Matching Items (495)
Description
Curanderismo can be defined as a blend between ancient Aztec natural healing methods and modern day Catholicism. Today, it is practiced through various techniques, which can be observed in yerberias. Upon visiting these yerberias, the attendants were interviewed to understand which products are commonly sold, what they are used to treat, and the cultural significance behind the practice. After purchasing a number of products from each yerberia, a literature analysis of potential biochemical pathways was conducted to determine if these products have efficacy in what they treat. While potential pathways were found for a number of the products, it has been determined that further clinical research must be conducted to state whether these products are effective in treatment.
ContributorsDickey, Erin (Author) / Mullenmeister, William (Co-author) / Breitweiser, Mya (Co-author) / Holechek, Susan (Thesis director) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Misincorporation of uracil bases into DNA can lead to mutations after transcription. Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) is an enzyme that removes uracil bases from DNA, leaving an apurinic/apyrimidinic site. Different efficiencies of uracil base removal by UDG have been observed at different sites in DNA. A previous study found that UDG has a higher specificity constant for DNA sequences that are more flexible, specifically that those with uracil in a context of thymine adjacent on the 5’ side and adenine adjacent on the 3’ side (TUA sequence) bound UDG better than those with an adenine adjacent on the 5’ side and thymine adjacent on the 3’ side (AUT sequence) context. The purpose of this study is to expand the previous one by determining whether the ratios observed between TUA and AUT specificity constants within DNA sequences that are otherwise the same are also observed across a third sequence context that was not included in the first study. The hypothesis that same ratio would be observed is somewhat supported as the new sequence has a specificity constant of 1.24±0.043 ✕ 107 M-1s-1. However, conclusions to be drawn from this are limited by the wide margin of error seen among trials of the same concentrations.
ContributorsEngelken, Rylee (Author) / Levitus, Marcia (Thesis director) / Klein-Seetharaman, Judith (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The boarding school system heavily impacted the structure and mental wellness of the
Diné (Navajo) Nation, and these effects can still be felt today across Indian country in the
Southwest. To this day, the general public is not fully aware of how much the Diné community
has suffered from this system. Generally, in American history books, you will not find a chapter
on the Trail of Tears or the Long Walk, which are devastating moments in history of the tribal
communities affected. Nor will you find a chapter on boarding schools and the founding of the
Carlisle Indian School which shaped the standard for American educational systems. The stories of the boarding school system and the forced assimilation of indigenous communities are not common knowledge in mainstream society. Many of these stories do not exist outside of Indigenous communities. The purpose of this thesis is to identify who were the perpetrators of the boarding school system and who were the victims, while proving that Indigenous people
today are still closely connected to their culture and were not completely assimilated. This thesis will identify how boarding school trauma impacted the Diné people of the Navajo tribe and Indigenous peoples across the southwest region between the Four Sacred Mountains: Mount Blanca in south-central Colorado, Mount Taylor in Grants, New Mexico, the San Francisco peaks in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Mount Hesperus near Durango, Colorado. The Diné concepts of K’é and Hózhó are discussed as methods of survivance employed by Diné boarding school survivors and their descendants.
ContributorsTsosie, Autumn (Author) / Lynch, John (Thesis director) / Fixico, Donald (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Cryptotephra (microscopic volcanic ash) has had significant contributions towards constructing and refining age models and correlating archaeological sites for decades. This thesis will report on cryptotephra from the archaeological site of Kathu Pan, specifically from sinkhole 6, located on the southern edge of the Kalahari basin in the Northern Cape of South Africa. I will investigate the potential of cryptotephra from the Holocene layers of Kathu Pan (KP6) to test the current age model and source it to a specific region and a specific eruption. Both of the samples in this study, kp6-55-70 and kp6-75-90, are high silica rhyolites that date to the Holocene. Based on the geochemical findings, both samples have potential to be sourced from the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), Guatemala, Indonesia, and New Zealand. The primary sourcing was focused on the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) and the Turkana Basin in Kenya. Evidence suggests that kp6-75-90 is likely to have originated from the Turkana basin, meanwhile kp6-55-70 requires further sourcing in order to confidently correlate it to a region and an eruption. Further research needs to be completed in order to refine the age model at Kathu Pan 6.
ContributorsCurtiss, Julia (Author) / Campisano, Christopher (Thesis director) / Hirniak, Jayde (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Anelloviruses are small, negative-sense, single-stranded DNA viruses that have are found to be present in over 90% of adult humans. Despite being highly prevalent, little is known about the biology or pathogenic potentials of the anelloviruses. Initially, the family Anelloviridae, contained 14 genera. However, in the last few years, there have been an abundant number of diverse anelloviruses that were identified in various organisms. Thus, a new criterion for anelloviruses classification was necessary to establish new genera and species to accommodate unclassified anelloviruses. As part of an ongoing effort to characterize the human virome of female genital tract (FGT), we performed virome metagenomic sequencing of Peruvian women living with HIV, and we have identified 7 novel anellovirus genome sequences found in cervicovaginal clinical specimens. Through phylogenetic and sequence analyses of the new characterization criteria, we classified the genome sequences as three novel anellovirus genera, provisionally named, Petorquevirus, Sadetorquevirus, and Quoptorquevirus.
ContributorsDo, Eric (Author) / Lim, Efrem (Thesis director) / Kaelin, Emily (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2024-05