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Hello, I am Ashley Palmer
No full textAshley Palmer is double majoring in English and computer science. The title of her project is: “I, Poor Monster” or “Call Me Rosalind”: Women as Men in Twelfth Night and As You Like It
Hello, I am Julia Earl
No full textDr. Earl is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences
18. Do Blue Crabs Respond to Visual Cues of Avian Predators?
Get PDFBlue crabs are keystone consumers and scavengers in estuarine ecosystems. The distribution of these important consumers in shallow habitats may be affected by predation from wading birds, like herons. However, we have little information about how or if blue crabs respond to the presence of avian predators. Floating vegetation, like water hyacinth, may provide a refuge from wading birds in shallow habitats. Water hyacinth, an invasive freshwater plant that occupies marsh edges in low salinity marshes, and previous research found that high abundances of blue crabs were associated with this vegetation. Blue crabs may use the hair-like roots that are suspended in the water as a habitat to hide from predators. Here, we examined if blue crabs respond to visual cues of avian predators and increase their use of water hyacinth habitats by recording crab behavioral responses to heron decoys and pvc controls. Shallow water hyacinth habitats occupied by one blue crab were created in small pools. After a 30 minute acclimation period, a heron decoy or a pvc pipe was placed over the pool. We measured the amount of time spent in open and hyacinth habitats and the number of habitat transitions. Heron treatments did not significantly alter habitat use or the movement between habitats suggesting blue crabs do not respond to heron visual cues. Blue crabs may require movement rather than a visual cues alone to respond to avian predators. Future studies could be conducted to determine how movement, or differing bird predators may affect crabs to further understand how avian predators may affect the distribution of this keystone species
03. Notch Signaling Plays a Key Role in Regulating Adult Stem Cell Osteogenic Differentiation
Get PDFHuman adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) are an easily accessible type of multipotent stem cell that boasts immense potential as a cell source for personalized regenerative medicine. Given their tremendous clinical potential, our research strives to better understand hASCs and their potential use in combating degenerative bone diseases such as osteoporosis and trauma related degradation. We are specifically interested in deciphering the role of the highly conserved Notch signaling pathway and how it might be manipulated to enhance bone differentiation and regeneration.
The Notch signaling pathway is a cell-to-cell contact dependent pathway that is involved in cellular homeostasis, stem cell differentiation, and cell fate determination. Notch1 and Notch3 are two receptors in the Notch signaling pathway that play a critical role in osteogenesis and self-renewal. To better understand the role of these two receptors, siRNA knockdowns are performed. Small interfering RNAs lead to the degradation of a significant amount of a targeted mRNA transcript, and in turn results in a significant decrease in protein expression. The literature indicates that a decrease in Notch1 expression leads to a decrease in osteogenic differentiation. Given data in the literature for other types of cells, we expect to confirm that the decrease in Notch1 leads to a decrease in hASC osteogenesis while the decrease in Notch3 may lead to enhanced differentiation. Identifying the role of each receptor will aid in identifying potential therapeutic targets for treating bone degeneration and loss in the future
Relationship Between Jump Tests and Their Influence on Multidirectional Ground-reaction Forces in Baseball Pitchers
Get PDFJump tests are effective, valid, and reliable methods to examine lower body power and possibly influence ground reaction forces (GRFs) in baseball pitching. Purpose: To determine relationships between drive leg and stride leg GRFs and fastball velocities while pitching from the wind-up and stretch to 1) drive leg and stride leg GRFs of unilateral countermovement jumps (UCMJ) and bilateral countermovement jumps (BCMJ), 2) BCMJ, and drive and stride leg UCMJ height as well as bilateral broad jump (BBJ) and drive and stride leg unilateral lateral to medial jump (ULMJ) distances, and 3) BBJ estimated peak power. Methods: Nineteen Division I collegiate baseball pitchers (age 19.9 ± 1.5 years, height 1.86 ± .06 m, body mass 90.7 ± 13.8 kg) completed six multi-directional jump tests and threw fastballs from a pitching mound with embedded force plates. Results: Three moderate and one moderately high statistically significant relationships were observed for BCMJ and UCMJ heights to pitching GRFs, p \u3c 0.05. Stride leg UCMJ height was significantly greater than drive leg UCMJ height, p \u3c 0.01. Wind-up and stretch GRFs were statistically similar. Fastball velocities had statistically moderately high relationships to wind-up and stretch drive leg GRFs. Fastball velocities were statistically similar between both deliveries. Conclusion: Collegiate pitcher’s jumped higher and had more power displayed by their stride leg compared to their drive leg, and produced more power vertically when summing drive and stride leg UCMJ forces compared to BCMJ force. Both wind-up and stretch drive leg forces had moderately high associations to fastball velocities.
Keywords: baseball pitching, fastball velocity, ground reaction forces, multi-directional jump
Assessing and Comparing Quality of Life Scores in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome-diarrhea, Irritable Irritable Bowel Syndrome-constipation, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Mixed
Get PDFIrritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal (GI) disorder that affects an estimated 1 in 10 people globally (Black & Ford, 2020). Since IBS is such a common GI disorder worldwide it is important to understand that impact it has on quality of life. This study assessed the differences in the effects of IBS on the quality of life in patients with each of the three types of IBS: IBS-D, IBS-C, and IBS-M. Potential respondents were recruited via social media using an online survey, which collected demographics and assessed the effects of IBS on quality of life. The survey was also emailed to FODMAP trained dietitians who were asked to share the survey with their patients. Data collection lasted for approximately 9 weeks. One hundred and ninety-two responses were analyzed. Descriptive statistics for demographic data were reported as frequencies and correlated to the quality of life subscale scores. An ANOVA was used to analyze the differences between the total quality of life scores and subscale scores among patients with IBS-D, IBS-C, and IBS-M. An ANOVA was also used to analyze the differences between total quality of life scores among the different races, education levels, and monthly spending on IBS. A t-test was used to analyze the differences between quality of life subscale scores among female and male patients. A p-value ≤ 0.05 indicated significance. A significant difference in total quality of life scores was found between groups based on how much money participants spend monthly on treatments for/managing their IBS symptoms (F(4, 149)= 10.81, p= \u3c0.01). Significant differences were found in quality of life subscales scores among IBS-M, IBS-C, and IBS-D patients in the interference with activities (F(3, 178)= 5.83, p= 0.001), body image (F(3, 185)= 3.61, p= 0.014), and health worry subscales (F(3, 183)= 4.83, p= 0.003). Significant differences were also found in quality of life subscale scores among white, non-Hispanic; whites, Hispanic origin; and others (Native Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, multi-racial, and Asian Indians) in the dysphoria (F(2, 181)= 3.86, p= 0.23), social reaction (F(2, 182)= 3.23, p= 0.42), and relationships subscales (F(2, 184)= 3.58, p= 0.030). Further research is needed to validate these associations
Valorization of Secondary Agriculture Residues
Get PDFSecondary agriculture residues have the potential to be major contributors as resources for energy and sustainably sourced materials production. Separating secondary agricultural residues, which have already been transported to processing centers, into individual biomass components could convert these wastes into bioproducts. Many types of pretreatments to achieve this separation involve chemicals that are hazardous for the environment. Several deep eutectic solvents (DES) that are biocompatible have been investigated for their ability to deconstruct rice hulls and sugarcane bagasse. Mass yield, enzymatic hydrolysis of the pretreated biomass, fiber analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy have confirmed that the DES formic acid:choline chloride, lactic acid:choline chloride, and acetic acid:choline chloride are effective in removing lignin, thus concentrating cellulose in the pretreated biomass. Addition of water precipitated lignin from the spent DES, as confirmed by the above analyses. However, the DES lactic acid:betaine and lactic acid:proline had little effect on rice hulls or sugarcane bagasse. Formic acid:choline chloride was the most effective of the DES tested in preparing the biomass for enzymatic saccharification.
Rice hulls, a widely-available secondary agricultural residue, was pretreated with formic acid and choline chloride in a 2:1 mole ratio (FA:CC) using conductive heating and microwave heating. Enzymatic hydrolysis data indicated that pretreated biomass using either heating technique gave higher glucose yield compared to raw rice hulls. FTIR analysis showed similar findings for both heating techniques. For biomass pretreatment using DES, microwave heating required less than half of the energy compared to conductive heating. Conductive heating required a higher residence time for the biomass in the pretreatment process. Thus, this work shows the potential benefits of a microwave heating technique for deconstruction of biomass using DESs.
Using waste agriculture and power plant byproducts to replace materials that are energy-intensive to produce can make these materials more green. Improved compressive strength can be obtained when rice husk ash (RHA) partially replaces ordinary Portland cement, a substance potentially hazardous and energy-intensive to make. When RHA is combined with other nano-particles to replace ordinary Portland cement (OPC), strength can be further enhanced. The microstructure of cement binders with replacement of OPC by combinations of coal fly ash, silica fume, RHA, nano-silica, and metakaolin were investigated using X-ray diffraction, back scattered electron imaging with energy dispersive spectrum analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nitrogen sorptiometry. A combination of sustainable, renewable RHA and the waste product coal fly ash was found to synergistically improve cement binder strength. Analyses suggested the enhanced strength was due to RHA increasing amorphous reactive silica and coal fly ash contributing alumina to form Calcium-Silicate-Hydrate (C-S-H) gel along with calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate (C-A-S-H). Thus, this work shows the potential benefits of merging residual wastes from the agricultural sector with wastes from coal in combustion-based power plants.
Food product preparation generates large quantities of wastes that are concentrated in central processing facilities, meaning that the wastes do not require energy-intensive transporting from the fields. If these waste biomass are landfilled, they pollute the environment both physically and in transportation to the landfill. A chemically simple process, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) requires only biomass and water to generate a solid fuel and a sugar-laden liquid. HTC processing of coffee silverskins increased the energy density of the solid product, with higher temperatures increasing energy density more. The concentrations of glucose, galactose, and arabinose in the liquid HTC product decreased with higher HTC temperatures. HTC processing temperature could thus be chosen to optimize either the solid or the liquid product. If monomeric sugars are desired, a lower HTC temperature should be employed
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Get PDFSamuel Donn is studying biology at Louisiana Tech. He has loved writing poetry for a large part of his life and is honored to contribute to The Quatrain
