Matching Items (395)
Description
The use of synthetic cathinones or "bath salts" has risen dramatically in recent years with one of the most popular being Methylendioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). Following the temporary legislative ban on the sale and distribution of this compound , a multitude of other cathinone derivatives have been synthesized. The current study seeks to compare the abuse potential of MDPV with one of the emergent synthetic cathinones 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), based on their respective ability to lower current thresholds in an intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) paradigm. Following acute administration (0.1, 0.5, 1 and 2 mg/kg i.p.) MDPV was found to significantly lower ICSS thresholds at all doses tested (F4,35=11.549, p<0.001). However, following acute administration (0.3,1,3,10,30 mg/kg i.p) 4-MEC produced no significant ICSS threshold depression (F5,135= 0.622, p = 0.684). Together these findings suggest that while MDPV may possess significant abuse potential, other synthetic cathinones such as 4-MEC may have a drastically reduced potential for abuse.
ContributorsWegner, Scott Andrew (Author) / Olive, M. Foster (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Sanabria, Federico (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
As technological advancement increases and becomes more accessible to everyone around the world, many communities and support groups have begun to offer online options for their programs, whether it be a fitness program, online therapy group, or doctor’s appointment. With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting every country around the world, online and virtual communities have become more necessary than ever. Using personal experience from an online fitness community formed as a response to social isolation called“Barrett Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies,” research was conducted to determine if online communities had the same effectiveness as in-person communities in reaching and maintaining individual health goals. Peer-reviewed scientific articles and research papers from many countries around the world were analyzed for demonstration and quantification of the efficacy of other online communities compared to in- person groups. In addition, the benefits and limitations of online communities were identified. Using all of the research and data collected, a novel fitness program was designed for implementation with an online synchronous group (OSG) and an online asynchronous option serving as a control to observe any differential adherence of participants to fitness goals. The proposed OSG consists of meetings and workouts through Zoom and is more interactive, even virtually. The control group had no interaction with others and completed the workouts alone. While this program was not distributed to the public and tested as part of this project, it was designed to be an optimized pilot program to test the impact of remote community engagement on goal attainment. It is predicted that the OSG would demonstrate improvement over control in better reaching goals and increased satisfaction with results. Scientific literature from a variety of disciplines discussed here informs this prediction.
ContributorsKaroubi, Seema (Author) / Sellner, Erin (Thesis director) / Culbertson, Jade (Committee member) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the health system in the United States is now being further challenged. There is bipartisan debate on how it can be reconstructed: one party states that the government plays too big of a role, while the other believes it plays too little. Regardless, Americans want change. Reconstruction is not a new topic by any means, and other countries have been forced to do so due to political violence. This paper explores the history and current healthcare organizations of Japan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. These countries have all encountered major political turmoil, which has led to the rebuilding of their respective healthcare systems. Though the United States is not facing political violence that will necessitate reorganization, the examination of nations that have been forced to do so offers lessons applicable to the healthcare system in the US.
ContributorsSipes, Rachel Elizabeth (Author) / Sturgess, Jessica (Thesis director) / O'Flaherty, Katherine (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia splendida, are a common freshwater species in tropical regions of the world. They are members of the Atheriniformes (Atherinomorpha), the silverside fishes, which are known for some unusual feeding behaviors. Their close relatives, the Cypriniformes, such as mollies, guppies, and mosquitofish, are well studied and exhibit innovative morphologies associated with feeding. The third member of the Atherinomorphs, the Beloniformes, contains the recognizably odd needlefish, halfbeaks, and flying fishes. As a group, it is fair to say that the Atherinomorpha contain some pretty unusual fishes. The purpose of this project was to gain a further understanding of the unique feeding kinematics of Atheriniform fishes using the rainbowfish as an exemplar species. Feeding kinematics were quantified using high speed video recording unrestrained feeding events. Three feeding events from five individuals were analyzed frame by frame, from the time of the mouth opening to mouth closing. The X,Y coordinates of seven specific points were used to calculate the following kinematic variables: cranial elevation, gape distance, premaxillary protrusion, and hyoid depression. The contribution of cranial elevation to the strike was inconsistent. At times the fish raised the head as they expanded the mouth for prey capture, and at other times they did not. Cranial elevation is theoretically important for expanding the head during suction prey capture. Hyoid depression was more consistent, and clearly contributed to expansion of the head elements. Premaxillary protrusion contributed strongly to the event, and the jaws are closed with the premaxilla still protruded, facilitating a ‘nipping’ style jaw closure. A nipping style of prey capture is much like the Cyprinodontiforms, however, in rainbowfish, the event was quicker, and appeared to rely heavily on suction. We used both cleared and stained specimens and CT scans to investigate the underlying morphology of rainbowfish. These images revealed nearly microscopic teeth on the exterior of the jaws, and other features associated with feeding on highly elusive prey (i.e. prey that are mobile and likely to be able to escape predation). Further examination revealed a surprisingly well developed set of pharyngeal jaws, secondary to the oral jaws. The structure of the pharyngeal jaws suggested that most of the prey processing occurred within the pharynx.
ContributorsLerma, Sarahi (Author) / Ferry, Lara A. (Thesis director) / Hackney Price, Jennifer (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Background: Both puberty and diets composed of high levels of saturated fats have been shown to result in central adiposity, fasting hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. While a significantly insulinogenic phenotypic change occurs in these two incidences, glucose homeostasis does not appear to be affected. Methods: Male, Sprague-dawley rats were fed diets consisting of CHOW or low fat (LF), High Fat Diet and High Fat Diet (HFD) with supplementary Canola Oil (Monounsaturated fat). These rats were given these diets at 4-5 weeks old and given intraperitoneal and oral glucose tolerance tests(IPGTT; OGTT) at 4 and 8 weeks to further understand glucose and insulin behavior under different treatments. (IPGTT: LF-n=14, HFD-n=16, HFD+CAN-n=12; OGTT: LF-n=8, HFD-n=8, HFD+CAN-n=6). Results: When comparing LF fed rats at 8 weeks with 4 week glucose challenge test, area under the curve (AUC) of glucose was 1.2 that of 4 weeks. At 8 weeks, HFD fed rats AUCg was much greater than LF fed rats under both IPGTT and OGTT. When supplemented with Canola oil, HFD fed rats AUC returned to LF data range. Despite the alleviating glucose homeostasis affects of Canola oil the AUC of insulin curve, which was elevated by HFD, remained high. Conclusion: HFD in maturing rats elevates fasting insulin levels, increases insulin resistance and lowers glucose homeostasis. When given a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) supplement fasting hyperinsulinemia, and late hyperinsulinemia still occur though glucose homeostasis is regained. For OGTT HFD also induced late hyper c-peptide levels and compared to LF and HFD+CAN, a higher c-peptide level over time.
ContributorsRay, Tyler John (Author) / Caplan, Michael (Thesis director) / Herman, Richard (Committee member) / Towner, Kali (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Nucleic acids encode the information required to create life, and polymerases are the gatekeepers charged with maintaining the storage and flow of this genetic information. Synthetic biologists utilize this universal property to modify organisms and other systems to create unique traits or improve the function of others. One of the many realms in synthetic biology involves the study of biopolymers that do not exist naturally, which is known as xenobiology. Although life depends on two biopolymers for genetic storage, it may be possible that alternative molecules (xenonucleic acids – XNAs), could be used in their place in either a living or non-living system. However, implementation of an XNA based system requires the development of polymerases that can encode and decode information stored in these artificial polymers. A strategy called directed evolution is used to modify or alter the function of a protein of interest, but identifying mutations that can modify polymerase function is made problematic by their size and overall complexity. To reduce the amount of sequence space that needs to be samples when attempting to identify polymerase variants, we can try to make informed decisions about which amino acid residues may have functional roles in catalysis. An analysis of Family B polymerases has shown that residues which are involved in substrate specificity are often highly conserved both at the sequence and structure level. In order to validate the hypothesis that a strong correlation exists between structural conservation and catalytic activity, we have selected and mutated residues in the 9°N polymerase using a loss of function mutagenesis strategy based on a computational analysis of several homologues from a diverse range of taxa. Improvement of these models will hopefully lead to quicker identification of loci which are ideal engineering targets.
ContributorsHaeberle, Tyler Matthew (Author) / Chaput, John (Thesis director) / Chen, Julian (Committee member) / Larsen, Andrew (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US. Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) scans are speculated to reduce lung cancer mortality. However LDCT scans impose multiple risks including false-negative results, false- positive results, overdiagnosis, and cancer due to repeated exposure to radiation. Immunosignaturing is a new method proposed to screen and detect lung cancer, eliminating the risks associated with LDCT scans. Known and blinded primary blood sera from participants with lung cancer and no cancer were run on peptide microarrays and analyzed. Immunosignatures for each known sample collectively indicated 120 peptides unique to lung cancer and non-cancer participants. These 120 peptides were used to determine the status of the blinded samples. Verification of the results from Vanderbilt is pending.
ContributorsNguyen, Geneva Trieu (Author) / Woodbury, Neal (Thesis director) / Zhao, Zhan-Gong (Committee member) / Stafford, Phillip (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Using DNA nanotechnology a library of structures of various geometries have been built; these structures are modified chemically and/or enzymatically at nanometer precisions. With DNA being chemically very stable, these structures can be functionalized through an abundance of well-established protocols. Additionally, they can be used for various biological and medicinal purposes, such as drug delivery. For in vivo applications, the DNA nanostructures must have a long circulation life in the bloodstream; otherwise, they could be easily excreted shortly after entry. One way of making these nanostructures long lasting in the blood is to cover them with the biocompatible polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG). Adding DNA to PEG before forming structures has been found to interfere in the hybridization of the DNA in the structure, resulting in formation of deformed structures. In this study we have developed a new methodology based on "click chemistry" (CC) to modify the surface of DNA nanostructures with PEG after they are formed. These structures can then be used for in vivo studies and potential applications in the future.
ContributorsSmith, Eric Lynn (Author) / Yan, Hao (Thesis director) / Liu, Yan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The prospect of anti-aging or life extension technology is controversial in biogerentology but deemed even by skeptical experts to warrant discussion. I discuss the justifications that the probability of life extension technology being developed in the near future is reasonably high and that this research justifies the time and money it receives. I investigate potential ethical and societal issues anti-aging technology might create. This paper addresses inequality of access, economic cost, changes in quality of life, the role of death in human life, if and how the technology should be regulated and how parties who choose not to undergo treatment can be fairly treated, even when they are a minority.
ContributorsGlesener, Julia Hannah (Author) / McGregor, Joan (Thesis director) / DeSerpa, Allan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
For many pre-health and graduate programs, organic chemistry is often the most difficult prerequisite course that students will take. To alleviate this difficulty, an intelligent tutoring system was developed to provide valuable feedback to practice problems within organic chemistry. This paper focuses on the design and use of an intelligent input parser for nomenclature questions within this system. Students in Dr. Gould's Fall 2014 organic chemistry class used this system and their data was collected to analyze the effectiveness of the input parser. Overall the students' feedback was optimistic and there was a positive relationship between test scores and student use of the system.
ContributorsHusarcik, Edward Andrew (Author) / Gould, Ian (Thesis director) / VanLehn, Kurt (Committee member) / Beerman, Eric (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05