pre/post-treatment peripheral blood samples and skin biopsies from 20 patients were subjected to RNA-seq and ChIP-seq for histone acetylation marks …

Infestation Intensities, Attachment Patterns, And The Effect On Host Contest Behavior Of The Tick Ixodes Pacificus On The Lizard Sceloporus Occidentalis, Dylan M. Lanser

Master's Theses

Parasites often have profound effects on the survival and evolution of their hosts, and hence on the structure and health of entire ecosystems. Yet basic questions, such as the degree of virulence of a given parasite on its host, and factors influencing which hosts in a population are at the greatest risk of infection, are vexingly difficult to resolve. The western blacklegged tick-western fence lizard (Ixodes pacificus-Sceloporus occidentalis) system is important, primarily because I. pacificus, a vector of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is dependent on S. occidentalis for blood meals in its subadult stages, …

Examining The Effectiveness Of Electromyography Biofeedback At Improving The Upper Trapezius To Serratus Anterior Muscle Activation Ratio, Julia Evelyn Holton

Master's Theses

Purpose: The upper trapezius to serratus anterior muscle activation ratio is essential for optimal shoulder function. An alteration of this ratio, specifically a decrease in upper trapezius and increase in serratus anterior activation, is a main area of focus in shoulder rehabilitation (Kibler, 1998; Paine & Voight, 1993). Electromyography (EMG) biofeedback has been shown to be an effective rehabilitation technique to address many musculoskeletal disorders but there is limited research on the retention of improvements seen with EMG biofeedback (Ma et al., 2011; Lim et al., 2014; Weon, et al., 2011). The purpose of this study was to determine if …

Effects Of Late Gestation Supplementation And Creep Feeding On Spring Calving Beef Cows In The Nebraska Sandhills, Devin Lynn Broadhead

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objectives of this research were to 1) evaluate the effects of late gestation supplementation, synchronization and creep feeding on cow and calf production traits 2) evaluate the pooled effects of 5 studies involving late gestation supplementation on cow and calf traits. Experiment 1 was a three year study conducted on 8 pastures at the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory. Cows were assigned to 1 of 4 late-gestation supplementation treatments, postpartum progestin or control, and 1 of 2 creep feed treatments to make up a 4 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement. Calves were followed through to slaughter.

Experiment 2 involved 5 …

Changes In Psychological, Morphological, And Performance Characteristics In Preparation For A National Weightlifting Competition, Donald Marsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to examine the time course of change in muscle morphology and vertical jump performance in weightlifters preparing for a national competition. The secondary aim of this study is to examine how perceived recovery and stress state corresponds with alterations in training load leading up to competition. Eleven Olympic Training Site weightlifters completed a 4-week peaking phase for a national competition. Body mass, stress and recovery psychometric measures, and unloaded/loaded (20kg) squat jump height (SJH) were measured weekly and at the competition site. Vastus lateralis cross-sectional area (CSA), muscle thickness (MT) and pennation angle …

Association Of Copy Number Variations With Chronic Hepatitis B In Chinese Population, Fang Niu

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

With one third of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection population of the world, chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) has become a top burden in China. CHB is a lifelong infection with HBV which can cause serious health problems, like cirrhosis, liver cancer or even death. HBV infection is known to result in various clinical conditions, including asymptomatic HBV carriers to chronic hepatitis and primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Several studies have shown that host genetic susceptibility could be an important factor that determines these various outcomes of HBV infection. Many Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Copy Number Variations (CNVs) have been associated …

Comorbidity Profile Of Head And Neck Cancer Patients With And Without Depression, Michaela Frenzel

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

This population-based retrospective study used SEER-Medicare data from 2002-2010 to assess depression, comorbidity, and substance use in the elderly head and neck cancer population. Out of 3,533 head and neck cancer patients, 10.6% had depression diagnoses two years prior to cancer diagnosis, 8.9% were newly diagnosed with depression within one year after cancer diagnosis, and 44.5% of those with preexisting depression had an additional depression diagnosis within one year following cancer diagnosis. Comorbid conditions (p<0.0001) and substance use (p=0.0017) showed associations with depression prior to cancer diagnosis yet, no significant associations with incidence of depression in this head and neck cancer population. This study affirms the need for continual depression screenings in head and neck cancer patients and suggests the need for increased research into the burden of comorbid conditions and substance use within the head and neck cancer population.

Evaluation Of Family Inc.'S Home Visitation Program, Brooke A. Linnenbrink

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

FAMILY, Inc. is a nonprofit that provides public health and family support services to women, children, and families in Pottawattamie and Mills counties. It's home visitation program provides health education information to families in the communities that are expecting a child or have a child less than five years of age. This project looked at FAMILY, Inc.’s database regarding the health of children enrolled in their home visitation program and use that information to help develop health education tools as they prepare to expand their programming to include Early Head Start (EHS). Currently FAMILY uses the Parents as Teachers curriculum, …

Explore Barriers Associated With Not Testing For Hiv Among Men Who Have Sex With Men In Dodoma, City, Tanzania, Maria M. Mushi

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Goal

The goal of the project is to explore barriers associated with not testing for HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Dodoma City, Tanzania.

Objectives

In order to achieve the goal of exploring barriers associated with not testing for HIV among MSM, I will plan and conduct the study, analyze the data, and prepare the final research report.

Methods

A qualitative descriptive study will be conducted in Dodoma City, Tanzania. A total of 10 MSM 19 years of age and above will be purposefully selected by 3 peer educators to be part of the study. I …

Women’S Resistance: Patient Pathographies And Medical Authority, Anna Claire Elliott

Honors Theses

In recent years, illness narratives have risen in popularity. Women’s medical narratives in particular have gained momentum in the literary world, and they often share commonalities including the inherent theme of medical resistance and an emphasis on the power dynamic between patients and physicians. This thesis will examine two pathographies, Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted and Porochista Khakpour’s Sick, in the contexts of gender and disability studies, as well as theories of illness narratives. I examine how each text resists medical authority, and I also closely survey the physician-patient relationships within each text. The themes of gender and disability emerge …

Emerging Adult Career Pathways: Understanding Aspirations And Switching, Tasmiah Amreen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a stage of life characterized by a high degree of fluctuation in identity formation and future decision-making (Arnett 2015). During this life stage, emerging adults make decisions about their future career by assessing whether they want to continue with their current career pathway or whether they intend to switch. The present study investigates this process in terms of its overall prevalence – or how often emerging adults intend to switch career trajectories – and the correlates of it. Previous studies on career switching have focused largely on educational switches. This quantitative study operationalizes career pathway by using …

Assessing Insect Biodiversity And Promoting Sustainable Practices Toward Pollinators On Campus, Lance A. Durden, Jose A. Sanchez-Ruiz, Debra G. Albanese, Julien M. Buchbinder

Sustainability Showcase (2014-2022)

Dr. Lance Durden, Professor, Department of Biology ($27,560.00)

Added arthropods to the vertebrate biodiversity database that was created in 2015.

Using Tree-Ring Growth And Stable Isotopes To Explore Ponderosa Pine Ecophysiological Responses To Climate Variability And The 2012-2015 California Drought, Rachel M. Keen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Climate warming in recent decades has resulted in more frequent and severe drought events in the western United States. These changes are projected to continue, making it exceedingly important to understand how forests respond to severe drought stress, and how we can manage these forests to reduce mortality during future events. The 2012-2015 California drought is a recent example of a severe, multi-year drought that was coupled with an epidemic-scale outbreak of western pine beetle, killing nearly 90% of ponderosa pines in the central and southern Sierra Nevadas. In the first portion of this study, we compared pairs of surviving …

Exploring The Capacity Of Bacteria For Natural Product Biosynthesis, Ozkan Fidan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation is focused on exploring the potential of bacteria for the biosynthesis of natural products with the purposes of generating novel natural product derivatives and of improving the titer of pharmaceutically important natural products.

A wide variety of compounds from various sources have been historically used in the treatment and prevention of diseases. Natural products as a major source of new drugs are extensively explored due to their huge structural diversity and promising biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antifungal, antiviral and antioxidant properties. For instance, penicillin as an early-discovered antimicrobial agent has saved millions of lives, indicating the …

Eared Grebe Nesting Ecology And Chronology Along The Great Salt Lake, Utah, Leah M. Delahoussaye

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Eared Grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) are migratory birds that build their nests over water and in large groups called colonies. Their typical breeding range is in central southern Canada and northern United States; however, a previously uncertain number of Eared Grebes (grebes) also nest around the Great Salt Lake (GSL), Utah, at the southern edge of their breeding range. Little is known about the habitat requirements for grebe nesting colonies at such low latitudes and if they are different from colonies found elsewhere. My objectives for this research were to determine the status of the grebe nesting population as …

Mao’S War On Women: The Perpetuation Of Gender Hierarchies Through Yin-Yang Cosmology In The Chinese Communist Propaganda Of The Mao Era, 1949-1976, Al D. Roberts

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China in 1949 with the intention of creating a social utopia with equality between the sexes and China’s diverse ethnic groups. However, by portraying gender, ethnicity, and politics in propaganda along the lines of yin and yang, the Party perpetuated a situation of oppression for women and minorities.

Optimization Of Biogas Production By Use Of A Microbially Enhanced Inoculum, Anna Doloman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A renewable energy source, biogas, comprises of methane (80%) and carbon dioxide (15%), and is a great alternative to the conventional fossil-based fuels, such as coal, gas and oil. Biogas is created during anaerobic biological digestion of waste materials, such as landfill material, animal manure, wastewater, algal biomass, industrial organic waste etc. A biogas potential from organic waste in the United States is estimated at about 9 million tons per year and technology allows capture of greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, into a form of a fuel. In the light of global climate change and efforts to …

Electronic Transmutation: An Aid For The Rational Design Of New Chemical Materials Using The Knowledge Of Bonding And Structure Of Neighboring Elements, Katie A. Lundell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Everything in the universe is made up of elements from the periodic table. Each element has its own role that it plays in the formation of things it makes up. For instance, pencil lead is graphite. A series of honeycomb-like structures made up of carbon stacked on top of one another. Carbon’s neighbor to the left, boron doesn’t like to form such stacked honeycomb-like structures. But, what if there was a way to make boron act like carbon so it did like to form such structures? That question is the basis of the electronic transmutation concept presented in this dissertation. …

Quantifying The Predictability Of Evolution At The Genomic Level In Lycaeides Butterflies, Samridhi Chaturvedi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Stephen Jay Gould, a great scientist and evolutionary biologists, suggested that if we could replay the tape of life, we would not have observed similar course of events because evolution is stochastic and if affected by several events. Since then, the possibility that evolution is repeatable or predictable has been debated. Studies using large-scale evolution experiments, long-term data for individual populations, and controlled experiments in nature, have demonstrated phenotypic and genetic convergence in several taxa. These studies suggest that despite some randomness, predictable evolutionary patterns can emerge on a large temporal and spatial scale. However, a few cases also exist …

The Rise Of Populist Rhetoric And The Mainstreaming Of A Party? Testing The Rhetorical Shifts Between Front National’S Presidents Jean-Marie Le Pen And Marine Le Pen, Muriel C. Mcgregor

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Populist movements have been on the rise across Europe and the Americas. In France, the far right-wing party, Le Front National, has experienced recent growth in electoral success. Scholars of the Front National have in part attributed the party’s success to its increased use of populist rhetoric. This thesis examines the populist rhetoric used between the Front National’s past president Jean-Marie Le Pen and current president Marine Le Pen in order to test these scholarly claims. Based on their campaign speeches for the 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 French presidential elections, I conducted a quantitative dictionary-based analysis on …

Characterization Of Biofilms In A Synthetic Rhizosphere Using Hollow Fiber Root-Mimetic Systems, Michelle Bonebrake

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The area around a plant’s roots hosts a complex and diverse microbial community. This environment can include a large number of bacteria that live on the surface of the root and benefit from the nutrients that the roots exude into the soil. These microbes can in turn be beneficial to the plant by protecting the roots from harmful fungi or stressful environmental conditions such as drought. In this thesis, several root-mimetic systems (RMSs) were developed for the study and growth of plant-beneficial bacteria in the laboratory environment. The RMS uses a porous hollow fiber used in hemodialysis as a surface …

Urban Alaskan Moose: An Analysis Of Factors Associated With Moose-Vehicle Collisions, Lucian R. Mcdonald

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As human populations continue to grow and encroach into wildlife habitats, instances of human-wildlife conflict are on the rise. Increasing numbers of reported wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) provide tangible evidence of anthropogenic impacts on wildlife as well as increasing threats to human health and safety. Increasing WVCs are of particular concern, especially those involving large-bodied ungulates such as moose (Alces spp.), because of the increased risk of property damage, personal injuries, and human fatalities. Motorists directly involved in a WVC are at risk of injury or mortality, but other motorists are also put at risk due to road obstructions and traffic …

Investigation Of The Molecular Determinants And Extrinsic Factors That Regulate Prmt Product Specificity, Tamar B. Cáceres

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Protein arginine methylation is an important modification of proteins, involved in many cellular processes. Some examples are transcription, RNA editing, cellular communication, DNA repair, viral replication and chromatin remodeling. In recent years, the significance of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) in human diseases has been increasingly studied, especially in cardiovascular disease and cancer. Although the importance of these enzymes is recognized, the understanding of how exactly PRMTs function is still limited. Very little information is available to explain how or why any of the different PRMTs interact with other proteins or, what determines where in that protein to place their methyl …

Investigation Of Protein Dynamics And Communication In Adomet-Dependent Methyltransferases: Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthetase And Protein Arginine Methyltransferase, Kyle M. May

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

For many enzymes to function correctly they must have the freedom to display a level of dynamics or communication during their catalytic cycle. The effects that protein dynamics and communication can have are wide ranging, from changes in substrate specificity or product profiles, to speed of reaction or switching activity on or off. This project investigates the protein dynamics and communication in two separate systems, a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS), and a protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT).

PRMT1, the enzyme responsible for 80% of arginine methylation in humans, has been implicated in a variety of disease states when functioning incorrectly. For …

Developmental Trajectories Of Aggression From Toddlerhood To Early Adolescence In Boys And Girls: Exploring Early Predictors And Later Outcomes, Sujung Park

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Early behavior problems, such as childhood aggression, emerge in the second year of life and decrease prior to school entry for typically developing children. However, some children show frequent and persistent aggression and may be at risk for subsequent difficulties that lead to poor school and life outcomes. The current study aimed to identify aggression patterns in children from toddlerhood to early adolescence for boys and girls together and separately. This study also explored early influences on aggressive behaviors at age two, such as mothers’ parenting behaviors, cumulative family risk, and early child characteristics. A range of difficulties in early …

Ecosystem Functioning Of Great Salt Lake Wetlands, Maya Cassidy Pendleton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Great Salt Lake (GSL) wetlands account for ~75% of all Utah wetlands and provide not only critical habitat for millions of migratory birds, but also provide valuable ecosystem functions and services as well as economic benefits to Utahns. However, these wetlands are facing an aggressive invader, Phragmites australis, that has spreading across the GSL wetlands and replacing native wetland habitats. Wetland managers have spent countless resources and time trying to control the spread of P. australis and restore GSL wetlands. However, we do not fully understand how these wetlands functions and services are being altered with this habitat …

A Universal Mechanism For N2 Binding To And Differing Reactivity Of The E4(4h) State Of Mo-, V-, And Fe-Nitrogenases, Derek Franklin Harris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As a basic building block in many biological molecules, the element nitrogen (N) is essential for life. Dinitrogen (N₂) is abundant in Earth’s atmosphere, but this form is biologically unavailable. To be biologically available, N₂ must undergo a reduction reaction to the fixed form, ammonia (NH₃). The industrial Haber-Bosch process, which accounts for approximately 50% of the worlds fixed nitrogen, uses energy from fossil fuels to achieve high pressures and temperatures to catalyze the reaction. The energy used by Haber-Bosch accounts for approximately 2% of the world’s annual supply. The remainder of fixed nitrogen is …

Dementia Caregiver Coping Strategies And Caregiver-Care Recipient Relationship Closeness: Associations With Care-Recipient Outcomes, Stephanie Behrensberg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This project used data from the Dementia Progression Study, a longitudinal, population-based study based out of Cache County, Utah. Statistical models were used to examine the association between caregiver factors, the care environment, and cognitive outcomes in persons with dementia. Mediational analyses were also used to examine if the care environment, inferred for nutritional status, engagement in physical and cognitively stimulating activities, mediated the relationship between the closeness/caregiver coping strategies and cognition in persons with dementia. Results showed that closer caregiver-care recipient relationships were associated with better nutritional status and more engagement in number of cognitively stimulating activities as well …