http://hdl.handle.net/1957/18339 Wed, 22 May 2013 15:01:38 GMT 2013-05-22T15:01:38Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38700 Effect of Temperature on Osmotic Tolerance Limits for Adherent Endothelial Cells Huang, Kenneth Cryopreservation depends on the equilibration of cells with high concentration of cryoprotective agents (CPAs). However, the addition of CPAs can induce damages to the cells. One of the damages is due to too much shrinkage or swell of the cell volume which lead to the cell death during the addition or removal of CPAs procedure. Therefore, it is important to optimize the tolerance limits of cell volume. The goal of this research is to investigate the effect of temperature on the tolerance limits of cell volume. The experiments are carried out with Bovine Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells (BPAEC), which are exposed to different NaCl treatment for fifteen minutes. The metabolic rates are later measured by the presto blue viability reagent. There are finding that at low temperature data there is a relatively high cell survival when exposing to extreme hypotonic or hypertonic solutions; and relatively low cell survival for the high temperature data set. Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38700 2013-05-21T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38189 The Relationship Between Institutional Internalization and Organic Solidarity Martinez, Angel M. This paper will focus on the relationship between institutional internalization and organic solidarity. Being that there is a wide verity of different institutions, this writing will focus primarily on only religion, politics, and education. The internalization of the individual from each of these institutions greatly effects their beliefs, desires, and action, which as a result branches out into society from a mechanical solidarity operation into a more organic solidarity operation. Organic solidarity will depend on individuals in their respected association, to internalize their specific role. A control variable was used in this research to detect any spurious relationships that may change the final data and to avoid a type I or II error. The controlled variables used were five different categorizes of religious affiliation. Without the controlled variable the significance of the relationship between Institutional Internalization and Organic Solidarity was only .179. With the five controlled variables applied there was no significance found. With an additional Regression Analysis calculated there was minimal significance found with specific variables. Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38189 2013-04-15T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38016 Discovering the roles of myosin and exocyst proteins in cell expansion of Arabidopsis thaliana Goodrich, Danielle The overall objective of this research was to determine which, if any, myosin XI proteins and exocyst proteins play a role in growth of Arabidopsis thaliana hypocotyls and root hairs. This involved the study of whether exocyst and myosin proteins work together during cell expansion within these two plant parts. Another objective was to determine why some protein mutants grew shorter hypocotyls or root hairs than the Col-0 Wildtype (WT). To explore the answers to these questions, I performed many hypocotyl and root hair measurements of WT and various protein mutants. The results indicated that shortened hypocotyls are due to shortened cells in the hypocotyls rather than less cells. Results also pointed toward the theory that shortened root hair cells are due to slower growth rather than growth to a certain point before it is stopped. Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38016 2013-04-04T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38015 Sodium/Proton Antiporter Activity is Essential for Virulence of Yersinia pestis Faulkner, Wyatt J.; Ghosh, Amit; Minato, Yusuke; Winogrodzki, Judith; Lind, Erin; Plano, Gregory V.; Hinnebusch, Joseph B.; Dibrov, Pavel; Hase, Claudia C. We found that a strains of Yersinia pestis (KIM5) which lacked the nhaA gene was fully attenuated in a plague model. This gene produces a protein of the sodium-proton antiporter family which expel sodium ions from the bacterial cytoplasm in exchange for hydrogen ions, or protons, from the surrounding environment. A Y. pestis strain that contained the nhaA mutation showed a significant decrease in its ability to survive in both sheep’s blood and serum. Decreased growth rates were also observed when the nhaA deficient strain was tested in the artificial serum media Opti-MEM® when compared to the wild type strain. A similar growth phenotype was observed when wild type and nhaA mutant strains were tested in LB media set to mimic pH and salt conditions of blood. These observations indicate that sodium-proton antiporter activity of Y. pestis is essential for the survival of the bacterium in certain environments, such as the blood of an infected host. 2-aminopyrimidine was used to inhibit NhaA activity, and when tested in Opti-MEM®, bacterial growth rates decreased. These findings lead us to propose that sodium-proton antiporter inhibition is a novel way of treating bacterial blood-borne diseases. Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/1957/38015 2013-04-04T00:00:00Z