Life Sciences Commons^™

Associations Between Breastfeeding And Maternal Responsiveness: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Alison K. Ventura

Kinesiology and Public Health

Recent recommendations and prevention programs have focused on the promotion of responsive feeding during infancy, but more research is needed to understand best practices for fostering responsive feeding during early life. The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the accumulating bodies of evidence aimed at understanding associations between mothers' feeding experiences and responsive feeding in an attempt to clarify the nature of associations between feeding mode and responsive feeding. A literature search was conducted between January and October 2016; articles were collected from PsychINFO, Medline, and CINAHL, as well as from references in published research and reviews. Article …

The Effects Of Gaze Eccentricity On Stepping Accuracy And Anticipatory Postural Adjustments, Shyrece D. Celestine

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Are Cdi Systems Multicolored, Facultative, Helping Greenbeards?, Elizabeth S. Danka, Erin C. Garcia, Peggy A. Cotter

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Competitive and cooperative interactions between organisms, including bacteria, can significantly impact the composition of a community and the fitness of its members, as well as the fitness of their hosts when communities are living on or within other organisms. Understanding the underlying mechanisms is critical to the development of strategies to control microbiological communities that impact animal and plant health and also for understanding the evolution of social behaviors, which has been challenging for evolutionary biologists. Contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) is a phenomenon defined by the delivery of a protein toxin to the cytoplasm of neighboring bacteria upon cell–cell contact, …

Toxic And Essential Trace Element Content Of Commonly Administered Pediatric Oral Medications, Robert A. Yokel, Sarah E. Seger, Jason M. Unrine

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that commonly administered pediatric oral medications are a significant source of toxic elements. The concentrations of 16 elements were determined in 14 frequently used pediatric oral medications.

METHODS: Samples were prepared for analysis by dilution or nitric acid microwave-assisted digestion and analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The intake of each element from administration for 1 week of the medication's maximum recommended daily dose to 6-month-olds was calculated and compared to an exposure guideline for that element. Exposure guidelines used for adverse effects were minimal risk levels, oral …

Predicting The Onset Of Parturition By Determining Calcium In Prepartum Milk Of Sheep, Lensey Watson

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Multiple methods of pregnancy detection can be used in sheep production. The gestation period for sheep is usually between 144 and 150 days; however, depending on the breed and age of the ewes, this number can vary. A breeding marker, such as a breeding crayon, is used to detect when the ewe is bred by the ram, and the date the ewe will lamb is typically calculated based on an average 145-day gestation. Unfortunately, this method provides only a rough estimate of when the ewe could lamb. In addition, because sheep routinely give birth to multiples (twins, triplets, and, sometimes, …

Preliminary Investigation And Sequence Of The Hyaluronidase Gene In The Venom Of The Atlantic Sea Nettle (Chrysaora Quinquecirrha), Zachary A. Cropley

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Jellyfish cnidocysts contain many different venom proteins, each with unique functions that combine synergistically to achieve a more robust and toxic fluid. One of these proteins is hyaluronidase (EC 3.2.1.35), an enzyme that breaks down hyaluronic acid, which is commonly found in the extracellular matrix of many multicellular organisms. Due to its wide application, this enzyme is also found in the venom of many arthropod and reptile families. Putatively, hyaluronidase aids in the dispersion of the other venom proteins as it perforates the matrix in the target tissue. This activity has been detected in Chrysaora quinquecirrha cnidocysts, but the gene …

The Influence Of The Agricultural Cluster On The Fayette County Economy [2017], Alison Davis, Simona E. Balazs

Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky Reports

Executive Summary:

Historically, employment associated with agriculture in Fayette County has been limited to production agriculture. Recently, the Ag Cluster has been extended to include agricultural inputs and food processing and manufacturing. However, there are hundreds of establishments in the county that are service-based (finance, veterinary, recreation), transportation, communications, as well as wholesale and retail businesses that are 100% dedicated to agriculture. These businesses have never been included in an economic impact study exploring the impact of agriculture in Fayette County. Ignoring these businesses underestimates the value of the agricultural sector. This is particularly important in Fayette County because of …

Generation Of Mutant Snap-23 To Arrest Mast Cell Degranulation At Trans-Snare Complex Formation, Suzette Wafford-Turner

Honors Theses

Regulated secretion of pro-inflammatory molecules (e.g, histamines, proteases) from mast cells plays critical roles in immunity, allergic reactions, cardiovascular disease and cancer. These molecules are stored in secretory granules inside the cell and are rapidly released into the extracellular environment when mast cells are activated. It is known that mast cell degranulation depends upon membrane anchored SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleidimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptors) and accessory proteins that form the trans-SNARE complex, a 4 helical bundle central to exocytic fusion. There are three SNARE proteins that contribute to the 4-helical bundle during exocytosis; Syntaxin and VAMP proteins each provide one helix …

Characterization Of P43lgrn-3, Kelly G. Hill

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by extensive memory loss and cognitive deficits, which occur due to severe neuronal loss. Two hallmark lesions, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau and extracellular neuritic plaques formed by the aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ), are responsible for the progressive neuronal loss seen in AD brains. Neurotoxic Aβ aggregates are also known to cause inflammation within the brain. It has recently come to light that severe and acute inflammation, such as seen in traumatic brain injury (TBI), may also lead to AD-type dementia. This has raised the question whether some of …

Influence Of Compression Socks On Unilateral Balance In Females, Alex E. Carlson

Honors Theses

The application of compression garments for various purposes has become popular in recent years. Research regarding the effectiveness of these garments has shown an increase in variables such as increased blood flow, decreased post-exercise soreness, and increased joint position awareness. However, little research is available concerning their possible use to increase joint stability. This research examined the efficacy of graduated compression stockings (GCS) to increase proprioceptive feedback from the ankle joint. It was hypothesized that continuous stimulation of sensory receptors in the ankle region by use of GCS would improve an individual’s static unilateral balance. Seventeen females (age: 20 +/- …

Phylogenetic Relationships Of The Genera Of Achariaceae Based On Analyses Of Morphological And Dna Data, Corey L. Pagart

Honors Theses

Achariaceae are a mostly tropical family of flowering plants consisting of about 29 genera and 150 species of trees and shrubs. Although they are closely related to passionflowers (Passifloraceae), violets (Violaceae), and willows and cottonwoods (Salicaceae), phylogenetic relationships of the genera remain unclear because the only studies have been focused on particular genera or had limited sampling. Few studies of the family in general have been conducted, except for some on species that produce chaulmoogra oil, a commonly used historical treatment for leprosy. For my study, I investigated the relationships of the genera within the family using morphological and molecular …

Effects Of Marsh Fragmentation And Patch Area On Fish And Nekton Assemblages In Mississippi, Jennifer R. Main

Honors Theses

Fragmentation divides continuous habitat into smaller patches. Fragmentation can also produce smaller populations of species, because fragmentation can split a population into smaller groups. Both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems suffer from fragmentation. There are a variety of fishes that live along marsh, each depending upon the marsh for protection, food, and sometimes even competition. Species richness of fishes can be altered due to marsh fragmentation. I predict islands with a larger patch index should have a higher species richness of fishes. For this study, fish assemblages at 20 islands of marsh were sampled in the months of June and July …

The Preparation Of Synthetic Myod Mrna For Cellular Differentiation And Innate Immune Response Downstream Application, James D. Grenn

Honors Theses

The development of therapeutic immune responses from the manipulation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) via induction of synthetic RNA with 5’ capped and 3’ poly(A)tailed ends would lead to development of stem cell therapy. A necessary step in attaining such a goal is to first produce an mRNA transcript from a plasmid containing the open reading frame (ORF) for a transcription factor for cellular activation.

In this research, the DNA plasmid pMD4 encoding MyoD was transcribed into synthetic mRNA. The plasmid was first amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and analyzed using gel electrophoresis. The amplified template was purified via …

Phylogenetic Relationships Of Salicaceae Based On Analyses Of Nuclear Dna Data, John Marshall Diffey

Honors Theses

Salicaceae are an economically and ecologically important family of flowering plants. The family includes willows and cottonwoods and was recently enlarged to include a large number of tropical species formerly placed in the family Flacourtiaceae. Relationships of these tropical relatives to willows and cottonwoods have been explored at a basic level using morphology and plastid DNA data, but to date no molecular phylogenies have been constructed with significant sampling of nuclear DNA, which sometimes results in a different picture of relationships because of its biparental inheritance. For this project, I sampled one region of nuclear DNA (GBSSI) across the family …

Elucidating The Interplay Between Sodium Selenite On The Tick Amblyomma Maculatum Selenoprotein Gene Expression, Afnan M. Beauti

Honors Theses

Selenium (Se) is an element recognized as an essential micronutrient in eukaryote organisms. Selenoproteins contain selenium as selenocysteine, the 21st amino acid. Selenium plays a role in cell growth and functioning. At low concentrations, it can induce growth and at high concentrations, it can cause a cell to stop growing and potentially have toxic effects on the cell and organism. When selenium levels are high, oxidative stress results by the production of reactive oxidative species. Selenoproteins, however, can aid the antioxidant response in the cell. Ticks are arthropods of interest, as they are one of few that contain many selenogenes, …

The Effects Of Including Physical Activity In Classrooms With Children With Language Disorders, Shelby E. Auer

Honors Theses

As obesity becomes a rising concern in the United States and the importance of high test scores continues to add stress to students, physical activity opportunities are beginning to become less frequent in schools. The Center for Disease Control reports a total of 12.7 million children were classified as obese from 2011 to 2012 (CDC, 2015). While many researchers have also acknowledged this trend, the majority of studies focus on the correlation of physical activity in the classroom with increases in fitness and cognitive functioning levels among average population students, much like the research done by Webster, Russ, Vazou, Goh, …

Vegetative Rapid Assessment And Habitat Quality Analysis Of Steidtmann Woods, Sarah Mae Bail

Honors Projects

Due to invasive species and the assumption of an unhealthy ecosystem, Steidtmann Woods is an underutilized piece of land owned by Bowling Green State University. However, the property had never been analyzed. The proposed hypothesis was that Steidtmann was indeed in destress and its ecosystem could benefit from intervention—removal of invasive species and supplementation of natives. Through a rapid vegetative analysis, data was collected in several regions of the woods to identify what navies and non-natives were present as well as to identify their proportions. With that data, the species evenness, richness, and diversity was calculated; first, with raw field …

Converting Chemical Signatures In Vaterite Otoliths To Aragonite Otoliths In Steelhead Trout: Developing A Partition Coefficient, Jamie Justice

Honors Projects

Otoliths are small bones near the brain of teleost fish that aid in hearing and balance. Otoliths are typically composed of a polymorph of calcium carbonate called aragonite; however, when stressed, fish may transition to producing a less dense polymorph called vaterite. Otoliths are typically used in studies of fish natal origin or migration patterns because 1) otoliths grow concentrically around an origin (birth point), 2) the material in the otolith is not replaced over time, and 3) microelements (Sr and Ba) can be incorporated into the otoliths in proportion to elemental ratios in the water (i.e., when fish move …

Nebline, May 2017

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Biosolids Land Application Program Celebrating 25 Years of Benefiting the Community

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Beyond Capture: Development And Validation Of A Method To Assess Body Condition In Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus) Using Camera Traps, Rachel A. Smiley 6820420

Honors Scholar Theses

Advances in technology and availability associated with camera traps have resulted in a rapid rise in their use to monitor wildlife distribution, abundance, and behavior. We focus on assessing body condition, a new application of camera traps. Body condition indices must relate to the percent body fat if they are to be useful. To acquire measurements of body fat, most body condition indices require capture or mortality of animals to estimate, which has limitations when applied to free-ranging animals. We developed a non-invasive, visual body condition index (VBCI) to assess body condition of mule deer that can be applied …

Neurostructural Organization And Neocortical Projecting Neuron Distribution In A Mouse Model Of Timothy Syndrome-Mediated Autism Spectrum Disorder, Aiden L. Ford

Honors Scholar Theses

Aims: This study investigates the nuanced effect of the CACNA1C mutation on neurocognition and neurodevelopment via an extended study of the Timothy Syndrome (TS) mediated Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) mouse model – TS2-neo. It includes: (1) an expanded assessment of the TS2-neo behavioral phenotype, and (2) a comprehensive histological analysis of cortical structural and laminar features.

Methods: 24 age-matched male mice – 12 TS2-neo (B6.Cg-Cacna1c^tm2Itl, knock-in G406R mutation), 12 WT (C57BL/6J) – were tested on paradigms examining motor, socio-communicative and cognitive abilities. Neural tissue was processed for either volumetric analysis through Nissl stain (8 TS2-neo, 8 WT) or …

Comparison Of Feather Pigments In Red-Winged Blackbirds (Agelaius Phoenicus) Between Historical And Modern Samples, Genevieve Nuttall

Honors Scholar Theses

Coloration is vital to birds; it is involved in mating, territorial display, communication, camouflage, and predation. Birds rely on their environment for the raw materials necessary to make most colors present in their feathers. As a result, habitat quality can have lifetime fitness consequences through the color pathway. Widescale habitat change has affected the quality of habitats accessible to birds worldwide. Consequently, the availability of pigment-containing resources within many altered habitats has shifted, leading to modification in the coloration of some birds’ feathers. I hypothesized that the red pigmentation in the feather shoulders, or epaulets, of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius …

Modelling The Role Of Chance In Mating Dynamics, Libby K. Boykin

Honors Theses

This undergraduate honors thesis examines the role of chance in mating dynamics, focusing on the popular measures of Is and OSR and whether or not they are accurate measures of sexual selection. The first chapter is an overview of sexual selection and how biologists typically measure it, and the second chapter describes the modelling scenarios we created to assess the interaction of Is and OSR with both chance and parental investment. Our results show that Is and OSR have indeed been used incorrectly, and that we should shift our focus to trait-based methods when measuring sexual selection.

Fixation-Related Fmri And Syntactic Networks In The Brain, Brent Foster, Ben Carter, Steven Luke

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Humans comprehend language at varying levels of complexity. Syntax, in particular, deals with the arrangement of words and phrases into meaningful sentences. For instance, in English we expect most sentences to follow some variation of the order "Subject-Verb-Object: such as "The boy (Subject) ate (Verb) cake (Object)." On the surface, such grammatical rules seem simple. However, our understanding of how the brain implements these rules to understand sentences is incomplete.

Syntax appears to be associated with Broca's area in the frontal lobe and various regions of the left temporal lobe. However, recent research has provided controversial data suggesting that the …

Step Activity And 6-Minute Walk Test Outcomes When Wearing Low-Activity Or High-Activity Prosthetic Feet, Shane Wurdeman, Kendra K. Schmid, Sara A. Myers, Adam L. Jacobsen, Nicholas Stergiou

Journal Articles

Objective

To determine changes in average daily step count (ADSC) and 6-minute walk test (6MWT) due to use of low-activity feet (LA) and high-activity energy-storage-and-return (ESAR) feet, and examine the sensitivity of these measures to properly classify different prosthetic feet.

Design

Individuals with transtibial amputations (n = 28) participated in a 6-week, randomized crossover study. During separate 3-week periods, participants wore either a LA foot (eg, solid-ankle-cushioned-heel) or an ESAR foot. Differences in 6MWT and ADSC at the end of the 3-week period were recorded.

Results

Subjects performed similarly in the 6MWT with the LA and ESAR foot (P …

Late Quaternary Dragon Lizards (Agamidae: Squamata) From Western Australia, Julie Rej

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fossil Agamidae from Western Australia have been the subject of limited study. To aid in fossil agamid identification, Hocknull (2002) examined the maxilla and dentary of several extant species from Australia and determined diagnostic characters for various species groups. In the study here, fossil agamids from two localities in Western Australia, Hastings Cave and Horseshoe Cave, were examined, grouped, and identified to the lowest unambiguous taxonomic level. Morphometric analyses were conducted to compare morphotypes, and find additional diagnostic characters. From Hastings Cave there were two maxilla morphotypes and three dentary morphotypes. Based on identifications, taxa present at this locality were …

Denoising Tandem Mass Spectrometry Data, Felix Offei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protein identification using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has proven to be an effective way to identify proteins in a biological sample. An observed spectrum is constructed from the data produced by the tandem mass spectrometer. A protein can be identified if the observed spectrum aligns with the theoretical spectrum. However, data generated by the tandem mass spectrometer are affected by errors thus making protein identification challenging in the field of proteomics. Some of these errors include wrong calibration of the instrument, instrument distortion and noise. In this thesis, we present a pre-processing method, which focuses on the removal of noisy …

Inclusive Teaching Strategies: An Evaluation Of Course Structure And Summative Assessment In Introductory Biology, Oluwaseun O. Agboola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several active learning strategies have been used when increasing the structure of a course as increasing course structure has been known to improve student learning in introductory STEM courses. Much has been studied on the value of frequent formative assessment; however, few studies have evaluated the effective modes of delivering summative assessment. This study examines the use of summative assessment as an inclusive teaching practice to improve first generation college student success in introductory biology and also uses faculty surveys to find out how instructors structure their introductory biology course and why they are structured that way. Final exams were …

The Energetic Consequences Of Temperature Variation And Sequential Autotomization For The Stone Crab, Menippe Spp., Eric R. Hancock

Theses and Dissertations

The stone crab, Menippe spp., is harvested in a claw only fishery along the Gulf and southeastern Atlantic coasts of the United States. As climate change continues to warm these areas, crabs are forced to cope with higher water temperatures and lower dissolved O2 concentrations. These altered environmental conditions may influence crab energetics by altering both energy intake and expenditure. To inform fishery sustainability as well as prepare for a potential range expansion of the crab, this study investigates the energetic intake and expenditure of individual stone crabs. Crabs were found to respire 80 and 69% more following the loss …

Causes And Consequences Of Individual Phenotypic Differences In Brachyuran Crabs With A Focus On Behavior, Benjamin A. Belgrad

Theses and Dissertations

Individual variation defines almost every morphological, physiological, and behavioral aspect of populations and is a fundamental component of many ecosystem processes. Recent work indicates that accounting for these individual differences can enhance our ability to predict community responses to environmental disturbances which is becoming increasingly important in an era of extraordinary global change. However, our understanding of how different individual characteristics are connected to each other and governed by the environment remains limited.

This study sought to evaluate the relationship between individual behavior, physiological condition, and local habitat for Brachyuran crabs as well as the subsequent strength of their predator-prey …