Life Sciences Commons^™

A Comparative Study Of The Myosin Light Chain Kinases From Myoblast And Muscle Sources. Studies On The Kinases From Proliferative Rat Myoblasts In Culture, Rat Thigh Muscle, And Rabbit Skeletal Muscle, S. P. Scordilis, R. S. Adelstein

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Myosin light chain kinases have been isolated from rat thigh and rabbit skeletal muscle and cultured rat myoblasts. From these preparations, two types of kinases can be distinguished: calcium-dependent and calcium-independent. Both types of kinases can phosphorylate isolated P-light chains of myosin from several sources (skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and platelet). Data are shown which support the phosphorylation of the same site on the non-muscle P-light chains by both types of kinases. The rates of these reactions are, however, different for the two types of kinases. Kinetic analysis of the myoblast kinase show differing affinities for various P-light chains (non-muscle …

Ua77/1 Western Alumnus, Vol. 49, No. 6, Wku Alumni Association

WKU Archives Records

Alumni magazine published by WKU. This issue has the following articles:

• Dero Downing Steps Down
• Douglas, Michele. Top Banana – Gary Riggs
• Egan, Sherry. WKU State Climatic Center
• Gibson, Debbie. I Kind of Believe It’s a Gift – Burt Feintuch, Folk Music
• New on the Gridiron
• Adams, Bob. Digital Voltmeter – Engineering Technology
• Schock, Jack. The Projectile Point – Archaeology
• Armstrong, Bryan. Confessions of a Journalism Intern
• Highland, Jim. Terry Climer
• Beauchamp, Donnie. Commonplace Things – Photography
• Miller, Richard. The Exceptional Student – Psychology, Biology
• Harry Snyder Speaks at Commencement
• Douglas, Michele. Students Take Advantage of Study Trips Abroad
• Western …

Annotated Checklist Of The Flowering Plants Of South Padre Island, Texas, Robert I. Lonard, Frank W. Judd, Sammie L. Sides

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study catalogues the flowering plants of South Padre Island, Texas. A total of 207 species in 47 families is listed. The abundance and ecological distribution of each taxon are noted. Comparisons are made with the flora of Mustang Island, Texas. Ninety-three species, 96 genera and 36 families are common to both islands. Three families, Compositae, Gramineae and Leguminosae, contain large shares of the total number of species on both islands. Apparently, much of the floral diversity is due to the presence of a large number of species that are represented by small populations.

The Effect Of Parental Bone Marrow & Spleen Cells In The Induction Of The Graft-Versus-Host Reaction, Ronald Grane

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Variously aged (C57BL X C3H)F₁ hybrid mice were used as recipients in experiments to determine if spleen or bone marrow cells from normal C57BL or C3H donors, spleen or bone marrow cells from C57BL donors previously treated with cortisone, or C57BL bone marrow cells previously incubated with serum from X-irradiated C57BL mice could induce a graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR).

The mice were assayed for GVHR by mortality or splenomegaly as detected by the discriminant spleen assay developed by Simonsen. Results show that spleen cells from normal C57BL, normal C3H, or cortisone-treated C57BL mice are capable of inducing a GVHR in …

Synergistic Effects Of Wavelengths Of Ultraviolet Radiation On Capacity In A Mammalian Cell-Virus System In Vitro, Bobby Cobb

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The synergistic effect between each of two minor contaminating UV wavelengths has been studied. The TC-7 host cell-capacity system was used. The macromolecular damage induced in monolayers of cell cultures as the result of exposure to UV radiation was measured by determining the ability of irradiated cells to support the replication of Herpes simplex virus. The macromolecule involved has been shown to be DNA and the damage is probably due to the formation of thymine dimers plus some undefined chromosphore associated with the DNA of the cell.

Preliminary experiments showed that low exposures of germicidal radiation are less effective in …

Membrane Potentials And Resistances Of Giant Mitochondria: Metabolic Dependence And The Effects Of Valinomycin, Bruce L. Maloff, Stylianos P. Scordilis, Christopher Reynolds, Henry Tedeschi

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The membrane potentials and resistances of giant mitochondria from mice fed cuprizone have been studied. They were found to correspond approx. 10-20 mV, positive inside, and 2 M omega, respectively. These properties were found to be independent of the metabolic state. The microelectrodes were in the inner mitochondrial space since (a) the potentials in the presence of valinomycin depended on the K+ concentration of the medium and magnitude of the K+ diffusion potentials was consistent with the presence of a high internal concentration of K+, (b) almost identical results were obtained with mitochondria from which the external membrane had been …

The Kinetics Of Solvent Reorientation In Hydroxylated Solvents From The Exciting-Wavelength Dependence Of Chromophore Emission Spectra, John Milton, Robert M. Purkey, William C. Galley

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

The disappearance of the exciting-wavelength dependence of the phosphorescence spectra of polar, aromatic chromophores in supercooled glycol–water mixtures is utilized to monitor the kinetics of solvent reorientation. Reorientation times in the nanosecond to second range are obtained for (3:2 v/v) glycerol–water and (1:1 v/v) ethylene glycol–water at 140–240 °K. The results suggest that the process is one involving a cluster of solvent molecules and in which the chromophore plays a relatively passive role. Steady-state data and direct measurements of phosphorescence shifts as a function of time indicate that the solvent reorientation process is nonexponential in nature. The decay function derived …

Bulletin No. 23: Plants And Animals Of The Estuary, William A. Niering, Paul E. Fell, Sally L. Taylor, Martine Villalard-Bohnsack, Nancy C. Olmstead

Bulletins

Descriptions and illustrations of over 70 estuarine species.

Ecotypic Differentiation In Ohio & Mississippi Populations Of Acer Negundo L., Anthony Greco

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Laboratory investigations of Acer negundo populations from two widely separated habitats revealed distinct patterns of ecotypic differentiation in budbursting, leaf fall, and chlorophyll levels. Second year seedlings of Mississippi seed origin had complete leaf emergence before any evidence of budbursting in the Ohio progeny of similar age. Leaf fall patterns showed a clear difference between the two populations with Ohio plants dropping their leaves 2.5 weeks prior to complete defoliation in the Mississippi progeny. Significant differences in chlorophyll levels were demonstrated with the more northern (higher latitude) Ohio population showing consistently greater amounts of chlorophyll per gram dry weight than …

Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis Of The Periphyton Of Sloan’S Crossing Pond, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, Judith Orser

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Periodic collections were obtained from Sloan’s Crossing Pond, Mammoth Cave National Park, for one year to analyze, quantitatively and qualitatively, the periphyton community and determine patterns of periodicity. Productivity was measured by dry and ash-free dry weights and chlorophyll a content.

Productivity was lowest during the winter months and highest between July and September. Dry weight showed a range of 3.0-243 mg/m­²/day, the peak occurring in August. Ash-free dry weight also reached its annual peak in August at 92 mg/m²/day. Chlorophyll a followed the pattern of dry weight except its peak was obtained in July at …

The Effect Of Spleen Cells From F1 Hybrid Mice Undergoing A Graft-Versus Most Reaction Upon The Humoral Immune Response Of Parental Mice, Elizabeth Schmidt

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Mice undergoing a graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR) exhibit a surppressed immune response. Cells responsible for this suppression have been found to be localized in the spleen. Thus, in this research, a study was made to evaluate the effect of spleen cells from F­₁ mice undergoing a GVHR upon the humoral immune response to sheep erythrocytea (SRBC) in parental mice. An attempt was made to create an experimental model involving the transfer of suppressor cells in vivo. Parental BALB/c spleen cells were injected into (C57BL X BALB/c)F₁ hybrids to induce a GVH disease. Ten or twenty days later, spleen …

An Analysis Of The Heavy Metal Content Of The Scales Of Several Fishes In Southwestern Kentucky, Thomas Dahl

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Scales of the stoneroller, Campostoma anomalum (Rafinesque), common shiner, Notropus cornutus (Mitchill), and the bluntnose minnow, Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque) were analyzed by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry to determine levels of cadmium, calcium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc. Metal concentrations were determined seasonally and relationship established between scale metal content and environmental water metal levels.

Calcium, iron manganese and zinc were found in all samples analyzed. Cadmium, copper, lead and nickel were not observed in measurable quantities.

Metal concentrations varied interspecifically, but most showed little fluctuation in response to increased metal content of the water. Elemental composition of …

The Induction Of Thy -1.2 Antigen Expression In Murine Bone Marrow Cells Incubated In Vitro With Immune Serum, Terry Knight

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Adult BALB/c mice were immunized with C57BL/6 spleen cells first on day 0 and again on day 8 of the experimental procedure. Serum was collected from these animals on day 0 (before the first immunization), day 4, day 8 (before the second immunization), day 12, and day 16. Two groups of normal BALB/c bone marrow cell suspensions were incubated with the experimental immune sera: and one of the groups of cell suspensions was subsequently incubated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide. Following the incubation steps, both groups of cell preparations were assayed for their ability to absorb the activity of the anti-Thy-1.2 serum. …

Sex Ratio: Adaptive Response To Population Fluctuation In Pandalid Shrimp, Eric Charnov, Daniel Gotshall, Jack Robinson

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

Pandalus jordani is a protandrus (sequential) hermaphrodite. Populations show large year-to-year variation in age composition. In response to this variation, individuals alter the age at which they change sex. This response is predicted by a genetic model that assumes an individual shrimp maximizes its genetic contribution to the next generation.

Radiotelemetry Of Heart Rates From Free-Ranging Gulls, J. W. Kanwisher, Timothy C. Williams , '64, J. M. Teal, K. O. Lawson

Biology Faculty Works

A lightweight radiotelemetry system with a range of 80 km was used to monitor heart rate from free-ranging Herring Gulls on flights of up to 20 km. Heart rate varied from 130 beats/min in a resting bird to 625 beats/min for sustained flight. Soaring birds showed rates similar to those of birds sitting quietly on the ground. Simultaneous records of telemetered heart rate and intraspecific conflict on the nesting island revealed that cardiac acceleration preceded overt visual communication. Intensely aggressive behavior was accompanied by heart rates approaching those of sustained flight. Heart rate as a measure of metabolic cost indicates …

The Wavelength Dependence Of Ultraviolet Enhanced Reactivation In A Mammalian Cell-Virus System, Leslie C. James

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the wavelength region 230 nm to 302 nm on the ability of an irradiated mammalian cell to reactivate UV-irradiated mammalian virus was tests. An action spectrum for radiation enhanced reactivation (RER) Is presented. The shape of the action spectrum points to a combined nucleic acid protein target for UV radiation effects on this cellular parameter. An analysis of the results of others involving the biochemical and photobiological events involved in the RER does not allow the identification of the macromolecule which is the major contributor to this effect. Studies involving an analogous phenomenon …

The Wavelength Dependence Of Ultraviolet Induction Of Simian Virus 40 From A Transformed Line Of Hamster Kidney Cells, Dennis Fry

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Ultraviolet light has previously been shown to cause viral induction in some SV40 transformed cell lines. The induction of this virus from an established line (clone E) of hamster kidney cells by monochromatic ultraviolet light was studied. Ten wavelengths in the region of 240 nm to 366 nm were tested. The induced viral titers were determined by the agar overlay plaque assay technique.

A distinct wavelength dependence was shown for induction in this cell-virus system. A broad peak in induction efficiency extending from 260 nm to 280 nm was found. This indicates a DNA-protein interaction in the induction process.

The Health Science Institute: An Experience In Learning, Clarence Lee, Georgiana Aboko-Cole

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

The Health Science Institute of Howard University was initiated during the summer of 1973 by students and faculty members in the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences to address one of the major problems related to the overall poor status of health-care delivery for residents of the nation's underserved areas-the critical health manpower shortage.

Facultative Sex Ratio And Population Dynamics, John Werren, Eric Charnov

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A New Marlin, Makaira Panamensis, From The Late Miocene Of Panama, Harry L. Fierstine

Biological Sciences

Makaira panamensis new sp. is described from a single neurocranium found in the Chagres Sandstone (Late Miocene) of the Atlantic coast of Panama. The new species is closely related to and possibly ancestral to the extant M. indica (black marlin) and M. nigricans (blue marlin). It differs from both by possessing a triangular rather than elongate basioccipital foramen, large nutrient canals in the rostrum and probably a more elongate orbit. The fossil is compared to all known fossil Istiophorids as well as to the living marlins. It is suggested that the black marlin is a more recent derivative (than the …

Evolution Of Eusocial Behavior: Offspring Choice Or Parental Parasitism?, Eric Charnov

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

Assuming the subsocial route towards eusociality, I show that selection favors worker habits (under haplodiploidy) provided the mutant workers are able to bias the sex ratio towards sisters and/or selectively substitute their sons for brothers. If the original workers are not able to do this, selection does not favor the habit. However, under these conditions, selection is indifferent as to whether an individual rears offspring or sibs. This makes it easy for a mother to enlist her daughters services in rearing other offspring, since the daughter cannot evolve to stop the parental parasitism. These results deal with the origin of …

Sex-Ratio Selection In Eusocial Hymenoptera, Eric Charnov

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

A Revision Of Pectis Section Pectothrix (Compositae: Tageteae), David J. Keil

Biological Sciences

Pectis L. sect. Pectothrix A. Gray (Compositae: Tageteae) comprises a group of showy, yellow-headed species which occurs mainly in the arid and semi-arid portions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Although several regional floras have included one or more of the species in this group, no workers since Fernald (1897) and Rydberg (1916) have attempted to treat this portion of genus in its entirety. Since 1916, several workers have described new taxa (Cory, 1927; Johnston, 1940; Wiggins, 1951; Keil, 1974), and many new collections have been made. Recent studies (Keil, 1974) have suggested that the species relationships proposed …

Fish Of Lake Mead And Lake Mohave, Robert C. Allan, Dennis L. Roden

Publications (WR)

This publication offers an in-depth study of the fish and other organisms that live in Lakes Mead and Mohave. The history and background of the two lakes is offered, as well as information about diseases, parasites, and unusual fish occurrences. Food sources, predation and competition are also discussed.

Lactose Variability Of Escherichia Coli In Thermally Stressed Reactor Effluent Waters, K. L. Kasweck, C. B. Fliermans

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Lactose-utilizing and nalidixic acid-resistant populations of Escherichia coli, having an optimum growth temperature of 370C, were placed in modified diffusion chambers. The chambers were submerged in the epilimnion and hypolimnion of a 1,100-hectare lake (Par Pond) which receives cooling water from a nuclear production reactor. Control chambers were placed in a deep-water reservoir and a Flowing-Streams Laboratory, both of which had comparable temperatures to Par Pond. The populations of E. coli were sampled regularly for up to 3 weeks. Viability of the bacteria was determined by dilution plating to nutrient agar followed by replicate plating onto selective medium to determine …

Assays Of The Metabolic Viability Of Single Giant Mitochondria. Experiments With Intact And Impaled Mitochondria, B. L. Maloff, S. P. Scordilis, H. Tedeschi

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Single giant mitochondria isolated from mice fed cuprizone were assayed for their metabolic viability. Two tests were devised. One test optically detected the accumulation of calcium phosphate within the mitochondria under massive loading conditions (including the presence of succinate and ATP). The accumulation corresponds to a test of energy coupling from either electron transport or the hydrolysis of ATP since it is blocked by either antimycin A or oligomycin. The other assay tested for the production of ATP from ADP and Pi, using myofibrils. Myofibrils prepared from glycerinated rabbit psoas muscle contract only in the presence of ATP and not …

Mirid Fauna Associated With Old-Field Goldenrods (Solidago: Compositae) In Ithaca, N.Y., Frank J. Messina

Biology Faculty Publications

The mirid fauna associated with oldfield goldenrods (Solidago spp.) was sampled from May 10-Oct. 25, 1977 in Ithaca, New York USA . Species (23) belonging to 16 genera were recorded; 97% of all individuals (1099) belong to 6 genera (Lygus, Slaterocoris, Lopidea, Plagiognathus, Adelphocoris and Polymerus). The tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris, was the most common species. The dominant mirids can be divided into 2 fairly distinct guilds, L. lineolaris, 2 Plagiognathus spp. and A. rapidus feeding primarily on goldenrod flowers and 3 Slaterocoris spp., Lopidea media and Polymerus venaticus feeding on the immature foliage. The phenological pattern exhibited by …

The Reproductive Cycle Of Microtus Ochrogaster In Eastern Kansas, Robert K. Rose, Michael S. Gaines

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

About 800 Microtus ochrogaster were live—trapped at biweekly intervals from May 1971 through March 1973 in 3 grassland study areas in eastern Kansas, USA. Details of reproduction were determined by autopsy. Population density increased through the first winter, reached a peak in April 1972, then declined sharply during that summer and beyond. Body length, but not body mass, tended to be positively related to density. Both sexes matured at about the same weight; development was somewhat prolonged during the winter months, especially in the winter preceding the population peak. Pregnancy rates were high, approaching maximal iteroparity, throughout the study, with …

Distribution And Relative Abundance Of Small Mammals In The Illini Forest Plantation, Urbana, Illinois, James M. Novak

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The abundance and distribution of small mammals were analyzed for correlation with the vegetational characteris· tics of their habitat. Positive correlations were found for the number of mammals trapped per area trapped versus the total ground cover (r= .67, P< .05) and for the number of mammal species versus total ground cover (r= .73, P<.05). The habitat preferences of the three species trapped (short-tailed shrews B/,arina brevicauda. white-footed mice Peromyscus leucopuus, and meadow voles Microtus pennsylvanicus) showed a distinct distributional pattern for the species in relation to their habitats. The management of forest-tree plantations to achieve high densities during the seedling stage and the use of silvicultural practices that promote high shrub densities are suggested as inexpensive and natural control measures for injurious microtine rodents. Seedlings must be permitted to reach a sufficient height to remove the risk of the shrubs overtopping them.

Notes On The Flora Of Rhode Island, Gordon C. Tucker

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

No abstract provided.