OPUS: Open Ulethbridge Scholarship
Open ULeth Scholarship (OPUS) is the University of Lethbridge's open access research repository. It contains a collection of materials related to research and teaching produced by the academic community.
Self-archiving your research in OPUS is one way to meet Open Access policies of granting agencies. It is important to retain your final, post-peer-reviewed drafts for submission to OPUS, as this is often the only version publishers will allow to be archived. Click here for information on the U of L Open Access Policy.
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Trait aggression and its impact on memory for violent information
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Psychology, 2025) Reinink, Michelle R.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Mansour, Jamal
I investigated whether an individual difference, specifically trait aggression, affects how violent information is remembered. My main hypothesis was that participants with higher trait aggression would better remember details of violence and be more accurate in identifying the perpetrators of violent actions than those with lower scores, while memory for non-violent events would not differ based on trait aggression. To test this, I used an eyewitness memory paradigm wherein participants watched a violent or non-violent video and indicated how aggressive they perceived the content and the person who committed the violent/non-violent act to be. Memory for the videos was measured with recall and recognition questions for the people in the videos. During the delay between the video and the lineups, participants completed the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Buss & Perry, 1992). Next, participants completed a target-present or target-absent lineup for each of the two individuals from the video. Contrary to my hypothesis, increased trait aggression was not associated with increased memory for violent events, though it was associated with biased perceptions. Participants high in trait aggression perceived more aggression in non-violent videos and less aggression in violent ones than participants low in trait aggression. An implication of this research is that if an eyewitness perceives relatively neutral information as aggressive, this could affect how administrators of justice perceive the suspect, in turn potentially affecting investigations and subsequent sentencing.
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Biophysical characterization of Zika virus terminal region interactions
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2025) Kerr, Liam A.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Patel, Trushar R.
Recent viral threats have intensified research into viral mechanisms and the various interactions during their viral life cycle. Viruses such as Zika virus have continued to threaten healthcare systems around the globe, with large outbreaks affecting over 3 million people within the last decade. While viral proteins have received significant attention, the untranslated terminal regions (TRs) flanking the single-stranded RNA genome play crucial roles in the viral life cycle. These TRs facilitate replication through interactions with host/viral proteins and through self-association via cyclization, which regulates transcription and translation. This thesis characterizes the biophysical and cellular properties of this cyclization interaction and the TRs interaction with the host protein FXR1. Using size exclusion multi-angle light scattering and analytical ultracentrifugation, we defined the hydrodynamic profiles of the TRs and FXR1. Microscale thermophoresis quantified the affinity and specificity of the TRs cyclization interaction, as well as the affinity of FXR1 for the TRs. Cellular studies further demonstrated that TR mutations disrupting cyclization drastically reduce viral replication. Collectively, this work identifies a sequence specific interaction governing Zika virus replication and establishes a foundation for characterizing the TR-FXR1 interaction, offering potential targets for future therapeutic development.
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The impact of mRNA modifications on ribosomal decoding: a molecular dynamics simulation study
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2025) Lea, Mark J.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Wetmore, Stacey D.
Post-transcriptional RNA modifications are key regulators of translational accuracy and efficiency. While ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA) modifications have well-characterized roles in protein synthesis, the functions of messenger RNA (mRNA) codon modifications are less understood. However, growing evidence suggests that mRNA codon modifications can modulate translation. Naturally occurring mRNA modifications can be enzymatically added, such as inosine (I), which is incorporated into mRNA codons to expand decoding capacity and remodel the proteome. Alternatively, modifications can result from damage to mRNA codons, such as the alkylative lesions 1-methylguanosine (m1G) and 2-methylguanosine (m2G), which can have potentially unpredictable and harmful consequences. This thesis developed a large-scale computational model of the ribosomal A-site (>370,000 atoms) and performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to understand the position-dependent structural effects of the inosine, m1G, and m2G codon modifications. These investigations revealed that modified codons associated with experimentally-observed reduced peptide formation rates exhibit tRNA dissociation or distorted decoding center geometries. In contrast, modified codons with negligible effects on experimental rates maintain A-site conformations that promote productive decoding. Thus, this thesis provides mechanistic insight into how mRNA modifications can regulate translation at the atomic level and establishes a robust computational method for future studies that strive to understand the roles of numerous additional RNA modifications during translation.
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AI-powered speech device as a tool for neuropsychological assessment of an older adult population: a preliminary study
(Elsevier, 2025) Aguilar Ramirez, Daniela E.; Grasse, Lukas; Stone, Scott; Tata, Matthew; Gonzalez, Claudia L. R.
As the older adult population continues to expand, the demands on the healthcare system intensifies, necessitating the development of technologies that effectively accommodate the requirements of older adults. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems hold promise as a solution, they have not been designed to accommodate the sensory and cognitive changes typical of aging individuals. The current study investigates the use of an AI-powered communication device for the assessment of neuropsychological tests to an older adult population. Twenty-four (twelve females) older adult participants completed three memory tasks using the AI device: logical memory, poem recall, and the backward and sequencing digit span tests. Significant negative correlations were found between the age of the participants and performance on the Logical memory and digit span tests. The AI device effectively identified age-related memory changes comparable to those observed with human administrators. Implementing this technology in healthcare offers several advantages: alleviating healthcare professionals' workload, improving standard of care by reaching underserved populations, and facilitating continuous screening for early identification of prodromal stages of neurodegenerative diseases.
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Salinity causes widespread restriction of methane emissions from small inland waters
(Springer Nature, 2024) Soued, Cynthia; Bogard, Matthew J.; Finlay, Kerri; Bortolotti, Lauren E.; Leavitt, Peter R.; Badiou, Pascal; Knox, Sara H.; Jensen, Sydney; Mueller, Peka; Lee, Sung Ching; Ng, Darian; Wissel, Björn; Chan, Chun Ngai; Page, Bryan; Kowal, Paige
Inland waters are one of the largest natural sources of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, but emissions models and estimates were developed for solute-poor ecosystems and may not apply to salt-rich inland waters. Here we combine field surveys and eddy covariance measurements to show that salinity constrains microbial CH4 cycling through complex mechanisms, restricting aquatic emissions from one of the largest global hardwater regions (the Canadian Prairies). Existing models overestimated CH4 emissions from ponds and wetlands by up to several orders of magnitude, with discrepancies linked to salinity. While not significant for rivers and larger lakes, salinity interacted with organic matter availability to shape CH4 patterns in small lentic habitats. We estimate that excluding salinity leads to overestimation of emissions from small Canadian Prairie waterbodies by at least 81% ( ~ 1 Tg yr−1 CO2 equivalent), a quantity comparable to other major national emissions sources. Our findings are consistent with patterns in other hardwater landscapes, likely leading to an overestimation of global lentic CH4 emissions. Widespread salinization of inland waters may impact CH4 cycling and should be considered in future projections of aquatic emissions.