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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Exchange Rate Volatility And Bilateral Agricultural Trade Flows: The Case Of The United States And Oecd Countries, Kashi Ram Kafle Jan 2011

Exchange Rate Volatility And Bilateral Agricultural Trade Flows: The Case Of The United States And Oecd Countries, Kashi Ram Kafle

LSU Master's Theses

The abandonment of fixed exchange rate systems has caused exchange rate movements to become a major concern for traders, policy makers and researchers. During the previous four decades of floating exchange rates, numerous studies have been conducted to determine whether exchange rate volatility affected international trade flows. Researchers have not yet reached a general consensus as to the magnitude and direction of the impact of exchange rate volatility on trade flows. This study documents the effect of exchange rate volatility and real exchange rates on bilateral agricultural exports, imports and total trade flows between the United States and OECD countries. …


A Systematic Study Of Xylella Fastidiosa Strains Isolated From Pecan, Grapevine, Oleander, And Sycamore In Louisiana, Rebecca Ann Melanson Jan 2011

A Systematic Study Of Xylella Fastidiosa Strains Isolated From Pecan, Grapevine, Oleander, And Sycamore In Louisiana, Rebecca Ann Melanson

LSU Master's Theses

Xylella fastidiosa causes disease in a number of economically important crops and landscape shrubs and trees including grapevine, citrus, oleander, and sycamore. In pecan, X. fastidiosa causes pecan bacterial leaf scorch (PBLS), which leads to defoliation and reduces nut yield. No economically effective treatments are available for PBLS. In order to improve PBLS management practices, it is necessary to determine the subspecies of X. fastidiosa strains that infect pecan so potential sources of inoculum can be identified. Multiprimer PCR and phylogenetic analyses using nucleotide sequence data from the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) region and pglA consistently identified strains …


Comparing The Effects Of Ten Weeks Of Equipped Vs. Non-Equipped Training On Performance In Collegiate Powerlifters, Travis Michael Godawa Jan 2011

Comparing The Effects Of Ten Weeks Of Equipped Vs. Non-Equipped Training On Performance In Collegiate Powerlifters, Travis Michael Godawa

LSU Master's Theses

Advances in powerlifting equipment have enabled athletes in that sport to achieve lifts once thought impossible. The effect of training using specialized powerlifting gear on performance has not yet been studied. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of powerlifting equipment on performance measures before and after 10 weeks of training. It was hypothesized that equipped lifters would achieve higher total training volumes and greater performance gains in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. METHODS: Eighteen powerlifters between the ages of 18 and 26 were randomized into either a group that trained and competed in equipment (Eq), or trained and competed without …


Use Of Condensed Tannins Supplementation And Inorganic Copper As Deworming Agents In Naturally Infected Ewes And Lambs, Moara De Santana Martins Jan 2011

Use Of Condensed Tannins Supplementation And Inorganic Copper As Deworming Agents In Naturally Infected Ewes And Lambs, Moara De Santana Martins

LSU Master's Theses

Sheep production is an important socioeconomic activity for the small producers and it can represent their primary income source. Gastrointestinal parasites have become the principal limiting factor for this industry around the world, especially because of the anthelmintic resistance phenomenon that has been increasing worldwide. The negligent use of anthelmintics has been reported as the main factor in the development of resistance. Among the parasites that infect sheep, H. contortus is considered the most harmful and also the parasite responsible for the fastest development of nematode resistance in small ruminants. Due to the economic impact this parasite may bring upon …


Comparison Of Disk Diffusion, Agar Dilution, And Broth Microdiultion For Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Of Five Chitosans, Lin Jiang Jan 2011

Comparison Of Disk Diffusion, Agar Dilution, And Broth Microdiultion For Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Of Five Chitosans, Lin Jiang

LSU Master's Theses

Chitosan is a polysaccharide biopolymer with excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity, which allows for potential wide applications. Recently, antimicrobial activities of chitosan against foodborne pathogens have been studied; many used disk diffusion to determine the activity. However, this method is unable to obtain minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), i.e., not quantitative. The objective of this study was to compare disk diffusion with agar dilution and broth microdilution, two quantitative methods used routinely in clinical laboratories, to determine MICs of chitosan against foodborne pathogens. Five chitosan compounds with molecular weights ranging between 43 and 1,100 kDa were tested against 36 representative …


Intravenous Injection Of Insulin For Measuring Insulin Sensitivity In Horses: Effects Of Epinephrine, Feeding Regimen, And Supplementation With Cinnamon For Fish Oil, Lisa Rosalee Earl Jan 2011

Intravenous Injection Of Insulin For Measuring Insulin Sensitivity In Horses: Effects Of Epinephrine, Feeding Regimen, And Supplementation With Cinnamon For Fish Oil, Lisa Rosalee Earl

LSU Master's Theses

Seven experiments were performed to assess the use of glucose responses to insulin injections as a means of estimating insulin sensitivity in horses; to compare the insulin sensitivities of normal horses vs. those displaying hyperleptinemia; and to put this method into practical application. Experiment 3.1 examined dose-responses in mares of potentially different insulin sensitivities. Recombinant human insulin was injected at doses of 8, 20, 50, and 125 mU/kg BW, as needed, to estimate the dose of insulin causing a 50% decrease in glucose concentrations (ED50). Five mares each of low leptin concentrations (LL) and low BCS, LL and high BCS, …


Development And Permeability Of Equine Blastocysts, Brittany Reshel Scott Jan 2011

Development And Permeability Of Equine Blastocysts, Brittany Reshel Scott

LSU Master's Theses

Equine embryo cryopreservation is unsuccessful in larger, more easily collected, day-7 embryos. It is imperative that methods to successfully cryopreserve large equine embryos or develop reliable methods to determine embryo size before collection. Therefore the objectives for this study were to quantify the amount of tritiated glycerol that would permeate various sizes of equine embryos and to determine if circulating progesterone concentration was correlated with in utero embryo size. Mean embryo diameter (± SEM) across treatments (1.4M and 3.4M tritiated glycerol) was 696.5µm ± 108.6µm and 925.9 µm ± 214.1µm, respectively and were not different (P=0.44). The percent permeation for …


Characterization Of The Subcortical Interactions Between Larvae Of The Southern Pine Sawyer Monochamus Titillator (F.) And The Larvae Of The Southern Pine Beetle Guild Using Molecular Gut Analyses, Erich N. Schoeller Jan 2011

Characterization Of The Subcortical Interactions Between Larvae Of The Southern Pine Sawyer Monochamus Titillator (F.) And The Larvae Of The Southern Pine Beetle Guild Using Molecular Gut Analyses, Erich N. Schoeller

LSU Master's Theses

The southern pine beetle guild (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) is arguably the most destructive group of forest pests in the Southeastern United States. Laboratory assays suggest that larvae of wood borer associates from the genus Monochamus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) may be facultative intraguild predators of southern pine beetle guild. In this study the dynamics of the subcortical interactions between M. titillator (F.) and members of the southern pine beetle guild were examined using PCR-based molecular gut content analyses. Species-specific PCR primer sets were developed to work under multiplex PCR conditions to detect DNA of members of southern pine beetle guild in the …


The Role Of Motivation And Physical Activity In A Weight Loss Program, Ellen Kane Stevens Jan 2011

The Role Of Motivation And Physical Activity In A Weight Loss Program, Ellen Kane Stevens

LSU Master's Theses

Every year thousands of overweight and obese people in the United States join weight loss programs such as Weight Watchers in an effort to become healthier and feel more attractive. Weight Watchers has increased its program focus on physical activity as a critical part of weight loss. Initiating a consistent physical activity routine, however, is generally one of the last behavior changes made by program members, despite its proven role in weight loss maintenance. Using self-determination theory as a framework, the purpose of this study was to examine how perceptions of fulfillment of three psychological needs (i.e. competence, autonomy, and …


In Vitro Inhibitory Activity Of Black Seed Oil And Potassium Chloride Against The Biomarkers Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Tamaratina Jombai Jan 2011

In Vitro Inhibitory Activity Of Black Seed Oil And Potassium Chloride Against The Biomarkers Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Tamaratina Jombai

LSU Master's Theses

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women and is highly heterogeneous in nature. One very aggressive subtype of this disease is Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), is a very aggressive disease characterized by the lack of expression of estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2). TNBC patients account for approximately 15% of total breast cancer patients. This breast cancer subtype is characterized by high mortality rate, and is typically associated with poor prognosis. Current clinical methods have proven to have low success rates against TNBC, it is …


Effects Of Resistant Starch In Milk Replacer On Health And Performance In Neonatal Holstein Heifer Calves, Bethany Leann Fisher Jan 2011

Effects Of Resistant Starch In Milk Replacer On Health And Performance In Neonatal Holstein Heifer Calves, Bethany Leann Fisher

LSU Master's Theses

Forty-two female Holstein calves were assigned to one of three treatments at d 2 of age to study the effects of adding resistant starch (RS) to the milk replacer on health and performance. Treatments were control (0g RS), 4g RS, or 8g RS mixed into the reconstituted milk replacer. Calves were housed in individual calf hutches and fed milk replacer once daily until d 42 of age. Water and an 18% crude protein calf starter were offered ad libitum beginning d 3 throughout the duration of the 56 d trial. Calves remained in their hutches until d 56 of age …


Comparison Of Thermally Pasteurized And Ultrasonically Pasteurized Blueberry Juice (Vaccinium Corymbosum) And An Investigation Of Blueberry Juice Effect On Lipid Oxidation During Microencapsulation Of Poly-Unsaturated Fish Oils, Fathima Waheeda Mohideen Jan 2011

Comparison Of Thermally Pasteurized And Ultrasonically Pasteurized Blueberry Juice (Vaccinium Corymbosum) And An Investigation Of Blueberry Juice Effect On Lipid Oxidation During Microencapsulation Of Poly-Unsaturated Fish Oils, Fathima Waheeda Mohideen

LSU Master's Theses

Blueberries have received considerable attention due to their content of health promoting compounds such as polyphenols and anthocyanins. Thermal pasteurization (TP) is known to cause degradation of anthocyanins and juice color. Microencapsulation, particularly with incorporation of blueberry antioxidants, can improve the stability of menhaden (MO) and salmon (SO) fish oils rich in omega-3 fatty acids. The objectives of this research were to study the effect of TP and continuous ultrasonication processing on the microbiological, chemical and physical properties of blueberry juice (BJ) and to determine the effect of BJ on MO and SO lipid oxidation during microencapsulation. Fresh blueberries were …


Optimization Of Heat-Stable Protein Extraction In Recalcitrant Spartina Alterniflora, Yi Wang Jan 2011

Optimization Of Heat-Stable Protein Extraction In Recalcitrant Spartina Alterniflora, Yi Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Orthodox and recalcitrant seeds exhibit differential tolerance to water loss. Recalcitrant seeds are not able to tolerate desiccation and die when dried, while the orthodox seeds can be stored dry without losing viability for years. Spartina is a good model to study recalcitrance, because unlike most other recalcitrance studies, which contain only a recalcitrant species, this system has both recalcitrant S. alterniflora and orthodox species, S. pectinata and S. spartinae, as close-related physiological comparators. Lack of protective proteins, e.g. late embryogenesis abundant proteins (LEAs), has been proposed to be the cause of recalcitrant seed death. A common feature of these …


Inhibitory Activity Of Ginger Oil Against Breast Cancer Cells, Namrata Karki Jan 2011

Inhibitory Activity Of Ginger Oil Against Breast Cancer Cells, Namrata Karki

LSU Master's Theses

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer related mortality in women. The estimated new cases and death for 2010 in the US for females were 207,090 and 39,840 and for men were 1,970 and 390 respectively. Breast cancer cells contain cancer stem cells (CSCs), which represent less than 5% of the total cancer cell population, but accounts for continuous proliferation and growth. Breast cancer is highly metastatic and can spread to various parts of the body. Signaling through cell surface markers, including CD44/CD24/ALDH1 in breast cancer, pro-survival factors, including Hsp90 and other client proteins, angiogenic biomarkers and telomerase activity …


Characterization And Utilization Of Rice Defense Associated With Partial Resistance To Bacterial Panicle Blight: An Emerging Rice Disease Problem In The Southeastern United States, Bishnu Kumar Shrestha Jan 2011

Characterization And Utilization Of Rice Defense Associated With Partial Resistance To Bacterial Panicle Blight: An Emerging Rice Disease Problem In The Southeastern United States, Bishnu Kumar Shrestha

LSU Master's Theses

Rice is a staple food for much of the world’s growing population. Rice production is limited by a number of abiotic and biotic factors. These factors have direct effects on food security because less food is available to growing population. Bacterial panicle blight (BPB), caused by the bacterium Burkholderia glumae, is an emerging disease that causes grain rot, panicle discoloration, and unfilled grains in rice. Up to 70% of yield reduction has been reported in severely infected rice fields. No completely resistant rice cultivars have been identified, however, a medium-grain cultivar, Jupiter, showed a high level of partial resistance …


Advanced Management Of The Mexican Rice Borer (Eoreuma Loftini) In Sugarcane, Blake Emerson Wilson Jan 2011

Advanced Management Of The Mexican Rice Borer (Eoreuma Loftini) In Sugarcane, Blake Emerson Wilson

LSU Master's Theses

Insecticide, greenhouse and varietal resistance experiments were conducted in Texas to develop management tactics for the Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), sugarcane. A 3-treatment, large plot aerial application study was set up in 5 commercial sugarcane fields (35-84 acres) to evaluate the utilization of pheromone traps to improve chemical control strategies for E. loftini during 2009 and 2010 growing seasons. A threshold of 20-25 moths/trap/wk was used as an indicator to initiate monitoring for E. loftini larval infestations. Larval infestations were directly related to the no. of moths/trap/wk (R2=0.71). Reductions in borer injury and adult emergence (60% and 40% …


A Molecular Genetic Study On The Tofl/Tofr Quorum-Sensing System Of Burkholderia Glumae: The Major Pathogen That Causes Bacterial Panicle Blight Of Rice, Ruoxi Chen Jan 2011

A Molecular Genetic Study On The Tofl/Tofr Quorum-Sensing System Of Burkholderia Glumae: The Major Pathogen That Causes Bacterial Panicle Blight Of Rice, Ruoxi Chen

LSU Master's Theses

Burkholderia glumae is the major causal agent of an economically important rice disease, bacterial panicle blight (BPB). The known virulence factors of B. glumae share the TofI/TofR quorum sensing system as their regulator. tofI and tofR genes encode the N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) synthase for the B. glumae quorum sensing signals, N-octanoyl homoserine lactone (C8-HSL) and N-hexanoyl homoserine lactone (C6-HSL), and the receptor for AHL, respectively. To better understand the relationship between quorum sensing and known virulence factors (toxoflavin, flagella and lipase), as well as, putative virulence factors (i.e. extracellular polysaccharide), mutagenetic and phenotypic analyses were applied to this study. …


Production And Processing Of A Functional Yogurt Fortified With Microencapsulated Omega-3 And Vitamin E, Jose Daniel Estrada Andino Jan 2011

Production And Processing Of A Functional Yogurt Fortified With Microencapsulated Omega-3 And Vitamin E, Jose Daniel Estrada Andino

LSU Master's Theses

Market and nutritional values of fermented milks can be enhanced by adding microencapsulated polyunsaturated fish oil and vitamin E. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) lower the risk of heart disease and vitamin E is an important lipophilic antioxidant that protects cell membranes from oxidation. This study aimed to develop functional yogurts YMSO and YMMO fortified with á-tocopherol and microencapsulated salmon oil (MSO) or microencapsulated menhaden oil (MMO), respectively and to evaluate their physicochemical properties during 1-mo of storage. Stable emulsions were prepared with 7% red salmon oil (SO) or menhaden oil (MO), 22% arabic gum, 11% maltodextrin, 0.83% á-tocopherol and 59.17% …


Spray Drying Technology For The Production And Processing Of Microencapsulated Omega-3 Fish Oil With Egg Powder, Kevin Estuardo Mis Solval Jan 2011

Spray Drying Technology For The Production And Processing Of Microencapsulated Omega-3 Fish Oil With Egg Powder, Kevin Estuardo Mis Solval

LSU Master's Theses

Protein with essential amino acids is required for recovering, repairing, and building muscles after intensive exercise. A powder produced with egg white (EW) (high quality protein) and fish oil (menhaden (Brevoortia patronus) (MO) oil or salmon oil (SO)) with high DHA and EPA content should be particularly beneficial for athletes. The objective of this study was to develop microencapsulated omega-3 fatty acids fortified EW powders. Two stable emulsions were prepared with 3.43% (MO) or (SO), 56.21% EW, and 40.36% water (E-MO-EW and E-SO-EW). An EW with water solution (without fish oil) (E-EW) was prepared as a control. Two emulsions (E-MO-EW; …


Inhibitory Effects Of Berry Anthocyanins On Palmitic Acid- Or Lipopolysaccharide- Induced Inflammation In Human Preadipocytes, Chenfei Gao Jan 2011

Inhibitory Effects Of Berry Anthocyanins On Palmitic Acid- Or Lipopolysaccharide- Induced Inflammation In Human Preadipocytes, Chenfei Gao

LSU Master's Theses

Obesity is an inflammatory disease associated with the development and progression of chronic degenerative diseases including insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and cancer. Circulating free fatty acid (FFA) are known risk factors promoting inflammation that can lead to CVD. Pre/adipocytes are known storage of low grade inflammatory biomarkers associated with obesity. However, the effects of dietary anthocyanins on inflammatory biomarkers in preadipocytes have not been reported. Berries are rich sources of naturally occurring antioxidant polyphenolics. There is increasing interest in the ability of berry anthocyanins to provide health benefits against obesity. Anthocyanins were isolated from …


Production Of Spray-Dried Honey Powder And Its Application In Bread, Ahalya Kosal Ram Jan 2011

Production Of Spray-Dried Honey Powder And Its Application In Bread, Ahalya Kosal Ram

LSU Master's Theses

Honey is a natural sweetener with various beneficial properties including anti-oxidant and anti-microbial activity. Retrograded starch is known to have hypocholesterolemic effects and act to inhibit fat accumulation. Honey powder produced using retrograded starch can be used as an alternative to sucrose in many bakery products like bread. The objectives of this study were to produce a honey powder containing retrograded starch, characterize the powder and use it as an alternative to sucrose in bread formulations. The honey powder was produced by spray drying honey using retrograded starch as a drying agent. The spray dried honey powder was characterized for …


Utilizing Near-Infrared Spectroscopy To Detect Sodium Tripolyphosphate In Treated Penaeus Aztecus And Setiferus Shrimp, Alisa Marlene Todd Jan 2011

Utilizing Near-Infrared Spectroscopy To Detect Sodium Tripolyphosphate In Treated Penaeus Aztecus And Setiferus Shrimp, Alisa Marlene Todd

LSU Master's Theses

Applying sodium tripolyphosphate to shrimp may cause excess water absorption and has become a major concern to phosphate producers, the consumer and regulatory agencies, such as, the United States Food and Drug Administration. The objective of this study was to examine Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy as a nondestructive and rapid method of detecting shrimp treated with sodium tripolyphosphate solutions of varying concentrations and treatment times. Wild caught Penaeus setiferus and aztecus Louisiana gulf coast shrimp were submerged in distilled water, 2.5% sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), and 5% sodium tripolyphosphate solutions for 30, 60, 120, 240, 480, 960, 1920 minute time intervals. …


Changes In Select Phenolic Compounds During Ethanol Fermentation And Acetification Of Raspberry, Blueberry And Persimmon, Yen-Ping Tan Jan 2011

Changes In Select Phenolic Compounds During Ethanol Fermentation And Acetification Of Raspberry, Blueberry And Persimmon, Yen-Ping Tan

LSU Master's Theses

Polyphenols are major dietary components in fruits and vegetables. Many research and epidemiological studies have reported that phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, may have a protective effect against various degenerative diseases. Phenolics in grape wine have been extensively studied but information on changes of phenolics in wine and vinegar made from other fruit crops is limited, however. This research started with the objective of determining the effect of proteases in preventing phenolic and, specifically, anthocyanin degradation in the ethanolic fermentation of black raspberries to reduce sugar content. The results of this study led to investigations of changes of other polyphenols …


Optimizing The Feeding Time For Low Crude Protein, Amino Acid-Supplemented Diets For Broilers, Stephen T. Treese Jan 2011

Optimizing The Feeding Time For Low Crude Protein, Amino Acid-Supplemented Diets For Broilers, Stephen T. Treese

LSU Master's Theses

The objectives of this research were to determine whether delaying the feeding of a diet with reduced crude protein, supplemented with L-Lysine, for several days post-hatching, would result in improved growth performance of broiler chicks and determine an optimal time to feed such a diet to the chick. All experiments were conducted in brooder batteries from 0- to 14- or 18- days (d) post-hatching. Treatments contained a minimum of 6 replicate pens with at least 6 broilers per pen. Two experiments were conducted to determine whether delaying the feeding of a corn-soybean meal (SBM) diet with reduced CP for either …


Influence Of Low Sonication Intensities At Different Temperatures On Acid Tolerance, Bile Tolerance, Protease Activity And Growth Of Yogurt Culture Bacteria Lactobacillus Delbrueckii Ssp. Bulgaricus And Streptococcus Salivarius Ssp. Thermophilus, Marvin L. Moncada Reyes Jan 2011

Influence Of Low Sonication Intensities At Different Temperatures On Acid Tolerance, Bile Tolerance, Protease Activity And Growth Of Yogurt Culture Bacteria Lactobacillus Delbrueckii Ssp. Bulgaricus And Streptococcus Salivarius Ssp. Thermophilus, Marvin L. Moncada Reyes

LSU Master's Theses

Streptococcus salivarius ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus are dairy cultures widely used in the dairy industry. Low sonication intensity condition is a non-destructive technique that uses sound waves to cause cavitation in aqueous solutions and may improve the permeability of membranes, speed up the transfer of substrates and promote cellular growth and propagation. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of low sonication intensities at different temperatures on acid tolerance, bile tolerance, protease activity and growth of the two dairy cultures. The cultures were freshly thawed and suspended in 0.1% peptone water and 18 ml …