The Role of Notch3 in Self-Renewal of Adipose Derived Stem Cells

Hannah Logan is an undergraduate student in Biology at Louisiana Tech University. Avery Bryan is an undergraduate student in Biology at Louisiana Tech University. Mengcheng Liu is a graduate student in Biology at Louisiana Tech University. Jamie Newman is an Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech University

Department of Music Student Symposium Honors Recital

The Department of Music Honors Recital is presented at the Student Symposium to recognize excellent progress in performance, scholarship, and creativity in the area of music lesson study. The students perform selections in solo and chamber music repertoire, and original songs composed in Songwriting class

Diurnal rhythm of plasma EPA and DHA in healthy adults

Knowledge of the diurnal variation in circulating omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) may be an important consideration for the development of dosing protocols designed to optimise tissue delivery of these fatty acids. The objective of the current study was to examine the variation in plasma concentrations of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6n-3) over a 24-h period in healthy adults under eating and sleeping conditions generally approximate to a free-living environment. Twenty-one healthy participants aged 25–44 years took part in a single laboratory visit encompassing an overnight stay. EPA and DHA were measured in plasma samples collected every two hours from 22:00 until 22:00 the following day, with all meals being provided at conventional times. Cosinor analysis was used to estimate the diurnal variation in each fatty acid from pooled data across all participants. A significant diurnal variation in the pooled plasma concentrations of both fatty acids was detected. However, evidence of distinct rhythmicity was strongest for DHA. The timing of the peak concentration of DHA was 17:43 with a corresponding nadir at 05:43. In comparison, the observed acrophase for EPA was delayed by three hours, occurring at 20:41, with a nadir at 08:41. This is the first time that the diurnal variation in these important bioactive fatty acids has been described in a sample of healthy adults following a normal pattern of eating and sleeping. In the absence of any dietary intake of EPA and DHA, circulating levels of these fatty acids fall during the overnight period and reach their lowest point in the morning. Consumption of n-3 PUFAs at night time, which counteracts this pattern, may have functional significance

Emerging Adult Resilience

This study examined how emerging adult resilience predicts perceived stress, life satisfaction, and coping skills, while controlling the number of daily hassles. Resilience is the process of overcoming the negative effects of risk exposure, coping successfully with traumatic experiences, and avoiding the negative trajectories associated with risks (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005; Olsson et al., 2003; Pooley & Cohen 2010). Based on previous literature, lowered perceived stress, increased coping skills, and increased life satisfaction have all been related to resilience, though these are looked at individually and not all together (Diener et al., 1985; Ong & Legger, 2022; Wang. 2019). In this study, emerging adults (N = 42) filled out a survey on Qualtrics that measured demographics, resilience, perceived stress, life satisfaction, and coping skills. After controlling the number of daily hassles, resilience did not predict higher perceived stress levels, b = -0.23, SE = 0.47, t(39) = 0.50, p = .622, 95% CI [-1.18, 0.71], sr2 = .01. Resilience did predict higher coping skills, b = 3.03, SE = 0.94, t(39) = 3.23, p = .003, 95% CI [1.13, 4.93], sr2 = .21. However, it was found that resilience did not significantly predict life satisfaction, b = -0.12, SE = 0.26, t(39) = -0.48, p = .636, 95% CI [-0.64, 0.40], sr2 = .004. Results suggest that resilience predicts better coping skills, indicating the importance of building emerging adults’ resilience throughout the lifespan so that recovery ability is heightened after future hard life events

Iron status and iron-vitamin C co-supplementation effects on cognition, subjective mood and fatigue in menstruating, non anaemic women aged 18–49 years

Iron is an essential nutrient required for numerous biological processes, particularly concerning brain function. However, iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency worldwide. Although previous research regarding the effects of iron status and iron supplementation on psychological and physiological outcomes is extensive, there are several methodological limitations relating to heterogeneity in iron status cut-offs, sample populations, and supplementation dosage, duration and formulations. Research has also largely focused on iron deficiency anaemia with less known about non-anaemic iron deficiency (NAID), despite the increased prevalence of NAID among women of reproductive age. Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate iron status and the effects of iron bis-glycinate chelate supplementation on cognitive function, subjective fatigue, mood and wellbeing in iron sufficient (IS) and NAID women of reproductive age. Vitamin C co supplementation was also explored as well as any differential effects of this on cognitive function, subjective fatigue, mood and wellbeing. Chapter 2 describes a cross-sectional study that explored the association of haemoglobin and serum ferritin with cognition, subjective mood, fatigue and wellbeing whilst controlling for the confounding effects of dietary iron, menstrual blood loss, physical activity and body mass index. Chapter 3 describes a systematic review of findings from randomised controlled trials investigating the effects of iron supplementation on cognitive function, mood, fatigue and/or wellbeing in women of reproductive age. Chapters 4 and 5 describe randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel groups trials of a 16-week intervention with iron bis-glycinate chelate or iron/vitamin C co-supplementation. Effects on cognition, subjective mood, fatigue and wellbeing (Chapter 4) and cerebral haemodynamics and whole-body energy metabolism at rest and during cognitive demand (Chapter 5) were assessed in IS and NAID females. Serum ferritin concentrations were positively associated with emotional functioning and mental health. Although iron status improved following iron/vitamin C co-supplementation, treatment effects of both iron and iron/vitamin C were limited and mixed. Iron treatment alone reduced feelings of depression and total mood disturbance yet engendered an unexpected reduction in physical component summary scores. However, iron/vitamin C treatment resulted in improved serial subtraction accuracy whilst increased total haemoglobin concentrations were found during cognitive demand for NAID women compared to IS women. Taken together, these findings suggest that iron treatment can be beneficial for certain aspects of psychological functioning and that the lack of cognitive differences between NAID and IS women of reproductive age may be due to cerebral haemodynamic compensation

The Role of NOTCH3 in Determining Adipose Derived Stem Cell Fate

Jacob Cambre, Hannah Logan, Avery Bryan, and Demi Sandel are undergraduate students in Biology at Louisiana Tech University. Mengcheng Liu and Ngozi Ogbonnaya are graduate students in Biology at Louisiana Tech University. Jamie Newman is a Professor in Biological Sciences at Louisiana Tech University

Use of Heart Rate Index to Predict Oxygen Uptake – A Validation Study

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(7): 1705-1717, 2020. An equation that uses heart rate index (HRI) defined as HR/HRrest to predict oxygen uptake (VO2) in METs (e.g., METs = 6 × HRI ‒ 5) has been developed retrospectively from aggregate data of 60 published studies. However, the prediction error of this model as used by an individual has not been established. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the predictive validity of the HRI equation by comparing submaximal and maximal VO2 predicted by the equation (VO2-Pred) with that measured by indirect calorimetry (VO2-Meas). Sixty healthy adults (age 20.5 ± 2.4 yr., body mass 69.4 ± 13.4 kg, height 1.7 ± 0.1 m) underwent a VO2max test and an experimental trial consisting of a 15-min resting measurement and three successive 10-min treadmill exercise bouts performed at 40%, 60% and 80% of VO2max. VO2 and HR were recorded during both the submaximal and maximal exercises and used to obtain VO2-Pred and VO2-Meas for each intensity and for VO2max. Validation was carried out by paired t-test, regression analysis, and Bland-Altman plots. A modest but significant (p \u3c 0.05) correlation was observed between VO2-Meas and VO2-Pred at 40% (r = 0.58), 60% (r = 0.53), and 80% of VO2max (r = 0.56) and at VO2max (r = 0.50). No differences between VO2-Pred and VO2-Meas were found at 40% (5.53 ± 1.21 vs. 5.28 ± 0.98 METs, respectively) of VO2max, but VO2-Pred was higher (p \u3c 0.05) than VO2-Meas at 60% (8.42 ± 1.77 vs. 7.96 ± 1.39 METs, respectively) and 80% (10.79 ± 2.13 vs. 10.29 ± 1.81 METs, respectively) of VO2max. In contrast, VO2-Pred was lower (p \u3c 0.05) than VO2-Meas at VO2max (12.32 ± 2.30 vs. 13.38 ± 2.24 METs, respectively). Standard errors of the estimate were 0.81, 1.20, 1.54, and 1.97 METs at 40%, 60%, 80% of VO2max and at VO2max, respectively. These results suggest that further investigation aimed to establish the accuracy of using HRI to predict VO2 is warranted

Student Compostiton Recital

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents Student Composition Recital.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1390/thumbnail.jp

Bringing People Back into Public Health Data: Community Feedback on a Set of Visualization Tools - Summary Report

This course-based study is a product of the University of Denver’s Spring 2022 The Social Determination of Health (ANTH 2424) class. The study aimed to understand how well a set of public health visualization tools tells the data stories about people in Colorado, and about important public health problems. For this, a team of almost sixty undergraduate students taking the class, coordinated by three graduate teaching assistants, and directed by the course instructor interviewed a total of fifty-six people from Colorado, qualitatively analyzed those interviews, and wrote reports that draw conclusions and recommendations