Life Sciences Commons^™

Examining The Use Of Expressive Arts Therapies In Neurorehabilitation Treatment Planning, Rebecca J. Horner

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Those undergoing neurorehabilitation after stroke and traumatic brain injury report a diminished sense of overall wellness. This paper examines the conceivable benefits of introducing expressive arts therapies, which is the therapeutic use and combination of the visual arts, movement, drama, music, writing and other intermodal creative processes, into physical therapy and neurorehabilitation treatment planning. Expressive arts therapies have the capacity to engage with an individual’s physical, emotional, social and spiritual states concurrently. They simultaneously offer the ability to promote an increased sense of well-being, address mind-body disconnects, and process trauma non-verbally.

The sections of this narrative literature review focus ...

Mitochondrial Roles In Developmentally Programmed Heart Disease, Eli John Louwagie

Dissertations and Theses

Offspring of diabetic and obese mothers (ODOM) have greater risks of heart disease at birth and later in life. However, prevention is hindered because underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Mounting studies in the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease field suggest that mitochondria play key roles in developmentally programmed heart disease similar to the roles they play in cardiomyopathy in adults with diabetes and obesity. However, whether mitochondria are responsible for the short[1]and long-term cardiac disease seen in ODOM remains unknown. Here, we sought to delineate the roles of mitochondria in the hearts of ODOM, determine whether mitochondria ...

Patterns And Sources Of Variation In Heterospecific Pollen Deposition In Flowers Of The Native Blue Cardinal Flower (Lobelia Siphilitica), Allie Drinnon

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Plants species interactions via pollinators are a model system to understand the mechanisms that generate plant diversity in nature. However, most studies have focused on plant-plant interactions via pollinator attraction while ignoring the role of plant-plant interactions via pollen transfer. Heterospecific pollen transfer (henceforth HP) can be common and have negative fitness effects. Negative HP fitness effects may prompt the evolution of adaptive strategies to minimize them. However, the extent of spatial variation in HP load size within and among populations, a tenet for natural selection, remains unexplored. Such knowledge would hence constitute a first step in advancing our understanding ...

Pharmacokinetics Of Single Feeding Of Cannabidiol In Cattle: A Pilot Study, Haley Cornette

Honors College Theses

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a substance that has been used in complementary medicine for many years. However, modern medicine has little knowledge of how this substance is utilized and metabolized in ruminant animals. Regulations on quality assurance and use in animals are lacking, and CBD supplementation in livestock is not approved. If CBD supplements can be shown to be safe and effective, detection in the animal will be important for determining regulation of use. A withdrawal period can then be established to allow time for deterioration of product to safe levels before livestock products enter human markets. This study sought to ...

Lignin Nanoparticles Comparative Study For Their Emulsifying, Antibacterial And Antioxidant Properties, Matta Asaad Mesak Ebaid

Theses and Dissertations

Converting lignin, the second most natural abundant polymer on earth, into lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) form has potential applications. LNPs’ emulsifying, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of three different lignins, softwood kraft lignoboost (LB), hardwood birch (BB) and alkali protobind 1000 (PB) were evaluated in a comparative study at different pH and concentrations. Lower ionic strength of 5 millimole (mM) citric acid (CA) and pH of 7 were found to be the most optimum conditions for emulsion formation. Comparison among the two homogenization techniques revealed that microfluidizer is favored in case of BB- and PB-LNPs based emulsions, while ultrasonication is optimum in ...

Detection Of Toxins And Harmful Algal Bloom Cells In Shellfish Hatcheries And Efforts Toward Removal, Marta P. Sanderson, Karen Hudson, Lauren Gregg, Amanda Chesler-Poole, Ja M. Small, Kimberly S. Reece, Ryan Carnegie, Juliette L. Smith

VIMS Articles

As the start of the supply chain for the aquaculture industry, hatcheries are a crucial component in the success of oyster and northern quahog (hard clam) aquaculture on the East Coast of the US. Intermittent failures in hatchery production slow industry growth and reduce profits. To begin investigations into the possible role of algal toxins in hatchery production failure, post-treatment hatchery water from one research and four commercial hatcheries in lower Chesapeake Bay, USA, was sampled for (1) toxin presence and (2) harmful algal bloom (HAB) cell enumeration. Overall, seven toxin classes, likely produced by six different HAB species, were ...

Targeting The Cerebrovasculature In Sepsis: A Focus On The Brain Microvascular Endothelium, Divine C. Nwafor

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a critical interface between the systemic circulation and the brain. It is a specialized multicellular unit composed of brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), pericytes, a basement membrane, and astrocytic end foot processes. BMECs are a principal component of the BBB that provide the structural framework needed for the stringent transport of molecules into the brain. BMEC dysfunction permits the trafficking of neurotoxins from systemic circulation into the brain, which ultimately exacerbates BBB dysfunction and neuroinflammation. Studies have shown that BBB dysfunction is a key determinant of cognitive decline in sepsis. However, there are critical knowledge ...

The Effect Of Alkalinity On Lampricide Effectiveness And Gill Physiology In Invasive Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus), Alexandre J. Walsh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The pesticides, 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and niclosamide are used to control populations of invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America. Added to streams infested with larval sea lamprey, the effectiveness of these pesticides, commonly called lampricides, are strongly influenced by water pH, with greater toxicity for both TFM and niclosamide in lower pH than higher pH water. However, the TFM and niclosamide sensitivity of sea lamprey are also greater in poorly buffered, low alkalinity water than in high alkalinity water but it is unclear why. One goal of my thesis was to propose a model ...

Effects Of Late Gestation Episodic Heat Stress In The Northeastern United States On Holstein Dams And Their Calves, Emily Fread

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Heat stress negatively impacts dry dairy cows in subtropical climates, but impacts in moderate climates are unknown. The objective of this thesis was to determine if dry cows and their calves in Northern NY and VT are impacted by episodic heat stress and varying levels of heat exposure. Another aim of this study was to determine farmers' knowledge of heat stress, heat abatement use, and the need for future research.Chapter 2 describes a study conducted on a Northern NY farm, where dry cows were housed in moderate heat abatement, meaning fans over a bedded pack or free stalls. Surprisingly ...

Leveraging A Machine Learning Based Predictive Framework To Study Brain-Phenotype Relationships, Sage Hahn

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

An immense collective effort has been put towards the development of methods forquantifying brain activity and structure. In parallel, a similar effort has focused on collecting experimental data, resulting in ever-growing data banks of complex human in vivo neuroimaging data. Machine learning, a broad set of powerful and effective tools for identifying multivariate relationships in high-dimensional problem spaces, has proven to be a promising approach toward better understanding the relationships between the brain and different phenotypes of interest. However, applied machine learning within a predictive framework for the study of neuroimaging data introduces several domain-specific problems and considerations, leaving the ...

Temperature Regulation Of Pipecolic Acid-Mediated Plant Systemic Immunity In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Alyssa Shields

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Significant crop losses are caused by pathogenic infections annually, which are exacerbated by increasing global temperatures due to climate change. One way by which plants respond to pathogenic attacks is through the activation of pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), effector-triggered immunity (ETI), and systemic acquired resistance (SAR), which lead to production of the central defence phytohormone salicylic acid (SA). Accompanying SA release is the putative mobilization of pipecolic acid (Pip), which acts as an immune regulatory plant metabolite that works with and independently from SA. As demonstrated in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana following infection with the model bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae ...

Potential Effects Of Road Proximity On Zooplankton Communities And Water Quality In Lakes In The Northwest Territories, Marie N. Hannan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Studies conducted along Canada’s Dempster Highway in the Northwest Territories have shown that road dust can affect water quality in roadside lakes, leading to higher calcium, conductivity, and pH levels. These water quality changes have the potential to affect important members of the lower aquatic food web, such as zooplankton.

For my thesis research, I had two main objectives: 1) To determine if changes in water chemistry caused by deposition of road dust affects zooplankton communities; and 2) To examine if the type of roadside vegetation influences the effects of road dust on aquatic habitats. To achieve these objectives ...

A Review On Nanomaterials And Nanohybrids Based Bio-Nanocomposites For Food Packaging, Kalpani Y. Perera, Amit K. Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

With an increasing demand for a novel, eco-friendly, high-performance packaging material “bio-nanocomposites” has attracted great attention in recent years. The review article aims at to evaluating recent innovation in bio-nanocomposites for food packaging applications. The current trends and research over the last three years of the various bio-nanocomposites including inorganic, organic nanomaterials, and nanohybrids, which are suitable as food packaging materials due to their advanced properties such as high mechanical, thermal, barrier, antimicrobial, and antioxidant are described in detail. In addition, the legislation, migration studies, and SWOT analysis on bio-nanocomposite film have been discussed. It has been observed that the ...

Sequencing An Inserted Concatemer In Caenorhabditis Elegans Strain Hlh-29::Gfp, Simon T. Anderson

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Hairy/Enhancer of Split (HES) proteins and their homologs play vital roles in the development of animals, and in the regulation of cancer and other diseases. HLH-29 is an REF-1 family protein and a Caenorhabditis elegans homolog of human HES proteins. A transgenic animal model has been developed to facilitate analyses of this protein, containing an inserted concatemer of the green fluorescent protein reporter gene, regulated by the hlh-29 promoter, and a mutant rol-6 allele. Though the strain has been used previously, the location and structure of the insertion has been unknown. Sequencing of the whole hlh-29::gfp genome with ...

Dynamics Of Nucleosome Assembly Characterized By Atomic Force Microscopy, Tommy Stormberg

Theses & Dissertations

Nucleosomes are the basic repeating unit defining the assembly and function of chromatin. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of nucleosome structure and dynamics is critical to elucidating the chromatin assembly process. This dissertation describes my work in elucidating the role of different factors that drive the nucleosome dynamics.

In my first study, we characterized, for the first time, the effect of sequence on nucleosome assembly. We then characterized the role of internucleosomal interactions, discovering a critical role internucleosomal interactions in the assembly of higher order structures.

Based on the previous study and literature regarding histone tails, we hypothesized the histone H4 ...

Generation, Characterization, And Treatment Of Functional Zebrafish Models For Musculoskeletal Disorders, Julia Nicole Whittle

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Musculoskeletal disorders in humans present with a broad range of phenotypes that vary in severity, onset, and genetic cause. The musculoskeletal system is comprised of complex and diverse tissues that make up the majority of total body mass. Thus, mutations in many different genes with differing structure and function can produce phenotypically similar developmental and morphological defects in the muscle and skeleton. In addition, the muscular and skeletal systems develop non-autonomously, wherein development and function of each will affect development of the other. Thus, mutations in genes responsible for development of this complex system have the potential to influence morphogenesis ...

Canonical And Noncanonical Mechanisms Of Resistance To Arginine Starvation In Cancer, Leonard Christopher Rogers

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The enzyme argininosuccinate synthetase 1 (ASS1) catalyzes the condensation of citrulline and aspartate into argininosuccinate as part of the urea cycle and citrulline-nitric oxide cycle. This reaction is essential for mammals to synthesize the amino acid arginine, which is required for all cells. Nearly all human tissues express at least some ASS1, but they import most of their arginine from the extracellular space after it is produced and released by the kidneys. Most solid tumors lack a functional level of ASS1, including over 85% of sarcomas, which are cancers of connective tissues. Published evidence suggests that this provides a proliferation ...

Using Proteomics To Discover New Connections In The Arabidopsis Circadian Clock, Maria Lynn Sorkin

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The plant circadian clock is an endogenous timekeeping mechanism that uses daylength and temperature cycles to synchronize internal physiology with the external environment. Much of our understanding of the clock in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana comes from genetic approaches. In this thesis, I use affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (APMS) to identify protein-protein interactions for core clock components on a proteomic scale. I developed and optimized a protocol to perform APMS on a core set of circadian clock proteins: CIRCADIAN CLOCK ASSOCIATED 1 (CCA1), LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL (LHY), PSEUDORESPONSE REGULATOR 5 (PRR5), PRR7, PRR9, TIMING OF CAB 1 ...

Insights Into The Non-Osmoregulatory Function Of A Pollen-Specific Mechanosensitive Ion Channel, Kari Miller

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pollen, the male gametophyte of flowering plants, delivers the sperm cells to the ovule to carry out sexual reproduction. During this process, the pollen grain undergoes dramatic physical changes. Survival requires careful control of cell mechanics, particularly the balance between protoplast expansion and cell wall resistance. One control mechanism is the use of a mechanosensitive (MS) ion channel, MscS-Like (MSL)8. This pollen-specific protein was previously shown to be essential for pollen survival during hydration and was proposed to function as a tension-gated osmoregulator. However, direct proof of osmoregulation during initial hydration has not yet been found. In fact, studies ...

Healthfulness Of Fast-Food And Full-Service Restaurants In 16 Georgia Counties After Mandatory Menu Labeling, Janani Rajbhandari-Thapa, Donglan Zhang, Nicole Katapodis, Dana Alvin, Melanie Andrews

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Despite that the effect of menu labeling on consumer choices has been studied, there are gaps in the research on the healthfulness of the restaurant food environment post-mandatory menu labeling, specifically in the Southern United States. This study aims to assess the healthfulness of fast-food and full-service chain restaurant environments after compliance with mandatory menu labeling.

Methods: The healthfulness of 46 representative fast-food and full-service chain restaurants in 16 Georgia counties was examined using the Nutritional Environment Measures in Restaurants (NEMS-R) survey. The scores were compared between full-service and fast-food restaurants using t-tests across several healthfulness measures such as ...