Life Sciences Commons^™

Did You Wash Your Caving Suit? Cavers’ Role In The Potential Spread Of Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, The Causative Agent Of White-Nose Disease, Violeta Zhelyazkova, Antonia Hubancheva, Georgi Radoslavov, Nia Toshkova, Sebastien J. Puechmaille

International Journal of Speleology

White-Nose Disease (WND) has killed millions of hibernating bats in the US and Canada. Its causative agent, the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans was introduced to North America, but is native to Europe and Asia, where it is not associated with mass mortality. Although it is nearly impossible to eradicate an emerging wildlife disease, research on P. destructans spread mechanisms can aid in prevention of new introductions and development of better environmental management strategies. It is of particular importance to quantify the potential role of people visiting caves (cavers, tourists, bat researchers, etc.) whom inadvertently move P. destructans spores between sites, and …

Shadowed Image Particle Profiling Evaluation Recorder (Sipper) Plankton And Marine Snow Abundance And Distribution Data Collected Aboard Multiple Research Cruises In The Northeastern Gulf Of Mexico From 2010-05-12 To 2010-09-16, Kendra L. Daly, Andrew W. Remsen, Kurt Kramer

C-IMAGE data

This dataset contains the abundance and distribution of marine snow, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and larval fish, along with environmental parameters, collected aboard several research vessels (RV Weatherbird II, MV Specialty Diver, RV Gordon Gunter) in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico from 2010-05-12 to 2010-09-16. A high speed Dalsa Piranha-2 line-scan camera and a pseudo-collimated LED generated light sheet was used to image the shadows and outlines of resolvable particles that passed through a 100 cm2 field of view. The operational optical resolution of the system was ~65 um. The camera was towed at speeds between 2-3 knots in an oblique profile …

The Impact Of Myeloid-Mediated Co-Stimulation And Immunosuppression On The Anti-Tumor Efficacy Of Adoptive T Cell Therapy, Pasquale Patrick Innamarato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) in combination with lymphodepleting chemotherapy is an effective strategy to induce the eradication of tumors, providing long-term regression in cancer patients. However, only a minority of patients that receive ACT with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) exhibit durable benefit. Thus, there is an urgent need to define strategies that potentiate anti-tumor activity conducted by adoptively transferred T cells. In these studies, we aimed to identify novel strategies to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of ACT. Accordingly, we describe the disparate roles of myeloid cells in the context of ACT characterized by the augmentation of TIL proliferation in …

Regeneration Of Macronutrients And Trace Metals During Phytoplankton Decay: An Experimental Study, Adrienne P. Hollister, Makenzie Kerr, Kema Malki, Eric Muhlbach, Maya Robert, Charles L. Tilney, Mya Breitbart, Katherine A. Hubbard, Kristen N. Buck

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Macronutrients and trace metals are incorporated into phytoplankton during growth and regenerated back into the water column when phytoplankton decay, a process that contributes to the distributions of dissolved trace metals and macronutrients in depth profiles. To study this, we incubated mixed Gulf of Mexico phytoplankton assemblages and monocultures of the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia dolorosa and the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis in the dark. Over 6 months, macronutrients (phosphate, silicic acid, nitrate + nitrite, nitrite, ammonium), chlorophyll-a, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen, and prokaryotes were monitored alongside dissolved manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), …

Dna Barcoding Of Fish Eggs Collected Aboard R/V Weatherbird Ii Cruise Wb1731 Across The Florida Straits And Off Of Northwestern Cuba From 2017-05-13 To 2017-05-25, Makenzie Kerr, Mya Breitbart, Steven Murawski, Ernst B. Peebles, Maickel Armenteros, Jeremy Browning, Eva-Maria Bønnelycke, Chuanmin Hu, Yingjun Zhang

C-IMAGE data

This dataset contains DNA barcoding results of fish eggs collected along the northwestern coast of Cuba and across the Florida Straits from 2017-05-13 to 2017-05-25 using bongo plankton nets. The dataset also includes cruise data from twenty-three different stations collected during R/V Weatherbird II cruise WB1731. Individual eggs were DNA barcoded to identify species of fish spawning in the area. This dataset supports the publication: Kerr, M., Browning, J., Bønnelycke, E.M., Zhang, Y., Hu, C., Armenteros, M., Murawski, S., Peebles, E. and Breitbart, M. (2020). DNA barcoding of fish eggs collected off northwestern Cuba and across the Florida Straits demonstrates …

From R0 To The Herd: A Review Of The Rules Of Contagion, By Adam Kucharski, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

Adam Kucharski. 2020. The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread--and Why They Stop; (London: Profile Books, Ltd.). Hardback ISBN 978-17-88-16019-3. E-book ISBN 978-17-82-83430-4.

Kucharski's well-timed Rules of Contagion provides an introduction to the mathematical and epidemiological principles behind contagious phenomenon. While the author's primary expertise stems from work on biological epidemics, the book points to examples from a wide range of fields including finance, psychology, computer science, and criminology. As such, selections of the book could be used by faculty in a wide range of classes to show how our recent experience with a viral epidemic might add to …

Novel Long Non-Coding Rna Cdlinc Promotes Nsclc Progression, Christina J. Moss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide with a low 5-year survival rate of only around 21%. This low 5-year survival rate is due to two main reasons. First, NSCLC is often diagnosed at the later stages when it has already metastasized. Second, NSCLC is an incredibly diverse, heterogenous disease making it very hard to target the true molecular oncogenic drivers. New targets for personalized therapeutics are needed based on the expression status of each individual lung cancer tumor.

One way of looking for these new therapeutics is to begin by identifying the oncogenotype …

A Health Evaluation Of Gulf Of Mexico Golden Tilefish (Lopholatilus Chamaeleonticeps) And Red Snapper (Lutjanus Campechanus) Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Kristina Leigh Deak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A lack of baseline heath indices for offshore Gulf of Mexico (GoM) teleosts complicated impact assessments of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. While measurement of contaminant levels in fish after a pollution event can document exposure, such data fail to provide meaningful information about how this contact affects an animal's physiology. Controlled exposure studies have highlighted the utility of biomarkers that may indicate deleterious, long-lasting effects of pollutant exposure on various life stages of fish, however, their extrapolation to wild-caught, non-model species is challenging. In an increasingly chemically-saturated environment, it can also be difficult to separate the influence of …

Effects Of Inter-Male Status Challenge And Psychopathic Traits On Sexual Aggression, Amy M. Hoffmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sexual aggression (SA) is a serious social problem that has been linked to a variety of negative physical and mental health outcomes for survivors and produces significant monetary costs to society. In the past five decades, a wealth of research has improved our understanding of the individual and sociocultural factors that contribute to SA perpetration; however, epistemological differences in theoretical approaches to the subject (i.e., evolutionary, feminist) have resulted in gaps in the empirical literature. Informed by both feminist and evolutionary perspectives, this study attempts to examine the ways in which same-gender interpersonal interactions and individual psychopathology interact to produce …

Dna Barcoding Of Fish Eggs Collected Off Northwestern Cuba And Across The Florida Straits Demonstrates Egg Transport By Mesoscale Eddies, Makenzie Kerr, Jeremy Browning, Eva‐Maria Bønnelycke, Yingjun Zhang, Chuanmin Hu, Maickel Armenteros, Steven Murawski, Ernst B. Peebles, Mya Breitbart

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Identifying spawning sites for broadcast spawning fish species is a key element of delineating critical habitat for managing and regulating marine fisheries. Genetic barcoding has enabled accurate taxonomic identification of individual fish eggs, overcoming limitations of morphological classification techniques. In this study, planktonic fish eggs were collected at 23 stations along the northwestern coast of Cuba and across the Florida Straits to United States waters. A total of 564 fish eggs were successfully identified to 89 taxa within 30 families, with the majority of taxa being resolved to species. We provide new spawning information for Luvarus imperialis (Louvar), Bothus lunatus …

The Expanded Footprint Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill In The Gulf Of Mexico Deep-Sea Benthos, Michael G. Reuscher, Jeffrey G. Baguley, Paul A. Montagna

C-IMAGE Publications

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout off the coast of Louisiana caused the largest marine oil spill on record. Samples were collected 2–3 months after the Macondo well was capped to assess damage to macrofauna and meiofauna communities. An earlier analysis of 58 stations demonstrated severe and moderate damage to an area of 148 km². An additional 58 archived stations have been analyzed to enhance the resolution of that assessment and determine if impacts occurred further afield. Impacts included high levels of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the sediment, low diversity, low evenness, and …

Genome Maintenance Roles Of Polycomb Transcriptional Repressors Bmi1 And Rnf2, Anthony Richard Sanchez Iv

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The coordination of transcription, replication, and DNA damage response (DDR) is vital for maintaining normal cellular homeostasis. All of these processes take place on the chromatin and thus, the temporal and spatial separation of the factors responsible are necessary for each to be correctly completed. Here we detail several novel processes contributing to this network.

BMI1 is a component of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) which plays a key role in maintaining epigenetic silencing programs during development. Recently, BMI1 and other members of PRC1 like RNF2 have been implicated gene silencing during the DDR; however, the mechanism through which …

Mechanistic And Translational Studies On Skeletal Malignancies, Jeremy Mcguire

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

New treatment strategies are desperately needed for treating skeletal malignancy. Skeletal malignancies can be either primary cancer that originated in the bone, such as osteosarcoma, or metastatic cancer that spread from another organ to the skeleton, as in the case of breast or prostate cancer. In this thesis, I will detail two projects that focus on the discovery of new treatment strategies for both primary skeletal malignancy and metastatic skeletal malignancy.

The first project focuses on the primary skeletal malignancy, osteosarcoma, a rare cancer that is commonly diagnosed in children and young adults and metastasizes to the lungs. The survival …

Biological And Proteomic Characterization Of Cornus Officinalis On Human 1.1b4 Pancreatic Β Cells: Exploring Use For T1d Interventional Application, Arielle E. Tawfik

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease resulting in the loss of pancreatic β cells and subsequent loss of insulin production. Exogenous insulin coupled with continuous glucose monitoring is the only treatment for T1D. Therefore, novel interventional therapies are needed that can inhibit the autoimmune destruction and increase β cell proliferation and function. Based on initial in vitro studies, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) extract, Cornus officinalis, may be able to serve in this function. CO has been used for 2 millennia for its glucose regulating potential and has shown efficacy in animal models but rarely studied in the context …

Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Organochlorine Pesticides, And Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Snapper (Family Lutjanidae) From Cuba And The Wider Gulf Of Mexico, Brigid E. Carr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Snapper species assemblage is economically and environmentally important to all three countries bordering the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were investigated in seven snapper species located in the GoM, with a specific focus on the those caught along the northwestern coast of Cuba. Hepatic samples were processed using QuEChERs extraction methodology and analyzed using gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Nearly all fish included in this study contained detectable amounts of all three groups of these contaminants, regardless of location, and across all regions of the Gulf, indicating …

Microbial Community Structures In Three Bahamian Blue Holes, Meghan J. Gordon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study used 16S rDNA metagenomics and water chemistry to conduct an examination of microbial community dynamics and biogeochemistry in three physically adjacent, sunlit blue holes with variable hydrologic regimes on San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Church and Watling’s Blue Holes are holomictic with relatively clear waters, while Inkwell Blue Hole hosts density stratification and waters stained brown with tannins. Based on water color and clarity and physicochemical profiles, I hypothesized Church and Watling’s Blue Holes would be dominated by oxigenic photoautotrophs, and that the bottom layer of Inkwell would be characterized by euxinic (anoxic and sulfidic) conditions and host primarily …

Biogeochemical Cycling Of Nutrients And Carbon In Subtropical Wetlands, Lauren N. Griffiths

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As human development intensifies, ecosystems around the word are being exponentially destroyed and degraded. Wetlands have the capacity to mitigate some of the possible problems by retaining nutrients and carbon, keeping them from harming downstream ecosystems or being released into the atmosphere. This project focuses on the processes that make wetlands successful by studying two unique ecosystems: 1) a created urban stormwater treatment wetland and 2) mangrove wetlands in Florida and Puerto Rico that were affected by hurricanes in 2017.

The first phase of this study investigates the role of sedimentation and vegetative and algal uptake of nutrients to retain …

Hyaluronic Acid Coated Targeted Lipid Micellar Nanoparticle As A Delivery Vehicle For Lapatinib And Ketoconazole In Egfr Mutated Lung Cancer, Nadia Tasnim Ahmed

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer was accountable for over 142,000 deaths in the USA in 2019. Common mutations related to lung cancer mainly occur in TP53, EGFR, and KRAS genes. Lapatinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor which acts reversibly on both epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Overexpression of EGFR leads to increased production and signaling of proteins that cause upregulation of cellular proliferation, cholesterol synthesis and resistance to apoptosis. Ketoconazole is an imidazole antifungal agent which works principally by inhibiting the enzyme cytochrome P450 14α-demethylase (CYP51A1) …

Discovery And Characterization Of Small Molecule Inhibitors Of Bromodomains, Md Rezaul Karim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The epigenetic “reader” modules bromodomains (BRDs) exert their diverse cellular functions through the recognition of acetylated lysines on histones and other proteins. Small molecule inhibitors of bromodomains have emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy to treat atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and cancers. Therefore, a large number of small molecule bromodomain inhibitors have been developed in the last decade, some of which are currently being assessed in the clinic. However, the success of bromodomain inhibitors is currently limited to the bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) subfamily.

To address these, bromodomains outside the BET subfamily (non-BETs) such as TAF1, BRD7/9, TRIM28, and BRD8 …

Transcriptome Studies On The Toxicity Of Silica Nanoparticles, Shih-Yi Hsu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanotechnology enables more precise harmony in health condition via reducing the dosage amount, improving the delivery of hydrophobic drugs, more specific targeting to the cancerous sites, and so on. Nevertheless, issues regarding the toxicity of nanotechnology have begun to call for attention several decades later after the innovation of nanotechnology. Tools about risk management of nanotechnology have been developed, but recently not much evidence recognizes the toxicity of nanoparticles (NPs) except for some animal studies, which demonstrated organ damage after the exposure to NPs. Toxicogenomic approach refers to the method utilizing gene expression to evaluate the chemical toxicity. Databases as …

Non-Invasive Sex Determination And Genotyping Of Transgenic Brugia Malayi Larvae, Santiago E. Hernandez Bojorge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lymphatic filariasis is a very painful and disfiguring helminth disease caused by the tissue nematodes Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori. This parasitosis is considered a Neglected Tropical Disease and it is a major public health burden for 72 tropical countries of Africa, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. Despite the effectiveness of many control programs, there remains the need to develop new pharmacological agents to treat lymphatic filariasis, as most programs rely on a limited variety of drugs that are expensive, logistically difficult to obtain, and can lead to drug resistance. The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic …

Photic Stress On Coral Reefs In The Maldives: The Amphistegina Bleaching Index, Stephanie Stainbank, Silvia Spezzaferri, Valentina Beccari, Pamela Hallock, Arthur Adams, Auriele Angeloz, Daniela Basso, Annalisa Caragnano, Nicolo Del Piero, Patrick Dietsche

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The Amphistegina Bleaching Index (ABI) was applied to three Maldivian reefs in the Rasdhoo and North Ari Atolls in 2018, during normal sea surface temperature conditions. This dataset was then compared with a 2015, pre-coral bleaching study. The results provide a context for the verification and application of the ABI in outlining the photo-inhibitory stress status of coral reefs outside of the Florida Reef Tract where it was originally developed. The sampling periods encompass different seasons and temperature regimes. The 2015 field sampling preceeded the El Niño induced, mass coral-bleaching events of 2015 and 2016. It was carried out in …

In Situ Measurements Of Circulation Features Influencing Cross-Shelf Transport Around Northwest Cuba, Matthieu Le Hénaff, Vassiliki H. Kourafalou, Yannis Androulidakis, Ryan H. Smith, Heesook Kang, Chuanmin Hu, John T. Lamkin

Marine Science Faculty Publications

We analyzed circulation processes sampled in the Gulf of Mexico in May 2016 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ship Nancy Foster. This data set is one of the first in situ surveys in Cuban waters available to the international community. Along northwest Cuba, these data suggested coastal upwelling and revealed, for the first time, a ~50 km diameter Cuban ANticyclonic (CubAN) eddy and a ~25 km diameter cyclonic eddy, which together advected upwelled waters offshore. The CubAN eddy was associated with downwelling, and the cyclonic eddy with upwelling. At the western tip of Cuba, local currents …

Multiple Hydrocarbon Data From Mangrove Forests Collected During A Coastal Survey Conducted In The Bay Of Campeche, Southern Gulf Of Mexico From 2016-08-09 To 2016-08-10, Isabel Romero, David Hollander

C-IMAGE data

This survey was conducted in mangrove forests from the Bay of Campeche (Mexico) in August 2016 to search for remnants of the Ixtoc-1 spill. This study focused on (1) the chemical composition and concentration of oil weathering products, (2) weathering processes, and (3) fate and potential toxicological impacts. This dataset contains hydrocarbon concentrations, date and location (longitude and latitude) of sample collection. The measurements of hydrocarbons were made using Agilent 7680B gas chromatograph coupled with an Agilent 7010 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. This dataset supports the publication: Radović, J. R., Romero, I. C., Oldenburg, T. B. P., Larter, S. R., …

Anchialine Biodiversity In The Turks And Caicos Islands: New Discoveries And Current Faunal Composition, Brett C. Gonzalez, Alejandro Martínez, Jørgen Olesen, Sarit B. Truskey, Lauren Ballou, Marc Allentoft-Larsen, Joost Daniels, Paul Heinerth, Mark Parrish, Naqqi Manco, Jon Ward, Thomas M. Iliffe, Karen J. Osborn, Katrine Worsaae

International Journal of Speleology

Lying at the southernmost point of the Lucayan Archipelago, the Turks and Caicos Islands are amongst the better studied localities for anchialine cave biodiversity. For nearly five decades, novel invertebrate fauna, comprised primarily of crustaceans, have been collected from these tidally influenced pools – but new findings are always on the horizon. Herein we present new records of crustaceans and annelids from anchialine blue holes and horizontal caves of the Turks and Caicos. These findings include two potentially new species of meiofaunal annelids and a new species of remipede collected from a shallow water cave pool. Our 2019 expedition additionally …

Responses Of Reef Bioindicators To Recent Temperature Anomalies In Distinct Areas Of The North Ari And Rasdhoo Atolls (Maldives), V. Beccari, S. Spezzaferri, S. Stainbank, Pamela Hallock, D. Basso, A. Caragnano, C. Pisapia, A. Adams, A. Angeloz, N. Del Piero

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Assessments of reef sediments in the North Ari Atoll (Maldives) were conducted in 2015 and 2018 on reefs of three islands with different management strategies: community, resort, and uninhabited. Indices applied were the Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring Index (FI) and the Sediment Constituents Index (SI). Both indices are based on shells or fragments of functional groups, which for the FI are foraminiferal shells and for the SI are sediment components. The FI is considered to be an indicator of water quality and the SI an indicator of water quality, community structure, and processes such as grazing and bioerosion. …

Surface Runoff Alters Cave Microbial Community Structure And Function, Madison Davis, Maria A. Messina, Giuseppe Nicolosi, Salvatore Petralia, Melvin D. Baker, Christiana K. S. Mayne, Chelsea M. Dinon, Christina J. Moss, Bogdan P. Onac, James R. Garey

Molecular Biosciences Faculty Publications

Caves formed by sulfuric acid dissolution have been identified worldwide. These caves can host diverse microbial communities that are responsible for speleogenesis and speleothem formation. It is not well understood how microbial communities change in response to surface water entering caves. Illumina 16S rRNA sequencing and bioinformatic tools were used to determine the impact of surface water on the microbial community diversity and function within a spring pool found deep in the Monte Conca Cave system in Sicily, Italy. Sulfur oxidizers comprised more than 90% of the microbial community during the dry season and were replaced by potential anthropogenic contaminants …

Influence Of Oil, Dispersant, And Pressure On Microbial Communities From The Gulf Of Mexico, Nuttapol Noirungsee, Steffen Hackbusch, Juan Viamonte, Paul Bubenheim, Andreas Liese, Rudolf Müller

C-IMAGE Publications

The Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 released an unprecedented amount of petroleum hydrocarbons 1500 meters below the sea surface. Few studies have considered the influence of hydrostatic pressure on bacterial community development and activity during such spills. The goal of this study was to investigate the response of indigenous sediment microbial communities to the combination of increased pressure, hydrocarbons and dispersant. Deep-sea sediment samples collected from the northern Gulf of Mexico were incubated at atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa) and at elevated pressure (10 MPa), with and without the addition of crude oil and dispersant. After …

Geographical Disparity Of Suicide, Masiel Perez-Balaguer

USF St. Petersburg campus Student Research Symposium

Suicide has been one of the leading causes of death in the United States for several years (Census, 2017). Multiple studies have looked at the disparity of suicide rates across geographical locations (Wilkinson, 1984; Saunderson,1998; Morrell, 1999). These studies have shown a correlation between rural areas and higher rates of suicide. For this study, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was taken and linked with population data acquired through the Census. This was done for the year 2017 to see any correlation between location and suicide rate could be observed. States were split into six categories …

A First Comprehensive Baseline Of Hydrocarbon Pollution In Gulf Of Mexico Fishes, Erin Pulster, Adolfo Gracia, Maickel Armenteros, Gerardo Toro-Farmer, Susan M. Snyder, Brigid Carr, Madison Schwaab, Tiffany Nicholson, Justin Mrowicki, Steven Murawski

C-IMAGE Publications

Despite over seven decades of production and hundreds of oil spills per year, there were no comprehensive baselines for petroleum contamination in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) prior to this study. Subsequent to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill, we implemented Gulf-wide fish surveys extending over seven years (2011–2018). A total of 2,503 fishes, comprised of 91 species, were sampled from 359 locations and evaluated for biliary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations. The northern GoM had significantly higher total biliary PAH concentrations than the West Florida Shelf, and coastal regions off Mexico and Cuba. The highest concentrations of biliary PAH …