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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Bioremoval Of Phenol From Aqueous Solutions Using Native Caribbean Seaweed, Abel E. Navarro, Anibal Hernandez-Vega, Md Emran Masud, Loretta M. Roberson, Liz M. Diaz-Vázquez Dec 2016

Bioremoval Of Phenol From Aqueous Solutions Using Native Caribbean Seaweed, Abel E. Navarro, Anibal Hernandez-Vega, Md Emran Masud, Loretta M. Roberson, Liz M. Diaz-Vázquez

Publications and Research

Among several Puerto Rican algae, Sargassum sp. (SG) and Chaetomorpha (CM) showed the highest phenol adsorption capacity from aqueous solutions and were used in optimized adsorption batch experiments at room temperature. The effects of pH, adsorbent dose, phenol concentration, salinity and presence of interfering substances were evaluated. Initial solution pH exhibited a strong effect, mainly on the phenol aqueous chemistry; showing the maximum adsorption at pH 10. Sorption isotherm results were modelled according to the Langmuir, Tempkin and Freundlich equations. Isotherm modelling indicated a maximum adsorption capacity (qmax) of 82.10 and 17.7 mg of phenol per gram of SG and …


A Mineralized Alga And Acritarch Dominated Microbiota From The Tully Formation (Givetian) Of Pennsylvania, Usa, John A. Chamberlain Jr., Rebecca B. Chamberlain, James O. Brown Dec 2016

A Mineralized Alga And Acritarch Dominated Microbiota From The Tully Formation (Givetian) Of Pennsylvania, Usa, John A. Chamberlain Jr., Rebecca B. Chamberlain, James O. Brown

Publications and Research

Sphaeromorphic algal cysts, most probably of the prasinophyte Tasmanites, and acanthomorphic acritarch vesicles, most probably Solisphaeridium, occur in a single 20 cm thick bed of micritic limestone in the lower part of the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Tully Formation near Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Specimens are composed of authigenic calcite and pyrite crystals about 5–10 µm in length. Some specimens are completely calcitic; some contain both pyrite and calcite; and many are composed totally of pyrite. The microfossils are about 80 to 150 µm in diameter. Many show signs of originally containing a flexible wall composed of at least two layers. Some …


Bathymetric Survey For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo, Hispaniola, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Joseph Cleto, Yolanda Leon, Jorge Gonzalez, Daniel Comarazamy Jun 2016

Bathymetric Survey For Lakes Azuei And Enriquillo, Hispaniola, Michael Piasecki, Mahrokh Moknatian, Fred Moshary, Joseph Cleto, Yolanda Leon, Jorge Gonzalez, Daniel Comarazamy

Publications and Research

The two largest lakes on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, Lake Azuei in Haiti and Lake Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic, have experienced dramatic growth and surface area expansion over the past few years leading to severe flooding and loss of arable land around the lake perimeters. In order to better understand the reasons for this unprecedented rate of expansion and the resulting consequences a multi-disciplinary team comprised of researchers from Haiti, the DR, and the US have embarked on an extensive data collecting and hydrologic and climatological modeling campaign. While the sensor deployment entails stations that measure climatological data …


From Mollusks To Medicine: A Venomics Approach For The Discovery And Characterization Of Therapeutics From Terebridae Peptide Toxins, Aida Verdes, Prachi Anand, Juliette Gorson, Stephen Jannetti, Patrick Kelly, Abba Leffler, Danny Simpson, Girish Ramrattan, Mandë Holford Apr 2016

From Mollusks To Medicine: A Venomics Approach For The Discovery And Characterization Of Therapeutics From Terebridae Peptide Toxins, Aida Verdes, Prachi Anand, Juliette Gorson, Stephen Jannetti, Patrick Kelly, Abba Leffler, Danny Simpson, Girish Ramrattan, Mandë Holford

Publications and Research

Animal venoms comprise a diversity of peptide toxins that manipulate molecular targets such as ion channels and receptors, making venom peptides attractive candidates for the development of therapeutics to benefit human health. However, identifying bioactive venom peptides remains a significant challenge. In this review we describe our particular venomics strategy for the discovery, characterization, and optimization of Terebridae venom peptides, teretoxins. Our strategy reflects the scientific path from mollusks to medicine in an integrative sequential approach with the following steps: (1) delimitation of venomous Terebridae lineages through taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses; (2) identification and classification of putative teretoxins through omics …


Discovery And Characterisation Of A Novel Toxin From Dendroaspis Angusticeps, Named Tx7335, That Activates The Potassium Channel Kcsa, Ivan O. Rivera-Torres, Tony B. Jin, Martine Cadene, Brian T. Chait, Sébastien F. Poget Apr 2016

Discovery And Characterisation Of A Novel Toxin From Dendroaspis Angusticeps, Named Tx7335, That Activates The Potassium Channel Kcsa, Ivan O. Rivera-Torres, Tony B. Jin, Martine Cadene, Brian T. Chait, Sébastien F. Poget

Publications and Research

Due to their central role in essential physiological processes, potassium channels are common targets for animal toxins. These toxins in turn are of great value as tools for studying channel function and as lead compounds for drug development. Here, we used a direct toxin pull-down assay with immobilised KcsA potassium channel to isolate a novel KcsA-binding toxin (called Tx7335) from eastern green mamba snake (Dendroaspis angusticeps) venom. Sequencing of the toxin by Edman degradation and mass spectrometry revealed a 63 amino acid residue peptide with 4 disulphide bonds that belongs to the three-finger toxin family, but with a unique modification …


Review Paper: The Shape Of Phylogenetic Treespace, Katherine St. John Mar 2016

Review Paper: The Shape Of Phylogenetic Treespace, Katherine St. John

Publications and Research

Trees are a canonical structure for representing evolutionary histories. Many popular criteria used to infer optimal trees are computationally hard, and the number of possible tree shapes grows super-exponentially in the number of taxa. The underlying structure of the spaces of trees yields rich insights that can improve the search for optimal trees, both in accuracy and in running time, and the analysis and visualization of results. We review the past work on analyzing and comparing trees by their shape as well as recent work that incorporates trees with weighted branch lengths.