Life Sciences Commons^™

Treatment Of Yellow Fever Virus With The Ns4b Inhibitor Bdaa And Effects On Rna‐Sensing Innate Immune Pathways In Hamster And Mouse Models, Abbie E. Weight

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Yellow fever (YF) is an acute and often severe disease cause by yellow fever virus (YFV). Although there is an effective vaccine available to prevent YF, there are no antiviral drugs approved to treat the disease, which has a considerable disease burden in endemic areas of South America and Africa. BDAA is an experimental antiviral treatment which has shown efficacy against YFV both in cell culture and when administered before infection in an animal model of disease. BDAA targets the YFV protein NS4B and has two reported mechanisms of action: the primary mechanism of action is the direct inhibition of …

Characterization Of The Immunoglobulin Lambda Chain Across Diverse Human Populations., William Gibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The adaptive immune system relies on a diverse set of over one hundred immunoglobulin (IG) genes across three genomic loci that are variably combined to form antibodies (Ab). The IG Lambda locus is one of two loci which encodes the IG light chain. The complexity of the IGL locus severely limits the effective use of standard short-read sequencing, limiting our knowledge of population diversity in these loci. We leveraged single molecule real-time (SMRT) long-read sequencing in conjunction with IGL-targeted DNA capture to develop the method IG-Cap for accurate and high-throughput sequencing of the IGL locus. We benchmarked this method using …

Novel Insights Into Oligodendrocyte Biology From Developmental Myelination Studies In Autophagy Deficient Mice And Analysis Of Oligodendrocyte Translatome Response To Contusive Spinal Cord Injury., Michael David Forston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Loss of myelin causes severe neurological disorders and functional deficits in white matter injuries (WMI) such as traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). This dissertation is focused on autophagy in OL development and the OL translatome after SCI. Chapter I describes the history of myelin, OL development, and their involvement in neurodegenerative diseases and SCI. The proteostasis network, in particular autophagy, and its contributions to white matter pathology is discussed. It concludes examining advantages and disadvantages of unbiased omics tools, like RiboTag, to study transcriptional/translational landscapes after SCI. Chapter II focuses on autophagy in OPC/OL differentiation, survival, and proper myelination in …

Illuminating Underappreciated Mechanisms Of Receptor Regulation In Human Lymphocytes., Cassandra Woolley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A thorough understanding of receptor regulation is imperative to predict expression in varying contexts of disease or treatment. Lymphocyte surface receptors are often used as biomarkers and drug targets, making them particularly important for study. For receptors of debated functionality, such as the Fc receptor for IgM (FcMR), understanding regulation can also help to predict expression in vivo to supplement hypotheses of biological roles. Various mechanisms exist for altering receptor surface expression, including direct feedback mechanisms such as ligand-induced endocytosis and broader mechanisms such as transcriptional and translational control. In this dissertation, we explore selected underappreciated mechanisms of lymphocyte receptor …

Histamine Excretion In Common Indoor And Hematophagous Arthropods, Simona Principato, Alvaro Romero, Chow-Yang Lee, Kathleen Campbell, Dong-Hwan Choe, Coby Schal, Zachary C. Devries

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Histamine is a biogenic amine that regulates multiple physiological functions in diverse organisms, specifically playing a central role in the mammalian immune response. The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), excretes histamine in large amounts in its feces as a component of its aggregation pheromone, which contaminates homes. The potential health risks associated with the presence of indoor histamine are unclear, but to predict future exposure risks, it is critical that we understand if other arthropods excrete histamine in any discernible phylogenetic pattern. In the present study, we evaluated histamine excretion by various arthropods; specifically those commonly found …

Microstructural Characterization Of High-Protein Dairy Powders, Prafulla Salunke, Athira Syamala, Lloyd Metzger

Dairy Science and Food Science Faculty Publications: 2022 to Present

Dairy proteins are potential and multipurpose ingredients used to prepare various food products. It exhibits many beneficial functionalities and bioactivities in the processing of food products. All the functionalities of different dairy proteins depend on their peculiar structural characteristics. So, the present study aimed to characterize high-protein powders with different matrices (milk protein concentrate (MPC), rennet casein (RCN), micellar casein concentrate (MCC), whey protein isolate (WPI), and native whey concentrate (NWC)) for their composition, handling, and reconstitution properties, and microstructure and compared them with whole milk powder (WMP) and skim milk powder (SMP). The bulk density of the high-protein powders …

Voluntary Action And Conscious Intention, Jake Gavenas

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Traditional experimental methodology in neuroscience involves comparing responses to different stimuli to make inferences about the human brain. However, human volition entails making decisions and acting in a manner that is underdetermined by the external environment. Investigations of the neuronal basis of volition have led to new controversies regarding the existence of free will, and offer potential directions for medical treatments of disorders such as addiction, akinetic mutism, and locked-in syndrome. However, because volition experiments leave aspects of responses “up to” participants, neuroscientists must utilize computational techniques such as modeling, simulation, and advanced analyses to progress our understanding of human …

A Systems Genetics Approach To Drosophila Melanogaster Models Of Rare And Common Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Rebecca Macpherson

All Dissertations

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are a group of disorders resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure, presenting with neurodevelopmental and facial abnormalities of varying severity. SSRIDDs and CdLS are rare disorders of chromatin modification, resulting in patients with a wide range of craniofacial, digit and/or neurodevelopmental abnormalities. All of these disorders have a wide range of clinical phenotypes and disease severity, yet the role of potential genetic modifiers and gene-gene or gene-environment interactions in disease pathogenesis is largely unknown and cannot be studied in humans. Insufficient numbers of patients with a single rare disorder prevent investigation of genetic factors beyond the focal …

Perspectives On The Application Of Pharmacogenomics In Patient Care, Erika Meaddough

All Dissertations

Pharmacogenomics, the study of the genetic contribution to inter-individual differences in drug response, has great potential for realizing the goals of precision medicine: the right drug, for the right patient, at the right time. However, application in the clinical setting, through the use of pharmacogenetic testing, still has not gained widespread acceptance. This work describes multiple aspects of pharmacogenomics, which drive current research in this field.

Chapter I is an introduction to pharmacogenomics. Regulatory agencies and professional organizations across the globe provide information about gene-drug interactions that could lead to adverse drug reactions, and/or therapeutic failure. Risks for poor health …

Breeding Cotton For Determinate Growth Habit: Increasing Cotton Fiber Yield By Remobilization Of End-Of-Season Perennial Reserves, Salman Naveed

All Dissertations

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is a major export commodity for the U.S. Despite advances in plant breeding and management practices, the cotton yield gains in the U.S. have stagnated. Therefore, to increase cotton fiber yield, we undertook a novel approach by altering the growth habit of cotton from perennial to annual. In this effort, eight genotypes showing strong expression alleles for five floral induction and meristem identity genes were selected from 44 Upland cotton mini-core collection genotypes and genetically crossed in various combinations to stack the strong expression alleles in a genotype. These efforts have allowed us to develop high-yielding, …

Elucidating Mechanisms Of Rad51 Regulation During The Replication Stress Response, Alexandra Hawks

All Dissertations

The genome must be accurately and efficiently replicated each cell cycle to ensure there is not accumulation of mutations or structural rearrangements. When an active replication fork stalls, there are multiple DNA damage tolerance (DTT) pathways that can act to both protect integrity of DNA at the fork and restart replication. RAD51, a vital recombinase, works with HLTF, ZRANB3, and SMARCAL1 or FBH1 to regress stalled replication forks. RAD51 is loaded and stabilized onto the replication fork to protect the newly synthesized DNA from degradation. RAD51 is also active during the template switching DDT pathway. This pathway can be utilized …

Partitioning The Role Of Myocardial Steatosis On Left Ventricular Function, Andrew Oneglia

Kinesiology Dissertations - Archive

Preclinical studies have long suggested that excess lipid accumulation within cardiomyocytes (myocardial steatosis) leads to adverse cardiac remodeling and ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Whether myocardial steatosis negatively affects the human heart is less clear. Innovations in 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), introduced nearly 20 years ago, provide a method for in vivo quantification of myocardial triglyceride content that has been used to describe myocardial steatosis in obesity, type-2 diabetes, and across multiple disease states. However, most of this literature consists of cross-sectional observations. While these studies identify associations between myocardial steatosis and adverse remodeling and/or cardiac function, the presence …

Biodiversity In The Anthropocene, Understanding The Impacts Of Land-Use Change, And Species Interactions., Alexander H. Murray

Biology Dissertations - Archive

The extent of human influences on the environment and biodiversity has led to naming our current time period the Anthropocene. A primary way in which humans impact biodiversity is through habitat modification. Despite the knowledge that habitat modification is negative for many species, we still don’t understand why some species are able to persist despite habitat modification while others do not. In my first chapter I used a trait-based approach to understand what determines species’ sensitivity to habitat modification. Trait-based approaches from different regions often disagree on the importance of the same traits, and I thought climate and land use …

Determining How Anthropogenic Change Filters Biological Communities And How Species Modify Their Traits In Response To Urbanization, Kristopher Warren Row

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Humans are significantly altering the environment at an alarming pace, leading to a reduction in species diversity. This transformation has created modified habitats where some species struggle to survive, while a few others not only manage to survive but thrive. One of the most drastic forms of habitat modification is urbanization, which is spreading worldwide and contributing to the decline of biodiversity. Urbanization has given rise to urban-tolerant species that differ ecologically from species that avoid urban areas across various niche dimensions. These urban-tolerant species must adapt to changes in food sources, microhabitat conditions, and alterations in physical habitat structures. …

Song Structure Of Male Northern House Wrens And Patterns Of Song Production And Delivery Across The Nesting Cycle, Rachael A. Disciullo, Scott K. Sakaluk, Charles Thompson

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Studies of the role of bird song in avian communication have revealed numerous functions across many species, including its critical importance in female mate choice (intersexual selection) and male-male competition (intrasexual selection). A first step in understanding the role of song in different contexts is to describe the note, syllable, and song-types that occur, as well as their patterns of production within a population. Here, we do so for a north-central Illinois, USA, population of Northern House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon). As has been described in other populations, most songs (≈ 1–3 s in duration) contain an introductory section of soft, …

Merging Clinical And Genomic Data In Patients With Acute Leukemia For Downstream Analysis, Amanda Bataycan

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to integrate multiple sources of information from patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to construct organized datasets that would enable downstream bioinformatics and statistical analyses of the patientsâ?? survival status and overall survival times in relation to their demographic, clinical, and genomic mutation profiles. With NIH Genomic Data Commons as the primary data resource and cBioPortal as the access portal, datasets on 149 and 603 unique patients with AML and ALL, respectively, were obtained. Python scripts were written to compile individual patientsâ?? single nucleotide variant (SNV) data files into …

The Effects Of Participation In Collegiate Football On The Time Management Behavior And Academic Performance Of College Students, Desiree' A. Johnson

McNair Scholars Research

The unique demands of balancing rigorous athletic commitments and academic responsibilities present a challenge for college football players. There were three purposes of this study. The first purpose of this study sought to determine if there is a relationship between time management behavior and academic performance among college students. The second purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in collegiate football affected the time management behavior of college students, and the third purpose of this study was to determine if participation in collegiate football affected the academic performance among college students. Participants in the study were a convenience …

Evidence Of Competitive Release Following Overstory Mortality In A Semi-Arid Piñon-Juniper Woodland, Corrie D. Gonzalez

Biology ETDs

Extreme temperatures and severe drought events have led to widespread tree mortality worldwide. In semi-arid regions of the Southwest United States, these events pose a significant threat to piñon-juniper (PJ) woodlands. We studied the effects of piñon and juniper mortality on the growth and physiology of existing saplings in PJ woodlands by analyzing water status, photosynthetic activity, and tissue chemistry to gain insights into these impacts. Juniper saplings exhibited improved water status and water use efficiency in response to overstory mortality, whereas piñon saplings did not. Additionally, both piñon and juniper saplings exhibited increased photosynthetic rates, increased photosynthetic capacity, and …

Mountain Lion Resource Selection In The California Central Coast: Modeling Habitat Suitability For A Large Carnivore In A Rapidly Changing Environment, Megan Elizabeth O'Connor

Master's Theses

Land use conversion toward agriculture such as orchards and vineyards can have severe negative impacts on habitat and wildlife, particularly large carnivores, globally through habitat fragmentation and loss. The mountain lion (Puma concolor) population in the California Central Coast is thought to provide “stepping-stone” connectivity between several severely genetically compromised coastal populations throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and several mountain ranges in Southern California; however, the California Central Coast is one of the fastest-developing regions of California with little protection against future land use conversion. Conserving areas of and corridors between high-quality mountain lion habitat through conservation easements …

Fatty Acids And Parasitism: Towards A Better Understanding Of Lipid Metabolism In Trypanosoma Brucei, Joshua Saliutama

All Dissertations

Trypanosoma brucei is an extracellular eukaryotic parasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans and cattle. As an extracellular parasite, T. brucei relies on the host’s nutrients to satisfy its growth requirements. The parasite is unusual because it does not uptake most of the host’s lipid species. Instead, T. brucei prefers to perform de novo synthesis of most lipid species. One of the lipid species that T. brucei can both uptake and synthesize is fatty acids. In my thesis work, I investigated the dynamics of fatty acid uptake, metabolism, and utilization of T. brucei. My work starts by determining the …

The Functional Implications Of Anuran Metamorphosis For Survival, Locomotor Performance, And Limb Bone Mechanical Properties, Chase Kinsey

All Dissertations

Many organisms must contend with navigating their environments from birth. An organism could be classified as – and is often studied – in the context of locomotion through a single habitat type. However, many organisms must contend with a wide variety of environmental obstacles and substrates. What’s more, a large group of animals, Lissamphibia, do so while undergoing drastic transformation of their morphology and locomotor appendages. This transformation, term metamorphosis, typically coincides with a movement from water as a tadpole, to land as a frog or salamander. Many studies have associated this transitionary period with decreased locomotor performance and worse …

Evaluation Of Bone And Muscle Quality In Laying Hens Using Quantitative, Radiographic, Computed Tomographic, Biomechanical, And Tissue Level Measures, Cerano Harrison

All Dissertations

Bone quality is an important measure of welfare in laying hens for researchers, veterinarians, and commercial producers who bear the responsibility of providing them with care. Breeding practices that have resulted in high egg productivity of laying hen strains have resulted in an increased susceptibility to developing osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, a decrease in mineralized bone, is accompanied by increased bone fragility that can lead to potentially painful bone fractures that can inhibit some aspects of the birds natural living, respiration and flight being two examples. Current methods of examining laying hen bone quality involve the implementation of diagnostic imaging and biomechanical …

Biology And Herbicide Resistance Characteristics Of Various Annual Bluegrass (Poa Annua L.) Biotypes From Across The United States, Jacob William Taylor

All Dissertations

Annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) is one of the most problematic winter annual weeds in managed turfgrass systems, having rapidly adapted to different climates and management practices. Characteristics such as prolific seedhead production, clumped bunch-type growth habit, and lack of stress tolerance negatively impact turfgrass quality. Achieving adequate control can be difficult because annual bluegrass exhibits high levels of genetic diversity, the ability to germinate year-round, and has a high tendency for evolving herbicide resistance, currently resistant to at least nine different herbicide sites of action. Current management programs rely heavily on herbicides for control; however, frequent use without implementing …

Effect Of Authentic Kefir And Nigella Sativa On Broilers Challenged By Coccidia And Clostridium Perfringens, Julian E. Nixon

All Dissertations

Black seed oil concentrations of 0%, 0.1%, 1% and 5% were added to milk inoculated with kefir grains and incubated at 25°C for 22 h. The pH and microbial count indicated 1% black seed oil caused low inhibition (P > 0.05) of fermentation, but 5% black seed oil caused significant inhibition of the kefir microorganisms (P < 0.05).

Cobb 500 male chicks (n = 256) were distributed in a randomized block design and received one of four treatments: CTRL1 (Non-medicated, no kefir, no Clostridium perfringens), CTRL2 (Non-medicated, no kefir, C. perfringens inoculated), CTRL3 (BMD medicated, no kefir, C. perfringens inoculated), KTRT (Non-medicated, …

Computational Analysis Of Antibody Binding Mechanisms To The Omicron Rbd Of Sars-Cov-2 Spike Protein: Identification Of Epitopes And Hotspots For Developing Effective Therapeutic Strategies, Mohammed Alshahrani

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

The advent of the Omicron strain of SARS-CoV-2 has elicited apprehension regarding its potential influence on the effectiveness of current vaccines and antibody treatments. The present investigation involved the implementation of mutational scanning analyses to examine the impact of Omicron mutations on the binding affinity of four categories of antibodies that target the Omicron receptor binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein. The study demonstrates that the Omicron variant harbors 23 unique mutations across the RBD regions I, II, III, and IV. Of these mutations, seven are shared between RBD regions I and II, while three are shared among RBD …

Research Note: Isolation, Speciation, And Anticoccidial Sensitivity Of Eimeria Spp. Recovered From Wild Turkey Feces In The United States, Carolina Trujillo-Peralta, Aaron Ashcraft, Roberto Señas-Cuesta, Makenly Coles, Xochitl Hernandez-Velasco, Callie Selby, Aaron Forga, Guillermo Tellez-Isaias, Christine Vuong, Lisa Bielke, John R. Barta, Billy Hargis, Danielle Graham

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Between 2018 and 2020, over 100 wild turkey fecal samples were collected from the Eastern and Central thirds of the United States, where commercial turkey production is uncommon. We hypothesized that anticoccidial-sensitive Eimeria spp. would be present in wild turkey fecal samples. Samples containing Eimeria spp. oocysts were amplified in vivo. If propagation was successful, the samples were PCR-speciated and subjected to anticoccidial sensitivity testing (AST) for key members of both ionophore and chemical categories of anticoccidial drugs. The purpose of this study was to isolate Eimeria spp. relevant to commercial turkey production that possessed sensitivity to monensin, …

Assessing The Effects Of A Mixed Eimeria Spp. Challenge On Performance, Intestinal Integrity, And The Gut Microbiome Of Broiler Chickens, Danielle Graham, Victor Petrone-Garcia, Xochitl Hernandez-Velasco, Makenly E. Coles, Marco A. Juarez-Estrada, Juan D. Latorre, Jianmin Chai, Stephanie Shouse, Jiangchao Zhao, Aaron Forga, Roberto Señas-Cuesta, Lauren Laverty, Kristen Martin, Carolina Trujillo-Peralta, Ileana Loeza, Latasha Gray, Billy M. Hargis, Guillermo Tellez-Isaias

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A mixed Eimeria spp. challenge model was designed to assess the effects of challenge on broiler chicken performance, intestinal integrity, and the gut microbiome for future use to evaluate alternative strategies for controlling coccidiosis in broiler chickens. The experimental design involved broiler chickens divided into two groups: a control group (uninfected) and a positive control group, infected with Eimeria acervulina (EA), Eimeria maxima (EM), and Eimeria tenella (ET). At day-of-hatch, 240 off-sex male broiler chicks were randomized and allocated to one of two treatment groups. The treatment groups included: (1) Non-challenged (NC, n = 5 replicate pens); and (2) challenged …

Mosaic Chromosomal Alterations Are Associated With Increased Lung Cancer Risk: Insight From The Integral-Ilcco Cohort Analysis, Chao Cheng, Wei Hong, Yafang Li, Xiangjun Xiao, James Mckay, Younghun Han, Jinyoung Byun, Bo Peng, Demetrios Albanes, Stephen Lam, Adonina Tardon, Chu Chen, Stig E Bojesen, Maria T Landi, Mattias Johansson, Angela Risch, Heike Bickeböller, H-Erich Wichmann, David C Christiani, Gad Rennert, Susanne Arnold, Gary Goodman, John K Field, Michael P A Davies, Sanjay S Shete, Loic Le Marchand, Geoffrey Liu, Rayjean J Hung, Angeline S Andrew, Lambertus A Kiemeney, Meng Zhu, Hongbing Shen, Shan Zienolddiny, Kjell Grankvist, Mikael Johansson, Angela Cox, Yun-Chul Hong, Jian-Min Yuan, Philip Lazarus, Matthew B Schabath, Melinda C Aldrich, Paul Brennan, Yong Li, Olga Gorlova, Ivan Gorlov, Christopher I Amos, Integral-Ilcco Lung Cancer Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Mosaic chromosomal alterations (mCAs) detected in white blood cells represent a type of clonal hematopoiesis (CH) that is understudied compared with CH-related somatic mutations. A few recent studies indicated their potential link with nonhematological cancers, especially lung cancer.

METHODS: In this study, we investigated the association between mCAs and lung cancer using the high-density genotyping data from the OncoArray study of INTEGRAL-ILCCO, the largest single genetic study of lung cancer with 18,221 lung cancer cases and 14,825 cancer-free controls.

RESULTS: We identified a comprehensive list of autosomal mCAs, ChrX mCAs, and mosaic ChrY (mChrY) losses from these samples. Autosomal …

Trophic Assessment Of The Invasive Hydrozoan Gonionemus Vertens Using Stable Isotope Analysis : You Are What You Eat, Diana Sisk-Gritz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Gonionemus vertens, commonly known as the clinging jellyfish, is a small hydrozoan known for their conflicts with humans due to their neurotoxins that can lead to paralysis. Native to the Pacific Ocean, it has now invaded numerous ecosystems in the coastal waters of the Mediterranean Sea, Europe, and the United States. In the United States, it has flourishing populations from New Jersey to Maine. However, many questions remain as to how it arrived and spread, but equally important is what impact this species may have in the invaded communities they now reside. Research suggests that G. vertens actively feeds on …

Assessing The General Public's View Of Direct-To-Consumer (Dtc) Genetic Testing And Their Interpretation Of Dtc Website Disclaimer Messages., Madison Ruehl, Shelly Hovick, Alisdair Philp, Kevin Sweet

Medical Education Articles

The general public continues to show increased interest and uptake of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic testing. We conducted an online survey (N = 405) to assess genetics knowledge, interest, and outcome expectancy of DTC genetic testing before and after exposure to a sample DTC disclaimer message. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the relationship between previous genetic knowledge, attitudes and self-reported systematic processing of a sample DTC disclaimer message, outcome expectancies, and interest to pursue DTC genetic testing. Increased genetic knowledge and more positive attitudes towards DTC genetic testing were associated with increased self-reported systematic processing of the DTC disclaimer message. …