Matching Items (231)
Description
Amino acid analysis (AAA) of egg white lysozyme and bovine Achilles tendon collagen was performed using 1H solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The proteins were hydrolyzed in 6M HCL with and without 0.02% phenol at 110\u00B0C for 24, 48, and 72 hours. For both proteins, 18 of 20 amino acids were characterized including hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine in collagen, using 1-dimensional (1D) and 2-dimensional (2D) NMR spectroscopy experiments. Errors ranging from <1% to 8% were seen in treatments with and without phenol. Both proteins could be correctly identified within their own species using the online database search AACompIdent. The proposed approach is a simple analytical technique that does not require the use of column separation or amino acid derivatization prior to compositional analysis.
ContributorsBaranowski, Michael Edward (Author) / Yarger, Jeffery (Thesis director) / Holland, Gregory (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor)
Created2014-05
DescriptionThis thesis investigates Irish ballads from the 19th and 20th centuries. It examines Catholicism, Anti British sentiment, their native home, and the Irish character as a part of the Irish identity being formed during the Irish revival.
ContributorsIvie, Marissa Daun (Author) / Facinelli, Diane (Thesis director) / Lynch, Jacquelyn Scott (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has become a common practice in United States oil fields for enhancing their productivity. Among the concerns regarding fracking, however, is the possibility that it could trigger shallow earthquakes. The brine that results from fracking is injected into the subsurface for disposal. This brine causes a pore pressure gradient that is commonly believed to trigger failure along critically stressed subsurface faults. In Timpson, a small city in eastern Texas, earthquakes have become much more common since two injection wells were installed in 2007. 16 events of M_W > 2 have been detected since 2008 and are believed to be associated with failure along a subsurface fault. Applying interferometric synthetic aperture radar, we analyzed 3 sets of SAR images from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) from May 2007 to December 2010. Using these data sets, XX interferograms were generated. From these interferograms, it was possible to determine the spatial and temporal evolution of the crustal deformation in the line-of-sight of the satellite. The results show strong evidence of uplift in the region adjacent to the injection wells. While previous studies have established a strong connection between fluid injection and increased seismicity, this is to our knowledge the first observed case of crustal deformation that has been observed as a result of hydraulic fracturing fluid disposal.
ContributorsSedlak, Alexander Paul Woodward (Author) / Shirzaei, Manoochehr (Thesis director) / Vivoni, Enrique (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Substance abuse disorders affect 15.3 million people worldwide. The field has primarily focused on dopaminergic drugs as treatments for substance use disorders. However, recent work has demonstrated the potential of serotonergic compounds to treat substance abuse. Specifically, the serotonin 1B receptor (5-HT1BR), a Gi-coupled receptor located throughout the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system, has been implicated in the incentive motivational and rewarding effects of cocaine. Our research suggests that the stimulation of 5-HT1BRs produces different effects at various time points in the addiction cycle. During maintenance of chronic cocaine administration, 5-HT1BR stimulation has a facilitative effect on the reinforcing properties of cocaine. However 5-HT1BR stimulation exhibits inhibitory effects on reinforcement during prolonged abstinence from cocaine. The aim of this study was to examine the possibility of a switch in the functional role of 5-HT1BRs in the locomotor effects of cocaine at different time points of chronic cocaine administration in mice. We found that the 5-HT1BR agonist CP 94,253 increased locomotor activity in mice tested one day after the last chronic cocaine administration session regardless of whether the chronic treatment was cocaine or saline and regardless of challenge injection (i.e., cocaine or saline). Yet after abstinence, CP 94,253 induced a decrease in locomotor activity in mice challenged with saline and attenuated cocaine-induced locomotion relative to cocaine challenge after vehicle pretreatment. These findings suggest that a switch in the functional role of 5-HT1BR is observed at different stages of the addiction cycle and further suggest that clinical applications of drugs acting on 5-HT1BR should consider these effects.
ContributorsBrunwasser, Samuel Joshua (Author) / Neisewander, Janet (Thesis director) / Pentkowski, Nathan (Committee member) / Der-Ghazarian, Taleen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Being able to self-regulate has been found to be an important part of a person’s physiological and psychological health. It allows someone to regulate their emotions well in trying to obtain a goal, or in realizing a goal is unobtainable and re-evaluating the situation to form an obtainable goal (Rasmussen, Wrosch, Scheier & Carver, 2006). Self-regulation can be measured in many ways, but a physiological measure of self-regulation is heart rate variability (HRV). HRV monitors the body’s response to emotional stressors through measuring how variable a person’s heartbeat is (Appelhans & Luecken, 2006). A second potential factor contributing to self-regulation is social closeness. Research has also shown that the more social closeness a person experiences, the better able they are to regulate their emotions (Kok & Fredrickson, 2010; Kok et al., 2013). Social closeness is assessed via self-reports. There is a difference between partners’ and self-reports, such that the partners tend to be more positive when asked about the participants through questionnaires (Vuorisalmi, Sarkeala, Hervonen & Jylhä, 2012). When examining the relationship between reports of spouses, research has shown that the husbands are worse at reliably reporting their wives’ behaviors, but are more reliable when reporting on personal situations between the couple than is the wife (Khawaja & Tewtel-Salem, 2004). To date we know that a higher HRV is associated with better self-regulation and that social closeness leads to better emotional regulation; however, we do not know if HRV and social closeness combine to predict better functionality or if it matters if the husbands or wives are filling out the self-reports on social closeness. This study investigated four hypotheses regarding the relations between HRV and social relations between partners and how the social or emotional functioning of female fibromyalgia (FM) patients. The first hypothesis is that when the FM patient feels disregard from her partner, she is more likely to exhibit a decline in her social functioning, and that this decline is less pronounced in high HRV. The second hypothesis is that if a FM patient feels disregarded by her partner, her emotional functioning will become inhibited; furthermore, that this relationship is moderated by her HRV. The third hypothesis is that when her partner feels he disregards her, her social functioning is impaired, and that this relationship is moderated by her HRV. The last hypothesis is that when her partner feels he disregards her, her emotional functioning declines, and that this relationship is moderated by HRV. The FM patient’s HRV was measured in a laboratory setting, and the partner disregard was measured by a partner survey that was administered to both the FM patient and her partner. Through the analysis of all of the results, none of the four hypotheses had significant results showing that none of them were supported by this experiment.
ContributorsKillion, Jordan Ann (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis director) / Yeung, Wan (Committee member) / Zautra, Alex (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
DNA is a natural genetic polymer capable of storing and preserving genetic information in biological systems. Due to its natural information storage capacity, recent scientific progress demonstrates that DNA has the potential to exceed standard information storage technologies. However, DNA is limited in its information storage capacities due to its susceptibility to degradation in the presence of naturally occurring nucleases. Threose nucleic acid (TNA), an unnatural genetic polymer with a 3'->2'phosphodiester-linked threose sugar backbone, has promising potential to overcome this limitation. TNA is not a substrate for natural nucleases and thus shows a dramatic increase in stability compared to DNA. However, TNA transcription has a tendency to generate G:G mispairs and lead to a gradual loss of information within the template. It was hypothesized that the mutation occurs through a G:G Hoogsteen base pair that forms preferentially over the canonical G:C Watson-Crick base pair. Incorporation of 7-deaza-dG into a four letter template effectively eliminated G:G mispairings and improved the replication fidelity from 60% to 99.6% with only four errors in a thousand. These results have laid the groundwork for further research to increase the length of the TNA product synthesized and to test TNA's ability to store genetic information.
ContributorsMeyers, Madeline Ashby (Author) / Chaput, John C. (Thesis director) / Chandler, Douglas (Committee member) / Dunn, Matthew R. (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The focus of this project was to look at alternative treatments for endocrine resistant breast cancer (ERBC), which are breast cancers that have become resistant to hormone therapies such as Tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. The first part of this project involves investigating the relationship between histone de-acetylase inhibitor Vorinostat and Tamoxifen in MCF7 G11 cells, Tamoxifen resistant sub-clones, according to the PSOC Time grant. The second part involves targeting the androgen receptor (AR) in MCF7 sub-clones with AR antagonists, Bicalutamide and MDV3100, and investigating the possible usage of AR as a biomarker, due to over-expression of AR in ERBC, in accordance with the Mayo ASU Seed Grant.
The synergistic effects between Vorinostat and Tamoxifen observed through a phase II study on breast cancer patients resistant to hormone therapy may involve more than the modulation of ER-alpha to reverse Tamoxifen resistance in ERBC cells. RT-qPCR of genes expressed in Tamoxifen resistant cells, trefoil factor 1(TFF1) and v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (MYC), were evaluated along with ESR1 and Diablo as a control. MYC was observed to have increased expression in the treated cells, whereas the other genes had a decrease in their expression levels after the cells were treated for 3 days with Vorinostat IC30 of 1 µM. As for targeting the AR, MCF7 Tamoxifen sensitive and resistant cells were not affected by the AR antagonists to determine an IC50. The cell viability for all MCF7 sub-clones only decreased for high concentrations of 5.56 µM - 50 µM in Bicalutamide and 16.67 µM – 50 µM of MDV1300. Furthermore, hormone depletion of MCF7 G11 Tamoxifen resistant sub-clones did not show a great response to DHT stimulation or the AR antagonists. In the RT-qPCR, the MCF7 G11 cells showed an increase in mRNA expression for ER, AR, and PR after 4 hours of treatment with estradiol. As for the DHT treatment, ER, AR, PR, and PSA had a minimal increase in the fold change, but the fold change in AR was less than in the estradiol treatment. The Mayo Clinic will investigate the possible usage of AR as a biomarker through immunohistochemistry.
The synergistic effects between Vorinostat and Tamoxifen observed through a phase II study on breast cancer patients resistant to hormone therapy may involve more than the modulation of ER-alpha to reverse Tamoxifen resistance in ERBC cells. RT-qPCR of genes expressed in Tamoxifen resistant cells, trefoil factor 1(TFF1) and v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog (MYC), were evaluated along with ESR1 and Diablo as a control. MYC was observed to have increased expression in the treated cells, whereas the other genes had a decrease in their expression levels after the cells were treated for 3 days with Vorinostat IC30 of 1 µM. As for targeting the AR, MCF7 Tamoxifen sensitive and resistant cells were not affected by the AR antagonists to determine an IC50. The cell viability for all MCF7 sub-clones only decreased for high concentrations of 5.56 µM - 50 µM in Bicalutamide and 16.67 µM – 50 µM of MDV1300. Furthermore, hormone depletion of MCF7 G11 Tamoxifen resistant sub-clones did not show a great response to DHT stimulation or the AR antagonists. In the RT-qPCR, the MCF7 G11 cells showed an increase in mRNA expression for ER, AR, and PR after 4 hours of treatment with estradiol. As for the DHT treatment, ER, AR, PR, and PSA had a minimal increase in the fold change, but the fold change in AR was less than in the estradiol treatment. The Mayo Clinic will investigate the possible usage of AR as a biomarker through immunohistochemistry.
ContributorsVorachitti, Merica (Author) / LaBaer, Joshua (Thesis director) / Anderson, Karen (Committee member) / Gonzalez, Laura (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Cerebral aneurysms, also known as intracranial aneurysms, are sac-like lesions in the arteries of the brain that can rupture to cause subarachnoid hemorrhaging, damaging and killing brain cells. Metal coil embolization has been traditionally used to occlude and treat cerebral aneurysms to limited success, but polymer embolization has been suggested, because it can provide a greater fraction of occlusion. One such polymer with low cytotoxicity is poly(propylene glycol)diacrylate (PPODA) crosslinked via Michael-type addition with pentaerythritol tetrakis(3-mercaptopropionate) (QT). This study was performed to examine the behavior of PPODA-QT gel in vitro under pulsatile flow emulating physiological conditions. An idealized cerebral aneurysm flow model was designed based on geometries associated with an increase in rupture risk. Pressure was monitored at the apex of the aneurysm dome for varied flow rates and polymer filling fractions of 32.4, 78.2, and 100%. The results indicate that the amount of PPODA-QT deployed into the aneurysm decreases the peak-to-peak oscillation in pressure at the aneurysm wall by an inverse proportion. The 32.4 and 78.2% treatments did not significantly decrease the mean pressure applied to the aneurysm dome, but the 100% treatment greatly reduced it by diverting flow. This study indicates that the maximum filling fraction after swelling of PPODA-QT polymer should be deployed into the aneurysmal sac for treatment.
ContributorsWorkman, Christopher David (Author) / Vernon, Brent (Thesis director) / Frakes, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The thesis examines the Indonesian claim of H5N1 viral sovereignty in 2006, and the mutant H5N1 papers controversy in 2011, to analyze the notion of science transcending national boundaries and novel conflicts with science operating on the international stage, specifically for H5N1 preparedness. This thesis argues how the symmetries between the Indonesian sovereignty case and the H5N1 papers controversy illustrate the locus of contention and uncertainty present in the international scientific space, specifically related to the ownership and governance of influenza pandemic preparedness materials and research. To achieve this, the thesis comparatively analyzes the two controversies to reveal the unsettledness in dimensions of both pandemic preparedness and international and transnational governance of science. This symmetrical analysis clarifies the unresolved issues of ownership, control, and accountability, which exist in the scientific international space. The deliberations of both case studies were framed so that the primary goal of the resolutions developed into maintaining scientific openness for public health benefit. With this method of deliberation taken, the significant and unique issues raised by these cases, in addition to the ownership questions that were allowing these controversies to gain prominence, were commonly left unaddressed. In doing so, the potential of the reemergence for similar controversies remains high.
ContributorsKaur, Manmeet (Author) / Hurlbut, Ben (Thesis director) / Miller, Clark (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the current atmosphere of genetic patent law and use economic theory to construct models which describe the consequences of the legal code. I intend to analyze the four specific cases of Diamond v. Chakrabarty, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, the Alzheimer's Institute of America v. Jackson Laboratory, and the harm caused by PGx Health's monopoly over the LQTS gene.
ContributorsVolz, Caleb Richard (Author) / DeSerpa, Allan (Thesis director) / Silverman, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor)
Created2014-05