UNT Theses and Dissertations - 55 Matching Results

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The Acute Toxic Effects of the Synthetic Cannabinoid, JWH-018 on the Cardiovascular and Neuroendocrine Systems in Ictalurus punctatus (Channel Catfish)

Description: Cannabinoid (CB) receptors have been found in most vertebrates that have been studied. The location of various CB receptors in the body and brain are known, but their physiological functions are not fully understood. The effects CBs have on the cardiovascular system have been of growing interest in recent years. Increasing reports from emergency departments and law enforcement agencies detail acute cardiovascular and psychological effects from synthetic CB intoxication, such as JWH-018. This ma… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Taylor, Dedric Esmond
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Aging Is a Determinant in Anoxia Stress Tolerance in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Description: Oxygen availability is critical for survival for most organisms. The nematode, C. elegans, has been useful for studying genetic regulation of anoxia tolerance due to the oxygen deprivation response mechanisms shared with other metazoans. Studies examining long-term anoxia (72h, LTA) tolerance have only been conducted at adult day 1. To investigate the effect of aging on anoxia tolerance wild-type and mutant strains were exposed to LTA between adult day 1 and day 9. Wild-type isolates and daf-16… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Goy, Jo M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Antimicrobial and Anti-Platelet Activity in Botanical Extracts of Plants Collected in Northern Thailand

Description: The purpose of my research work was to assess a variety of Northern Thailand plants tissue extracts for antibacterial and anti-platelet aggregation activity. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration assay method was used to assess antimicrobial activity of plant extracts, while the Zebrafish Platelet Aggregation Assay and the in vitro Whole Human Blood Impedance Aggregation Assay were used to study anti-platelet activity. Forty one plant extracts harvested from the tissues of 26 plants collected fr… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Patcharapinyopong, Thanasan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Benthic Macroinvertebrates of Temperate, Sub-Antarctic Streams: The Effects of Altitudinal Zoning and Temperature on the Phenology of Aquatic Insects Associated to the Robalo River, Navarino Island (55°S), Chile

Description: The Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, within the remote Sub-Antarctic ecoregion is a reservoir of expressions of biological and cultural diversity. Although it is considered one of 24 wilderness areas remaining in the world, it is not free from local and global threats, such as invasive species, and climate change. Field biologists and philosophers associated to the Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation Program and the Omora Ethnobotanical Park, have worked to describe the region’s biocultural dive… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Contador Mejías, Tamara Andrea
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Biogeographic Distribution of Caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) within the South-Central United States

Description: Through the use of natural history records, published literature, and personal sampling (2011-2016) a total of 454 caddisfly species represented by 24 families and 93 genera were documented from the south-central United States. Two Hydroptilidae species were collected during the 2011-2016 collection efforts that are new to the region: Hydroptilia scheringi and Mayatrichia tuscaloosa. Eightteen species are endemic and 30 are considered species of concern by either federal or state agencies. The … more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Perry, Heather Ann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Bobwhite Population Decline: Its History, Genetic Consequences, and Studies on Techniques for Locating and Assessing Current Populations

Description: The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) population decline is a severe, rangewide phenomenon beginning >150 years ago and continuing today. In this investigation, I: 1. document the timeline of bobwhite population decline and unintended genetic consequences of attempted remedies, 2) develop a model useful for predicting possible locations of potentially sustainable bobwhite populations in semiarid rangeland in Texas and Oklahoma, and 3) examine the relationship between population monitoring… more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Whitt, Jeffrey Glen
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Cardiovascular Fetal Programming in Quail (Colinus virginianus), An Avian Comparative Model

Description: The consequences of early embryonic insults and how they affect subsequent life reflects the emerging concept of "fetal programming". The aim of this project is to study the effects of embryonic insults as they subsequently manifest themselves in adults, with emphasis on the heart and vasculature. My experiments establish that fetal programming operates on the bobwhite quail inducing similar changes as those observed in mammalians and other birds. The quail's fast development provides reliable … more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Flores Santin, Josele R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries

Ceramide Biosynthesis and NEET Proteins Impact Development, Function, and Maintenance of the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline

Description: I used the C. elegans genetic model to examine the role of ceramide biosynthesis (sphingolipid pathway) and iron regulation and found that each process impacts germline development and function. Using a sphingolipid specific antibody mAb15B4, I found that sphingolipids are associated with germ granules (P granules) within C. elegans and zebrafish; thus, suggesting conservation of macromolecules associated with germ granules. Phenotype analysis of ceramide biosynthesis mutants in C. elegans reve… more
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Date: August 2019
Creator: King, Skylar Dawn
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Characteristics of Primary Cilia and Centrosomes in Neuronal and Glial Lineages of the Adult Brain

Description: Primary cilia are sensory organelles that are important for initiating cell division in the brain, especially through sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling. Several lines of evidence suggest that the mitogenic effect of Shh requires primary cilia. Proliferation initiated by Shh signaling plays key roles in brain development, in neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus, and in the generation of glial cells in response to cortical injury. In spite of the likely involvement of cilia in these events, little … more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Bhattarai, Samip Ram
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Characterizing the Molecular Changes of Austrofundulus limnaeus As It Develops Towards and Enters Diapause II

Description: Austrofundulus limnaeus is a species of annual killifish which inhabits ephemeral ponds in South America. The species is able to survive seasonally desiccating ponds due to their ability to produce robust embryos. The embryos of this species are capable of entering a developmental arrest, termed diapause II, which precedes the onset of drought. While in this arrested state embryos exhibit the greatest tolerance to anoxia of any characterized vertebrate at 25ºC. Furthermore, when raised at 30ºC,… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Toni, Lee S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Determination of Bioconcentration Potential of Selected Pharmaceuticals in Fathead Minnow, Pimephales promelas, and Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus

Description: The primary objective of this work was to determine the tissue-specific bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of the selected pharmaceuticals: norethindrone (NET), ibuprofen (IBU), verapamil (VER), clozapine (CLZ) and fenofibrate (FFB) in two freshwater fishes: fathead minnow and channel catfish. BCF tests on fathead followed the standard OECD 42-day test while a 14-day abridged test design was used in catfish exposures. Additional objectives included a) comparing the measured BCFs to the US EPA's BC… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Nallani, Gopinath C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Developing a Phylogeny Based Machine Learning Algorithm for Metagenomics

Description: Metagenomics is the study of the totality of the complete genetic elements discovered from a defined environment. Different from traditional microbiology study, which only analyzes a small percent of microbes that could survive in laboratory, metagenomics allows researchers to get entire genetic information from all the samples in the communities. So metagenomics enables understanding of the target environments and the hidden relationships between bacteria and diseases. In order to efficiently … more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Rong, Ruichen
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Ecology and Paleobiogeography of Freshwater Mussels (Family: Unionidae) from Selected River Basins in Texas

Description: This dissertation has two overall objectives: first, to demonstrate the utility of paleozoological data for ongoing and future mussel-conservation efforts in Texas and second, to evaluate whether simple measures of habitat (e.g., water depth, velocity and particle size) are important for demonstrating the within-habitat spatial separation of mussels. Although these topics may seem disparate, both are important for increasing our understanding of unionid ecology and biogeography. Chapters 1 th… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Randklev, Charles R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Ecology and Recolonization of Benthic Macroinvertebrates in a Groundwater-dependent Stream in North Central Texas During a Supra-seasonal Drought

Description: Extreme climatic events such as droughts are known to eliminate aquatic biota and alter community structure and function. Perennial headwater springs provide important drought refugia to benthic macroinvertebrates and an important source of colonists via drift or aerial adults to intermittent streams post-drought. During a supra-seasonal drought in North-central Texas summer and fall 2006, benthic macroinvertebrates from persistent groundwater-dependent macrohabitats of varying hydrological con… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Burk, Rosemary A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Effect of Acute Alcohol Ingestion on Resistance Exercise Induced mTORC1 Signaling in Human Muscle

Description: The purpose of this project was to further elucidate the effects post-exercise alcohol ingestion. This project had many novel aspects including using a resistance exercise (RE) only exercise design and the inclusion of women. To our knowledge, we are the first to investigate the effect of post-RE alcohol ingestion in women. In the first chapter of this project, information on the prevalence of alcohol use and the importance of skeletal muscle as a dynamic and metabolic tissue was provided. In c… more
Date: August 2015
Creator: Duplanty, Anthony A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Effect of Curcumin Supplementation on Physical and Biological Indices of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness and Inflammation Following Muscle Injury

Description: In this project, the effects of dietary polyphenols on exercise-induced muscle damage and vascular health are examined. Dietary polyphenols exert well-known anti-inflammatory effects; however, how these effects are realized with respect to vascular health and EIMD is relatively unknown. I begin by reviewing the available literature surrounding the impact of three dietary polyphenols (curcumin, catechins, and quercetin) on inflammation associated with EIMD. It is well established that their prim… more
Date: May 2015
Creator: Venable, Adam Steven
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Effect of the Resistance Exercise-Induced Hormonal Changes on Satellite Cell Myogenic State

Description: Skeletal muscle satellite cells are important for muscle repairing and muscle mass growth. For a successful muscle regenerative process, satellite cells have to sequentially undergoing different stages of myogenic process, i.e. proliferative state and differentiation state. To support this process, the presence of different circulating factors, such as immune cells, cytokines, and hormones, at the appropriate time course is critical. Among these factors, hormones, such as testosterone, cortisol… more
Date: May 2018
Creator: Luk, Hui Ying
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Effectiveness of Hybrid Problem-Based Learning versus Manual-Based Learning in the Microbiology Laboratory

Description: Promising results from the use of problem-based learning (PBL) as a teaching method in medical programs have encouraged many institutions to incorporate PBL into their curricula. This study investigates how applying hybrid-PBL (H-PBL) in a microbiology laboratory impacts students' higher-order thinking as compared to applying a lecture-based pedagogy. The experimental design compared the learning outcomes of two groups of students: the control group and the H-PBL group, for whom PBL cases compr… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Alharbi, Najwa
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Effects of Brain Injury on Primary Cilia of Glial Cells and Pericytes

Description: Glial cells maintain homeostasis that is essential to neuronal function. Injury to the nervous system leads to the activation and proliferation of glial cells and pericytes, which helps to wall off the damaged region and restore homeostatic conditions. Sonic hedgehog is a mitogen which is implicated in injury-induced proliferation of glial cells and pericytes. The mitogenic effects of sonic hedgehog require primary cilia, but the few reports on glial or pericyte primary cilia do not agree about… more
Date: December 2016
Creator: Coronel, Marco V.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effects of Deepwater Horizon Crude Oil on Visual Function in Teleost Fishes

Description: The Deepwater Horizon oil spill released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, impacting economically and ecologically important fishes. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in the oil have been shown to cause developmental impairments in early life stage fishes, such as morphological and behavioral changes related to eye formation and visual processing following PAH exposure. Prior research reported reduced eye growth in open water, pelagic species, as well as reduce… more
Date: August 2018
Creator: Magnuson, Jason T
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Effects of Inbreeding on Fitness Traits in the Critically Endangered Attwater’s Prairie-chicken

Description: The goals of captive breeding programs for endangered species include preserving genetic diversity and avoiding inbreeding. Typically this is accomplished by minimizing population mean kinship; however, this approach becomes less effective when errors in the pedigree exist and may result in inbreeding depression, or reduced survival. Here, both pedigree- and DNA-based methods were used to assess inbreeding depression in the critically endangered Attwater’s prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido … more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Hammerly, Susan C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Effects of Peripheral Nerve Injury on the Cells of the Dorsal Root Ganglion: a Role for Primary Cilia

Description: Primary cilia are ubiquitous sensory organelles found on most cell types including cells of the dorsal root ganglia (DRG). The DRG are groups of peripheral neurons that relay sensory information from the periphery to the CNS. Other cell types in the DRG include a type of glial cell, the satellite glial cells (SGCs). The SGCs surround the DRG neurons and, with the neurons, form functional sensory units. Currently are no reports describing the numbers of DRG cells that have cilia. We found tha… more
Date: December 2012
Creator: Smith, Sarah K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Endocrine Disruption of Levonorgestrel in Early-life Stages of Fathead Minnows, Pimephales Promelas

Description: Pharmaceuticals have routinely been detected in the environment resulting in a growing concern about whether these drugs could elicit effects on aquatic organisms. The concerns are centered on the highly conserved nature of mammalian therapeutic targets in fish. These pharmaceuticals are found at very low levels in the environment, which can result in sub-lethal effects in aquatic organisms. Therefore, 28 d early-life stage studies were conducted on six pharmaceuticals to assess their impact… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Overturf, Matthew D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Environmental Modulation of the Onset of Air-breathing of the Siamese Fighting Fish and the Blue Gourami

Description: This study determined the effect of hypoxia on air-breathing onset and physiological and morphological characters in larvae of the air breathing fishes Trichopodus trichopterus and Betta splendens. Larvae were exposed intermittently (12/12 h daily) to 20, 17, and 14 kPa of PO2 from 1 to 40 days post-fertilization. Survival, onset of air breathing, wet body mass, O2, Pcrit were measured every 5 dpf. Hypoxia advanced by 4 days, and delayed by 9 days, the onset of air breathing in Betta and Trich… more
Date: December 2015
Creator: Mendez Sanchez, Jose Fernando
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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