Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) ranks among the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the world and effects millions of patients each year. Progression of ALD is well characterized and is actually a spectrum of liver diseases, which progresses...
The properties of gold nanoparticles (GNP) holds promising potential for drug delivery, diagnostics, plasmonic photothermal therapy of diseases, electronics, catalysis, and photovoltaics (Liu et al., 2006; Huang et al., 2003; Thompson, 2007;...
This dissertation demonstrates an elegant method, known as 'micro-origami' or strain architecture to design and fabricate three-dimensional MEMS structures which are assembled using actuation of a metal-oxide bilayer with conventional planar...
Bcl-2 proteins are major regulators of cellular responses to various apoptotic stimuli. Among them, overexpression of the anti-apoptotic BcI-2 protein BcI-xL modulates organelle-specific apoptotic pathways. To understand the mechanisms by which...
Heart--Diseases--Diagnosis; Diagnostic imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Imaging systems in medicine
Many cardiac diseases, such as myocardial ischemia, secondary to coronary artery disease, may be identified and localized through the analysis of cardiac deformations. Early efforts for quantifying ventricular wall motion used surgical implantation...
High solids processing of biomass slurries provides the following benefits: maximized product concentration in the fermentable sugar stream, reduced water usage, and reduced reactor size. However, high solids processing poses mixing and heat...
Archaeologists use soil analysis to detect chemicals, like phosphate, to indicate areas of anthropogenic activity. Phosphate detection is a multi-step process, which makes standard techniques time consuming. Kinetic studies decreased the analysis...
Embryonic development requires the orchestration of temporally precise genetic events that culminate in the formation of a complete organism. The molecular mechanisms responsible for ontogenesis are regulated by environmental and somatic factors in...
Na,K-ATPase is essential for the regulation of cytoplasmic Na+ and K+ levels in lens cells. Insufficient Na,K-ATPase activity is associated with cataract formation. Based on earlier studies in which Src-tyrosine kinase inhibitors were found to...
Ground-level ozone forecast models were developed for the following middle and small metropolitan areas in Kentucky: Ashland, Bowling Green, Owensboro, and Paducah. These models were nonlinear regression models, based on models previously developed...
This study compared brief, single sessions of physical activity (PA, self-paced treadmill walking) and relaxation/meditation (R/M, the "Body Scan") on positive and negative affect and anxiety measures in female undergraduates. Both were...
T lymphopoiesis has been an intense focus of immunological research since the discovery of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and T cell mediated transplant rejection. Additionally, researchers have long appreciated the role of T cells, and...
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder that is subdivided into Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and indeterminate colitis (IC). Epidemiological studies have proven that genetic variation increases...
Nuclear Factor of Activated T-cells (NFAT) is a calcium-responsive transcription factor that orchestrates immune response and cardiovascular development. NFAT is also present in neurons and glia from the Central Nervous System (CNS) where it...
Women refugees; Women immigrants; Women--Violence against; Stress management for women
An interest in privileging the voices of women who are marginalized in many parts of the world coupled with knowledge of the restorative properties of music cultivated this qualitative study. Seven women, ages 20-49 years of age, from three...
Varnish and its use has been known since ancient times. Altho the knowledge of varnish has been attributed to the Japanese as early as 500-600 B.C., Tschirsch and A.D. Stevens say that the Japs did not possess this art originally, but that they...
III-nitrides (InN, GaN, AlN) are some of the most promising materials for making blue light emitting diodes (LED), blue laser diodes (LD) and high power, high temperature field effect transistors (FET). Current techniques produce GaN films with...
The first effective impulse to a systematic investigation of the chemistry of food was given by Liebig some fifty years ago. The earliest quantitative analyses of food materials which we have found are those of potatoes reported by George Pearson...
Guanine-rich oligonucleotides (GROs) are being developed as a novel anticancer agents. GROs exhibit potent antiproliferative properties against several malignant cell lines and in established in vivo tumor models. In a recent Phase I clinical trial...
Fantasy fiction, American; Fantasy fiction, Japanese
This creative thesis follows the opening story arc to a larger fiction project in the genre of high fantasy fiction. Structurally and stylistically, by incorporating contemporary contributions to the genre from Japanese popular culture, this story...