Thesiss

Biomarker discovery and statistical modeling reveals the brain activity that supports brain function and dysfunction. Detecting abnormal brain activity is critical for developing biomarkers of disease, elucidating disease mechanisms and evolution, and ultimately improving diseas…

Blast injury has been coined the "signature injury of the Iraq war" resulting in a surge of interest in understanding and addressing the corresponding pathological sequelae. As modern warfare develops into a distinctly guerrilla style combat by smaller terrorist groups against l…

Currently there is no test to accurately predict stillbirth. It is proposed that better identification of placental disease in utero may aid stillbirth prediction and prevention. Pregnancies complicated by reduced fetal movement (RFM) have increased risk of stillbirth. We hypoth…

Advanced technologies have played essential roles in the development of molecular organic geochemistry. In this thesis, we have developed several new techniques and explored their applications, alone and with previous techniques, to paleo-reconstruction. First, we developed a pr…

Background Pregnancies following assisted reproductive technology (ART) are associated with various placental related complications, some of which may be predicted by biomarkers earlier on in the pregnancy. Meanwhile, biomarker profiles in ART pregnancies are altered as compared…

Prostate Cancer (PCa) is a non-cutaneous malignancy in men. Considering the severity of the disease, it is essential to consider the early detection and screening of prostate-specific antigen for decreasing the incidence of death due to this disease. Decipher is a genomic test t…

The diversification and radiation of vascular plants during the Devonian is a critical life event in geological history. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to reconstruct the evolution patterns of early vascular plants through the Devonian and their impacts on terrestr…

Obesity is the most well-established risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), although the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms have yet to be fully described. A growing body of evidence suggests that obesity directly induces chronic subclinical inflammation, which i…

Drug induced liver injury is a leading cause of human illness and a major cause of drug withdrawals from the market. A systems biology approach has the potential to aid toxicology research since toxicological responses are a consequence of multiple non-linear and interdependent …