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Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics

Genetic Impacts Of Deforestation On Mouse Lemurs, Darice Westphal Jun 2022

Genetic Impacts Of Deforestation On Mouse Lemurs, Darice Westphal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The impact of deforestation on the genetic structure of mouse lemurs is poorly understood. In this project, I assess deforestation of Madagascar’s terrestrial protected regions, quantify genomic wide genetic variation in two sympatric mouse lemurs, and evaluate the role of landscape structure in genetic relatedness patterns within two sympatric mouse lemur species. Overall deforestation rates across the 98 terrestrial protected areas in Madagascar are increasing, resulting in an average annual deforestation rate of 0.68% per year, with approximately 10,600 km2 lost between 2000 and 2019. In a comparison of relatedness patterns between the sympatric gray mouse lemur (Microcebus …


Assessing The Utility Of The Pmm And Mmc Indices Among Extant Hominoid Genera, Julie A. Strain May 2022

Assessing The Utility Of The Pmm And Mmc Indices Among Extant Hominoid Genera, Julie A. Strain

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis set out to incorporate extant hominoid genera into an analysis of PMM and MMC to assess utility in phylogeny and predicting known taxonomic groups. Based on previous claims, we expect PMM/pmm and MMC/mmc to perform better than M1/m1 shape and size, our baseline for success, but they do not.


Evaluating A Test For Shedding Propensity Using Tape Lifts From Different Skin Locations, Xiao M. Chen Dec 2021

Evaluating A Test For Shedding Propensity Using Tape Lifts From Different Skin Locations, Xiao M. Chen

Student Theses

The shedding propensity of a person can assist data interpretation in casework when assessing the possibility of passive transfer for DNA analysis. Past studies on shedding propensity evaluated palmar skin (washed and unwashed) deposits. This study compared different skin locations with respect to shedding propensity, and explored the potential of tape-lifts as a skin surface collection method. Eight different skin types and samples were collected with adhesive tape disks from 28 participants over three non-consecutive days; the washed and unwashed fingers from both hands, toe, and arm, neck below ear, and nape. Samples were extracted, quantified, amplified, genotyped, and evaluated …


Informed Consent: Foundations And Applications, Joanna Smolenski Sep 2021

Informed Consent: Foundations And Applications, Joanna Smolenski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since its advent in the 20th century, informed consent has become a cornerstone of ethical healthcare, and obtaining it a core obligation in medical contexts. In my dissertation, I aim to examine the theoretical underpinnings of informed consent and identify what values it is taken to protect. I will suggest that the fundamental motivation behind informed consent rests in something I’ll call bodily self-sovereignty, which I argue involves a coupling of two groups of values: autonomy and non-domination on the one hand, and self-ownership and personal integrity on the other. I will then go on to consider two 'case …


The Role Of Placental Genes On Intellectual Disability And Developmental Delay, Maedot A. Yidenk Jun 2021

The Role Of Placental Genes On Intellectual Disability And Developmental Delay, Maedot A. Yidenk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The complex interaction between gene expressions and environmental factors plays a key role in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including neurodevelopmental disorders (Lenroot & Giedd, 2008). This study aimed to evaluate first, the magnitude of association between placental gene Methyl-CpG Binding Protein 2 (MeCP2) and intellectual disability (ID) in the offspring and second, the synergy between placental gene Forkhead box protein 1(FOXP1) and developmental delay (DD) in the offspring. We focused on assessing two specific paradigms, i) placental gene expressions of MeCP2 among children that have ID vs. children without ID; and ii) placental gene expression of …


Determination Of Human Shedding Propensity Based On Str Results, Genevieve Trapani May 2021

Determination Of Human Shedding Propensity Based On Str Results, Genevieve Trapani

Student Theses

Trace DNA evidence may be discovered at a crime scene after having been deposited by a person of interest via active or passive transfer. Based on previous studies, passive transfer of one’s DNA is influenced by their shedding propensity, or probability of depositing a detectable amount of DNA through touch. Determining the shedding propensity of a person of interest can aid in trace DNA interpretation in forensic casework. This study explored STR profile quality and the presence of a DNA mixture for different skin surface locations, including fingertips before and after handwashing. As expected, unwashed fingers showed a higher prevalence …


Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere Sep 2020

Dietary Development And Nutritional Ontogeny In Gorilla Beringei : A Multi-Layered, -Omics Approach, Emma C. Cancelliere

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In species who consume folivorous diets, immature individuals must contend with the challenges of extracting nutrients from fibrous foods before dietary adaptations and strategies are fully developed. Additionally, immatures have distinct nutritional needs to support their stage-specific metabolic and biophysiological requirements. To meet these stage-specific needs, while constrained by underdeveloped feeding strategies and digestive capacities, immatures may adopt distinct diets better suited to their specific developmental context. However, where dietary modification is constrained by low dietary diversity or landscape homogeneity, it is unclear how immature individuals compensate through alternative strategies. In turn, little is known about the nutritional and life …


The Law Of Black Mirror - Syllabus, Yafit Lev-Aretz, Nizan Packin Aug 2020

The Law Of Black Mirror - Syllabus, Yafit Lev-Aretz, Nizan Packin

Open Educational Resources

Using episodes from the show Black Mirror as a study tool - a show that features tales that explore techno-paranoia - the course analyzes legal and policy considerations of futuristic or hypothetical case studies. The case studies tap into the collective unease about the modern world and bring up a variety of fascinating key philosophical, legal, and economic-based questions.


Discrimination Of Monozygotic Twins Using Dna Methylation Levels Of One Cpg Site At Chromosome 3, Dino O. Robinson May 2020

Discrimination Of Monozygotic Twins Using Dna Methylation Levels Of One Cpg Site At Chromosome 3, Dino O. Robinson

Student Theses

Conventional STR typing, commonly used in forensics for human identification, poses a problem in criminal cases and paternity disputes involving monozygotic (MZ) twins because they share identical DNA sequences. To date, no routine method is available in forensics to differentiate between individuals of MZ pairs. Recently, epigenetic methods measuring differential DNA methylation patterns have been applied to MZ twin differentiation. In this study, we investigated the potential to identify MZ twins using a previously identified DNA methylation site in chromosome 3, cg18562578, in a sample of 129 MZ and 37 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. We used bisulfite converted saliva DNA …


Racial Becoming: How Agentic (Self-Initiated) Encounter Events Inform Racial Identity Refinement, Devin A. Heyward May 2019

Racial Becoming: How Agentic (Self-Initiated) Encounter Events Inform Racial Identity Refinement, Devin A. Heyward

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Racial identity literature has typically focused on identity formation through a series of stages. It also has centered how the experience of negative encounter events informs racial identity formation. With the advent of new genealogical and genomic technology, it is imperative to expand the focus of identity literatures to include encounter events, which participants elect to experience (i.e. self-initiated or agentic encounter events). By using this frame, identity processes become fluid and informed by individual life experiences. In the context of this study, direct to consumer genetic ancestry tests (DTC-GAT) are operationalized as a self-initiated encounter event. Participants were …


Underlying Contribution Of Executive Functioning To Cognition And Academic Achievement In Individuals With Dystrophinopathy, Robert Fee Sep 2018

Underlying Contribution Of Executive Functioning To Cognition And Academic Achievement In Individuals With Dystrophinopathy, Robert Fee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dystrophinopathy is a genetic disorder that results in the lack of or abnormal expression of the protein dystrophin. It is a disorder that alters cell structure and function, impacts the developing brain and brain function, presents with multi-domain cognitive deficits, and influences both mood and behavior. Cognitive impairments appear to be more localized to specific areas of functioning rather than a global deficit; however, deficits have been identified across multiple cognitive domains including language and aspects of executive functioning. A careful examination of the cognitive phenotype and its association to mutations affecting CNS isoforms is necessary to clarify the neuropsychological …


Optimizing A Method For Simultaneous Recovery Of Proteins And Dna From Fingerprints, Steven Kranes Aug 2017

Optimizing A Method For Simultaneous Recovery Of Proteins And Dna From Fingerprints, Steven Kranes

Student Theses

DNA testing on touched objects is a valuable tool in forensic investigations, but DNA is usually present in low amounts, causing poor STR typing results. For touch DNA evidence, there is a clear need for additional individualization, especially for highly probative samples. This could be achieved by testing genetically variable proteins. The goal of this project was to develop a DNA/protein co-extraction method to facilitate DNA and protein testing on the same evidence item. Existing DNA extraction methods were carefully adjusted to allow for downstream mass spectrometry analysis. Initial experiments on saliva and fingerprints placed on glass suggested that trypsin …


Does Genotype Correlate With Phenotype? Evaluating Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Spp.) Color Vision Using Subject Mediated Automatic Remote Testing Apparatus (Smarta), Raymond Vagell May 2017

Does Genotype Correlate With Phenotype? Evaluating Ruffed Lemur (Varecia Spp.) Color Vision Using Subject Mediated Automatic Remote Testing Apparatus (Smarta), Raymond Vagell

Theses and Dissertations

Ruffed lemur (Varecia spp.) color vision research was conducted using a multidisciplinary approach: psychophysics, genetic analysis, technology, and animal training. The behavioral manifestation of Varecia spp. trichromacy was shown using a touchscreen apparatus (SMARTA). Trichromats performed better than dichromats when discriminating red from green (G2 = 78.10, p < 0.001).


Strokes Of Existence: The Connection Of All Things, Mari Gorman Jan 2007

Strokes Of Existence: The Connection Of All Things, Mari Gorman

Graduate Student Publications and Research

Acted or real—and all life is real whether one is acting or not—the common denominator and consistent, ubiquitous reality of life and all behavior is that it manifests in the form of relationships on all scales. But what is a relationship? Until now, the answer to this question has not been sufficiently known. As a result of many years of empirical research that began with the aim of discovering what is going on in a gifted actor when s/he is playing a character that can be observed and experienced as a living, intuitive being, and based on the knowledge that …