Digital Commons Network^™

Oil/Water Nanoemulsion Biodistribution In Mice Upon Intravenous Administration, Jiayi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

The present study aimed to explore the biodistribution of O/W nanoemulsions (NE) upon intravenous administration. Three NEs were prepared with distinctive droplet sizes: SE (29 ± 1 nm), ME (214 ± 2 nm) and LE (883 ± 16 nm) without overlapping of the size distribution. Kolliphor® HS15 was used as the only surfactant for these three NEs, so that their droplets had similar surface structure. The NEs droplet size was stable under room temperature for minimum 3 days in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and in mice plasma in vitro for 4-hour at 37°C. A lipophilic fluorescent dye, 1, 1’-dioctadecyl-3, 3, …

Acetoacetate Enhances Oxidative Metabolism And Response To Toxicants Of Cultured Renal Cells, Trudi Maria Denoon

Theses and Dissertations

In vitro methods can be cost effective and facilitate large scale drug screening in the pharmaceutical industry. Renal proximal tubular cells have been a prime target for drug induced toxicity. LLC-PK1 cells possess many transport functions of the proximal tubule epithelia, however, its energy metabolism differs from the highly oxidative tubule metabolism in vivo. This may impact its reliability in predicting toxicity. Modulating the growth media composition has been shown to shift cultured liver and muscle cells from high glycolytic activity to increased oxidative metabolism, but few studies have been done on renal cells. This study is designed to test …

Development, Evaluation And Application Of Insulin Solution And Film Dosage Forms For Sublingual Administration, Anuja Paprikar

Theses and Dissertations

The major barrier for sublingual absorption of large molecules like insulin is low permeability owing to the hydrophilic nature of insulin. One approach to overcome this barrier is to sublingually co-administer insulin with permeation enhancers (HPβCD and poloxamer 188). In vitro performance of permeation enhancers was screened across cellulose acetate membrane to select the concentrations of both enhancers, which were further evaluated across four models (MatTek tissue model, MDCK cell line, rat and porcine esophagus). The insulin solution with combination of HPβCD (5%) and poloxamer 188 (0.5%) indicates higher permeation as compared to that of only insulin across all the …

Chronic Exposure To Opioids Down-Regulates Genomic Histone Modifications And Disrupts Stat3 Gene Expression In Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Anirudh Jagannadh Chintalapati

Theses and Dissertations

Examining epigenetic (EG) manifestations and genomic heterogeneity is a novel perspective to understand opioid induced toxicity. Aberrations in histone protein post-translational modifications (HP-PTM) induce perturbations in chromatin integrity resulting in consequences for genomic expression patterns. In the current study, we hypothesize that chronic exposure to morphine sulfate (MS) alters histone-3-protein (H3)-PTM and disrupts STAT3 gene expression in human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). We analyzed 21 genomic H3-PTM following exposure to 1 and 10 uM MS for 2 and 5 days. The results showed decreases in levels of repressive H3-PTM, namely H3K9me1 (2 day) and H3K27me3 (5 day). To confirm …

Chemical Synthesis And Evaluation Of Azotochelin Analogs As Anticancer Agents And Their Ability To Reverse Anticancer Drug Resistance, Nishant Karadkhelkar

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer has been plaguing the humanity for several decades. In the meanwhile, multi-drug resistance (MDR) is causing abatement of effective therapeutic drugs, necessitating discovery of new class of anticancer agents. Natural products have been proved to be a promising source of structurally new anticancer agents. A specific class of bacterial secondary metabolites, named siderophores have been explored as potential anticancer agents. Enterobactin is one of the most studied siderophores as a potential anticancer agent. Azotochelin is a structurally similar but structurally simpler siderophore compared to enterobactin. Our research project focused on the evaluation of the structure activity relationship assessment of …

Seed-Mediated Crystallization Of Charge-Transfer Complexes And Their Applications For Gas Sensing, Xuecheng Yu

Wayne State University Dissertations

The dissertation focused on controllable seed-mediated nucleaton of charge transfer complex, namely tetrathiafulvalene bromide ((TTF)Br) and Krogmann’s salts (KCP), and their applications in sensing. On gold nanoparticle (AuNP) decorated highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrate, the presence of AuNP promotes the formation of charge transfer salt nanowires. The size of these nanowires, both (TTF)Br and KCP, were found to be confined by the size of AuNPs, shown by SEM and AFM characterization. On micro-disk electrodes, charge transfer salt nanowires were found to own a linear time dependency, by both SEM and in-situ optical microscopy. The micro-disk electrodes promoted higher crystallization …

The Ion Channel Function Of Polycystin‐1 In The Polycystin‐1/Polycystin‐2 Complex, Zhifei Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease is caused by mutations in polycystin-1 (also known as PKD1), a polycystic kidney disease protein, or polycystin-2 (also known as PKD2 or TRPP2), a transient receptor potential channel. Polycystin-1 and polycystin-2 form a receptor-ion channel complex located in primary cilia. The function of this complex, especially the role of polycystin-1, is largely unknown due to the lack of a reliable function assay. In this study, we dissect the role of polycystin-1 by directly recording current from a gain-of-function polycystin-1/polycystin-2 channel. Our data show that this channel has distinct properties from that of the homomeric polycystin-2 …

Graduate Catalog Of Studies, 2019-2020, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Graduate School Catalog of Studies

No abstract provided.

Neurocognition In Individuals At High Familial Risk For Major Depressive Disorder, Rachel Gaia Venezia

Theses and Dissertations

Neurocognitive deficits may qualify as vulnerability markers in individuals at risk for developing MDD. We examined the extent to which characteristic neurocognitive difficulties in MDD may be apparent in early to late adolescence in the offspring of a parent with MDD, as well as the extent to which other factors, such as a history of comorbid diagnoses (e.g., ADHD), a history of MDD, and a current depressive episode, might confound to these differences. Offspring of patients with MDD (n=184) and a healthy normative sample (n=88) were compared on measures assessing attention, working memory, impulse control, and visual memory. The two …

Gat107 Improves Survival By Attenuating Hyperoxia-Compromised Host Defense In Bacterial Clearance In The Lungs Via Alleviating Redox Imbalance In Macrophages, Alex Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations

Prolonged exposure to hyperoxia can compromise macrophage bacterial clearance functions, contributing to the increased susceptibility to pulmonary infections observed in hospital and ventilator-associated pneumonia (HAP/VAP). Previously studies in our lab demonstrate that activation of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) has protective effects against proinflammatory lung injury in animals subjected to prolonged hyperoxic exposure and bacterial infections. In this study, we demonstrated that administration of GAT107, an α7nAChR agonistic positive allosteric modulator (ago-PAM), improved survival by attenuating hyperoxia-compromised bacterial clearing functions of mice with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) lung infection. GAT107 decreased the bacterial burden in mice lungs by attenuating the …

A Modular Framework For Early-Phase Seamless Oncology Trials, Philip S. Boonstra, Thomas M. Braun, Elizabeth C. Chase

The University of Michigan Department of Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Background: As our understanding of the etiology and mechanisms of cancer becomes more sophisticated and the number of therapeutic options increases, phase I oncology trials today have multiple primary objectives. Many such designs are now 'seamless', meaning that the trial estimates both the maximum tolerated dose and the efficacy at this dose level. Sponsors often proceed with further study only with this additional efficacy evidence. However, with this increasing complexity in trial design, it becomes challenging to articulate fundamental operating characteristics of these trials, such as (i) what is the probability that the design will identify an acceptable, i.e. safe …

Structure-Guided Molecular Grafting Of A Complex Broadly Neutralizing Viral Epitope, G. Bajic, M. J. Maron, T. M. Caradonna, M. Tian, Adam Mermelstein , '21, Daniela Fera, G. Kelsoe, M. Kuraoka, A. G. Schmidt

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

Antigenic variation and viral evolution have thwarted traditional influenza vaccination strategies. The broad protection afforded by a “universal” influenza vaccine may come from immunogens that elicit humoral immune responses targeting conserved epitopes on the viral hemagglutinin (HA), such as the receptor-binding site (RBS). Here, we engineered candidate immunogens that use noncirculating, avian influenza HAs as molecular scaffolds to present the broadly neutralizing RBS epitope from historical, circulating H1 influenzas. These “resurfaced” HAs (rsHAs) remove epitopes potentially targeted by strain-specific responses in immune-experienced individuals. Through structure-guided optimization, we improved two antigenically different scaffolds to bind a diverse panel of pan-H1 and …

Using Crispr-Cas9 As A Restriction Enzyme, Zack Crawley

Master's Theses

Restriction digests are a commonly utilized process for cleaving DNA at specific, but relatively common sites. Restriction enzymes have widespread use in DNA manipulation. CRISPR/Cas9 is a recently identified endonuclease which utilizes a customizable guide sequence to recognize and cut specific ~20 bp sites located in a DNA sequence. This preliminary research aimed to exploit the potential benefit of DNA restriction using the CRISPR/Cas9 procedure through alterations of different components involved in that system. We sought to refine existing CRISPR/Cas9 protocols and make a budget friendly, user-selectable CRISPR/Cas9 restriction digest protocol. The motivation for this research was to simplify and …

Effects Of Inorganic Fertilizer On Tomato - Bacterial Wilt Interactions In High Tunnel Tomato Varieties, Davis Fundi Ireri

All Master’s Theses

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L), is one of the most common and important vegetable crops in the world with over 18,477 hectares under tomato production in Kenya. Tomato production is however, greatly threatened by bacterial wilt (BW). Bacterial wilt, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is a serious disease in the tropics and subtropics, causing severe losses in many agricultural crops. To control its infection, several measures have been deployed but with minimum success. Alternative integrated strategies are therefore needed for the management of this pathogen. This study sought to test the hypothesis that particular rates of inorganic fertilizers influence certain secondary metabolites …

Career Changers As Long-Term Teachers In The Classroom, Matthew Hollowell

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of people who had changed their careers to teaching and had taught for 10 or more years. This study also sought to identify the roles the alternative licensing program and the school administration played in the long-term retention of the career changers. Data were collected in two phases: an electronic survey to gather descriptive statistics of career changers and follow-up interviews. A thematic analysis of the data identified the benefits of a variety of designs for alternative licensure programs, the importance of long-term mentoring from program faculty, the need …

Civil Rights In Living Color, Vinay Harpalani

Faculty Scholarship

This Article will examine how American civil rights law has treated “color” discrimination and differentiated it from “race” discrimination. It is a comprehensive analysis of the changing legal meaning of “color” discrimination throughout American history. The Article will cover views of “color” in the antebellum era, Reconstruction laws, early equal protection cases, the U.S. Census, modern civil rights statutes, and in People v. Bridgeforth—a landmark 2016 ruling by the New York Court of Appeals. First, the Article will lay out the complex relationship between race and color and discuss the phenomenon of colorism—oppression based on skin color—as differentiated from …

The Monument Of Memories As A Place/Space Of Multifarious Rhetorical Action, Meagan K. Winkleseth

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The number of people living with some form of dementia globally is growing. The absence of a cure, combined with this rapidly increasing presence of dementia, has directed attention away from fostering an understanding of the disease as it is socially experienced and toward the intricacies of determining its neurological properties. This study analyzes the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County’s Monument of Memories as a cultural form with the potential to (re)frame how the experience of dementia is socially conceptualized in Windsor, Ontario, and beyond. Specifically, I employ theoretical and methodological insights from participatory critical rhetoric, postmodern architectural …

The Effects Of Light Level And Temperature On Freshwater Microbial Biomass, Production, Enzyme Activity, And Community Composition, Joel Bonney

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Algae can stimulate the production of heterotrophic microbes in periphyton communities, but the synergistic effects of light and temperature on this phenomenon are not well understood and have implications on carbon cycling and energy flow. We employed recirculating mesocosms held at different temperatures and light levels and filled with Typha litter and attached microbes to assess these effects. Heterotrophic microbial production was greater in the presence of light, as were some periphytic enzyme activities. Few response variables increased in a near-linear fashion with ascending temperature, suggesting different temperature optima. The strength of heterotrophic microbial production responses to algal photosynthesis did …

Affirmation And Reaction: Towards A Critical Biosemiotic Sociology, Benjamin Dreyer

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Does our physicality influence society? If it does then what meaning can be derived from that relationship? What follows is an analysis of theory which strives to develop a conceptualization of reality and society which incorporates both a radical social constructivism with the assumption or “givenness” of external reality. The works being drawn upon are predominately associated with phenomenological sociology, systems theory, and semiotics but additional works from philosophy and political science are considered. The result of this venture is the conclusion that affirmation, the proof of the reaction, is the foundation of society. From this conclusion follows the postulation …

Evaluating The Role Of Exo1p In Chromosome Breaks At Fs2 In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Gillian Autterson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Exo1p is one enzyme that plays a role in the repair of breaks in DNA caused by a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In this study, we hypothesized the following: (1) Lack of Exo1p will cause an increase in de novo telomere addition at DNA breaks, and (2) lack of the endonuclease Exo1p will lead to decreased fidelity of repair by homologous recombination at DNA breaks. A yeast model system was manipulated to induce replication stress, resulting in a break in DNA at fragile site FS2 on yeast chromosome III. The repair mechanism used was identified, and the resulting …

What Happened To My Son: Parent Perspectives Of African American Male Students And Their Out-Of-School Suspensions During Middle School, Faith Ivey

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain and examine the parent and caretaker perspectives of African American male students and their out-of-school suspensions during middle school. African American male students are similar to an archipelago; although this group of students are a part of the school, they are slowly drifting away. The participants in this study included six African American parents from Midwestern Michigan whose sons did not primarily experience out-of-school suspensions prior to middle school. All of the participants voluntarily provided candid insight and background information on their son’s agency and school experience. The parents also provided school-related …

Sixty Years Of Boom And Bust: The Impact Of Oil In North Dakota, 1958-2018, Kyle Conway

Digital Press Books

In the 1950s, North Dakota experienced its first oil boom in the Williston Basin, on the western side of the state. The region experienced unprecedented social and economic changes, which were carefully documented in a 1958 report by four researchers at the University of North Dakota. Since then, western North Dakota has undergone two more booms, the most recent from 2008 to 2014. Sixty Years of Boom and Bust republishes the 1958 report and updates its analysis by describing the impact of the latest boom on the region’s physical geography, politics, economics, and social structure.

Sixty Years of Boom and …

Self-Contained And Departmental Educational Delivery Systems: A Case Study Of Differences In Student Achievement And Behavior, Robert Eugene Smith Iii

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study investigated the differences in achievement and behavior for fifth-grade students taught using a self-contained instructional model compared to students taught using a departmentalized model. Differences based on selected demographic/attribute variables were also investigated. Teacher perceptions regarding the differences in the two organizational models were also examined. Data were collected from the West Virginia Department of Education’s end of the year student academic achievement assessment (The West Virginia General Summative Assessment), the West Virginia Department of Education’s online information system (WVEIS), and teacher surveys. Data suggest differences in the two instructional models along with significant differences in male and …

Electrophysiological And Motor Responses To Chemosensory Stimuli In Isolated Cephalopod Arms, Kaitlyn E. Fouke, Heather J. Rhodes

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Experiences Of Caregivers And Healthcare Practitioners Working With Children With Histories Of Family Trauma And Substance Abuse, Alexandra Contreras

OT Student Capstones

While the number of infants born with substance abuse exposure continues to grow, the United States lacks a national monitoring system (CDC, 2019). This may contribute to the discrepancy of services and supports available to those working with children with histories of family trauma and substance abuse. The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs and challenges of caregivers and healthcare practitioners working with children with histories of family trauma and substance abuse. To obtain a better understanding and well-rounded image of the challenges and needs, information was gathered from various perspectives of those involved. This OT doctoral …

Annual Higher Ground Women's Leadership Conference 2020, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

No abstract provided.

Energy Compensation With Exercise Is Not Dependent On Dose, H. Michael Hays

Theses and Dissertations--Nutrition and Food Systems

Background: Exercise induced weight loss is often less than expected due to a coordinated set of compensatory mechanisms that serve to maintain energy homeostasis. The extent to which exercise frequency, duration, intensity and exercise energy expenditure (ExEE) influences the compensatory response to an exercise-induced energy deficit (energy compensation) is controversial. Determining how these variables impact energy compensation would help health care providers prescribe exercise with greater probability of creating a sustained negative energy balance and subsequent weight loss.

Methods: 44 Overweight/obese men and women (BMI=25-35kg/m²) aged 18 to 40 years were randomized to perform aerobic exercise 2 or 6 days/week …

Loneliness And Sleep: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Sarah C. Griffin, Allison B. Williams, Scott G. Ravyts, Samantha N. Mladen, Bruce D. Rybarczyk

Psychology Publications

Despite the mounting evidence linking loneliness with health, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain obscure. This systematic review and meta-analysis on the association between loneliness and one potential mechanism—sleep—identified 27 relevant articles. Loneliness correlated with self-reported sleep disturbance (r = .28, 95% confidence interval (.24, .33)) but not duration, across a diverse set of samples and measures. There was no evidence supporting age or gender as moderators or suggesting publication bias. The longitudinal relationship between loneliness and sleep remains unclear. Loneliness is related to sleep disturbance, but research is necessary to determine directionality, examine the influence of other factors, …

Values Congruence And Organizational Commitment Among The Multiple Generations In The Workforce: Toward A Better Understanding Of Generational Differences, Charles Ennis Jr.

Dissertations from the Executive Doctorate in Business Administration Program

The Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial generations comprise the majority of the current United States workforce. Because of the predominance of these three cohorts, there is a substantial body of research that addresses their generational differences. Recent studies advocate a need to reconsider generational [age-based] cohort a priori assumptions and build a stronger theoretical foundation to support the generational differences phenomenon. This study examines generational differences through the lens of a conceptual framework that consists of Generation, Person-Organization fit, and Organizational Commitment theoretical constructs. A cross-sectional, stratified sample of United States employees (N = 360) was collected in order …

The Role Of Rassf5 On Cell Growth And Hippo Signaling In Rhabdomyosarcoma, Megan Garver, Lee Helman, Md, Katrina Slemmons, Phd

Phase 1

Introduction: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma of childhood. Dysregulation of the Hippo pathway, a signaling cascade that regulates many biological processes, is associated with many human cancers. The goal of my project was to delete RASSF5, a regulator of the Hippo pathway, in RMS cells utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 and then to evaluate how the absence of RASSF5 affects RMS cell growth and Hippo signaling, with and without DNMTi Tx.

Methods: A lipofectamine transfection was performed in two different RMS cell lines, Rh30 & RD, in which two different CRIPSR/Cas9 vectors with RASSF5 guide RNA were introduced. …