Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Hammerhead-Type Fxr Agonists Induce An Enhancer Rna Fincor That Ameliorates Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis In Mice, Jinjing Chen, Ruoyu Wang, Feng Xiong, Hao Sun, Byron Kemper, Wenbo Li, Jongsook Kemper

Journal Articles

The nuclear receptor, farnesoid X receptor (FXR/NR1H4), is increasingly recognized as a promising drug target for metabolic diseases, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Protein-coding genes regulated by FXR are well known, but whether FXR also acts through regulation of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which vastly outnumber protein-coding genes, remains unknown. Utilizing RNA-seq and global run-on sequencing (GRO-seq) analyses in mouse liver, we found that FXR activation affects the expression of many RNA transcripts from chromatin regions bearing enhancer features. Among these we discovered a previously unannotated liver-enriched enhancer-derived lncRNA (eRNA), termed FXR-induced non-coding RNA (

Invited Review: Adrenocortical Function In Avian And Non-Avian Reptiles: Insights From Dispersed Adrenocortical Cells., Rocco V. Carsia, Patrick J. Mcilroy, Henry B John-Alder

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

Herein we review our work involving dispersed adrenocortical cells from several lizard species: the Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus), Yarrow's Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii), Striped Plateau Lizard (Sceloporus virgatus) and the Yucatán Banded Gecko (Coleonyx elegans). Early work demonstrated changes in steroidogenic function of adrenocortical cells derived from adult S. undulatus associated with seasonal interactions with sex. However, new information suggests that both sexes operate within the same steroidogenic budget over season. The observed sex effect was further explored in orchiectomized and ovariectomized lizards, some supported with exogenous testosterone. Overall, a suppressive effect of testosterone was evident, especially in cells …

H7n9 Influenza A Virus Transmission In A Multispecies Barnyard Model, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Anna Rodriguez, Rachel M. Maison, Stephanie M. Porter, J. Jeffrey Root

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Influenza A viruses are a diverse group of pathogens that have been responsible for millions of human and avian deaths throughout history. Here, we illustrate the transmission potential of H7N9 influenza A virus between Coturnix quail (Coturnix sp.), domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus), chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus), and house sparrows (Passer domesticus) co-housed in an artificial barnyard setting. In each of four replicates, individuals from a single species were infected with the virus. Quail shed virus orally and were a source of infection for both chickens and ducks. Infected chickens transmitted the virus to quail but not to ducks or …

Host Diversity And Behavior Determine Patterns Of Interspecies Transmission And Geographic Diffusion Of Avian Influenza A Subtypes Among North American Wild Reservoir Species, Joseph T Hicks, Kimberly Edwards, Xueting Qiu, Do-Kyun Kim, James E Hixson, Scott Krauss, Richard J Webby, Robert G Webster, Justin Bahl

Journal Articles

Wild birds can carry avian influenza viruses (AIV), including those with pandemic or panzootic potential, long distances. Even though AIV has a broad host range, few studies account for host diversity when estimating AIV spread. We analyzed AIV genomic sequences from North American wild birds, including 303 newly sequenced isolates, to estimate interspecies and geographic viral transition patterns among multiple co-circulating subtypes. Our results show high transition rates within Anseriformes and Charadriiformes, but limited transitions between these orders. Patterns of transition between species were positively associated with breeding habitat range overlap, and negatively associated with host genetic distance. Distance between …

Cats And Conservationists: The Debate Over Who Owns The Outdoors, Dara M. Wald, Anna L. Peterson

New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond

Cats and Conservationists is the first multidisciplinary analysis of the heated debate about free-roaming cats. The debate pits conservationists against cat lovers, who disagree both on the ecological damage caused by the cats and the best way to manage them. An impassioned and spirited conflict, it also sheds light on larger questions about how we interpret science, incorporate diverse perspectives, and balance competing values in order to encourage constructive dialogue on contentious social and environmental issues.

On one side of the cat debate stand many environmentalists, especially birders and conservation organizations, who believe that outdoor cats seriously threaten native wildlife. …

Mass Stranding Of Marine Birds Caused By A Surfactant-Producing Red Tide., David A. Jessup, Melissa A. Miller, John P. Ryan, Hannah M Nevins, Heather A. Kerkering, Abdou Mekebri, David B. Crane, Tyler A. Johnson, Raphael M. Kudela

Tyler Johnson

In November-December 2007 a widespread seabird mortality event occurred in Monterey Bay, California, USA, coincident with a massive red tide caused by the dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea. Affected birds had a slimy yellow-green material on their feathers, which were saturated with water, and they were severely hypothermic. We determined that foam containing surfactant-like proteins, derived from organic matter of the red tide, coated their feathers and neutralized natural water repellency and insulation. No evidence of exposure to petroleum or other oils or biotoxins were found. This is the first documented case of its kind, but previous similar events may have gone …

Remembering The Huia: Extinction And Nostalgia In A Bird World, Cameron Boyle

Animal Studies Journal

This paper examines the role of nostalgia in practices of remembering the Huia, an extinct bird endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand. It suggests that nostalgia for the Huia specifically, and New Zealand's indigenous birds more generally, has occurred as both restorative nostalgia and reflective nostalgia. It argues that the former problematically looks to recreate a past world in which birds flourished. In contrast, the paintings of Bill Hammond and the sound art of Sally Ann McIntyre are drawn on to explore the potential of reflective nostalgia for remembering the Huia, and New Zealand's extinct indigenous birds more generally, in a …

Marcum, Joe (Fa 1161), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1161. Student folk studies project titled “Folklore Collection Project: [Old Recipes and Remedies]” which includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of recipes or remedies in Logan County and Warren County, Kentucky. Sheets may include a recipe, remedy, brief description, informant’s name, address and text classification.

Can Prescribed Fire Reduce Tick Parasitism Of Birds?, Leslie A. Sterling, Kim Medley, Katie Westby, Solný Adalsteinsson

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Tick-borne diseases spread through enzootic transmission cycles that often involve ticks parasitizing bird hosts. Some avian species are competent reservoirs, amplifying the pathogens that cause tick-borne illnesses in humans. Prescribed burns in forests have the potential to reduce tick-borne disease risk if they limit interactions between ticks and infectious wildlife hosts. Although prescribed burns are increasingly being used for a variety of habitat management purposes, little is known about how they affect tick-host interactions. We hypothesize that if prescribed fires reduce tick abundance, then birds in burned forest plots will host fewer ticks than birds in unburned forest plots. Experimental …

To Live And Fly In La: Using Bird Strike And Management Program Information To Improve Safety At Airports In The Los Angeles Basin, Todd J. Pitlik, Elizabeth Hermann, Eric Peralta, Brian E. Washburn

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife-aircraft collisions (wildlife strikes) pose a serious safety risk to aircraft. Wildlife strikes can be evaluated at different levels, include efforts to examine these problems at the national, regional, or state level, or for an individual airport. Similarly, wildlife strikes involving individual wildlife species or guilds can be examined at varying scales. Although wildlife strike analyses at the national, regional, or species/guild level are valuable, airport-specific analyses are essential for the effective implementation and evaluation of integrated wildlife damage management programs as these actions are conducted at the airport level. The species that present hazards to safe aircraft operations varies …

Are There Place Cells In The Avian Hippocampus?, David F Sherry, Stephanie L Grella, Mélanie F Guigueno, David J White, Diano F Marrone

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Birds possess a hippocampus that serves many of the same spatial and mnemonic functions as the mammalian hippocampus but achieves these outcomes with a dramatically different neuroanatomical organization. The properties of spatially responsive neurons in birds and mammals are also different. Much of the contemporary interest in the role of the mammalian hippocampus in spatial representation dates to the discovery of place cells in the rat hippocampus. Since that time, cells that respond to head direction and cells that encode a grid-like representation of space have been described in the rat brain. Research with homing pigeons has discovered hippocampal cells, …

Mosquitoes Transmit Unique West Nile Virus Populations During Each Feeding Episode, Nathan D. Grubaugh, Joseph R. Fauver, Claudia Rückert, James Weger-Lucarelli, Selene Garcia-Luna, Reyes A. Murrieta, Alex Gendernalik, Darci R. Smith, Doug E. Brackney, Gregory D. Ebel

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses), such as Zika virus, chikungunya virus, and West Nile virus (WNV), pose continuous threats to emerge and cause large epidemics. Often, these events are associated with novel virus variants optimized for local transmission that first arise as minorities within a host. Thus, the conditions that regulate the frequency of intrahost variants are important determinants of emergence. Here, we describe the dynamics of WNV genetic diversity during its transmission cycle. By temporally sampling saliva from individual mosquitoes, we demonstrate that virus populations expectorated by mosquitoes are highly diverse and unique to each feeding episode. After transmission to birds, …

Context-Dependent Egr1 Expression In The Avian Hippocampus., Stephanie L Grella, Mélanie F Guigueno, David J White, David F Sherry, Diano F Marrone

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

In mammals, episodic memory and spatial cognition involve context-specific recruitment of unique ensembles in the hippocampal formation (HF). Despite their capacity for sophisticated spatial (e.g., for migration) and episodic-like (e.g., for food-caching) memory, the mechanisms underlying contextual representation in birds is not well understood. Here we demonstrate environment-specific Egr1 expression as male brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) navigate environments for food reward, showing that the avian HF, like its mammalian counterpart, recruits distinct neuronal ensembles to represent different contexts.

Animal Mourning: Précis Of How Animals Grieve (King 2013), Barbara J. King

Animal Sentience

Abstract: When an animal dies, that individual’s mate, relatives, or friends may express grief. Changes in the survivor’s patterns of social behavior, eating, sleeping, and/or of expression of affect are the key criteria for defining grief. Based on this understanding of grief, it is not only big-brained mammals like elephants, apes, and cetaceans who can be said to mourn, but also a wide variety of other animals, including domestic companions like cats, dogs, and rabbits; horses and farm animals; and some birds. With keen attention placed on seeking where grief is found to occur and where it is absent …

Study Of Morphological Characteristic And Prevalence Of Haemoproteus Blood Parasite In Passerines In Bung Boraphet, Phirom Prompiram, Smarn Kaewviyudth, Yaowalark Sukthana, Parntep Rattanakorn

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

Haemoproteus is one of the world’s widespread avian blood parasite. However, it is rarely reported in Thailand; even at Bung Boraphet, which is an important wetland bird area located in the central part of Thailand, it still has never been reported. Therefore, information on species of haemoproteid and their epidemiology is important for the health of wildlife in Thailand. Samples of blood smear were collected from 633 passerines consisting of 6 orders, 15 families, 25 genera, and 35 species in total from Bung Boraphet. This is the first study to report 8 haemoproteid blood parasite species including Haemoproteus herdiadis, H. …

Effects Of Human Recreational Activity On The Tameness Of Common Loons (Gavia Immer) In Northern Wisconsin, Seth Yund

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Common Loon (Gavia immer) is an aquatic diving bird that lives in freshwater habitats in Canada and the northern U.S.. Human activity on a loon’s resident lake may affect its fitness and behavior, yet few studies identify or quantify these effects. We modified existing techniques that measure escape distances in other species to measure tameness as the distance at which individual loons dove in response to human approach by canoe. Tameness was similar between pair members, suggesting that common lake conditions or the behavior of a mate might influence the behavior. Sex, size within sex, and human activity did …

Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections In Pediatric Intensive Care Units: Longitudinal Trends And Compliance With Bundle Strategies., Jeffrey D. Edwards, Carolyn T. Herzig, Hangsheng Liu, Monika Pogorzelska-Maziarz, Philip Zachariah, Andrew W. Dick, Lisa Saiman, Patricia W. Stone, E. Yoko Furuya

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

BACKGROUND: Knowing the temporal trend central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rates among U.S. pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), the current extent of central line bundle compliance, and the impact of compliance on rates is necessary to understand what has been accomplished and can be improved in CLABSI prevention.

METHODS: This is a longitudinal study of PICUs in National Healthcare Safety Network hospitals and a cross-sectional survey of directors and managers of infection prevention and control departments regarding PICU CLABSI prevention practices, including self-reported compliance with elements of central line bundles. Associations between 2011-2012 PICU CLABSI rates and infection prevention practices …

Seasonal Change In The Avian Hippocampus., David F Sherry, Scott A Macdougall-Shackleton

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

The hippocampus plays an important role in cognitive processes, including memory and spatial orientation, in birds. The hippocampus undergoes seasonal change in food-storing birds and brood parasites, there are changes in the hippocampus during breeding, and further changes occur in some species in association with migration. In food-storing birds, seasonal change in the hippocampus occurs in fall and winter when the cognitively demanding behaviour of caching and retrieving food occurs. The timing of annual change in the hippocampus of food-storing birds is quite variable, however, and appears not to be under photoperiod control. A variety of factors, including cognitive performance, …

Experimental Evolution Of An Rna Virus In Wild Birds: Evidence For Host-Dependent Impacts On Population Structure And Competitive Fitness, Nathan D. Grubaugh, Darci R. Smith, Doug E. Brackney, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Joseph R. Fauver, Corey L. Campbell, Todd A. Felix, Hannah Romo, Nisha K. Duggal, Elizabeth A. Dietrich, Tyler Eike, Jennifer E. Beane, Richard A. Bowen, William C. Black, Aaron C. Brault, Gregory D. Ebel

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Within hosts, RNA viruses form populations that are genetically and phenotypically complex. Heterogeneity in RNA virus genomes arises due to error-prone replication and is reduced by stochastic and selective mechanisms that are incompletely understood. Defining how natural selection shapes RNA virus populations is critical because it can inform treatment paradigms and enhance control efforts. We allowed West Nile virus (WNV) to replicate in wild-caught American crows, house sparrows and American robins to assess how natural selection shapes RNA virus populations in ecologically relevant hosts that differ in susceptibility to virus-induced mortality. After five sequential passages in each bird species, we …

A Joint Matrix Completion And Filtering Model For Influenza Serological Data Integration., Xiao-Tong Yuan, Tong Zhang, Xiu-Feng Wan

College of Veterinary Medicine Publications and Scholarship

Antigenic characterization based on serological data, such as Hemagglutination Inhibition (HI) assay, is one of the routine procedures for influenza vaccine strain selection. In many cases, it would be impossible to measure all pairwise antigenic correlations between testing antigens and reference antisera in each individual experiment. Thus, we have to combine and integrate the HI tables from a number of individual experiments. Measurements from different experiments may be inconsistent due to different experimental conditions. Consequently we will observe a matrix with missing data and possibly inconsistent measurements. In this paper, we develop a new mathematical model, which we refer to …

T-Cell Specific Avian Tdt: Characterization Of The Cdna And Recombinant Enzyme., Baoli Yang, K. Gathy, M. Coleman

Baoli Yang

A cDNA clone coding for avian terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) has been isolated and sequenced. The size of this cDNA was 2545 bp with an open reading frame of 1521 bp and a predicted translation product of 58 kDa. Comparison of this TdT sequence with other known TdT sequences has revealed a very high degree of homology at both the DNA and predicted amino acid levels. The chicken TdT cDNA was expressed in a bacterial system and the protein was purified by affinity chromatography. The purified recombinant enzyme, with a specific activity of approximately 1700 U/mg protein, was significantly less …

Is The Reporting Timeliness Gap For Avian Flu And H1n1 Outbreaks In Global Health Surveillance Systems Associated With Country Transparency?, Feng-Jen Tsai, Eva Tseng, Chang-Chuan Chan, Hiko Tamashiro, Sandrine Motamed, André C Rougemont

Division of Internal Medicine Faculty Papers & Presentations

BACKGROUND: This study aims to evaluate the length of time elapsed between reports of the same incidents related to avian flu and H1N1 outbreaks published by the WHO and ProMED-mail, the two major global health surveillance systems, before and after the amendment of the International Health Regulations in 2005 (IHR 2005) and to explore the association between country transparency and this timeliness gap.

METHODS: We recorded the initial release dates of each report related to avian flu or H1N1 listed on the WHO Disease Outbreak News site and the matching outbreak report from ProMED-mail, a non-governmental program for monitoring emerging …

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Plasticity: A Comparative Perspective., T J Stevenson, T P Hahn, S A Macdougall-Shackleton, G F Ball

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) is a key regulator of the reproductive neuroendocrine system in vertebrates. Recent developments have suggested that GnRH1 neurons exhibit far greater plasticity at the cellular and molecular levels than previously thought. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that sub-populations of GnRH1 neurons in the preoptic area are highly responsive to specific environmental and hormonal conditions. In this paper we discuss findings that reveal large variation in GnRH1 mRNA and protein expression that are regulated by social cues, photoperiod, and hormonal feedback. We draw upon studies using histochemistry and immediate early genes (e.g., c-FOS/ZENK) to illustrate that specific …

Comparative Genomics Of Brachyspira Pilosicoli Strains: Genome Rearrangements, Reductions And Correlation Of Genetic Compliment With Phenotypic Diversity, Luke Mappley, Michael Black, Manal Abuoun, Alistair C. Darby, Martin J. Woodward, Julian Parkhill, A. Keith Turner, Matthew I. Bellgard, Tom La, Nyree D. Phillips, Roberto M. La Ragione, David J. Hampson

Research outputs 2012

Background: The anaerobic spirochaete Brachyspira pilosicoli causes enteric disease in avian, porcine and human hosts, amongst others. To date, the only available genome sequence of B. pilosicoli is that of strain 95/1000, a porcine isolate. In the first intra-species genome comparison within the Brachyspira genus, we report the whole genome sequence of B. pilosicoli B2904, an avian isolate, the incomplete genome sequence of B. pilosicoli WesB, a human isolate, and the comparisons with B. pilosicoli 95/1000. We also draw on incomplete genome sequences from three other Brachyspira species. Finally we report the first application of the high-throughput Biolog phenotype screening …

Repeated Sampling Affects Tree Swallow Semen Characteristics, Michael Lombardo, M.L. Green, P.A. Thorpe, M.R. Czarnowski, H.W. Power

Michael P Lombardo

Male Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) face intense sperm competition because mated pairs copulate frequently, extra-pair copulations are common, and females store sperm. We examined the effects of repeated sampling on the characteristics of Tree Swallow semen by manually expressing semen from 15 males immediately after capture (T₀) and then hourly for 4 h (T₁-T₄). The semen characteristics of individual males varied in response to repeated sampling. The total number of sperm cells we obtained from each male over the 4-h sampling period varied from 10⁴-10⁷. Semen samples lacking …

Communities Of Cloacal Bacteria In Tree Swallow Families, Michael Lombardo, Patrick Thorpe, R. Cichewicz, M. Henshaw, C. Millard, C. Steen, T. Zeller

Michael P Lombardo

Our aim in this study was to survey the communities of bacteria found in the cloacae of adult and nestling Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), determine if there were familial patterns of prevalence, and determine if there were relationships between bacteria loads and nestling size when 12 days old and fledging success.

Individual, Temporal, And Seasonal Variation In Sperm Concentration In Tree Swallows, Michael Lombardo, Armetris Forman, Matthew Czarnowski, Patrick Thorpe

Michael P Lombardo

We determined sperm concentrations in Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) by manually expressing semen samples from males during prelaying, egg-laying, incubation, and nestling periods. Sperm concentrations varied by orders of magnitude (0-109 sperm mL-1) among males. Sperm concentrations were highest during the incubation period and lowest during the prelaying period. None of the samples collected during the prelaying, egg-laying, and incubation periods were devoid of sperm. In contrast, 45% of samples collected during the nestling period lacked sperm. Sperm concentrations (1) did not vary over the course of the morning during prelaying, egg-laying, and incubation periods but significantly increased during the …

Mass Stranding Of Marine Birds Caused By A Surfactant-Producing Red Tide., David A. Jessup, Melissa A. Miller, John P. Ryan, Hannah M. Nevins, Heather A. Kerkering, Abdou Mekebri, David B. Crane, Tyler A. Johnson, Raphael M. Kudela

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

In November-December 2007 a widespread seabird mortality event occurred in Monterey Bay, California, USA, coincident with a massive red tide caused by the dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea. Affected birds had a slimy yellow-green material on their feathers, which were saturated with water, and they were severely hypothermic. We determined that foam containing surfactant-like proteins, derived from organic matter of the red tide, coated their feathers and neutralized natural water repellency and insulation. No evidence of exposure to petroleum or other oils or biotoxins were found. This is the first documented case of its kind, but previous similar events may have gone …

Morphometric Analysis Of The Sternum In Avian Species, Ayhan Düzler, Özcan Özgel, Nejdet Dursun

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

The anatomy of the sternum in avian species differs according to their movement and particularly flight capability, as well as species and habitat. Various studies aimed at the examination and measurement of the sternum in avian species have been carried out. However, to the authors' knowledge, no study on the correlation between sternal measurements and movement style has been published previously. In this study, the sternums of certain avian species including the red falcon (Buteo rufinus), rooster (Gallus domesticus), drake (Anas platyrhynches), bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), pigeon (Columba livia), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), eagle owl (Bubo bubo), goose (Anser anser) …

An Allometric Comparison Of Microsomal Membrane Lipid Composition And Sodium Pump Molecular Activity In The Brain Of Mammals And Birds, Anthony J. Hulbert, Paul Else, Nigel Turner

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Previous research has shown that the lipid milieu surrounding membrane proteins may be an important factor in determining their activity. To investigate this we have examined sodium pump molecular activity and microsomal membrane lipid composition in the brain of five mammalian and eight avian species ranging in size from 30 g mice to 280 kg cattle and 13 g zebra finches to 35 kg emus, respectively. Sodium pump (Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase) activity was higher in the smaller species and showed a significant allometric decline with body mass in both the mammals (μmol P_i h^-1 mg wet …