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The Effect Of Egf On Vegf Expression On Submandibular Salivary Gland Of Albino Rats Receiving Doxorubicin, Mohamed Shamel, Mohamed Mansy, Rabab Mubarak

Dentistry

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has two prominent biological effects of inducing mitogenesis and migration of vascular endothelial cells and to produce permeability on the microvasculature. Epidermal growth factor (EGF), known by its mitogenic activity on different types of cells, could induce the proliferation and differentiation of the epithelial cells and stimulate its regeneration. Doxorubicin (DXR) is a widely used anticancer drug and is one of most commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs, however it may cause some serious complications such as toxicity in various tissues in the body. Aims: The present study aims to investigate the effect of EGF on …

'Arte With Her Contending, Doth Aspire T'Excell The Naturall': Contending For Representation In The Elizabethan Epyllion, Andrew Fleck

Literatures and Cultural Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Peculiarities Of Neurostimulation By Intense Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields: How To Avoid Firing In Peripheral Nerve Fibers, Vitalii Kim, Emily Gudvangen, Oleg Kondratiev, Luis Redondo, Shu Xiao, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Intense pulsed electric fields (PEF) are a novel modality for the efficient and targeted ablation of tumors by electroporation. The major adverse side effects of PEF therapies are strong involuntary muscle contractions and pain. Nanosecond-range PEF (nsPEF) are less efficient at neurostimulation and can be employed to minimize such side effects. We quantified the impact of the electrode configuration, PEF strength (up to 20 kV/cm), repetition rate (up to 3 MHz), bi- and triphasic pulse shapes, and pulse duration (down to 10 ns) on eliciting compound action potentials (CAPs) in nerve fibers. The excitation thresholds for single unipolar but not …

Assessment Of Hypothermia As A Correlate Of Pde4 Inhibitor-Induced Nausea In Mice, Marianna Susan Oditt

Honors Theses

Type-4-cAMP-phosphodiesterases (PDE4s) are a group of isoenzymes that hydrolyze the second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). PDE4 inhibitors have many therapeutic uses including reducing inflammation, however, they also have side effects like nausea and emesis, which have diminished the clinical utility of PDE4 inhibitors. When administered to mice, PDE4 inhibitors have been shown to cause hypothermia. Given that nausea and emesis in humans are also associated hypothermia, this project served to determine whether PDE4 inhibitor-induced hypothermia may represent a correlate of nausea and/or emesis in mice. To this end, the current literature was screened for articles that explore nausea, emesis …

Changing Representations Of The Second World War: Why We Fight, Victory At Sea, And The World At War, Maiah Vorce

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Effects Of The Air Quality In Equine Stable Environments On The Respiratory Health And Allergy Response Of Human Personnel: A Review, Maeve Hannah Perrin

Honors Theses and Capstones

Many studies have evaluated the impact of poor stable air quality on equine respiratory health and respiratory illness in horses. Many factors contribute to poor air quality conditions in the equine stable environment, including ventilation rates, humidity levels, presence of noxious gases, rate of fungal spore production, and level of airborne organic and inorganic dust particles. While the implications of poor air quality for equine health are well-documented, far less is known about how air quality impacts human stable personnel. This literature review seeks to evaluate the implications of poor equine stable air quality on the respiratory health and allergic …

Sars-Cov-2: An Investigation On Mutagenicity And Its Effects On Infectivity And Mortality, Tyler Elliott Silverwood

Honors Theses and Capstones

SARS-CoV-2, the etiological agent of the COVID-19 pandemic, has rapidly become a worldwide public health concern. Classified as a betacoronavirus, it is the third human coronavirus (HCoV) to emerge in the 21st century that causes severe disease, alongside SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. The genome consists of open reading frames encoding accessory proteins and four structural proteins, including the spike protein which is a key determinant of host cell tropism. Mutations within the genome, particularly the spike gene, have been linked in-vitro to increased binding affinity to the human receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2), increased fitness in human hosts, and immune evasion. …

Occurrence Of Pulmonary Arteritis With Lungworm Infections In Gray Seals From New England, 2013-2020, Jillian R. Broadhurst, Inga Sidor Dvm, Ms, Dacvp

Honors Theses and Capstones

Gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) are a common pinniped species in New England coastal waters. Parasitic infection is an important cause of mortality for this species, and lungworm species are frequently implicated in cases of respiratory infection, especially in pups and weanling seals. The most common of these is Otostrongylus circumlitus, a large nematode found in the bronchi and bronchioles of affected seals. The full life cycle is unknown but its presence in lungs and sometimes pulmonary arteries suggests that migration via arterial circulation occurs. Signs and microscopic findings are widely variable; our cases included dyspnea, bloody mucoid …

Scottish Marine Renewable Energy: U.S. Approaches For Development Of Wave And Tidal Technologies, Stella Kathryn Fairall

Honors Theses and Capstones

Marine renewable energy, energy harnessed from various ocean resources such as waves, tides, currents, thermal gradients, and marine streams, has incredible potential in the United States. Several European countries have realized the potential of the resource in the North Sea and Atlantic and have created incredibly successful industries already. The United Kingdom, particularly Scotland, is the world leader because of the comprehensive policy, labor force, and markets it has established in order to make MRE a competitive energy source. In the United States, the industry is immature, underfunded, and lacks policy support. In order to establish itself as a world …

Effects Of A Suggestion Based Intervention On Human Cooperation In The Stag Hunt Game, Melvin S. Marsh

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Cooperation has been one of the most foundational aspect of human society and is frequently studied via use of “The Stag Hunt” which has been used to tease out factors which may influence cooperation. The present study is the first study to attempt to influence human cooperation by means of positive imagery. Participants included 33 males and 72 females) who listened to either an a 7-minute audio designed to encourage them to trust others or an audio designed to encourage them to trust themselves. Participants played 40 rounds of the Stag Hunt game. The total number of times the participant …

"Who's The Man?" Examining The Relationships Between Black Masculinity, Perceived Social Support, And Sexual Behavior In Black Male College Students, James Thomas

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Sexual health disparities in college-aged Black men remains a critical public health issue. Black men are likely to have an earlier sexual debut, acquire sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV at higher rates, and enter fatherhood at earlier ages than their White counterparts. Previous research has identified masculinity and perceived social support as predictors of sexual risk behavior for men in the U.S. However, when exploring masculinity’s influence on sexual behavior, studies that are culturally sensitive to Black men’s experiences and perspectives on manhood are few. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between Black masculinity, …

Assessing Habitat Suitability Of Ribbed Mussels (Geukensia Demissa) In Georgia Salt Marshes By Examining Predicted Mussel Densities And Mussel Population Parameters, William K. Annis Jr

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Geukensia demissa (ribbed mussel) is an ecology important bivalve that has the potential to contribute to salt marsh restoration. Understanding the factors that contribute to the distribution of mussels can help inform managers on choosing locations to optimize the survivorship of mussels in restoration projects. This study sought to model mussel densities across the coast of Georgia and to compare predicted mussel densities with mussel population parameters as means to gauge habitat suitability. Mussel densities were collected through field surveys across a range of salt marshes along the coast of Georgia and were compared with spatial data such as distance …

Evaluating The Effects Of Self-Control Depletion On Task Persistence: A Focus On The Moderating Effects Of Performance Monitoring, Hayley Houseman

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Self-control is essential in day-to-day life and has important implications for goal attainment, successful living, and psychological well-being. However, self-control is known to fail when resources are depleted physically, cognitively, or emotionally, which can lead to difficulties completing important tasks. Performance monitoring, which makes a standard salient so that people can sustain their performance while attending to their goals, might buffer the loss of self-control on task performance. Overall, the purpose of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of self-control depletion and performance monitoring on task persistence. Eighty undergraduate students were recruited to participate in the study. Participants …

Measuring The Success Of A Coastal Sand Dune Restoration On Tybee Island: Plant Growth, Sand Accretion, And Implications For Management, Shannon Matzke

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Coastal communities are developing rapidly in the face of increased risks of sea level rise and hurricanes stemming from anthropogenic climate change. In the US, erosion is projected to cost $530 million/year in property loss, but beaches and dune systems can minimize these losses. Dunes are vital to coastal protection, particularly when they are colonized by native plant species that stabilize sand with their root systems and accumulate sand by trapping particles with their stems and leaves. Dune construction can be used as a nature-based solution to climate change, but more studies are needed to fully understand the best practices …

The Effects Of Habitat Fragmentation On Avian Mobbing Behavior, Jada T. Daniels

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Habitat fragmentation has negative effects on bird species diversity, as well as reproductive success of some species. However, there is little comparative information on the effect it may have on bird behavior. For example, small forest fragments are likely to have fewer bird species and individuals. This may limit the success of mobbing as an antipredator behavior because mobbing success depends on recruiting other birds to the group. This possibility has never been tested. The objective of my study is to quantify the effects of forest size on mobbing behavior in forest-dwelling birds. Mobbing behavior was elicited in 100 randomly …

Trail Marker Trees, Kaleigh Edwards

Buder Center for American Indian Studies Research

For arborists and others who study forests and plant life, “Indian trail trees” or “trail marker trees” are an intriguing way to mark a path. But, for Native American people, the trees provided a trail marker that led to essential resources. According to Guy Sternberg (2015), there are several criteria for a tree to be defined as a trail marker tree; such standards are that the “species is Native to the area, long-lived, and point towards a significant location” (Sternberg, 2015). Through traditional deformation, white and red oak trees were the primary species of trail marker trees because of their …

The Role Of Caregiving Sensitivity And Play Behavior In A Children's Museum Context, Jennika M. Mannesto

Honors Theses and Capstones

Both play and parental sensitivity serve an important role in children's lives. This study aims to investigate how parental sensitivity and gender impact children’s play in a museum environment. Specifically the research questions addressed in this study are: Is parent gender related to parental sensitivity and the types of play activities parent-child dyads engage in at the museum?; Is child gender related to parental sensitivity and types of dyadic play activities?; Does the combination of parent and child gender impact parental sensitivity and dyadic play?; and Does parenting sensitivity promote different types of play behavior in the museum context? Data …

Communicating Uncertain Information From Deep Learning Models To Users, Harishankar Vasudevanallur Subramanian

Masters Theses

“The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) decision support systems is increasing in high-stakes contexts, such as healthcare, defense, and finance. Uncertainty information may help users better leverage AI predictions, especially when combined with domain knowledge. I conducted two human-subject experiments to examine the effects of uncertainty information with AI recommendations. The experimental stimuli are from an existing image recognition deep learning model, one popular approach to AI. In Paper I, I evaluated the effect of the number of AI recommendations and provision of uncertainty information. For a series of images, participants identified the subject and rated their confidence level. Results …

A Meta-Analysis: Gamification In Education, Yalin Wang

Masters Theses

“Gamification has been used in a variety of contexts including education. In order to understand the effects of gamification in education, a meta-analysis was conducted. A bottom-up approach was used to analyze the effects of game design elements on learning outcomes found in the literature search. The result suggests that gamification can enhance student learning outcomes. Elements such as points, leaderboards, competitions, progress bars, feedback, and collaboration have medium to large effect sizes. Gamification also has larger effects on young children in elementary education than learners at other education levels. The study offers suggestions and guidelines for educators on the …

Public Perceptions Of Nigeria Police Monetary Bribery In Awka, Nigeria, Benjamin Chukwuka Nnadozie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe Nigerian police are often perceived by the Nigerian public as a very corrupt institution due to reports in the media and direct experiences of police brutality, extortion, injustice, and especially monetary bribery. The refusal to pay monetary bribes to the police has led to loss of lives and a lack of trust in the police. The purpose of this study was to investigate public perceptions of police monetary bribery in Awka in Anambra State, Nigeria. The conceptual framework was Novak et al.’s dynamic social impact theory. The research questions focused on understanding how the public perceived police monetary bribery …

An Analysis Of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Adoption For Household Cooking In Nigeria, Saheed Olanrewaju Lasisi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Nigerian government established a domestic liquefied petroleum gas penetration program (DLPGPP) to support Nigerian households that still use traditional fuels, which are inefficient and hazardous for users while polluting and degrading the environment. Little is known about the relationships that exist among liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) accessibility, LPG affordability, and LPG adoption to guide DLPGPP implementation. Narrowing this gap was the purpose of this study using the general framework of consumer theory. The study's research questions addressed the effects of LPG affordability and LPG accessibility on LPG adoption for cooking in Nigeria’s households. A cross-sectional, correlational survey was employed …

Student Retention At The Community College Level, Davia Debisha Ramgeet

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Student retention has been a serious issue for many community colleges globally for several decades. In a community college in Jamaica, persistence rates have been steadily declining within the last several years. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ experiences with the pre-college program that was designed to prepare students to enter and successfully complete college undergraduate programs. Astin’s conceptual framework on involvement was used for this qualitative project study. Key questions for this study included what in-class experiences and what student support services students participating in the pre-college program perceived to be most useful to their college …

Mobile Technology Use By Rural Farmers And Herders, Mohamed Ali

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mobile technology business leaders from many mobile technology companies practice digital apartheid when improving rural farmers' communication and technology infrastructure in developing countries. Mobile technology business leaders who do not effectively plan mobile technology infrastructure deployment to rural farmers and herders are at a high risk of failure. Grounded in adaptive structuration theory of technology, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies mobile technology business leaders used to improve the mobile technology infrastructure for rural farmers and herders in the United Republic of Tanzania. The participants comprised three mobile technology business leaders from three different …

Volunteer Coordinators’ Practices To Motivate And Retain Volunteers In Animal Welfare Organizations, Amy J. Clement

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Animal welfare organizations depend on volunteers to continue to take care of animals and rehome them. Animal overpopulation is estimated at 70 million animals and without enough volunteers to help socialize them, they can be unadoptable and subject to euthanasia. The problem addressed through this study was volunteer turnover in animal welfare organizations and resulting negative impacts on animal welfare. Researchers have examined person-organization fit related to employee retention in for-profit environments but not the experience of volunteer coordinators in animal welfare organizations. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to examine practices and experiences of volunteer coordinators to …

Your One Wild And Precious Life: The Prayer-Poems Of William Blake & Mary Oliver, Amanda Iacampo

Master's Theses

The poetry of illuminated printmaker William Blake is remembered long after his death and the passing of the Romantic Movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His collection, Songs of Innocence and Experience, examines individualism in celebration of the natural world and connections with God, or the divine, by using animals as subjects and metaphors for the human condition. Readers of Blake's work can see the influence of his "prayer-poems" in the works of other writers, such as the late American poet Mary Oliver, whose poetry is also rich in religious undertones. While Blake's "The Lamb" and its …

Visibility And Indivisibility In Resource Arrangements, Lee Anne Fennell

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Projects like highways, bridges, pipelines, and wildlife corridors exhibit indivisibilities — we need the whole thing to have anything of value. Many environmental and social goals have a similar all-or-nothing character: staying above or below a certain critical threshold can make all the difference. This essay focuses on the role of visibility in addressing resource dilemmas that have this structure. I examine how two kinds of visibility can help avoid catastrophic consequences and advance desirable ones. The first involves recognizing when an indivisibility is present — that is, appreciating the vulnerability of resources to thresholds and cliff effects before it …

Efficacy As Safety: Dominant Cultural Assumptions And The Assessment Of Contraceptive Risk, Andrea Bertotti, Emily S. Mann, Skye A. Miner

Sociology & Criminology Faculty Research

To reduce rates of unintended pregnancy, medical and public health associations endorse a contraceptive counseling model that ranks birth control methods by failure rate. This tiered model outlines all forms of birth control but recommends long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) to eliminate user error and increase continuation. Our critical discourse analysis of gynecology textbooks and medical recommendations examines how gendered and neoliberal ideas influence risk assessments underlying the tiered contraceptive counseling model. Specifically, we explore how embodied, lifestyle, and medical risks are constructed to prioritize contraceptive failure over adverse side effects and reproductive autonomy. We find that the tiered model's focus …

Association Between Prenatal Opioid Exposure And Neurodevelopmental Outcomes In Children, Xuerong Wen, D. Lawal, Nicholas Belviso, Kelly Matson, Shuang Wang, Brian J. Quilliam, Kimford J. Meador

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Introduction: Several studies have reported increasing prevalence of prescription opioid use among pregnant women. However, little is known regarding the effects of maternal opioid use on neurodevelopmental disorders in early childhood in pregnant women with no evidence of opioid use disorders or drug dependence.

Objective: The aim of this study was to quantify the association between prenatal opioid exposure from maternal prescription use and neurodevelopmental outcomes in early childhood.

Methods: This retrospective study included pregnant women aged 12–55 years and their live-birth infants born from 2010 to 2012 present in Optum’s deidentified Clinformatics® Data Mart database. Eligible infants born to …

The Probiotic Effect Of Clostridium Cochlearium Is Associated With Significant Change In Short-Chain Fatty Acid Metabolism And Gut Microbiota, Qing Ai

Wayne State University Dissertations

The prevalence of obesity is rising steadily across the world, which increases the risk of many metabolic diseases and life-threatening illnesses. A specific strain, Clostridium cochlearium (C. cochlearium), reported as a butyrate producer, could have potential probiotic effects against obesity. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of C. cochlearium on a high-fat diet-induced obese (DIO) mouse model. The 16S rRNA sequencing of mice gut microbiome was performed at the end of the experimental period to identify the changes in gut microbial composition, investigate possible functional genes, and elucidate potential mechanisms. Thirty-six C57BL/6 6-8 …

Isolation And Characterization Of A Novel Bacteriophage Wo From Allonemobius Socius Crickets In Missouri, Jonah Kupritz, John Martin, Kerstin Fischer, Kurt C. Curtis, Joseph R. Fauver, Yuefang Huang, Young-Jun Choi, Wandy L. Beatty, Makedonka Mitreva, Peter U. Fischer

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Wolbachia are endosymbionts of numerous arthropod and some nematode species, are important for their development and if present can cause distinct phenotypes of their hosts. Prophage DNA has been frequently detected in Wolbachia, but particles of Wolbachia bacteriophages (phage WO) have been only occasionally isolated. Here, we report the characterization and isolation of a phage WO of the southern ground cricket, Allonemobius socius, and provided the first whole-genome sequence of phage WO from this arthropod family outside of Asia. We screened A. socius abdomen DNA extracts from a cricket population in eastern Missouri by quantitative PCR for Wolbachia surface protein …