Digital Commons Network^™

Salt Marsh Elevation Limit Determined After Subsidence From Hydrologic Change And Hydrocarbon Extraction, R. Eugene Turner, Yu Mo

Faculty Publications

Levee construction aboveground and hydrocarbon removal from belowground in coastal wetlands can create hydrologic changes that increase plant stress through flooding. But the significance of the subsidence they cause individually or in combination is contested. This study untangled them to demonstrate elevational limits of salt marshes by studying dredged and natural waterways in two salt marshes in Louisiana, USA. The areas had a homogenous plant cover before drilling for oil and gas extraction peaked in the 1960s, and now are a mixed network of natural waterways and dredged canals used to drill wells with an average drill date of 1965.8 …

Primordial Scalar Power Spectrum From The Hybrid Approach In Loop Cosmologies, Bao Fei Li, Javier Olmedo, Parampreet Singh, Anzhong Wang

Faculty Publications

We compare the primordial scalar power spectra in the loop cosmological models using the effective dynamics of the hybrid approach to cosmological perturbations in which the background is loop quantized, but the perturbations are Fock quantized. The three loop cosmological models under consideration are the standard loop quantum cosmology (LQC), the modified LQC-I (mLQC-I) and the modified LQC-II (mLQC-II) in the spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe with a Starobinsky potential. These models arise from different regularizations of the classical Hamiltonian constraint in the symmetry reduced spacetimes and aim to capture certain features of quantization in loop quantum gravity. When applying the …

Magnetic Order And Fluctuations In The Quasi-Two-Dimensional Planar Magnet Sr(Co1-Xnix)2as2, Yaofeng Xie, Yu Li, Zhiping Yin, Rui Zhang, Weiyi Wang, Matthew B. Stone, Huibo Cao, D. L. Abernathy, Leland Harriger, David P. Young, J. F. Ditusa, Pengcheng Dai

Faculty Publications

We use neutron scattering to investigate spin excitations in Sr(Co1-xNix)2As2, which has a c-axis incommensurate helical structure of the two-dimensional (2D) in-plane ferromagnetic (FM) ordered layers for 0.013=x=0.25. By comparing the wave vector and energy dependent spin excitations in helical ordered Sr(Co0.9Ni0.1)2As2 and paramagnetic SrCo2As2, we find that Ni doping, while increasing lattice disorder in Sr(Co1-xNix)2As2, enhances quasi-2D FM spin fluctuations. However, our band structure calculations within the combined density functional theory and dynamic mean field theory (DFT+DMFT) failed to generate a correct incommensurate wave vector for the observed helical order from nested Fermi surfaces. Since transport measurements reveal increased …

Bottom-Up Approach To Assess The Molecular Structure Of Aqueous Poly(N‑Isopropylacrylamide) At Room Temperature Via Infrared Spectroscopy, Habtom B. Gobeze, Jianbo Ma, Fedra M. Leonik, Daniel G. Kuroda

Faculty Publications

© 2020 American Chemical Society The structure of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) in solution is still an unresolved topic. Here, the PNIPAM structure in water was investigated using a bottom-up approach, involving the monomer, dimer, and trimer, and a combination of infrared (IR) spectroscopies as well as molecular dynamics simulations. The experiments show that the monomer and oligomers exhibit a broad and asymmetric amide I band with two underlying transitions, while PNIPAM presents the same major transitions and a minor one. Analysis of the 2D IR spectra and theoretical modeling of the amide I band indicates that the two transitions of the …

Efficient Low-Cost Procedure For Microextraction Of Estrogen From Environmental Water Using Magnetic Ionic Liquids, Paula Berton, Noureen Siraj, Susmita Das, Sergio De Rooy, Rodolfo G. Wuilloud, Isiah M. Warner

Faculty Publications

In this study, three magnetic ionic liquids (MILs) were investigated for extraction of four estrogens, i.e., estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and ethinylestradiol (EE2), from environmental water. The cation trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium ([P66614]+), selected to confer hydrophobicity to the resulting MIL, was combined with tetrachloroferrate(III), ferricyanide, and dysprosium thiocyanate to yield ([P66614][FeCl4]), ([P66614]3[Fe(CN)6]), and ([P66614]5[Dy(SCN)8]), respectively. After evaluation of various strategies to develop a liquid-liquid microextraction technique based on synthesized MILs, we placed the MILs onto a magnetic stir bar and used them as extracting solvents. After extraction, the MIL-enriched phase was dissolved in methanol and injected into an HPLC-UV for …

Towards A Reduced Phase Space Quantization In Loop Quantum Cosmology With An Inflationary Potential, Kristina Giesel, Bao Fei Li, Parampreet Singh

Faculty Publications

We explore a reduced phase space quantization of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) for a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe filled with reference fields and an inflaton field in a Starobinsky inflationary potential. We consider three separate cases in which the reference fields are taken to be the Gaussian dust, the Brown-Kuchař dust, and massless Klein-Gordon scalar reference fields respectively. This is a "two-fluid"model in which reference fields act as global clocks providing a physical time in an inflationary spacetime, and allow bypassing various technical hurdles in conventional quantum cosmological models. The reduced phase space is obtained in terms of the …

Perceived Vulnerability To Covid-19 Infection From Event Attendance: Results From Louisiana, Usa, Two Weeks Preceding The National Emergency Declaration, Ran Li, Bingcheng Yang, Jerrod Penn, Bailey Houghtaling, Juan Chen, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Brian E. Roe, Danyi Qi

Faculty Publications

Background: Individual perceptions of personal and national threats posed by COVID-19 shaped initial response to the pandemic. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in residents' awareness about COVID-19 and to characterize those who were more aware and responsive during the early stages of the pandemic in Louisiana.

Methods: In response to the mounting threat of COVID-19, we added questions to an ongoing food preference study held at Louisiana State University from March 3rd through March 12th, 2020. We asked how likely it was that the spread of the coronavirus will cause a national public health crisis …

Direct Measurement Of The Cosmic-Ray Carbon And Oxygen Spectra From 10 Gev/ N To 2.2 Tev/ N With The Calorimetric Electron Telescope On The International Space Station, O. Adriani, Y. Akaike, K. Asano, Y. Asaoka, M. G. Bagliesi, E. Berti, G. Bigongiari, W. R. Binns, M. Bongi, P. Brogi, A. Bruno, J. H. Buckley, N. Cannady, G. Castellini, C. Checchia, M. L. Cherry, G. Collazuol, K. Ebisawa, H. Fuke, S. Gonzi, T. G. Guzik, T. Hams, K. Hibino, M. Ichimura, K. Ioka, W. Ishizaki, M. H. Israel, K. Kasahara, J. Kataoka, R. Kataoka, Y. Katayose, C. Kato, N. Kawanaka

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we present the measurement of the energy spectra of carbon and oxygen in cosmic rays based on observations with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station from October 2015 to October 2019. Analysis, including the detailed assessment of systematic uncertainties, and results are reported. The energy spectra are measured in kinetic energy per nucleon from 10 GeV/n to 2.2 TeV/n with an all-calorimetric instrument with a total thickness corresponding to 1.3 nuclear interaction length. The observed carbon and oxygen fluxes show a spectral index change of ∼0.15 around 200 GeV/n established with a significance >3σ. …

Registration Of The Transition Radiation With Gaas Detector: Data/Mc Comparison, J. Alozy, N. Belyaev, B. L. Bergmann, T. R.V. Billoud, P. Broulim, P. Burian, M. Campbell, G. Chelkov, M. Cherry, F. Dachs, S. Doronin, K. Filippov, P. Fusco, F. Gargano, E. H.M. Heijne, S. Konovalov, X. Llopart Cudie, F. Loparco, M. N. Mazziotta, L. Meduna, H. Pernegger, D. Ponomarenko, S. Pospisil, D. Rastorguev, C. Rembser, A. Romaniouk, A. A. Savchenko, E. J. Schioppa, S. Smirnov, Y. Smirnov, P. Smolyanskiy, P. Spinelli, M. Strikhanov

Faculty Publications

New developments of pixel detectors based on GaAs sensors offer effective registration of the transition radiation (TR) X-rays and perform simultaneous measurements of their energies and emission angles. This unique feature opens new possibilities for particle identification on the basis of maximum available information about generated TR photons. Results of studies of TR energy-Angular distributions using a 500 |j.m thick GaAs sensor attached to a Timepix3 chip are presented. Measurements, analysis techniques and a comparison with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are described and discussed.

A Concept Of The Transition Radiation Detector For A Hadron Separation In A Forward Direction Of The Lhc Experiments, N. Belyaev, M. L. Cherry, S. A. Doronin, K. Filippov, P. Fusco, F. Gargano, S. Konovalov, F. Loparco, M. N. Mazziotta, A. Mufazalova, S. Nechaeva, D. Ponomarenko, C. Rembser, A. Romaniouk, A. A. Savchenko, E. Shulga, S. Smirnov, Yu Smirnov, P. Spinelli, L. Sultanaliyeva, P. Teterin, V. Tikhomirov, K. Vorobev, K. Zhukov

Faculty Publications

Studying of hadron production in forward direction at the LHC energy has a great interest both for understanding of the fundamental QCD processes and also in applied areas such as the description of ultra-high energy cosmic particle interactions. The energies of secondary hadrons in such studies almost reach the maximum energy available at the LHC of ∼6 TeV, which corresponds to a Lorentz γ-factor up to 104 and above. The only effective technique able to identify particles in this range is based on the transition radiation detectors (TRD). Prototypes of such kind of detector were built and tested at the …

Optomechanical Entanglement At Room Temperature: A Simulation Study With Realistic Conditions, Kahlil Y. Dixon, Lior Cohen, Narayan Bhusal, Christopher Wipf, Jonathan P. Dowling, Thomas Corbitt

Faculty Publications

Quantum entanglement is the key to many applications like quantum key distribution, quantum teleportation, and quantum sensing. However, reliably generating quantum entanglement in macroscopic systems has proven to be a challenge. Here, we present a detailed analysis of ponderomotive entanglement generation in a movable-end-mirror-type optomechanical cavity. These cavities utilize optomechanical interactions between the intracavity field and the end mirror to create quantum correlations. We numerically calculate an entanglement measure, the logarithmic negativity, for the quantitative assessment of the entanglement. Experimental limitations, including thermal noise and optical loss, from measurements of an existing experiment were included in the calculation, which is …

The Evolution Of A Tropical Biodiversity Hotspot, M G. Harvey, G A. Bravo, S Claramunt, A M. Cuervo, M G. Harvey, J Battilana, G F. Seeholzer, J S. Mckay, B C. O'Meara, B C. Faircloth, S V. Edwards, J Perez-Eman, R G. Moyle, F H. Sheldon, A Aleixo, B T. Smith, R T. Chesser, L F. Silveira, J Cracraft, R T. Brumfield, E P. Derryberry

Faculty Publications

The tropics are the source of most biodiversity yet inadequate sampling obscures answers to fundamental questions about how this diversity evolves. We leveraged samples assembled over decades of fieldwork to study diversification of the largest tropical bird radiation, the suboscine passerines. Our phylogeny, estimated using data from 2389 genomic regions in 1940 individuals of 1287 species, reveals that peak suboscine species diversity in the Neotropics is not associated with high recent speciation rates but rather with the gradual accumulation of species over time. Paradoxically, the highest speciation rates are in lineages from regions with low species diversity, which are generally …

Berry Phase Manipulation In Ultrathin Srruo3 Films, Liang Wu, Fangdi Wen, Yixing Fu, Justin H. Wilson, Xiaoran Liu, Yujun Zhang, Denis M. Vasiukov, Mikhail S. Kareev, J. H. Pixley, Jak Chakhalian

Faculty Publications

Berry phase is a powerful concept that unravels the nontrivial role of topology in phenomena observed in chiral magnetic materials and structures. A celebrated example is the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) driven by the nonvanishing Berry phase in momentum space. As the AHE is dependent on details of the band structure near the Fermi edge, the Berry phase and AHE can be altered in thin films whose chemical potential is tunable by dimensionality and disorder. Here, we demonstrate how Berry phase in ultrathin SrRuO3 films provides a comprehensive explanation for the nontrivial Hall response which is conventionally attributed to the …

Entropic Signatures Of The Skyrmion Lattice Phase In Mnsi1-Xalx And Fe1-Ycoysi, C. Dhital, J. F. Ditusa

Faculty Publications

The entropic signatures of magnetic phase transitions in the skyrmion lattice host compounds MnSi0.962Al0.038 and Fe0.7Co0.3Si were investigated through low field magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements. These data indicate that the conical to skyrmion transition that occurs with the application of magnetic field in MnSi0.962Al0.038 is characterized by clear discontinuity in the magnetic entropy as expected for first order topological phase transition. These same magnetoentropic features are negligibly small in isostructural Fe0.7Co0.3Si due to the level of chemical substitution related disorder and differences in the spin dynamics (range and timescales). Despite the obvious similarities in the magnetic structures of these …

Publisher Correction: Exuberant Fibroblast Activity Compromises Lung Function Via Adamts4 (Nature, (2020), 587, 7834, (466-471), 10.1038/S41586-020-2877-5), David F. Boyd, E. Kaitlynn Allen, Adrienne G. Randolph, Xi Zhi J. Guo, Yunceng Weng, Catherine J. Sanders, Resha Bajracharya, Natalie K. Lee, Clifford S. Guy, Peter Vogel, Wenda Guan, Yimin Li, Xiaoqing Liu, Tanya Novak, Margaret M. Newhams, Thomas P. Fabrizio, Nicholas Wohlgemuth, Peter M. Mourani, Michele Kong, Ronald C. Sanders, Katherine Irby, Katri Typpo, Barry Markovitz, Natalie Cvijanovich, Heidi Flori, Adam Schwarz, Nick Anas, Peter Mourani, Angela Czaja, Gwenn Mclaughlin, Matthew Paden, Keiko Tarquinio, Bria M. Coates, Neethi Pinto

Faculty Publications

© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Groundwater Production From Geothermal Heating On Early Mars And Implication For Early Martian Habitability, Lujendra Ojha, Jacob Buffo, Suniti Karunatillake, Matthew Siegler

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, In explaining extensive evidence for past liquid water, the debate on whether Mars was primarily warm and wet or cold and arid 4 billion years (Ga) ago has continued for decades. The Sun’s luminosity was ~30% lower 4 Ga ago; thus, most martian climate models struggle to elevate the mean surface temperature past the melting point of water. Basal melting of ice sheets may help resolve that paradox. We modeled the thermophysical evolution of ice and estimate the geothermal heat flux required to produce meltwater on a cold, arid Mars. We then analyzed geophysical and …

Body Size Trends In Response To Climate And Urbanization In The Widespread North American Deer Mouse, Peromyscus Maniculatus, Robert Guralnick, Maggie M. Hantak, Daijiang Li, Bryan S. Mclean

Faculty Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). Body size decline is hypothesized to be a key response to climate warming, including warming driven by urban heat islands. However, urbanization may also generate selective gradients for body size increases in smaller endotherms via habitat fragmentation. Here we utilize a densely sampled, multi-source dataset to examine how climate and urbanization affect body size of Peromyscus maniculatus (PEMA), an abundant rodent found across North America. We predicted PEMA would conform to Bergmann’s Rule, e.g. larger individuals in colder climates, spatially and temporally. Hypotheses regarding body size in relation to urbanization are less clear; however, with increased …

Geographic Patterns And Environmental Correlates Of Phylogenetic Relatedness And Diversity For Freshwater Fish Assemblages In North America, Hong Qian, Yong Cao, Daijiang Li, Cindy Chu, Brody Sandel, Xianli Wang

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Ecography published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos The tropical niche conservatism hypothesis suggests that most groups should be most phylogenetically clustered in cold, dry environments. This idea has been well-tested in plants and some animal groups, but not for fishes. We assess the geographic patterns of freshwater fish phylogenetic structure and investigate the relationships between these patterns and environmental variables across North America and within two biogeographic realms. Phylogenetic relatedness and diversity of 360 freshwater fish assemblages across North America were quantified with three metrics based on a well-dated …

First Results On Protodune-Sp Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber Performance From A Beam Test At The Cern Neutrino Platform, B. Abi, A. Abed Abud, R. Acciarri, M. A. Acero, G. Adamov, M. Adamowski, D. Adams, P. Adrien, M. Adinolfi, Z. Ahmad, J. Ahmed, T. Alion, S. Alonso Monsalve, C. Alt, J. Anderson, C. Andreopoulos, M. P. Andrews, F. Andrianala, S. Andringa, A. Ankowski, M. Antonova, S. Antusch, A. Aranda-Fernandez, A. Ariga, L. O. Arnold, M. A. Arroyave, J. Asaadi, A. Aurisano

Faculty Publications

The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber with an active volume of 7.2× 6.1× 7.0 m3. It is installed at the CERN Neutrino Platform in a specially-constructed beam that delivers charged pions, kaons, protons, muons and electrons with momenta in the range 0.3 GeV/c to 7 GeV/c. Beam line instrumentation provides accurate momentum measurements and particle identification. The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a prototype for the first far detector module of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, and it incorporates full-size components as designed for that module. This paper describes the beam line, the time projection chamber, the …

Enhanced Hanbury Brown And Twiss Interferometry Using Parametric Amplification, Xiaoping Ma, Chenglong You, Sushovit Adhikari, Yongjian Gu, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza, Jonathan P. Dowling, Hwang Lee

Faculty Publications

The Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometer was proposed to observe intensity correlations of starlight to measure a star’s angular diameter. As the intensity of light that reaches the detector from a star is very weak, one cannot usually get a workable signal-to-noise ratio. We propose an improved HBT interferometric scheme incorporating optical parametric amplifiers (OPA) into the system to amplify the correlation signal. Remarkably, for weak star light, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the new HBT interferometric scheme is much better than that of conventional HBT interferometer. Our work is valuable in measuring a star whose intensity at the …

Deep Learning On The 2-Dimensional Ising Model To Extract The Crossover Region With A Variational Autoencoder, Nicholas Walker, Ka Ming Tam, Mark Jarrell

Faculty Publications

The 2-dimensional Ising model on a square lattice is investigated with a variational autoencoder in the non-vanishing field case for the purpose of extracting the crossover region between the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. The encoded latent variable space is found to provide suitable metrics for tracking the order and disorder in the Ising configurations that extends to the extraction of a crossover region in a way that is consistent with expectations. The extracted results achieve an exceptional prediction for the critical point as well as agreement with previously published results on the configurational magnetizations of the model. The performance of …

Magic-Angle Semimetals, Yixing Fu, Elio J. König, Justin H. Wilson, Yang Zhi Chou, Jedediah H. Pixley

Faculty Publications

Breakthroughs in two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures have revealed that twisting creates a moiré pattern that quenches the kinetic energy of electrons, allowing for exotic many-body states. We show that cold atomic, trapped ion, and metamaterial systems can emulate the effects of a twist in many models from one to three dimensions. Further, we demonstrate at larger angles (and argue at smaller angles) that by considering incommensurate effects, the magic-angle effect becomes a single-particle quantum phase transition (including in a model for twisted bilayer graphene in the chiral limit). We call these models “magic-angle semimetals”. Each contains nodes in the …

Evidence For Topological Semimetallicity In A Chain-Compound Tase3, Ahmad Ikhwan Us Saleheen, Ramakanta Chapai, Lingyi Xing, Roshan Nepal, Dongliang Gong, Xin Gui, Weiwei Xie, David P. Young, E. W. Plummer, Rongying Jin

Faculty Publications

Among one-dimensional transition-metal trichalcogenides, TaSe3 is unconventional in many respects. One is its strong topological semimetallicity as predicted by first-principles calculations. We report the experimental investigations of the electronic properties of one-dimensional-like TaSe3 single crystals. While the b-axis electrical resistivity shows good metallicity with a high residual resistivity ratio greater than 100, an extremely large magnetoresistance is observed reaching ≈7 × 103% at 1.9 K for 14 T. Interestingly, the magnetoresistance follows the Kohler’s rule with nearly quadratic magnetic field dependence, consistent with the electron–hole compensation scenario as confirmed by our Hall conductivity data. Both the longitudinal and Hall conductivities …

Comparison Of Conventional And Advanced Radiotherapy Techniques For Left-Sided Breast Cancer After Breast Conserving Surgery, Yibo Xie, Daniel Bourgeois, Beibei Guo, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

Whole breast radiotherapy (WBRT) after breast conserving surgery is the standard treatment to prevent recurrence and metastasis of early stage breast cancer. This study aims to compare seven WBRT techniques including conventional tangential, field-in-field (FIF), hybrid intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), IMRT, standard volumetric modulated arc therapy (STD-VMAT), noncoplanar VMAT (NC-VMAT), and multiple arc VMAT (MA-VMAT). Fifteen patients who were previously diagnosed with left-sided early stage breast cancer and treated in our clinic were selected for this study. WBRT plans were created for these patients and were evaluated based on target coverage and normal tissue toxicities. All techniques produced clinically acceptable WBRT …

Computer-Based And Paper-And-Pencil Tests: A Study In Calculus For Stem Majors, Lawrence Smolinsky, Brian D. Marx, Gestur Olafsson, Yanxia A. Ma

Faculty Publications

Computer-based testing is an expanding use of technology offering advantages to teachers and students. We studied Calculus II classes for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors using different testing modes. Three sections with 324 students employed: paper-and-pencil testing, computer-based testing, and both. Computer tests gave immediate feedback and allowed multiple submissions and pooling. Paper-and-pencil tests (PPTs) required work and explanation allowing inspection of high cognitive demand tasks. Each test mode used the strength of its method. Students were given the same lecture by the same instructor on the same day and the same homework assignments and due dates. The design …

The Superfgd Prototype Charged Particle Beam Tests, A. Blondel, M. Bogomilov, S. Bordoni, F. Cadoux, D. Douqa, K. Dugas, T. Ekelof, Y. Favre, S. Fedotov, K. Fransson, R. Fujita, E. Gramstad, A. K. Ichikawa, S. Ilieva, K. Iwamoto, C. Jesús-Valls, C. K. Jung, S. P. Kasetti, M. Khabibullin, A. Khotjantsev, A. Korzenev, A. Kostin, Y. Kudenko, T. Kutter, T. Lux, L. Maret, T. Matsubara, A. Mefodiev

Faculty Publications

A novel scintillator detector, the SuperFGD, has been selected as the main neutrino target for an upgrade of the T2K experiment ND280 near detector. The detector design will allow nearly 4π coverage for neutrino interactions at the near detector and will provide lower energy thresholds, significantly reducing systematic errors for the experiment. The SuperFGD is made of optically-isolated scintillator cubes of size 10×10×10 mm3, providing the required spatial and energy resolution to reduce systematic uncertainties for future T2K runs. The SuperFGD for T2K will have close to two million cubes in a 1920 × 560 × 1840 mm3 volume. A …

Enhanced Hanbury Brown And Twiss Interferometry Using Parametric Amplification, Xiaoping Ma, Chenglong You, Sushovit Adhikari, Yongjian Gu, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza, Jonathan P. Dowling, Hwang Lee

Faculty Publications

The Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometer was proposed to observe intensity correlations of starlight to measure a star’s angular diameter. As the intensity of light that reaches the detector from a star is very weak, one cannot usually get a workable signal-to-noise ratio. We propose an improved HBT interferometric scheme incorporating optical parametric amplifiers (OPA) into the system to amplify the correlation signal. Remarkably, for weak star light, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the new HBT interferometric scheme is much better than that of conventional HBT interferometer. Our work is valuable in measuring a star whose intensity at the …

Fenugreek Counters The Effects Of High Fat Diet On Gut Microbiota In Mice: Links To Metabolic Benefit, Annadora J. Bruce-Keller, Allison J. Richard, Sun Ok Fernandez-Kim, David M. Ribnicky, J. Michael Salbaum, Susan Newman, Richard Carmouche, Jacqueline M. Stephens

Faculty Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) is an annual herbaceous plant and a staple of traditional health remedies for metabolic conditions including high cholesterol and diabetes. While the mechanisms of the beneficial actions of fenugreek remain unknown, a role for intestinal microbiota in metabolic homeostasis is likely. To determine if fenugreek utilizes intestinal bacteria to offset the adverse effects of high fat diets, C57BL/6J mice were fed control/low fat (CD) or high fat (HFD) diets each supplemented with or without 2% (w/w) fenugreek for 16 weeks. The effects of fenugreek and HFD on gut microbiota were comprehensively mapped and …

Targeting Oxytocin Receptor (Oxtr)-Expressing Neurons In The Lateral Septum To Restore Social Novelty In Autism Spectrum Disorder Mouse Models, Machi Horiai, Ayano Otsuka, Shizu Hidema, Yuichi Hiraoka, Ryotaro Hayashi, Shinji Miyazaki, Tamio Furuse, Hiroaki Mizukami, Ryoichi Teruyama, Masaru Tamura, Haruhiko Bito, Yuko Maejima, Kenju Shimomura, Katsuhiko Nishimori

Faculty Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a continuum of neurodevelopmental disorders and needs new therapeutic approaches. Recently, oxytocin (OXT) showed potential as the first anti-ASD drug. Many reports have described the efficacy of intranasal OXT therapy to improve the core symptoms of patients with ASD; however, the underlying neurobiological mechanism remains unknown. The OXT/oxytocin receptor (OXTR) system, through the lateral septum (LS), contributes to social behavior, which is disrupted in ASD. Therefore, we selectively express hM3Dq in OXTR-expressing (OXTR+) neurons in the LS to investigate this effect in ASD mouse models developed by environmental and genetic cues. …

Reconstructing Genomes Of Carbon Monoxide Oxidisers In Volcanic Deposits Including Members Of The Class Ktedonobacteria, Marcela Hernández, Blanca Vera-Gargallo, Marcela Calabi-Floody, Gary M. King, Ralf Conrad, Christoph C. Tebbe

Faculty Publications

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Microorganisms can potentially colonise volcanic rocks using the chemical energy in reduced gases such as methane, hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). In this study, we analysed soil metagenomes from Chilean volcanic soils, representing three different successional stages with ages of 380, 269 and 63 years, respectively. A total of 19 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were retrieved from all stages with a higher number observed in the youngest soil (1640: 2 MAGs, 1751: 1 MAG, 1957: 16 MAGs). Genomic similarity indices showed that several MAGs had amino-acid identity (AAI) values >50% to …