Life Sciences Commons^™

Development Of Dna Markers Associated With Sunburn Resistance In Pomegranate (Punica Granatum L.) Using Bulk Segregant Analysis, Kezi̇ban Yazici, Mehtap Şahi̇n Çevi̇k

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Production and consumption of pomegranate have been increasing in the world in recent years due to its health benefits to humans. Sunburn is an important physiological disorder caused by high temperature, light, and radiation. With the changes in climatic conditions that have occurred in recent years, the effect of sunburn is increasing and limiting the production and quality of pomegranate. Therefore, development of pomegranate cultivars resistance to sunburn is one of the main objectives of pomegranate breeding program. However, the development of a new variety takes a very long time. In order to shorten this time, molecular markers have been …

The Role Of Glis3 In Zebrafish Endocrine Development And Regeneration, Tasha Swenney

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Maintenance of proper blood glucose homeostasis is governed by the endocrine cells of the pancreas. Dysregulation of blood glucose is characteristic of the disease, diabetes mellitus. Relatively little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie diabetes. The genes associated with more common forms of diabetes remain more enigmatic and likely have less direct roles in blood glucose homeostasis such as glucose sensing, insulin secretion, and β cell maintenance. GLIS3, a transcription factor involved in pancreatic development as well as the transcriptional regulation of insulin has been identified as a risk locus for type 1 and type 2 diabetes …

Fish Communities Respond To Hydrology And Elevation In Restored Western Kentucky Wetlands, Lucas Zuklic

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) is designed to restore wetland ecological function and wildlife benefits; however, these projects rarely monitor biological responses. The objectives of our study were to (1) identify environmental factors that were the most important in determining wetland fish community composition, (2) examine the influence of the environment on specific groups of fish (large-river fishes and Kentucky Species of Greatest Conservation Need (KY-SGCN) wetland fishes), and (3) compare fish community composition and diversity in wetlands of different condition (e.g., degraded, restored, and reference). From April 2019 to August 2020, monthly electrofishing surveys were performed in degraded …

Identification Of Beneficial And Detrimental Bacteria Impacting Sorghum Responses To Drought Using Multi-Scale And Multisystem Microbiome Comparisons, Mingsheng Qi, Jeffrey C. Berry, Kira W. Veley, Lily O'Connor, Omri M. Finkel, Isai Salas-González, Molly Kuhs, Julietta Jupe, Emily Holcomb, Tijana Glavina Del Rio, Cody Creech, Peng Liu, Susannah G. Tringe, Jeffery L. Dangl, Daniel P. Schachtman, Rebecca S. Bart

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Drought is a major abiotic stress limiting agricultural productivity. Previous field-level experiments have demonstrated that drought decreases microbiome diversity in the root and rhizosphere. How these changes ultimately affect plant health remains elusive. Toward this end, we combined reductionist, transitional and ecological approaches, applied to the staple cereal crop sorghum to identify key root-associated microbes that robustly affect drought-stressed plant phenotypes. Fifty-three Arabidopsis-associated bacteria were applied to sorghum seeds and their effect on root growth was monitored. Two Arthrobacter strains caused root growth inhibition (RGI) in Arabidopsis and sorghum. In the context of synthetic communities, Variovorax strains were able to …

Influence Of Social Cues On The Initiation Of Migratory Behavior In Red Crossbills (Loxia Curvirostra), John Bobo

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The timing of migration is crucial for the fitness of organisms because mistimed migration can cause exposure to difficult conditions. Photoperiod drives migratory timing in many species, but little work has focused on how social cues might fine-tune migratory timing. The goal of this study is to determine if birds use social cues from conspecifics to fine-tune the initiation of migratory behavior and physiology. Red crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) are gregarious, nomadic migrants that make seasonal movements to find patchily-distributed conifer seeds and are responsive to social cues in the context of food. I test the hypothesis that social …

Characterization Of Cofilin And Its Potential Role In The Epha4 Pathway, Brian Donald Condron

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

EphA4 is a receptor tyrosine kinase that is responsible for cellular adhesion and locomotion using repulsion signaling in early development of Xenopus laevis. EphA4 regulates cellular locomotion by controlling proteins within its signal transduction pathway, which may include the protein cofilin. Cofilin actively severs and removes actin monomers, thus altering the actin cytoskeleton, leading to the cessation of cellular crawl. During the gastrulation phase of embryonic development, individual cells are relocating to create the three primary germ layers of the organism. Failure of this process to occur results in attrition of the embryos, frequently by way of embryonic exogastrulation. …

Avian Eggshell Coloration Predicts Shell-Matrix Protoporphyrin Content, Charles F. Thompson, Kara E. Hodges, Nathan T. Mortimer, Alysia D. Vrailas-Mortimer, Scott K. Sakaluk, Mark E. Hauber

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Avian eggshell pigmentation may provide information about a female’s physiological condition, in particular her state of oxidative balance. Previously we found that female House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon Vieillot, 1809) with lighter, less-maculated, and redder ground-colored shells were older and produced heavier offspring than females laying more-maculated and browner eggs. The strong pro-oxidant protoporphyrin is responsible for this species’ eggshell pigmentation, so differences in pigmentary coloration may be related to eggshell protoporphyrin content and reflect female oxidative balance and condition during egg formation. Therefore, we tested the assumption that egg-surface coloration is related to the amount of protoporphyrin in the …

The Influence Of Hydrogen Peroxide On The Enrichment Of Fe(Iii) Reducing Bacteria From Acid Mine Drainage, Susami Seth

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It is hypothesized that the ocean of Europa, a Jupiter moon, hosts bacteria on its oceanic floor. Understanding how Fe(III) reducing bacteria (FeRB) from AMD utilize organic materials within its surrounding environment outlines how FeRB could thrive and tolerate extreme conditions. FeRB are known to tolerate metals and highly reactive oxidants species (ROS), but in this experiment, H₂O₂ was the experimental factor to further test FeRB tolerance. H₂O₂ is a common ROS and is damaging to living material such as proteins, DNA, and RNA. A range of H₂O₂ concentrations were fed …

Using Skeleton Correction To Improve Flash Lidar-Based Gait Recognition, Nasrin Sadeghzadehyazdi, Tamal Batabyal, Alexander Glandon, Nibir Dhar, Babajide Familoni, Khan Iftekharuddin, Scott T. Acton

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents GlidarPoly, an efficacious pipeline of 3D gait recognition for flash lidar data based on pose estimation and robust correction of erroneous and missing joint measurements. A flash lidar can provide new opportunities for gait recognition through a fast acquisition of depth and intensity data over an extended range of distance. However, the flash lidar data are plagued by artifacts, outliers, noise, and sometimes missing measurements, which negatively affects the performance of existing analytics solutions. We present a filtering mechanism that corrects noisy and missing skeleton joint measurements to improve gait recognition. Furthermore, robust statistics are integrated with …

Dccam-Mrnet: Mixed Residual Connection Network With Dilated Convolution And Coordinate Attention Mechanism For Tomato Disease Identification, Yujian Liu, Yaowen Hu, Weiwei Cai, Guoxiong Zhou, Jialei Zhan, Liujun Li

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tomato is an important and fragile crop. During the course of its development, it is frequently contaminated with bacteria or viruses. Tomato leaf diseases may be detected quickly and accurately, resulting in increased productivity and quality. Because of the intricate development environment of tomatoes and their inconspicuous disease spot features and small spot area, present machine vision approaches fail to reliably recognize tomato leaves. As a result, this research proposes a novel paradigm for detecting tomato leaf disease. The INLM (integration nonlocal means) filtering algorithm, for example, decreases the interference of surrounding noise on the features. Then, utilizing ResNeXt50 as …

Intuitive Eating Behaviors Among A Sample Of Food Secure And Food Insecure College Students, Morgan Stocker, Christin Seher Phd, Rdn, Ld

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Intuitive Eating (IE) is a food mindset focusing on honoring hunger and fullness, while rejecting the diet mentality. Research demonstrates a clear link between IE and health outcomes across many populations, including college students. Despite a growing body of literature, we still know very little about what complexities food insecurity may present for individuals trying to adopt IE behaviors. This study builds off prior research to investigate IE behaviors in food insecure and food secure students through a Qualtrics survey utilizing the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Six-Item Short Form to determine food …

Conservation Of Lapping Mechanism In Marsupials, Angela Brkic

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The oral behavior of drinking includes interactions between the tongue, jaw, and liquid being ingested to provide hydration to the animal. Different mechanisms may be used to ingest liquid such as lapping, licking, or sucking. The objective of the study was to compare the mechanism of lapping across marsupial species through comparison of the length of gape cycle, and the amplitude of jaw pitch and tongue protraction between the two marsupial species, Didelphis virginiana and Monodelphis domestica. I hypothesized that there would be no differences in any of the variables for the lapping mechanism between species. Previous work demonstrates …

Functionalization Of Chitosan Based Microparticles For In Vitro 3d Culture Of Human Liver Cells, William Imes

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Previous work involving 3D culture of human liver cells with fluorinated chitosan based microparticles has shown that their incorporation provides needed structural cues that the culture of cells alone does not provide, such as increased gas transport. However, using bare microparticles to grow large 3D cellular structures is not practical as they tend to collapse before any meaningful research can be done on them. It is proposed that this is because of the lack of extracellular matrix (ECM)components within pure cell culture in vitro, which in their absence cannot adequately facilitate biochemical communication and adhesion between cells. It is …

Effect Of An Acl Tear On Bone Density And Muscle Mass Contralaterally, Rebecca Beitko, Carly Anenson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research question that this experiment aims to answer is: "How does bone density and muscle mass of the upper and lower leg differ contralaterally in individuals who have had an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear?" This project will examine how an ACL injury affects the bone density and muscle mass of both the upper and lower leg by comparing these values in the injured vs. the uninjured leg. We will acquire bone density and muscle mass values using a DEXA scan (x-ray imaging). In comparing the contralateral values, we will be able to identify if individuals who have suffered …

Biodegradation Of Rubber Particles In Soil: Using Acclimated Bacteria Isolated From Kansas Soil To Degrade Cryogrinds In Slurry, Shane Graham

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This study investigated the viability of bioremediating rubber cryogrind using enriched indigenous bacteria. To begin the experiment, soils from three highway roadside locations in Kansas, KS 96 and West, KS 400 and 143^rd, and 199^th, were collected and transported to the lab to be studied. An initial soil characterization was run on the soil samples using distilled (DI) water mixture and 0.01 M CaCl₂ to assess conductivity. The soils were tested to gather a baseline of the relationship between pH and conductivity and the impact of its distance from the roadside. Bacteria were isolated from …

Will Covid-19 Be Eradicated?, Matthew Kieke

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this paper I want to define the meaning of “eradication”, explain the history of various diseases that have been eradicated, and compare and contrast them to covid-19, to answer the question of “Will covid-19 be eradicated”?

Effect Of Glaucoma On Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells In Mice, Abigail Mcmullen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Within the mammalian retina, there are melanopsin-containing ganglion cells. These intrinsically photoreceptive cells help control behavioral aspects of vision as well as to aid in circadian rhythms. In this project, it will be determined whether or not glaucoma has an effect on these cells, and what that effect is, from different points in the disease. Glaucoma is an eye disease that damages the retinal ganglion cells and eventually causes them to die, also it can be linked to irregular circadian rhythm. Many techniques will be used to prepare this project but computer imaging will be the primary method for determining …

A Trait‐Based Framework For Assessing The Vulnerability Of Marine Species To Human Impacts, Nathalie Butt, Benjamin S. Halpern, Casey S. O'Hara, A. Louise Allcock, Beth Polidoro, Samantha Sherman, Maria Byrne, Charles Birkeland, Ross G. Dwyer, Melanie Frazier, Bradley K. Woodworth, Claudia P. Arango, Michael J. Kingsford, Vinay Udyawer, Pat Hutchings, Elliot Scanes, Emily Jane Mcclaren, Sara M. Maxwell, Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, Emma Dugan, Blake Alexander Simmons, Amelia S. Wenger, Christi Linardich, Carissa J. Klein

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Marine species and ecosystems are widely affected by anthropogenic stressors, ranging from pollution and fishing to climate change. Comprehensive assessments of how species and ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic stressors are critical for guiding conservation and management investments. Previous global risk or vulnerability assessments have focused on marine habitats, or on limited taxa or specific regions. However, information about the susceptibility of marine species across a range of taxa to different stressors everywhere is required to predict how marine biodiversity will respond to human pressures. We present a novel framework that uses life-history traits to assess species’ vulnerability to a …

Determinants Of Population Genetic Structure In Chamaecrista Fasciculata (Michx.) Greene (Fabaceae) In The Southeastern United States, Mahboubeh Hosseinalizadeh Nobarinezhad, Lisa E. Wallace

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Chamaecrista fasciculata is a widely distributed, phenotypically variable species in the eastern U.S. Whereas studies have demonstrated genetic structure and local adaptation in northern areas of its distribution, there has been no comparison of genetic variability among populations at the southern extent where phenotypic variation is more complex. We characterized genetic variation at 14 microsatellite loci for populations in Mississippi and Alabama and compared this to variation in a phenotypic trait, leaf pubescence. Geographic distance, climatic variables, and elevation were evaluated as factors to explain the observed patterns of genetic diversity. A significant amount of variation (19%) resided among populations, …

Streamlining Sporozoite Isolation From Mosquitoes By Leveraging The Dynamics Of Migration To The Salivary Glands, Ashutosh K. Pathak, Justine C. Shiau, Blandine Franke-Fayard, Lisa M. Shollenberger, Donald A. Harn, Dennis E. Kyle, Courtney C. Murdock

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Sporozoites isolated from the salivary glands of Plasmodium-infected mosquitoes are a prerequisite for several basic and pre-clinical applications. Although salivary glands are pooled to maximize sporozoite recovery, insufficient yields pose logistical and analytical hurdles; thus, predicting yields prior to isolation would be valuable. Preceding oocyst densities in the midgut is an obvious candidate. However, it is unclear whether current understanding of its relationship with sporozoite densities can be used to maximize yields, or whether it can capture the potential density-dependence in rates of sporozoite invasion of the salivary glands.

Methods: This study presents a retrospective analysis of Anopheles …

Significance Of Autumn And Winter Food Consumption For Reproduction By Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bears, Ursus Maritimus, Blaine D. Griffen, John P. Whiteman, Sariah Pullan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in the southern Beaufort Sea experience long annual periods when preferred seal prey are scarce or are unavailable. Consumption of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) carcasses from native Alaskan subsistence hunting is increasingly common for onshore polar bears, yet the energetic consequences of this consumption remain unclear. We use data on bears captured repeatedly over periods that encompassed autumn and winter, combined with calculations, to show that adult female bears likely consume an average of at least 4 seal equivalents during both autumn and winter periods and that considerable variation in energy intake …

Effects Of Cannabinoid Supplementation On Weaning And Transportation Stress In Beef Calves, Savannah Kaitlyn Austin

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Transportation stress is a major factor increasing the risk of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in young calves. Bovine respiratory disease is currently the most economically important disease affecting the cattle industry, costing producers millions of dollars annually. Cannabidiol (CBD) has shown therapeutic benefits in other species, making it a potential tool to use as a supplement to reduce transportation and weaning stress in calves. However, little information is available on cannabinoid bioavailability and disposition of bioactive residue in livestock tissues. The objectives of these studies were to evaluate effective dosage rates of a cannabinoid gel on beef cattle and to …

Identification, Enumeration, And Diversity Determinations For Fungi Enriched On Phthalates As Sole Carbon Source From Riverine Sediments Using Molecular Methods, Anthony M. Vicidomini

All Capstone Projects

Phthalates are a common chemical compound used as plasticizers in various industries that have been linked to several detrimental effects on health. Due to their widespread use, they have become a common environmental pollutant of soil and water. The persistence and distribution of phthalate esters in the environment has given rise to many microorganisms that are able to incorporate phthalates into various metabolic pathways and degrade them into harmless substances, with fungi being among those that are capable of such degradation of industrial polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In this study, the diversity of fungal communities in response to the presence of …

Evaluation Of Air Consumption And Work Efficiency In Structural Firefighters, Emily Lynn Langford

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

INTRODUCTION: For safe and efficient fireground performance, firefighters (FF) must consume air supplied by the self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) efficiently while sustaining high work rates. Firefighter research and fire department physical ability assessments typically quantify performance solely on task completion time (i.e., work rate), failing to consider the critical element of air consumption efficiency, which subsequently impacts the SCBA’s functional work duration. PURPOSES: (Arm 1, Aim #1) To examine variability in air consumption (AC) between FF during standardized pace tasks; (Arm 1, Aim #2) To evaluate AC efficiency (ACE) against a recognized metabolic-work rate concept of economy; (Arm …

The Correlation Between Acl Injury & Concussion, Brandon Michael Phillips

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Concussion (also known as mild traumatic brain injury) is a neurological injury that occurs after a blow to the head or neck area and can have affects to movement based on the severity of the injury. Mild traumatic brain injury has possible linkage to an increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The purpose of this thesis was to assess the impact of prior concussion on lower extremity mechanics that are associated with risk of ACL injury. A total of 11 individuals with prior history of concussion and 11 healthy individuals without prior history of concussion (56.5 months since …

Return Of Floodplain Connectivity And Concurrent Macroinvertebrate Community Response Following Wetland Restoration In Western Kentucky, Christiane M. Soldo Ms.

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands improve the quality of our nation’s streams, rivers, and lakes, and they support a diverse assemblage of plant and animal species. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) is responsible for administering the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), a multi-billion-dollar effort to restore wetlands throughout the nation. Each year, WRP enrolls thousands of acres of private farmland into conservation easements with the goal of improving water quality and creating wildlife habitat. Hydrological modification structures, such as levee breaks, ditch plugs, or shallow water areas are constructed on easements to create wetlands by improving water retention and returning …

Finding Aid For The Katye L. Patridge Collection (Mum00137)

Archives & Special Collections: Finding Aids (alphabetical)

Papers of Katye L. Patridge document her career as a home demonstration agent in the agricultural extension service of Mississippi and Virginia (1924 to 1930) as well as her higher education at Tulane University School of Social Work and a career in social work in the 1930s and 1940s that included employment in Mississippi by the Works Progress Administration, the National Youth Administration, and the State Board of Public Welfare.

Recent Strategies For Using Monolithic Materials In Glycoprotein And Glycopeptide Analysis, Allan Alla, Keith Stine

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

There is continuous effort towards developing monolithic materials as solid supports for the separation, enrichment, and digestion of glycoproteins. The intention of this review is to discuss and summarize work reported in this area during the period 2015–2021 as a follow-up to our prior review. Reports from the past three decades have already proven the advantages of monolithic materials, such as the ease with which they can be prepared and functionalized, their high permeability and low resistance to mass transfer, and their stability over a wide range of pH. Recent works on glycoprotein analysis introduce different strategies in using monolithic …

One-Carbon Metabolism In Children With Marasmus And Kwashiorkor, Thaddaeus May, Bethany De La Haye, Gabrielle Nord, Kevin Klatt, Kevin Stephenson, Sara Adams, Lucy Bollinger, Neil Hanchard, Erland Arning, Teodoro Bottiglieri, Kenneth Maleta, Mark Manary, Farook Jahoor

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Kwashiorkor is a childhood syndrome of edematous malnutrition. Its precise nutritional precipitants remain uncertain despite nine decades of study. Remarkably, kwashiorkor's disturbances resemble the effects of experimental diets that are deficient in one-carbon nutrients. This similarity suggests that kwashiorkor may represent a nutritionally mediated syndrome of acute one-carbon metabolism dysfunction. Here we report findings from a cross-sectional exploration of serum one-carbon metabolites in Malawian children.

METHODS: Blood was collected from children aged 12-60 months before nutritional rehabilitation: kwashiorkor (N = 94), marasmic-kwashiorkor (N = 43) marasmus (N = 118), moderate acute malnutrition (N = 56) and controls (N = …

Fertility Control Options For Management Of Free-Roaming Horse Populations, Ursula S. Bechert, John W. Turner Jr., Dan L. Baker, Douglas C. Eckery, Jason E. Bruemmer, Candace C. Lyman, Tulio M. Prado, Sarah R. B. King, Mark A. Fraker

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The management of free-roaming horses (Equus ferus) and burros (E. asinus) in the United States has been referred to as a “wicked problem” because, although there are population control options, societal values will ultimately determine what is acceptable and what is not. In the United States, free-roaming equids are managed by different types of organizations and agencies, and the landscapes that these animals inhabit vary widely in terms of access, size, topography, climate, natural resources, flora, and fauna. This landscape diversity, coupled with contemporary socioeconomic and political environments, means that adaptive management practices are needed to …