<p>Gene expression analysis has evolved as an extensive toolfor elucidation of various biological and molecular eventsoccurring in different organisms. A variety of techniques andsoftware tools have been developed to enable easier and morerapid means of exploring the genetic information. A moreeffective approach than exploring the whole content of genesexpressed under certain conditions is to study fingerprintassays or to use subtracted cDNA libraries to identify onlydifferentially expressed genes.</p><p>The objective for the work in this thesis has been toexplore differentially expressed genes in atherosclerosis. Thiswas done by applying and modifying a protocol for thesubtractive approach RDA (Representational Difference Analysis)in different model systems.</p><p>Initially, the molecular effects of an anti-atheroscleroticdrug candidate were elucidated. In addition, two alternativeapproaches to identify differentially expressed genes obtainedafter iterative rounds of RDA subtraction cycles wereevaluated. This revealed that in most cases, the shotgunapproach in which the obtained gene fragments are clonedwithout any prior selection has clear advantages compared tothe more commonly used selection strategy, whereby distinctbands are excised after gel electrophoresis.</p><p>A key process in the atherosclerotic plaque initiation isthe phenotypic change of macrophages into foam cells, which canbe triggered in a model system by using macrophages exposed tooxidised LDL. To investigate the genes expressed in thisprocess, the RDA technique was combined with microarrayanalysis, which allows for selectivity and sensitivity throughRDA, as well as rapid high-throughput analysis usingmicroarrays. The combination of these techniques enablessignificant differences in gene expression to be detected, evenfor weakly expressed genes and the results to be reliablyvalidated in a high throughput manner.</p><p>Finally, investigation of the focal nature ofatherosclerotic lesions and gene expression profiling werestudied using in vivo aortic tissues from ApoE-/- and LDLR -/-mice. The study was based on a comparison between localisationsthat are likely, and others that are unlikely, to developatherosclerotic plaques, and the RDA technique was employed toexplore differential gene expression.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Representational Difference Analysis,atherosclerosis, gene expression profiling</p>

Thesis (M.A..)--Marshall University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains 95 pages. Includes bibliographical references p. 94-95.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

ITC/USA 2013 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Ninth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 21-24, 2013 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / Telemetry ground stations spread over geographically diverse areas are well suited for use in passively locating the source of a distant transmitted signal. In a favorable positioning of receive sites, the accuracy of these passive localization techniques can compete with the accuracy of radars. In these cases, use of receive only assets is a less expensive alternative than the use of a radar's scarce resources. Until recently, the major technical challenge to implementation of the passive localization techniques of time-difference of arrival (TDOA) and frequency-difference of arrival (FDOA) has been the frequency and time stability of geographically separated receivers. Advances in GPS based timing and frequency references has made the implementation of TDOA and FDOA feasible. This paper shows how these limitations have been overcome using the current telemetry assets at the Reagan Test Site in Kwajalein Atoll.

published_or_final_version / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Frontal encephalographic (EEG) alpha asymmetry has been proposed as a measure of the relative difference in average cortical activity between the right and left anterior cortex, where this difference is taken as a physiological marker of trait and state level variables associated with affect. The validity of asymmetry as an indicator of both physiological and psychological variables is in part determined by the psychometric properties of asymmetry scores. The present studies focus on the psychometric assessment of frontal alpha asymmetry measured during rest. The first study involves a novel approach in the assessment of the internal consistency reliability of asymmetry scores. Previous studies estimated internal consistency reliability via Cronbach's alpha, using a relatively small set of asymmetry score that summarized activity over segments of the EEG data (e.g. one minute). Such an approach, however, will create estimates dependent on the number of segments utilized rather than the total amount of data recorded. Thus in the first study, individual FFT epochs were treated as items, thereby maximizing the total number of items used to estimate internal consistency reliability. Results of this study suggest internal consistency reliability is greater than previously reported, and as such, the duration of resting EEG data necessary to achieve a reasonable reliability criterion may be shorter than the current standard. In the second study, asymmetry scores were assessed as a specific case of difference scores, which are susceptible to a statistical artifact associated with differences in true-score variance for the component measures. Predicted asymmetry scores associated with the statistical artifact were obtained by estimating the true-score variance of right and left alpha power. The use of hierarchical linear regression showed some influence of the statistical artifact on the relationship between asymmetry scores and a measure of depressive severity, suggesting that some caution may be warranted in interpreting asymmetry results with relatively small effect sizes.

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