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Dopamine-Dependent Transcriptional Dynamics In Striatal Physiology And Cocaine Reward, Morgan Elizabeth Zipperly Jan 2020

Dopamine-Dependent Transcriptional Dynamics In Striatal Physiology And Cocaine Reward, Morgan Elizabeth Zipperly

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Exposure to drugs of abuse alters transcriptional programs and neuronal activity, leading to long-lasting cellular and behavioral adaptations that may contribute to addiction. The nucleus accumbens (NAc), part of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway, plays a central role in motivation, reward, and reward-related learning, and this brain region is highly implicated in the development and maintenance of addiction. However, the specific contributions of defined cell populations in the NAc to drug reward processes is still poorly understood. Here, we used electrophysiological, optogenetic, and single-nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) approaches in a rodent model system to define the acute physiological and transcriptional responses of …


Bond Of Resin Cements Through Three Ceramics At Varying Thickness, Po-Hsu Chen Jan 2020

Bond Of Resin Cements Through Three Ceramics At Varying Thickness, Po-Hsu Chen

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The purpose of this study was to determine the bond strength of a light cured resin when cured through 3 different types of dental ceramics (traditional zirconia with 3 mol% yttria, translucent zirconia with 5 mol% yttria, and lithium disilicate) at 2 different thicknesses. A total of 135 specimens were prepared from traditional zirconia (IPS e.max ZirCAD LT, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein), translucent zirconia (IPS e.max ZirCAD MT, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein), and lithium disilicate (IPS e.max CAD LT, Ivoclar Vivadent, Liechtenstein) into a plate shape, but in different thicknesses (1mm and 1.5mm). Ceramic buttons were fabricated by pressed lithium disilicate (IPS …


Understanding And Targeting Glucose Transporter 3 In Glioblastoma, Catherine Jeanne Libby Jan 2020

Understanding And Targeting Glucose Transporter 3 In Glioblastoma, Catherine Jeanne Libby

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Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common adult primary malignant brain tumor with a median survival of about 15 months, even after aggressive treatment. Treatment of GBM is difficult for multiple reasons including the location of the tumor, tumor invasiveness, and the high degree of both inter-and intra-tumoral heterogeneity. Contributing to intratumoral heterogeneity are highly tumorigenic, stem-like tumor cells, with the capacity to self-renew and propagate the tumor, termed brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs). BTICs are also commonly therapy resistant, highly invasive, and metabolically plastic with elevated expression of glucose transporter 3 (GLUT3) allowing them to preferentially survive in low nutrient …


Health Systems And Societal Level Community Benefit, Meghan Blueberry Mccarthy Jan 2020

Health Systems And Societal Level Community Benefit, Meghan Blueberry Mccarthy

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In America, the amount spent on community benefit as tax exemption justification for not-for-profit health care is approaching 100 billion dollars annually. There are multiple categories for community benefit as defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The overwhelming majority of these funds are spent on individual financial assistance rather than societal level community health investments to address social determinates of health. Societal level community benefit is defined as the total spending on community health improvement, cash & in-kind donations to community groups and community building as reported on IRS form 990 Schedule H. These three combined itemized areas of …


Immunopathogenesis In Fungal Asthma, Matthew Stephen Godwin Jan 2020

Immunopathogenesis In Fungal Asthma, Matthew Stephen Godwin

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Asthma patients are increasingly presenting with asthma that is more difficult to control and treat than in years past. A subset of these patients who are sensitive to fungal species are described as having severe asthma with fungal sensitization (SAFS). Given the severity of disease, there is ever increasing interest in identifying the immune processes underlying SAFS disease pathology and the development of novel therapeutics to improve management. While sensitivity to multiple fungal species has been described in SAFS, none is more common than Aspergillus fumigatus. Here, we describe two previously unrecognized contributors to the amelioration of disease pathology in …


Copper Dependent Inhibitors Subvert Common Resistance Mechanisms In Staphylococcus Aureus And Inhibit Crucial Metabolic Pathways, Cameron Crawford Jan 2020

Copper Dependent Inhibitors Subvert Common Resistance Mechanisms In Staphylococcus Aureus And Inhibit Crucial Metabolic Pathways, Cameron Crawford

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The effective antibiotic pool is shrinking with antibiotic resistance a constant problem that threatens to make our current therapies obsolete. To combat this, new drug screening methodologies are required since the traditional drug screens are offering limited results or only improvements upon current treatments. This work expands upon the idea that transition metal toxicity can be preferentially targeted towards bacteria. Specifically, the focus is on copper dependent inhibitors that quickly work to eliminate Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus is a particularly threatening bacteria with high strain variability, a litany of survival and virulence factors, and multiple drug resistance mechanisms that are …


Exploring The Nursing Work Environment And Patient Outcomes Associated With Nurse-Reported Workplace Bullying: A Mixed Methods Study, Colleen Anusiewicz Jan 2020

Exploring The Nursing Work Environment And Patient Outcomes Associated With Nurse-Reported Workplace Bullying: A Mixed Methods Study, Colleen Anusiewicz

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Workplace bullying (WPB) in nursing is a workplace problem that can undermine the safety culture necessary to minimize adverse patient events and improve health care quality. Nurses continue to experience and report WPB despite a substantial and growing body of evidence reflecting the negative effects of WPB on nurses, published position statements and alerts, and the initiation of workplace violence policies and protocols. To decrease WPB and inform the development of effective anti-bullying interventions, there has been a shift in focus from individual factors and interpersonal relationships among nurses and health care workers to organizational factors that contribute to nurse-reported …


Clinical Evaluation Of The Temporomandibular Joint Function Using 4d Jaw Tracking Following Total Joint Replacement, Farhana Rahman Jan 2020

Clinical Evaluation Of The Temporomandibular Joint Function Using 4d Jaw Tracking Following Total Joint Replacement, Farhana Rahman

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The degenerative temporomandibular joint diseases such as osteoarthritis, rheumatic arthritis, TMJ ankylosis, condylar resorption is successfully treated by total joint replacement. The aim of this study was to examine the function of Temporomandibular joint after total joint replacement. 15 patients with unilateral or bilateral TMJ total joint replacements and 15 healthy controls were evaluated via SICAT JMT+ device. This non-invasive system measures 3D position and rotation in all degrees of freedom and allows undisturbed functional mandibular movements to provide a quantitative evaluation. In addition, a TMJ questionnaire consisting the subjective symptoms was also obtained. Mandibular movements after total joint replacements …


Advancing Single Cell And Crispr/Dcas9 Technologies For The Study Of Reward Learning And Addiction, Corey Grant Duke Jan 2020

Advancing Single Cell And Crispr/Dcas9 Technologies For The Study Of Reward Learning And Addiction, Corey Grant Duke

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Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing condition inflicting tremendous harm to individuals and society with ineffective treatment options available to most people. Drugs of abuse elevate dopamine levels in a brain region known as the nucleus accumbens (NAc), and activate gene programs considered essential for producing lasting synaptic and cell state changes which underlie the generation of addictive behavior. These gene expression changes remain poorly understood due to a complex heterogenous cellular architecture, and the rapidly fluctuating nature of the transcriptional processes themselves which make investigation difficult. Recent technical advances increase access to both profiling and manipulating these transcriptional changes …


Investigating The Roles Of The Renal Primary Cilium Through The Use Of Intravital Imaging, Dustin Zachary Revell Jan 2020

Investigating The Roles Of The Renal Primary Cilium Through The Use Of Intravital Imaging, Dustin Zachary Revell

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Primary cilia are small microtubule based appendages present on nearly every cell type in the mammalian body, and are highly conserved from organisms as simple as algae to humans. Cilia function as complex signaling centers integrating a variety of pathways and play critical roles throughout development and in maintaining homeostasis. Mutations to ciliary proteins in humans result in a wide array of diseases termed ciliopathies, which have a broad range of symptoms affecting nearly every organ in the body. Renal primary cilia are present on the apical side of tubular epithelium, where they project into the lumen and are thought …


Fixed And Variable Costs At Critical Access Hospitals, Jeremy J. Lyman Jan 2020

Fixed And Variable Costs At Critical Access Hospitals, Jeremy J. Lyman

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Cost structures (the ratio of fixed to variable costs) vary across and within indus-tries. Hospital managers and policymakers can make better decisions when they under-stand cost structures, including marginal costs (the change in the total cost that arises when the quantity produced is increased by one unit). Although some studies have inves-tigated hospital cost structures, the results have been mixed and less than definitive, and very little attention has been given to critical access hospitals and marginal costs specifi-cally. Rural hospitals, including critical access hospitals, have increasingly experienced financial distress. Between 2005 and 2019, 159 rural hospitals closed across the …


Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner Jan 2020

Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner

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Locus coeruleus (LC) degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and loss of noradrenergic (NA) innervation in hippocampus contributes to learning and memory deficits. Recently, a novel rat model (TgF344-AD) has been created that allows for a more thorough investigation into these mechanisms due to its similarity to human AD pathology. The McMahon lab has recently demonstrated heightened long-term potentiation (LTP) and a ‘supersensitivity’ of -adrenergic receptors (-ARs) at excitatory synapses in the dentate gyrus (DG) in TgF344-AD rats. These mechanisms could be responsible for maintaining learning and memory during buildup of AD pathology. The first goal of this Master’s thesis was …


Impact Of Different Human Coronaviruses (Hcovs) On Pediatric Patients At A Tertiary Pediatric Hospital – Retrospective Study, Abdulsalam Alsulami Jan 2020

Impact Of Different Human Coronaviruses (Hcovs) On Pediatric Patients At A Tertiary Pediatric Hospital – Retrospective Study, Abdulsalam Alsulami

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Background: Human Coronaviruses (HCoV) are important pathogens associated with respiratory disease in humans and animals. The majority of HCoVs are emerging human pathogens with 7 known types causing human disease and 5 being identified in the last 2 decades. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all encounters with known HCoV at a tertiary pediatric hospital from January 2015 until January 2018. Electronic medical records (EMRs) were reviewed for demographic data, HCoV type, viral copathogens, time to testing, admission, need for increased intensity of care (HLC), requirement for supplemental oxygen, radiographic findings suggestive lower respiratory tract disease (LRT) when available …


A Cephalometric Study Of The Effects Of Class Ii Malocclusion Correction Utilizing The Carriere® Motion 3d Appliance And Essix Retainer, Julie Dean Jan 2020

A Cephalometric Study Of The Effects Of Class Ii Malocclusion Correction Utilizing The Carriere® Motion 3d Appliance And Essix Retainer, Julie Dean

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Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the dental and skeletal effects of Class II malocclusion correction with a Carriere® Motion 3D appliance and lower Essix retainer for anchorage, as compared to best-matched controls. Methods: This is a retrospective case-control cephalometric study uses pre- and post-distalization lateral cephalometric images from 44 (32 female, 12 male, average age 13y 7m) class II patients treated with a Carriere® Motion 3D appliance and lower Essix retainer. These films were analyzed to determine treatment effects and compared with 35 (17 female, 18 male, average age 13y 3m) untreated controls from a historical …


The Mir-23a Cluster Controls An Epigenetic Axis In Osteoblast Development During Bone Formation, Benjamin J. Wildman Jan 2020

The Mir-23a Cluster Controls An Epigenetic Axis In Osteoblast Development During Bone Formation, Benjamin J. Wildman

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Differentiation of pre-osteoblasts is critical to controlling in-vivo development and growth of bone. Recent studies highlight the importance of epigenetic regulation in directing osteoblast commitment and function. Here we show that the microRNA-23a cluster (miR-23a, 27a, and 24-2) controls bone mass in-vivo through a previously unknown epigenetic mechanism. MiR-23a cluster knockdown increased the intensity of Alkaline Phosphatase staining in MC3T3-E1 cells. Additionally, it upregulated mRNA expression of osteogenic marker genes such as Runx2 and Osteocalcin. Micro-CT analysis of 2-month and 6-month femurs showed that trabecular bone volume and trabecular number significantly increased in miR-23aClZIP mice as compared to controls. Histological …


Network-Based Analytics For Discovering Gene Modules And Biomarkers In Complex Diseases, Zongliang Yue Jan 2020

Network-Based Analytics For Discovering Gene Modules And Biomarkers In Complex Diseases, Zongliang Yue

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With rapidly increasing novel discoveries of associations between genomic data and complex disease phenotypes, the translation of those associations into knowledge and the identification of critical molecular mechanisms are essential to guild clinical decisions such as the diagnosis of symptomatic individuals, the prediction of disease risk, reproductive genetic counseling, and determining pharmacogenetic profiles for treatment. To decipher the genome of complex diseases, gene-centric analyses focus on detecting molecular mechanisms lead by driver genetics variants, abnormally expressed genes and high-abundance proteins through gene module construction. Additionally, the gene module construction approaches implement systems biology analysis to reveal the causative co-expressed gene …


Development Of Natural Language Processing Algorithm For Dental Charting, Yi-Fan Zhang Jan 2020

Development Of Natural Language Processing Algorithm For Dental Charting, Yi-Fan Zhang

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Purpose: The purpose was to develop a natural language processing algorithm, which will input data from oral examination transcripts to a structured database. Methods: Four case vignettes were produced for primary, mixed, and permanent dentition patients with varying degree of soft tissue pathology, caries, existing restorations and occlusion relationships. After calibration, dental students were instructed to perform simulated oral examinations based on the case vignettes, using natural language as they would to an assistant who was charting the case. The investigator transcribed the audio recordings of the simulated oral exams. Twenty simulated oral examinations were collected to develop a natural …


Dietary Nitrate And The Oral Microbiome In Obesity, Health And Exercise, Christian E. Behrens Jan 2020

Dietary Nitrate And The Oral Microbiome In Obesity, Health And Exercise, Christian E. Behrens

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Obesity ranks among the top growing health concerns worldwide. The prevalence of obesity at all life stages continues to rise with nearly 40% of adults and 35% of children/adolescents being affected. Equally troublesome is the increased risk for a number of comorbidities associated with obesity including cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and certain types of cancer. The successful treatment of obesity, particularly long-term, continues to prove challenging and is often met with limited success. This highlights the importance of continued investigation into alternative strategies that may reduce the incidence and severity of obesity and associated pathophysiologies. Regular physical …


Dna Methylation: A Mechanism For Sustained Alteration Of Kir4.1 Expression Following Central Nervous System Insult, Jessica Boni Jan 2020

Dna Methylation: A Mechanism For Sustained Alteration Of Kir4.1 Expression Following Central Nervous System Insult, Jessica Boni

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Astrocytes are the most numerous cells in the brain and play a critical role in maintaining homeostatic extracellular potassium ([K+]e). Maintaining low [K+]e is essential for many cellular functions including maintenance of intensely negative resting membrane potentials in the central nervous system. This process is mediated, in part, by a glial-specific, inwardly rectifying potassium channel, Kir4.1. Underscoring the role of Kir4.1 in CNS functioning, genetic mutations in Kcnj10, the gene which encodes Kir4.1, causes seizures, ataxia and developmental disability in humans. Notably, loss of Kir4.1 protein and mRNA are consistently observed after CNS injury, and in a number of neurological …


Lim Transcriptional Complexes That Impact Endocrine Pancreas Development And Function, Maigen Bethea Jan 2020

Lim Transcriptional Complexes That Impact Endocrine Pancreas Development And Function, Maigen Bethea

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The Ldb1:Isl1 LIM transcriptional complex is critical for endocrine pancreas development as well as b-cell terminal differentiation. These complexes have been shown to interact with various proteins to elicit transcriptional regulation in other tissues, yet few interactors have been identified in b-cells. Therefore, the objective of this dissertation was to identify interactors of Ldb1 and Isl1 and assess their contributions to endocrine pancreas development and function. Using a reversible crosslink immunoprecipitation (ReCLIP) and mass spectrometry (MS) strategy to isolate endogenous Ldb1 and/or Isl1 interacting protiens, SSBP3, Rnf20, and Rnf40 (E3 ubiquitin ligases) coregulators were identified. SSBP3 was found to interact …


Transcriptional, Translational, And Enzymatic Metabolic Regulation By L-2 Hyroxyglutarate, Garrett Brinkley Jan 2020

Transcriptional, Translational, And Enzymatic Metabolic Regulation By L-2 Hyroxyglutarate, Garrett Brinkley

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Recent studies have identified elevated levels of a small metabolite, L-2 Hydroxyglutare (L-2HG), which curiously has no known metabolic roles. Renal tumors, hypoxia as well as larval development, specifically in Drosophila, all have been identified to have high levels of L-2HG. These broad categories suggest L-2HG has a physiological role. This work uncovers the impact of elevated levels of L-2HG in altering normal kidney and renal tumors. With structural similarity to α-Ketoglutarate (αKG), L-2HG acts as a competitive inhibitor to enzymes that utilize αKG as substrates or co-factors. L-2HG is known to be metabolized by L-2HG dehydrogenase (L2HGDH). Loss of …


From Pathology To Circuits: Loss Of Pink1 Function In Parkinson’S Disease, Rose Berthe Creed Jan 2020

From Pathology To Circuits: Loss Of Pink1 Function In Parkinson’S Disease, Rose Berthe Creed

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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most common neurogenerative motor disorder, affecting over 10 million people worldwide. Clinically, PD is diagnosed by presentation of hypokinetic movements such as bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor. Additionally, PD patients have non-motor symptoms that include anosmia, constipation, and hypophonia. Current therapeutics have been successful in treating many of the locomotor symptoms, however no therapies stop or slow disease progression and the effectiveness of current medications diminishes as the symptoms invariably become more severe over the course of many years. Histopathologically, PD diagnosis is confirmed postmortem by two pathological hallmarks: 1. loss of dopaminergic neurons in …


Impact Of Diet And Meal Timing On Time-Of-Day Dependent Hippocampal Function, Jennifer Davis Jan 2020

Impact Of Diet And Meal Timing On Time-Of-Day Dependent Hippocampal Function, Jennifer Davis

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Circadian rhythms are biological processes that cycle every ~24 hours and have allowed life to adapt for optimal function across the day. These rhythms are present in all tissues in the body and are coordinated to the light/dark cycle by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the hypothalamus. Along with active-rest cycles, cognitive performance fluctuates across the course of the day, peaking during the active phase. In addition to the light cycle, food and meal timing can provide signaling cues to extra-SCN tissues. Food access only during the inactive phase results in weight gain and memory impairment. High fat diet protocols …


Developing An Assessment Of Reading Impairment And Its Impact On Occupational Performance In Older Adults With Glaucoma In A Metropolitan Area Of The Southeastern Us: A Mixed Methods Approach, Robin Deacy Jan 2020

Developing An Assessment Of Reading Impairment And Its Impact On Occupational Performance In Older Adults With Glaucoma In A Metropolitan Area Of The Southeastern Us: A Mixed Methods Approach, Robin Deacy

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According to the United States Administration on Aging (AOA, 2014), the population of individuals over 65 will be 98 million by the year 2060, doubling its 2014 estimates. As our population ages, the prevalence of glaucoma increases. Vision loss resulting from glaucoma can limit participation in valued occupations including engagement in reading. It has long been thought that mobility issues and glare sensitivity were the main factors that characterized glaucoma. In the late 1990s and early 2000s researchers began to examine quality of life (QoL) in those with glaucoma. It was during these early QoL studies that the first reports …


Enhancer Rnas As Regulators Of Gene Expression And Neuronal Function, Nancy Verena Nicole Carullo Jan 2020

Enhancer Rnas As Regulators Of Gene Expression And Neuronal Function, Nancy Verena Nicole Carullo

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Genomic enhancers are cis-regulatory elements in the DNA that exhibit spatial and temporal control over intricate gene expression programs shaping fate and function of heterogeneous cell populations in the developing and adult brain. In addition to their role in cellular development and maintenance, enhancer activity drives transcriptional changes in response to stimulation. Active enhancers are subject to bidirectional transcription that yields non-coding enhancer RNAs (eR-NAs). However, the functional role of eRNAs in transcriptional regulation remains controversial. Therefore, we used primary neuronal cultures to investigate en-hancers and eRNAs in the rat genome. We identified and verified enhancer-gene pairs, characterized their response …


Obesity-Induced Immune Dysfunction: Implications For Anti- Tumor Immunity And Immunotherapeutic Efficacy, Justin Tyler Gibson Jan 2020

Obesity-Induced Immune Dysfunction: Implications For Anti- Tumor Immunity And Immunotherapeutic Efficacy, Justin Tyler Gibson

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In the US, nearly 40% of adults have obesity. Further, obesity is known toincrease the risk for development, recurrence, and mortality associated with multiple types of cancer. However, despite such high prevalence, the impact of excess body weight on anti-tumor immunity and response to immunotherapeutics remains poorly and incompletely understood. In order to address these deficiencies, we have utilized multiple approaches to study obesity-associated perturbations in the immunogenetic, soluble protein, and cellular profiles of mice bearing mammary tumors and treatment naive human subjects with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). In a pre-clinical murine model of breast cancer, we find …


Mechanisms Of Virtual Reality To Improve Walking And Reaching Behavior In Individuals With Chronic Low Back Pain, Rebecca Hennessy Jan 2020

Mechanisms Of Virtual Reality To Improve Walking And Reaching Behavior In Individuals With Chronic Low Back Pain, Rebecca Hennessy

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Chronic low back pain (cLBP), low back pain persisting longer than three to six months, is a prevalent condition that can greatly interfere with movement quality. Specifically, cLBP can result in slower walking speeds and negatively affect reaching movements. Virtual reality (VR) encompasses a variety of technologies which may potentially improve therapeutic interventions for individuals with cLBP by presenting users with fun, distracting, and engaging challenges that align with their rehabilitative goals. While VR systems have become more accessible to everyday users, there is limited research which specifically examines VR mechanisms to improve walking and reaching quality. This dissertation presents …


Il-17 Producing Cd4 T Cells In Spontaneous Germinal Center And Autoantibody Formation In Murine Lupus, Huixian Hong Jan 2020

Il-17 Producing Cd4 T Cells In Spontaneous Germinal Center And Autoantibody Formation In Murine Lupus, Huixian Hong

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IL-23 promotes autoimmune disease, including Th17 CD4 T-cell development and autoantibody (autoAb) production. Here, we show that a deficiency of the p19 component of IL-23 in the autoimmune BXD2 (BXD2-p19−/−) mouse leads to a shift of the follicular T-helper cell program from Tfh-IL-17 to Tfh-IFN-ɣ. Although the germinal center (GC) size and the number of GC B cells remained the same, BXD2-p19−/− mice exhibited a lower class-switch recombination (CSR) in the GC B cells, leading to lower serum levels of IgG2b. Single-cell transcriptomics analysis of GC B cells revealed that while Ifngr1, Il21r and Il4r genes exhibited a synchronized expression …


Elucidating The Role Of Hedgehog Signaling In Tumor Cell Response To Dna Damage And Microenvironmental Stress, Tshering Dolma Lama-Sherpa Jan 2020

Elucidating The Role Of Hedgehog Signaling In Tumor Cell Response To Dna Damage And Microenvironmental Stress, Tshering Dolma Lama-Sherpa

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Hypoxia within solid tumors presents as a barrier to the effectiveness of cancer treatment. Hypoxia has been implicated in cancer cell resistance to standard therapies used in the clinic to treat breast cancer. Additionally, the treatment resistance mechanisms in cancer cells are exacerbated by oncogenic pathways that enable adaptation to the hypoxia and facilitate therapy resistance. Cancer cells often co-opt signaling pathways essential for embryonic development as a defense against cellular attacks. Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is one of such embryonic development pathways that have been implicated in mitigating cancer growth, metastasis, and resistance to therapy. Hh signaling pathway promotes …


Gp44, A Minor Protein With A Major Role In Bacteriophage 80Α Infection, Keith Allen Manning Jan 2020

Gp44, A Minor Protein With A Major Role In Bacteriophage 80Α Infection, Keith Allen Manning

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Bacteriophage 80α is a temperate double-stranded DNA phage that infects Staphylococcus aureus and is capable of mobilizing a variety of mobile genetic elements named S. aureus Pathogenicity Islands. The capsid of the mature virion is composed of subunits of the capsid protein, portal protein, and a minor capsid protein gp44 as well as packaged phage genomic DNA. The loss of the gp44 protein completely eliminates the phage titer of 80α but does not eliminate the transduction of the pathogenicity islands. In this dissertation, I show that the minor capsid protein is primarily active in a post-ejection role. Without gp44 the …