Life Sciences Commons^™

Analysis Of Poroelastic Systems Describing Biological Tissues, Ellie Gurvich

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Modeling Mechanisms Of Microtubule Dynamics And Polarity In Neurons, Anna Nelson, Veronica Ciocanel, Scott Mckinley, Hannah Scanlon

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Facilitation In Pattern Motion Perception Of Self-Operated Stimuli Explained By Adaptive Contrast Normalization, Fulvio Missoni, Francesca Peveri, Andrea Canessa, Giulia Sedda, Vittorio Sanguineti, Silvio P. Sabatini

MODVIS Workshop

Movement can affect the way we make sense of complex visual information. To investigate this issue, we designed an experiment to assess changes of plaid motion perception threshold after a period of sensorimotor contingency experience. We found that movement training facilitates combination of elementary motion cues into a global motion percept. No changes in perceptual thresholds are observed in a passive visual condition. A Bayesian model suggested a reduction, after training, of the cross-talk between two gratings with unbalanced contrasts in corresponding sensory channels. To test plausible neural mechanisms for active reduction of cross-talk in cortical representation of complex visual …

A Genomics Driven Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Model Of Infant Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia - Early Results, Meagan Vacek, Jacqelyn Nemechek, Irina Pushel, Bradley Thornton, Molly Leyda, Priyanka Prem Kumar, Midhat Farooqi, Jay L. Vivian, Erin M. Guest, John M. Perry

Research Days

While the cure rates for pediatric ALL have improved over the decades, infants with ALL (iALL) have not benefitted from these advances and continue to have a devastating prognosis. Unfortunately progress in treatment has also been slowed by inadequate research models. With this project, we address this unmet need by investigating a novel model to understand the cellular and molecular changes that occur during iALL onset and progression.

Multiscale Modeling Of Microtubule Polarity Mechanisms Following Neuronal Axotomy, Hannah Scanlon

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Statistical Mobility Of Aggregated Microswimmers, Yonatan Ashenafi

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Mathematical Modeling Suggests Pathways Of Systemic Dissemination Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis In Mice, Vitaly V. Ganusov

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Modeling Human Temporal Eeg Responses To Vr Visual Stimuli, Richard R. Foster, Connor Delaney, Dean J. Krusienski, Cheng Ly

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

A Deeper Understanding Of Cell Movement: A Mathematical Perspective On Egg Chamber Architecture, Naghmeh Akhavan

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

The Neural Dynamics Of Autism Spectrum Disorder And Typically Developing Individuals: Insights From Eeg Modeling And Mathematical Analysis, Sungwoo Ahn, Evie A. Malaia, Leonid L. Rubchinsky

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Normalization With Dynamic Weights Predicts Neural And Behavioral Effects Of Orientation Adaptation, Huseyin Boyaci

MODVIS Workshop

Prolonged exposure to an oriented contour causes adaptation and has nontrivial effects on neural activity and perception. For example, the neuron's response amplitude may change (suppression or facilitation), the width of its tuning curve may change (broadening or sharpening), and its preferred orientation may shift (repulsion or attraction). Perceptually, adaptation affects the perceived orientation of a subsequently presented contour (direct and indirect tilt aftereffect) and alters orientation discrimination thresholds. In this study, I show that the normalization model with dynamic weights can predict these empirical results.

Local Geometry Of Elementary Visual Computations, Peter Neri

MODVIS Workshop

Visual operators (e.g. edge detectors) are classically modelled using small circuits involving canonical computations, such as template-matching and gain control. Circuit models explain many aspects of the empirical descriptors that are used to characterize local visual operators, from sensitivity to classification images. Notwithstanding their utility, these models fail to provide a unified framework encompassing the variety of effects observed experimentally, such as the impact of contrast, SNR, and attention on the above descriptors. My goal is to start with a simple, plausible geometrical representation of the perceptual operation carried out by the observer, and to show that this representation is …

Do Mechanisms Of Sinusoidal Contrast Sensitivity Account For Edge Sensitivity?, Lynn Schmittwilken, Felix A. Wichmann, Marianne Maertens

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Antibiogram Profiles Of Pathogenic And Commensal Bacteria In Goat And Sheep Feces On Smallholder Farm, Ashesh Basnet, Agnes Kilonzo-Nthenge

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Introduction: The increase of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic pathogens poses a substantial threat to both animal production and human health. Although large-scale animal farms are acknowledged as major reservoirs for AMR, there is a notable knowledge gap concerning AMR in small-scale farms. This study seeks to address this gap by collecting and analyzing 137 fecal samples from goat and sheep farms in Tennessee and Georgia.

Method: Bacteria were identified using culture-dependent methods and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was performed using the Kirby-Bauer Disk Diffusion method.

Results and discussion: The prevalence of E. coli (94.9%) …

Unraveling The Role Of Lipid Droplets And Perilipin 2 In Bovine Luteal Cells, Michele R. Plewes, Heather A. Talbott, Micah B. Schott, Jennifer R. Wood, Andrea S. Cupp, John S. Davis

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Steroidogenic tissues contain cytosolic lipid droplets that are important for steroidogenesis. Perilipin 2 (PLIN2), a structural coat protein located on the surface of lipid droplets in mammalian cells, plays a crucial role in regulating lipid droplet formation and contributing to various cellular processes such as lipid storage and energy homeostasis. Herein, we examine the role that PLIN2 plays in regulating progesterone synthesis in the bovine corpus luteum. Utilizing gene array databases and Western blotting, we have delineated the expression pattern of PLIN2 throughout the follicular to luteal transition. Our findings reveal the presence of PLIN2 in both ovarian follicular and …

Optics Design And Fabrication For A Lung Interferometry-Radiography System, Rachael Lyn Blair

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: High prevalence of lung diseases leads to many people worldwide needing spirometry and imaging testing. The typical imaging done uses chest radiography and/or low-dose CT. Lung tissue is difficult to visualize, making them substandard for monitoring lung disease progression. An improvement on these systems is x-ray interferometry which produces additional images that provide better visualization of changes in the lung tissue. The set-up of x-ray interferometry builds upon other imaging systems in that it includes diffraction gratings.

Materials: This thesis focused on implementing the fabrication processes to create diffraction gratings for a lung imager prototype that is currently under …

Parkinson's Disease - Association With Anxiety, Depression, And Sleep Disorders, Isabella J. Boroje

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder presenting with motor symptoms, such as tremors at rest, bradykinesia, rigidity, and gait instability, and non-motor symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD). The purpose of this study was to examine the associations of anxiety, depression, and EDS scores with being Prodromal (PPD) - at risk of developing the disease (PPD), having been diagnosed with PD, or being a Healthy Control (HC) using a multinomial logistic regression model. Additional analysis examined RBD scores and their difference across PPD, PD, and HC cohorts. The study …

Antiseizure Properties Of Fenamate Nsaids Determined In Mature Human Stem-Cell Derived Neuroglial Circuits., Hamed Salmanzadeh, Robert F. Halliwell

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

Repeated and uncontrolled seizures in epilepsy result in brain cell loss and neural inflammation. Current anticonvulsants primarily target ion channels and receptors implicated in seizure activity. Identification of neurotherapeutics that can inhibit epileptiform activity and reduce inflammation in the brain may offer significant benefits in the long-term management of epilepsy. Fenamates are unique because they are both non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and highly subunit selective modulators of GABA_A receptors. In the current study we have investigated the hypothesis that fenamates have antiseizure properties using mature human stem cell-derived neuro-glia cell cultures, maintained in long-term culture, and previously shown to …

The Long-Term Effects Of Blood Urea Nitrogen Levels On Cardiovascular Disease And All-Cause Mortality In Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The long-term effects of blood urea nitrogen(BUN) in patients with diabetes remain unknown. Current studies reporting the target BUN level in patients with diabetes are also limited. Hence, this prospective study aimed to explore the relationship of BUN with all-cause and cardiovascular mortalities in patients with diabetes.

METHODS: In total, 10,507 participants with diabetes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2018) were enrolled. The causes and numbers of deaths were determined based on the National Death Index mortality data from the date of NHANES interview until follow-up (December 31, 2019). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were …

Misstatements, Misperceptions, And Mistakes In Controlling For Covariates In Observational Research, Xiaoxin Yu, Roger S Zoh, David A Fluharty, Luis M Mestre, Danny Valdez, Carmen D Tekwe, Colby J Vorland, Yasaman Jamshidi-Naeini, Sy Han Chiou, Stella T Lartey, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

We discuss 12 misperceptions, misstatements, or mistakes concerning the use of covariates in observational or nonrandomized research. Additionally, we offer advice to help investigators, editors, reviewers, and readers make more informed decisions about conducting and interpreting research where the influence of covariates may be at issue. We primarily address misperceptions in the context of statistical management of the covariates through various forms of modeling, although we also emphasize design and model or variable selection. Other approaches to addressing the effects of covariates, including matching, have logical extensions from what we discuss here but are not dwelled upon heavily. The misperceptions, …

Increasing Bacterial Tolerance And Metabolism Of The Biofuel, N-Butanol Using Community-Level Evolution And Functional Genomics, Kayley T. You Mak

Biology ETDs

Bioremediation capability should be developed along with biofuel technology to mitigate the potential damage of future spills. Biobutanol is being developed since n-butanol is more energy dense and less volatile than ethanol. A bottleneck for industrial production of biobutanol is its toxicity; most microbes cannot survive ~1.5% v/v. Thus, microbial bioremediation of n-butanol would need microbes that can both tolerate and metabolize butanol. We used ecological and evolutionary biology approaches to find bacteria that could tolerate and metabolize butanol. Ecological community-level assays followed by 16S amplicon sequencing were completed to identify butanol-tolerant artificial bacterial communities. Secondly, we looked for bacteria …

Brg1/Brm Inhibitor Targets Amlstem Cells And Exerts Superior Preclinical Efficacy Combined With Bet Or Menin Inhibitor, Warren Fiskus, Jessica Piel, Mike Collins, Murphy Hentemann, Branko Cuglievan, Christopher P Mill, Christine E Birdwell, Kaberi Das, John A Davis, Hanxi Hou, Antrix Jain, Anna Malovannaya, Tapan M Kadia, Naval Daver, Koji Sasaki, Koichi Takahashi, Danielle Hammond, Patrick K Reville, Jian Wang, Sanam Loghavi, Rwik Sen, Xinjia Ruan, Xiaoping Su, Lauren B Flores, Courtney D Dinardo, Kapil N Bhalla

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BRG1 (SMARCA4) and BRM (SMARCA2) are the mutually exclusive core ATPases of the chromatin remodeling BAF (BRG1/BRM-associated factor) complexes. They enable transcription factors/cofactors to access enhancers/promoter and modulate gene expressions responsible for cell growth and differentiation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) stem/progenitor cells. In AML with MLL1 rearrangement (MLL1r) or mutant NPM1 (mtNPM1), although menin inhibitor (MI) treatment induces clinical remissions, most patients either fail to respond or relapse, some harboring menin mutations. FHD-286 is an orally bioavailable, selective inhibitor of BRG1/BRM under clinical development in AML. Present studies show that FHD-286 induces differentiation and lethality in AML cells with …

Enhancer Switching In Cell Lineage Priming Is Linked To Erna, Brg1’S At-Hook, And Swi/Snf Recruitment, Dhurjhoti Saha, Srinivas Animireddy, Junwoo Lee, Anna Thommen, Mckenzie M Murvin, J Mauro Calabrese

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RNA transcribed from enhancers, i.e., eRNA, has been suggested to directly activate transcription by recruiting transcription factors and co-activators. Although there have been specific examples of eRNA functioning in this way, it is not clear how general this may be. We find that the AT-hook of SWI/SNF preferentially binds RNA and, as part of the esBAF complex, associates with eRNA transcribed from intronic and intergenic regions. Our data suggest that SWI/SNF is globally recruited in cis by eRNA to cell-type-specific enhancers, representative of two distinct stages that mimic early mammalian development, and not at enhancers that are shared between the …

Unraveling Etc Complex I Function In Ferroptosis Reveals A Potential Ferroptosis-Inducing Therapeutic Strategy For Lkb1-Deficient Cancers, Chao Mao, Guang Lei, Amber Horbath, Min Wang, Zhengze Lu, Xiaoguang Liu, Xiong Chen, Jun Cheng, Qidong Li, Zhihao Xu, Li Zhuang, Bingliang Fang, Joseph R Marszalek, Masha V Poyurovsky, Kellen Olszewski, Boyi Gan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The role of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) in regulating ferroptosis is not fully elucidated. Here, we reveal that pharmacological inhibition of the ETC complex I reduces ubiquinol levels while decreasing ATP levels and activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), the two effects known for their roles in promoting and suppressing ferroptosis, respectively. Consequently, the impact of complex I inhibitors on ferroptosis induced by glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) inhibition is limited. The pharmacological inhibition of complex I in LKB1-AMPK-inactivated cells, or genetic ablation of complex I (which does not trigger apparent AMPK activation), abrogates the AMPK-mediated ferroptosis-suppressive effect and sensitizes …

Ael Transformed From Post-Et Myelofibrosis With A Sinusoidal Pattern, Jak2 Mutation, And Biallelic Tp53 Inactivation, Qing Wei, M James You

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Pre- And Post-Synaptic Effects Of Opioids On Inspiratory Rhythmogenesis, Jingzhi Zhao, Diego Morandi Zerpa

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Chemoattractant Distribution In The Drosophila Egg Chamber, Lara Scott

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Graphing The Curve: A Mathematical Expedition Into Social Distancing's Role In The South African Covid-19 Narrative, Chidozie Williams Chukwu

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

An Algorithm Of Aesthetics: The Mathematical Beauty Of Type-B Turing Pattern Development In Monkeyflowers, Clara A. Rinker, Emily S.G. Simmons, Joshua R. Puzey, Gregory D. Conradi Smith

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Unraveling Gut Microbiota And Mucus Dynamics In Response To Polyethylene Glycol (Peg), Shaikh Obaidullah

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.