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215 h. / La producción de alcohol se encuentra relacionada directamente con la producción de Biocombustibles, debido al desplazamiento de importantes volúmenes de alcohol para su conversión en etanol o alcohol anhídrido; usado como complemento o sustituto de la gasolina. Esta situación ha generado que la caña de azúcar, principal materia prima para la elaboración de alcohol se convierta en un “bien escaso” y sea necesario buscar otras potenciales fuentes para su producción. En el Perú, existe también el potencial para producir el mencionado producto, usando los tubérculos como base, especialmente la papa; a través de la conversión de almidones en azúcares y su posterior fermentación y destilación en alcohol etílico. La presente investigación tiene por finalidad demostrar la viabilidad de la instalación de una planta de producción de alcohol de papa en la provincia de Chota, departamento de Cajamarca, con la intención de atender al mercado interno, con un producto de alta calidad, orientado al uso industrial, farmacéutico y cosmético. La metodología desarrollada comprende la determinación de viabilidad de Mercado, Organizacional, Técnico Operativa, Económica financiera y ambiental. Finalmente se concluye que es viable la instalación de una planta de producción de alcohol en la provincia de Chota.

The chronic and severe executive functioning (EF) and self regulation deficits experienced by children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are well documented and EF and self regulation have been identified as core targets for intervention. The goals of this dissertation were to: (i) examine the effects of a self regulation treatment for children with FASD on a range of EF measures (ii) examine neural markers of treatment outcome and determine if functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can differentiate treatment responders from nonresponders; (iii) determine if treatment effects generalize to child compliance and qualitatively examine the treatment process. Twenty-five children with FASD participated. Using a wait-list control design children were assigned to an immediate treatment (TXT; n = 12) or delayed treatment control (DTC; n = 13) condition. All children received an evaluation of EF and fMRI at baseline and 12-week follow-up. Parents also completed questionnaires assessing EF and behavior as well as a feedback questionnaire upon completion of treatment. A subset of parents tracked compliance over the course of their child’s therapy. For the TXT group only, parent questionnaires were readministered at 6 month follow-up. At 12-week follow-up, children in the TXT group displayed significant improvements in inhibitory control and social cognition. Additionally, parents reported improved behavioral and emotional regulation. This improvement, along with a further improvement in parent-rated inhibitory control, was maintained at the 6-month follow-up. Neuroplastic changes were also observed as the TXT group showed increased BOLD response in the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and left caudate on a task of inhibitory control. When treatment responders were compared to nonresponders a pattern of increased BOLD response was found bilaterally in the PFC and left caudate. Compliance tracking revealed that self regulation therapy generalized to improved child compliance at home. Qualitative analysis indicated that perceived clinician competence, caregiver insight about child’s problems and caregiver perceptions of child’s insight about their problems, were the most commonly endorsed themes by caregivers. Results from this research signify that children with FASD are responsive to psychotherapy and following a brief intervention, showed improvements in self regulatory abilities that generalize to other EF areas and parent-reported behaviors.

One percent of children in North America may be affected by fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). FASD remains difficult to diagnose because confirmation of maternal alcohol use is a diagnostic criterion, and women consuming alcohol during pregnancy are reluctant to divulge this information for fear of stigmatization and losing custody of the child. Consequently, using a biomarker to assess alcohol exposure would provide a tremendous advantage. Recently, the measurement of fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) in hair has provided a powerful tool for assessing alcohol exposure. My thesis fills a translational gap of research between the development of the FAEE hair test and its application in the context of FASD. The guinea pig has been a critical model for FASD research, in which FAEE hair analysis has previously distinguished ethanol-exposed dams/offspring from controls. My first study, reports a positive dose-concentration relationship between alcohol exposure and hair FAEE, in the human, and the guinea pig. Humans also displayed over an order of magnitude higher FAEE incorporation per equivalent alcohol exporsure, suggesting that the test will be a sensitive clinical marker of fetal alcohol exposure. My second study utilized multi-coloured rats to investigate the potential of a hair-colour bias, as has been reported for other clinical hair assays; no evidence of bias is reported here. My third study is the first to examine the clinical use of the FAEE hair test in parents at high risk of having children with FASD. Over one third of parents tested positive for excessive alcohol use. Parents were investigated by social workers working for child protection services, and my fourth study reports that hair FAEE results agree with social worker reports. Individuals highly suspected of abusing alcohol were at a significantly greater risk of testing positive, whereas individuals tested based on other reasons (such as to cover all bases) were negatively associated with testing positive. The last study of my thesis, confirmed an association between alcohol and drug use by parents at high risk for having children with FASD, posing an added risk to children. This work helps bridge a gap in translational research, suggesting that the FAEE hair test has potential for use in FASD diagnosis and research.

The hypotheses of this research were (1) to test if the antagonistic effect of ethanol on liver copper could be seen within a short period when ethanol ingestion, low dietary copper and high metabolic demand represented by either pregnancy plus lactation or rapid growth are simultaneously present and (2) to test if ethanol ingestion would exaggerate a marginal dietary copper status to an obvious copper deficiency. Pregnant rats were fed liquid diets containing either 0.75 (low) or 3.75 (control) mg copper/L with or without 30% of kcal from ethanol throughout gestation and the first 15 days of lactation. Maternal ethanol intake failed to exaggerate a marginal copper status to a copper deficient anemia in both dams and pups as estimated by concentrations of hemoglobin and liver iron and oxidase activity of the copper-metalloenzyme ceruloplasmin. However, maternal ethanol intake did depress maternal liver copper concentration when diet copper was low (interactive effect P<0.05). This effect was specific for liver because other tissue copper concentration was unaffected by ethanol. Although ethanol depressed total pup liver copper concentration regardless of dietary copper level, the interactive effect seen in maternal liver was reflected in copper content of the pup liver metallothionein fraction eluted from a Sephadex G-75 column. At least part of the depressive effect of ethanol on pup liver copper can be explained by elevated pup serum corticosterone (r=-0.61, P<0.001), a hormone known to enhance loss of neonatal liver copper by way of biliary excretion. On the other hand, the copper status of weanling female rats which were fed liquid diets containing either 0.5 (low) or 2.5 (control) mg copper/L for 5 weeks was unaffected by ethanol. Results demonstrate that the depressive effect of ethanol on liver copper can be seen within a period of weeks rather than months when ethanol ingestion, low dietary copper and pregnancy plus lactation are simultaneously present in contrast to non-pregnancy. This ethanol and copper interaction during reproduction, however, can not be detected if only either serum copper or oxidase activity of ceruloplasmin is used as an indicator of copper status. / Graduation date: 1989

Potential thermophiles for ethanol production at elevated temperature were compared based on their kinetic performances. T. thermophilus HB27 demonstrated superior kinetics and its growth was not greatly affected when containing the recombinant plasmid pTEV231. Detailed kinetic studies demonstrated that it could utilize glucose and xylose in medium containing 0.5 % (w/v) yeast extract, and could produce low levels of L-lactate, acetate and ethanol. Kinetic evaluation of the newly isolated G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG showed it could grow on fully defined media and coferment glucose and xylose. G. thermoglucosidasius M10EXG produced higher levels of products (acetate, and L-lactate) at about 2 g/l each, compared to T. thermophilus HB27 although ethanol levels were only 0.1-0.2 g/l in shake flask fermentations under partially aerobic conditions. Improved conditions for natural transformation of T. thermophilus HB27 were determined. Optimal conditions for electroporation of were: Milli-Q water washing of cells rather than with 10% (v/v) glycerol; an electrical field of 5 kV/cm; cell concentration of 1.4x1010 cells/ml; and a DNA concentration of 500 ng in 40 Fl (125 Fg/ml) which achieved a transformation efficiency of 3x103 transformants /Fg DNA. The chloramphenicol resistance (cat) and green fluorescence protein (gfp) genes from pCJS10 were cloned into an E. coli -- T. thermophilus shuttle vector (pMK18) as possible selection markers at elevated temperatures. Both genes were expressed in E. coli DH5H and it was demonstrated that gfp expression in E. coli DH5H decreased as temperature increased to 45oC. However following transformation of T. thermophilus HB27, no evidence of expression were found. The pet operon containing adhT (with its promoter) from G.thermoglucosidasius M10EXG and pdc from Z. mobilis Zm4, was cloned into pMK18 and low level expression in E. coli JM109 occurred with some increase in ethanol production. However the pet operon was not expressed in T. thermophilus with pMK18. For further gene expression studies, a new shuttle vector, pPOPTE (4-5 kb), based on the T. thermophilus plasmid pTEV231 (containing thermostable kanamycin resistance gene) was constructed. pPOPTE was capable of multiplying in both E. coli and T. thermophilus HB27 and demonstrated higher stability and transformation efficiency compared to pMK18.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1988. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-112). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on November 5, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.