Life Sciences Commons^™

2015 Final Report: Status Of The Arizona Toad (Anaxyrus Microscaphus) In New Mexico, Mason J. Ryan, Ian M. Latella, Jacek Tomasz Giermakowski, Howard L. Snell

Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

In 2013, we initiated a field study to assess the status of the Arizona Toad (Anaxyrus microscaphus) in New Mexico. Herein we provide the results of three years (2013-2015) of range-wide population monitoring, a review of threat assessments, and several contributions to the basic ecology of the Arizona Toad in New Mexico. This work highlights the sensitivity of the species to abiotic factors and emphasizes the nature of annual population fluctuations in a variable environment. We provide analyses of environmental factors that influence toad reproductive behaviors, employ occupancy and detection modeling at breeding sites, and provide analyses of tadpole habitat …

Effects Of Whole Body Vibration Training On Body Composition, Skeletal Muscle Strength, And Cardiovascular Health, Song-Young Park, Won-Mok Son, Oh-Sung Kwon

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Whole body vibration training (WBVT) has been used as a supplement to conventional exercise training such as resistance exercise training to improve skeletal muscle strength, specifically, in rehabilitation field. Recently, this exercise modality has been utilized by cardiovascular studies to examine whether WBVT can be a useful exercise modality to improve cardiovascular health. These studies reported that WBVT has not only beneficial effects on muscular strength but also cardiovascular health in elderly and disease population. However, its mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of WBVT in cardiovascular health has not been well documented. Therefore, this review highlighted the impacts of WBVT …

Living With Coyotes, Owen H. Agnew

Capstones

Coyotes have been slowly moving into New York State from Canada since the 1930s. They reached Westchester County and the Bronx decades ago, and their numbers have been slowly rising. Sighting in Manhattan reached an all-time high last spring, and pet attacks in Westchester County have increased slightly in the last several years. But the slight increase in sightings and pet attacks in recent years has been amplified on social media in towns like Chappaqua, New York, where anxiety and fear about coyotes has pitted neighbors against neighbors.

Main character Frank Vincenti is a Long Island barber and a self-proclaimed …

Suppression Of F1 Male-Specific Lethality In Caenorhabditis Hybrids By Cbr-Him-8, Vaishnavi Ragavapuram, Emily Elaine King, Scott Everet Baird

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Haldane's Rule and Darwin's Corollary to Haldane's Rule are the observations that heterogametic F1 hybrids frequently are less fit than their homogametic siblings and that asymmetric results often are obtained from reciprocal hybrid crosses. In Caenorhabditis, Haldane's Rule and Darwin's Corollary have been observed in several hybrid crosses, including crosses of Caenorhabditis briggsae and Caenorhabditis nigoni. Fertile F1 females are obtained from reciprocal crosses. However, F1 males obtained from C. nigoni mothers are sterile and F1 males obtained from C. briggsae die during embryogenesis. We have identified cbr-him-8 as a recessive maternal-effect suppressor of F1 hybrid male-specific lethality …

Smokejumper Obituary: Johnshoy, Ronald J. (Nifc 1988), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

The Sixty-Six Percent, Natalie Abruzzo

Capstones

The Sixty-Six Percent represent the percentage of women in the U.S. who are overweight. They are regarded as full-figured or “plus” size in the world of women’s apparel. Even though more than half of American women wear a “plus” size - size 14 and up - designs for these women account for a fraction of women’s apparel - Only 37% of women's wear is plus-size.

The Sixty-Six Percent is coming at an important time in a broader conversation about de-stigmatizing what it means to be a plus-size woman in America. Fat shaming has become taboo and mainstream media as well …

Special Muscles, Annamaria C. Scaccia

Capstones

Special Muscles is a documentary that explores living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal degenerative disease that weakens the muscles at an aggressive rate. The film will give an uncensored look at how one family copes with inevitability of the disease and their journey chasing a promising experimental cure.

Special Muscles follows 7-year-old Pietro Scarso and his family as they face the challenges, complications and promise of treating Pietro’s progressive muscle disorder. The film travels from New York to Los Angeles to Philadelphia to document the Scarso family’s race against time as Pietro undergoes a 96-week clinical trial for Eteplirsen, …

Using Detection Dogs And Rspf Models To Assess Habitat Suitability For Bears In Greater Yellowstone, Jon P. Beckmann, Lisette P. Waits, Aimee Hurt, Alice Whitelaw, Scott Bergen

Western North American Naturalist

In the northern U.S. Rockies, including the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), connectivity is a concern because large carnivores have difficulties dispersing successfully between protected areas. One area of high conservation value because of its importance for connecting the GYE to wilderness areas of central Idaho is the Centennial Mountains and surrounding valleys (2500 km2) along the Idaho–Montana border just west of Yellowstone National Park. The current expansion of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and other large carnivore populations outside protected areas of Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park has placed a greater emphasis on potential linkage zones …

Effects Of Melatonin On Heartbeat And Possible Identification Of A Melatonin Receptor In Drosophila Melanogaster, Tricia L. Vankirk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1 of this manuscript is a literature review that serves as an introduction to the entire dissertation. Chapter 2 examines the effects of the melatonin injection on heart rate and rhythmicity in Drosophila melanogaster Canton-S (wild-type) pupae and pupae bearing a variety of heart mutations. Chapter 3 investigates further the possible mechanisms of melatonin’s ability to increase heart rhythmicity without significantly affecting heart rate. A melatonin antagonist, luzindole; a high-affinity melatonin agonist, 2-iodomelatonin and RNAi techniques are used to identify a possible melatonin receptor in Drosophila melanogaster.

An appendix contains a previously published manuscript detailing experiments performed at the …

A Life Cycle Analysis Of Land Use In Us Pork Production, Greg Thoma, Marty Matlock, Ben Putman, Jasmina Burek

Food Systems

The goal of this study was to analyze land use in the production of US pork using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a comprehensive methodology for quantitatively analyzing potential environmental impacts associated with complex systems. Identification of processes contributing to high environmental impacts often highlights opportunities for gains in efficiency, which can increase the profitability and sustainability of US pork. The environmental impact category analyzed in this assessment was land use. After reviewing existing information regarding land use in agriculture and livestock production, analysis for US pork production was performed at two scales: cradle-to-grave and cradle-to-farm gate. The cradle-to-grave …

Critical Forces That Structure Subtidal Ecological Communities In The Gulf Of Maine, And The Integration Of Invasive Species Into These Communities, Martine C. Wagstaff

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Shallow subtidal epibenthic communities worldwide are under threat from exploitation, pollution, eutrophication, acidification, climate change, and invasive species, with implications for ecosystem diversity, productivity, function, and services. Subtidal ecosystems in the Gulf of Maine are particularly impacted, making it crucial to understand these habitats so that our impacts can be predicted and mitigated. I investigated the basic ecological forces that structure shallow subtidal epibenthic communities in this region, and how invasive species integrate themselves into these communities. I used community phylogenetic and functional trait analyses to investigate if invertebrate communities in the rocky subtidal are assembled via deterministic or random …

Pengaruh Latihan Mental Dan Keyakinan Diri Terhadap Keberhasilan Tendangan Penalti Pemain Sepak Bola, Riga Mardhika, Dimyati Dimyati

Jurnal Keolahragaan

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui: (1) pengaruh metode latihan imajeri dan metode latihan konsentrasi terhadap keberhasilan tendangan penalti pemain sepak bola, (2) pengaruh keyakin-an diri tinggi dan keyakinan diri rendah terhadap keberhasilan tendangan penalti pemain sepak bola, (3) interaksi antara metode latihan mental dan keyakinan diri terhadap keberhasilan tendangan penalti pemain sepak bola. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian eksperimen dengan desain faktorial 2 x 2, dengan tes awal dan tes akhir pada empat kelompok yang diberi perlakuan dua metode. Populasi penelitian adalah pemain sepak bola klub Ps Gama dengan jumlah keseluruhan 58 atlet. Instrumen yang digunakan adalah tes keyakinan diri, untuk …

Testing The Efficacy Of Lsn2463359, A Metabotropic Glutamate 5 Receptor Positive Allosteric Modulator, In Animal Models Of Schizophrenia, Dierdre M. Freamon

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

For many years the dominant theory surrounding the cause of schizophrenia was focused on elevated dopamine levels found in critical areas of the brain. Recently a new theory has emerged pointing to elevated glutamate levels resulting from hypofunction of NMDA receptors and hypoactivity of GABAergic neurons which normally inhibit glutamatergic cells in a tonic manner. Therefore, while traditional antipsychotics directly block dopamine receptors, some of the newly generated compounds are designed to modulate glutamate to normal levels.

I propose testing the efficacy of the metabotropic glutamate 5 receptor modulator LSN2463359, previously shown to act as an indirect agonist of the …

Gerak Multilateral Melalui Permainan Bola Besar Untuk Anak Sd Kelas Bawah, Kadek Ary Wibawa, Fx. Sugiyanto

Jurnal Keolahragaan

Penelitian ini bertujuan menghasilkan model pembelajaran gerak multilateral yang dibentuk melalui permainan bola besar, serta dikembangkan menjadi panduan guru olahraga dan pembelajaran dengan konsep permainan. Penelitian ini dikembangkan dengan mengadaptasi penelitian dan pengembangan pendidikan model Gall, Gall, & Borg. Uji coba dengan skala kecil dilakukan terhadap 24 orang siswa di SD Mutiara Singaraja dan 85 orang siswa pada skala besar di SDN 1 dan SDN 3 Singaraja. Instrumen yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data adalah angket skala nilai validasi, pedoman observasi model pembelajaran permainan, dan pedoman observasi keefektifan model pembelajaran permainan. Hasil penelitian berupa pengembangan model pembelajaran gerak multilateral melalui permainan …

Examining Sociological Differences And The Influence Of Prey Distribution And Environmental Variability In The Distribution Of A Top Marine Predator, The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus), Stefanie K. Gazda

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the influence of environmental variability on the distribution of prey, and the influence of prey spatial structure and habitat variability may have on the distributions of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Additionally I examined how sociological differences (behavior type and the changes in a foraging behavior specific to Cedar Key Florida) influences the relative roles of bottlenose dolphins within the population.

The Gowans et al. scheme assumes that small groups form small communities and that foraging groups are small and rare as there are few foraging benefits to promote grouping. Using network analysis, …

The Integration Of African Americans In The Civilian Conservation Corps In Massachusetts, Caitlin E. Pinkham

Graduate Masters Theses

The Civilian Conservation Corps employed young white and black men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. In 1935 Robert Fechner, the Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps, ordered the segregation of Corps camps across the country. Massachusetts’ camps remained integrated due in large part to low funding and a small African American population. The experiences of Massachusetts’ African American population present a new general narrative of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Federal government imposed a three percent African American quota, ensuring that African Americans participated in Massachusetts as the Civilian Conservation Corps expanded. This quota represents a Federal acknowledgement …

Molecular Dynamics Simulation Reveals Correlated Inter-Lobe Motion In Protein Lysine Methyltransferase Smyd2, Nicholas Spellmon, Xiaonan Sun, Nualpun Sirinupong, Brian Fp Edwards, Chunying Li, Zhe Yang

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

SMYD proteins are an exciting field of study as they are linked to many types of cancer- related pathways. Cardiac and skeletal muscle development and function also depend on SMYD proteins opening a possible avenue for cardiac-related treatment. Previous crystal structure studies have revealed that this special class of protein lysine methyltransferases have a bilobal structure, and an open–closed motion may regulate substrate specificity. Here we use the molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the still-poorly-understood SMYD2 dynamics. Cross-correlation analysis reveals that SMYD2 exhibits a negative cor- related inter-lobe motion. Principle component analysis suggests that this correlated dynamic is contributed to …

Quantifying The Adaptive Cycle, David G. Angeler, Craig R. Allen, Ahjond S. Garmestani, Lance H. Gunderson, Olle Hjerne, Monika Winder

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

The adaptive cycle was proposed as a conceptual model to portray patterns of change in complex systems. Despite the model having potential for elucidating change across systems, it has been used mainly as a metaphor, describing system dynamics qualitatively. We use a quantitative approach for testing premises (reorganisation, conservatism, adaptation) in the adaptive cycle, using Baltic Sea phytoplankton communities as an example of such complex system dynamics. Phytoplankton organizes in recurring spring and summer blooms, a well-established paradigm in planktology and succession theory, with characteristic temporal trajectories during blooms that may be consistent with adaptive cycle phases. We used long-term …

Manipulation Of Ovarian Function Significantly Influenced Trabecular And Cortical Bone Volume, Architecture And Density In Mice At Death, Jeffrey B. Mason, Boston C. Terry, Samer S. Merchant, Holly M. Mason, Mahdi Nazokkarmaher

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Previously, transplantation of ovaries from young, cycling mice into old, postreproductive-age mice increased life span and decreased cardiomyopathy at death. We anticipated that the same factors that increased life span and decreased cardiomyopathy could also influence the progression of orthopedic disease. At 11 months of age, prepubertally ovariectomized and ovary-intact mice (including reproductively cycling and acyclic mice) received new 60-day-old ovaries. At death, epiphyseal bone in the proximal tibia and the distal femur and mid-shaft tibial and femoral diaphyseal bone was analyzed with micro-computed tomography. For qualitative analysis of osteophytosis, we also included mineralized connective tissue within the stifle joint. …

The Effects Of Aerobic Exercise Training On Blood Lipid Profiles, Fibrinolytic Activities, And Nitric Oxide Levels In High-Fat-Diet Induced Rats, Won-Mok Son, Do-Yeon Kim, Ki-Dong Sung, Yi Sub Kwak, Yeong Ho Baek, Song-Young Park

Health and Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Although exercise training has been utilized to improve vascular function in animals and humans, the impact of moderate intensity exercise training on fibrinolytic activities and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability has not been well documented. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of moderate intensity aerobic exercise training on fat mass, blood lipid profiles, fibrinolytic activity, and NO levels in high-fat-diet induced rats. The body weight, fat mass, blood lipid profiles, fibrinolytic activity, and nitrite/nitrate were measured pre- and postexercise (10 weeks) training. The body weight and fat mass reduced significantly in the exercise (EX) group …

Phylogenetic Investigation Of Enteric Bovine Coronavirus In Ireland Reveals Partitioning Between European And Global Strains, Lynda Gunn, P. J. Collins, M. J. O'Connell, Helen O'Shea

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

Background

Bovine coronavirus is a primary cause of neonatal calf diarrhea worldwide, and is also associated with acute diarrhea in adult cattle during the winter season. There are no reports on molecular characterization of bovine coronavirus in Ireland, and little data exists apart from serological studies.

Findings

In this study, 11 neonatal (mean age 9 days) calf BCoV strains from the south of Ireland were collected over a one year period and characterized using molecular methods. The spike gene which encodes a protein involved in viral entry, infectivity and immune response shows the most variability amongst the isolates and was …

Use Of Esi-Fticr-Ms To Characterize Dissolved Organic Matter In Headwater Streams Draining Forest-Dominated And Pasture-Dominated Watersheds, Randolph Chambers

Arts & Sciences Articles

Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS) has proven to be a powerful technique revealing complexity and diversity of natural DOM molecules, but its application to DOM analysis in grazing-impacted agricultural systems remains scarce. In the present study, we presented a case study of using ESI-FTICR-MS in analyzing DOM from four headwater streams draining forest- or pasture-dominated watersheds in Virginia, USA. In all samples, most formulas were CHO compounds (71.8–87.9%), with other molecular series (CHOS, CHON, CHONS, and CHOP (N, S)) accounting for only minor fractions. All samples were dominated by molecules falling in the lignin-like region …

Therapeutic Raavrh10 Mediated Sod1 Silencing In Adult Sod1g93a Mice And Nonhuman Primates, Christian Mueller

Christian Mueller

Alternative Use Of Dna Binding Domains By The Neurospora White Collar Complex Dictates Circadian Regulation And Light Responses, Bin Wang, Xiaoying Zhou, Jennifer J. Loros, Jay C. Dunlap

Dartmouth Scholarship

In the Neurospora circadian system, the White Collar complex (WCC) of WC-1 and WC-2 drives transcription of the circadian pacemaker gene frequency (frq), whose gene product, FRQ, as a part of the FRQ-FRH complex (FFC), inhibits its own expression. The WCC is also the principal Neurospora photoreceptor; WCC-mediated light induction of frq resets the clock, and all acute light induction is triggered by WCC binding to promoters of light-induced genes. However, not all acutely light-induced genes are also clock regulated, and conversely, not all clock-regulated direct targets of WCC are light induced; the structural determinants governing the shift …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Rice Husk Based Lignin-Bisphenol A Epoxy Resin, Li Ying, Li Xin, Yu Zhike, Zhou Xueying, Ni Caihua, Shi Gang

Food and Machinery

Lignin was extracted using alkali distillation from rice husk, which is the food processing waste. As the structure of lignin and bisphenol A is similar, lignin modified bisphenol A epoxy resin could be prepared under alkali as catalyst by blending them. It can be concluded that when the lignin substitution rate was 20%, the epoxy value of the epoxy resin was 0.3, the weight-average molecular weight was 6 045, and the molecular weight distribution was relatively uniform.

Drying Kinetics Of Pullulan-Based Film Forming Solutions, Zhou Yujia, Xiao Qian, Lu Xingchi, Deng Fangming

Food and Machinery

The drying kinetics of pullulan and pullulan-PEG film forming solutions were investigated. The results were as followed: the drying curves of pullulan-based films were divided into three stages: the rising rate, the falling rate, and the constant rate period; four mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data; among the drying models considered, the Wang and singh model was found to satisfactorily describe the drying kinetics of pullulan solutions. However, Modified Page equation-II model was found to satisfactorily describe the drying kinetics of pullulan-PEG solutions. As the drying temperature increased from 40 ℃ to 70 ℃, the effective moisture diffusion …

Analysis On Composition Of Organic Acids In Choerospondias Axillaris And Its Pastilles, Li Ti, Dai Taotao, Cheng Chao, Chen Jun, Wang Zhaojun, Liu Jiyan, Liu Chengmei, Liu Wei

Food and Machinery

This paper aims at analyzing the composition and content of organic acids in Choerospondias axillaris and its pastilles, and discussing the effect of pastilles processing on content of organic acids, to provide a reliable basis for further development of Choerospondias axillaris product. LC—MS was adopted to analyze the organic acids in Choerospondias axillaris, and established a reversed-phase HPLC technique for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of organic acids. The results showed that all samples presented a similar profile mainly composed of 7 organic acids, where citric acid and malic acid were the major ones. The content of organic acids in …

Analysis Of Amino Acid Composition And Nutritional Evaluation Of 22 Spirulina(Athrospira) Strains, Yan Chunyu, Wang Suying, Dong Shirui

Food and Machinery

No abstract provided.

Optimization On Glutaminase Production From Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens Swjs22 By Solid-State Fermentation, Zhou Chihongling, Cui Cun, Zhao Mouming

Food and Machinery

A Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain SWJS22 isolated from deep sea mud of the South China Sea was used to produce glutaminase by solid-state fermentation. Using single factor test and orthogonal test, including culture media and the fermentation parameters, was applied to optimize glutaminase production technology; optimal fermentation conditions were: 2% (V/m) seed liquid was inoculated in a culture medium composed of 20 g soy flakes, 5 g wheat flour, 0.02 g SE-1170, water to solid in a ratio of 1.0∶0.6 (m∶m), and fermented at 37 ℃ for 48 h. Under this optimized condition, the L-glutaminase activity was increased from （83.10±4.64） U/mgds …

Influence Of Routine Chemical Components On Sensory Quality Of Commercial Cigarettes Using Partial Least Square Regression, Shen Ning, Zhao Juan, Yu Jingyang, Xia Shuqin, Zhang Xiaoming, Guo Lei, Su Jiakun, Shao Dengyin, Cai Jibao

Food and Machinery

The Partial Least Square Regression(PLSR) analysis was used to study the influences of routine chemical components, such as total sugar, reducing sugar, nicotine, total nitrogen etc. on cigarette sensory quality. The results showed that there were positive correlations between total sugar, reducing sugar and the ratio of sugar to nicotine and most comfort characteristic. Nicotine, total nitrogen and potassium had negative influences on tobacco comfort characteristics. There were significantly positive correlations between the ratio of potassium to chlorine and irritation or tongue burning, oral coating or oral dryness. There were positive correlations between total sugar, reducing sugar and the ratio …