Athletic activities have always carried an inherent risk for injuries, and basketball is no
exception. Basketball is the second most popular team sport in the United States in
which 984,777 high school boys and girls participated during the 2010-2011 season.
Athletic trainers and strength and conditioning staff are pressured to...
There are clues that suggest human breast cancer cells use collagen fibers to migrate, and vinculin is a transmembrane protein associated with how cells attach to their environment. Therefore, immunostaining for the vinculin will shed some light in how human breast cancer cells are attaching to their environment. Immunostaining for...
Ferlins are a family of calcium-sensitive proteins involved in fusion and fission membrane trafficking events. There are six ferlin members: dysferlin, otoferlin, myoferlin, Fer1L4, Fer1L5, and Fer1L6. Previous research shows the first three ferlins play a pathophysiological role in humans, while the other three remain uncharacterized. Fer1L6 is one of...
Ubiquitous fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposures significantly impact global public health, yet little is known about the mechanisms causing these known adverse health effects. Oxidative stress due to PM2.5 associated chemical constituents, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), is a proposed possible mechanism for PM2.5 mediated health effects. Variations in...
Constant and reliable health monitoring can help doctors provide higher quality
health care to meet the growing needs of the medical industry. The advent of
cloud computing has enabled low-cost sensor devices that can process their data
in real-time without powerful onboard hardware. Using an Android smartphone,
medical data can...
The addition of a weather ballooning program at Western Oregon University creates research opportunities for the Science Department, allows for projects in professional development for in-service teachers, fosters a partnership with Oregon Space Grant, and creates another option for students participating in the Program for Undergraduate Research Experiences. As the...
The purpose of this thesis was to determine if an underlying biological cause exists for the exuberant reproductive success in free-roaming unowned (FRU) cats. The hypothesis for this thesis was that FRU tom and queen cats have reproductively adapted to man-made sterilization efforts by lowering the age at which they...
Information about social and economic attributes of fisheries, fishing communities, and fishery participants is important for marine resource management because the focuses of agency efforts are on managing society's impacts to the marine environment. This thesis addresses two questions. First, what are the perspectives of managers, scientists, and commercial and...
Aging is a complex biological phenomenon that alters many different physiological processes. Although many age-related phenotypes, such as neurodegeneration, weakening circadian rhythms, and inflammaging, are well-studied, the links between them are not. To elucidate these links we created an inflammation-like state in Drosophila melanogaster by overexpressing Relish (Rel), an NFκB...
RNA silencing plays a critical role in plant defense against viral infection. Plants use virusderived
small interfering RNA to target and silence invading viruses. The antiviral silencing
pathway can be broken down into three conceptual stages: initiation, amplification, and systemic
movement. The molecular mechanisms of silencing initiation are not well...
This project is a series of handmade books, utilizing various binding methods and artistic mediums, exploring the subject of interpersonal relationships. The project’s purpose is twofold: first, to explore the utilitarian side of bookbinding as a craft, as well as the different mediums (including printmaking, drawing, painting, and stitching) that...