Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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- Creators: Harrington Bioengineering Program
Description
Concurrent with the epidemic of childhood obesity (17% of adolescents), an unprecedented world-wide increase in the prevalence of several adiposity-related complications (including fatty liver disease (hepatic steatosis), type 2 diabetes and early cardiovascular disorders) in this age group, has emerged. Two principle environmental variables play an essential role in the development and maintenance of obesity and in disturbing glucose homeostasis: a lack of physical exercise and overnutrition, i.e., high carbohydrate and high fat diets (HFD). It was our laboratory's intention to develop a rodent model to examine whether the metabolic instability observed in human pubertal children is also present in maturing rats and whether a HFD during this maturational period enhances adipose-related complications with or without an increase in body weight. We hypothesized that maturing Sprague-Dawley rats would reveal a profile of metabolic disturbances and that a disruption of the hyperbolic arrangement between insulin sensitivity and insulin release would be evident (statistically significant changes in fasting hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, and insulin release) indicating a high risk environment for future cardiometabolic diseases. It was observed that pubertal rats are metabolically impaired and that a HFD substantially enhances metabolic deficits with marked disturbance in insulin sensitivity (hyperinsulinemia). Additionally, substantial lipogenesis was observed in visceral and liver tissue, potentially as a result of hyperinsulinemia. Both phenotypes of maturing rats exposed to a HFD (obesity prone and obesity resistant) demonstrated "metabolic obesity" regardless of physical phenotype. These outcomes have relevance in the context of public health, particularly if lipocentricity is viewed as an essential element in the challenge of preventing and/or treating perturbations to the metabolic health of pubertal children.
ContributorsSmith, John Clark (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Herman, Richard (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Octopus arms employ a complex three dimensional array of musculature, called a
muscular hydrostat, which allows for nearly infinite degrees of freedom of movement without
the structure of a skeletal system. This study employed Magnetic Resonance Imaging with a
Gadoteridol-based contrast agent to image the octopus arm and view the internal tissues. Muscle
layering was mapped and area was measured using AMIRA image processing and the trends in
these layers at the proximal, middle, and distal portions of the arms were analyzed. A total of 39
arms from 6 specimens were scanned to give 112 total imaged sections (38 proximal, 37 middle,
37 distal), from which to ascertain and study the possible differences in musculature. The
images revealed significant increases in the internal longitudinal muscle layer percentages
between the proximal and middle, proximal and distal, and middle and distal sections of the
arms. These structural differences are hypothesized to be used for rapid retraction of the distal
segment when encountering predators or noxious stimuli. In contrast, a significant decrease in
the transverse muscle layer was found when comparing the same sections. These structural
differences are hypothesized to be a result of bending behaviors during retraction. Additionally,
the internal longitudinal layer was separately studied orally, toward the sucker, and aborally,
away from the sucker. The significant differences in oral and aboral internal longitudinal
musculature in proximal, middle, and distal sections is hypothesized to support the pseudo-joint
functionality displayed in octopus fetching behaviors. The results indicate that individual
octopus arm morphology is more unique than previously thought and supports that internal
structural differences exist to support behavioral functionality.
muscular hydrostat, which allows for nearly infinite degrees of freedom of movement without
the structure of a skeletal system. This study employed Magnetic Resonance Imaging with a
Gadoteridol-based contrast agent to image the octopus arm and view the internal tissues. Muscle
layering was mapped and area was measured using AMIRA image processing and the trends in
these layers at the proximal, middle, and distal portions of the arms were analyzed. A total of 39
arms from 6 specimens were scanned to give 112 total imaged sections (38 proximal, 37 middle,
37 distal), from which to ascertain and study the possible differences in musculature. The
images revealed significant increases in the internal longitudinal muscle layer percentages
between the proximal and middle, proximal and distal, and middle and distal sections of the
arms. These structural differences are hypothesized to be used for rapid retraction of the distal
segment when encountering predators or noxious stimuli. In contrast, a significant decrease in
the transverse muscle layer was found when comparing the same sections. These structural
differences are hypothesized to be a result of bending behaviors during retraction. Additionally,
the internal longitudinal layer was separately studied orally, toward the sucker, and aborally,
away from the sucker. The significant differences in oral and aboral internal longitudinal
musculature in proximal, middle, and distal sections is hypothesized to support the pseudo-joint
functionality displayed in octopus fetching behaviors. The results indicate that individual
octopus arm morphology is more unique than previously thought and supports that internal
structural differences exist to support behavioral functionality.
ContributorsCummings, Sheldon Daniel (Author) / Fisher, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Cherry, Brian (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The main goal of this project was to study and understand the release of gentamicin from in – situ, self – reactive drug delivery gelling matrix. The motivation behind this was to create a drug delivery mechanism for gentamicin and eliminate the need for re–injecting the drug multiple times into the patient. Gentamicin is used to treat various different bacterial infections of the central nervous system, blood, kidneys, gall bladder, bile duct, heart cavity linings, and heart valves. Pentaerythritol–tetrakis
(3 – mercaptoproprionate; QT) was crosslinked with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) having an average molecular weight of 575 with the help of Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS), with a buffer ionic strength of 0.143M and a pH of 8.9 and 11, for the drug concentrations of 5 mg/mL and 50 mg/mL, respectively. The Michael – type reaction formed the crosslinked self – administering gelling matrix. With the gelling matrix starting to coagulate into a hydrophobic solid in about 5 minutes, the material was injected into Tygon tubing. After complete solidification, the drug – loaded gels were extracted from the tubing and divided into 1 cm cylinders. The cylinders with 5mg/mL and 50mg/mL drug concentration exhibited a sustained and controlled release curve for about 288 hours. This project as well as this drug delivery system can in the future be expanded for use in the delivery of more hydrophobic long – term drugs to the patient.
ContributorsJolly, Nehal (Author) / Vernon, Brent (Thesis director) / Herman, Richard (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05