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The Effectiveness Of Prophylactic Eye Drops On The Reversal Of Uv-Light Induced Cataracts, Contessa Bly Bowman

Theses and Dissertations

Cataracts are a cloudiness of the lens within the eye which obstructs vision. They are found in many species including rats, dogs, and humans. Vision is hindered where this "cloudiness", made of water build up and broken crystalline, proteins take form. Oculvet is an eye medication, used by veterinarians, containing carnosine as its active ingredient. Topical application of carnosine is reported to be an effective treatment for the prevention and removal of pre-existing cataracts. For this experiment, Sprague- Dawley rats were anesthetized and exposed to ultraviolet radiation, UVB and UVC. They were divided into four groups (n = 32), three …

Correlation Of Eastern Wild Turkey Poult:Hen Ratios With Population Indices To Detect Reproductive Density Dependence, Jay D. Mcghee, Jim Berkson

Virginia Journal of Science

Knowledge of how density affects population growth is important for the harvest management of wild turkey. Unfortunately, available time-series are often too short for statistical detection of density dependence. The correlation between wild turkey recruitment and population size was assessed using data from 7 state wildlife agencies, circumventing the problem of short time-series by using multiple datasets. Correlation coefficients were calculated between surveyed poult:hen ratios and harvest-based population indices for 31 geographic or harvest management regions. Estimated correlation coefficients were tested for homogeneity to determine if an average correlation could be calculated. Correlation coefficients for the 29 regions ranged from …

Depauperate Small Mammal Communities In Managed Pine Plantations In Eastern Virginia, James D. Dolan, Robert K. Rose

Virginia Journal of Science

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations of four different ages were examined to identify changes in the small mammal community in relation to changes in the vegetational community. Small mammals were evaluated during five seasons using two methods of trapping. Live traps accounted for 65% of captures and seven of nine species, whereas pitfall traps yielded eight species, of which two were not taken with live traps. For both trap types, catch rates averaged less than two per 100 trap-nights, very low even for pine forests. Both abundance and biomass of small mammals declined with increasing stand age, whereas species …

The Chlamydomonas Genome Reveals The Evolution Of Key Animal And Plant Functions, Sabeeha S. Merchant, Simon E. Prochnik, Olivier Vallon, Elizabeth H. Harris, Steven J. Karpowicz, George B. Witman, Astrid Terry, Asaf Salamov, Lillian K. Fritz-Laylin, Laurence Maréchal-Drouard, Wallace F. Marshall, Liang-Hu Qu, David R. Nelson, Anton A. Sanderfoot, Martin H. Spalding, Vladimir V. Kapitonov, Qinghu Ren, Patrick Ferris, Erika Lindquist, Harris Shapiro, Susan M. Lucas, Jane Grimwood, Jeremy Schmutz, Pierre Cardol, Heriberto Cerutti, Guillaume Chanfreau, Chun-Long Chen, Valerie Cognat, Martin T. Croft, Rachel Dent, Susan Dutcher, Emilio Fernández, Hideya Fukuzawa, David González-Ballester, Diego González-Halphen, Armin Hallmann, Marc Hanikenne, Michael Hippler, William Inwood, Kamel Jabbari, Ming Kalanon, Richard Kuras, Paul A. Lefebvre, Stéphane D. Lemaire, Alexey V. Lobanov, Martin Lohr, Andrea Manuell, Iris Meier, Laurens Mets, Maria Mittag, Telsa Mittelmeier, James V. Moroney, Jeffrey Moseley, Carolyn Napoli, Aurora M. Nedelcu, Krishna Niyogi, Sergey V. Novoselov, Ian T. Paulsen, Greg Pazour, Saul Purton, Jean-Philippe Ral, Diego Mauricio Riaño-Pachón, Wayne Riekhof, Linda Rymarquis, Michael Schroda, David Stern, James Umen, Robert Willows, Nedra Wilson, Sara Lana Zimmer, Jens Allmer, Janneke Balk, Katerina Bisova, Chong-Jian Chen, Mark Elias, Karla Gendler, Charles Hauser, Mary Rose Lamb, Heidi Ledford, Joanne C. Long, Jun Minagawa, M. Dudley Page, Junmin Pan, Wirulda Pootakham, Sanja Roje, Annkatrin Rose, Eric Stahlberg, Aimee M. Terauchi, Pinfen Yang, Steven Ball, Chris Bowler, Carol L. Dieckmann, Vadim N. Gladyshev, Pamela Green, Richard Jorgensen, Stephen Mayfield, Bernd Mueller-Roeber, Sathish Rajamani, Richard T. Sayre, Peter Brokstein, Inna Dubchak, David Goodstein, Leila Hornick, Y. Wayne Huang, Jinal Jhaveri, Yigong Luo, Diego Martinez, Wing Chi Abby Ngau, Bobby Otillar, Alexander Poliakov, Aaron Porter, Lukasz Szajkowski, Gregory Werner, Kemin Zhou, Igor V. Grigoriev, Daniel S. Rokhsar, Arthur R. Grossman

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a unicellular green alga whose lineage diverged from land plants over 1 billion years ago. It is a model system for studying chloroplast-based photosynthesis, as well as the structure, assembly, and function of eukaryotic flagella (cilia), which were inherited from the common ancestor of plants and animals, but lost in land plants. We sequenced the ∼120-megabase nuclear genome of Chlamydomonas and performed comparative phylogenomic analyses, identifying genes encoding uncharacterized proteins that are likely associated with the function and biogenesis of chloroplasts or eukaryotic flagella. Analyses of the Chlamydomonas genome advance our understanding of the ancestral eukaryotic cell, …

Draft Genome Of The Filarial Nematode Parasite Brugia Malayi, Elodie Ghedin, Shiliang Wang, David Spiro, Elisabet Caler, Qi Zhao, Jonathan Crabtree, Jonathan E. Allen, Arthur L. Delcher, David B. Guiliano, Diego Miranda-Saavedra, Samuel V. Angiuoli, Todd Creasy, Paolo Amedeo, Brian Haas, Najib M. El-Sayed, Jennifer R. Wortman, Tamara Feldblyum, Luke Tallon, Michael Schatz, Martin Shumway, Hean Koo, Steven L. Salzberg, Seth Schobel, Mihaela Pertea, Mihai Pop, Owen White, Geoffrey J. Barton, Clotilde K.S. Carlow, Michael J. Crawford, Jennifer Daub, Et Al, Steven A. Williams

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Parasitic nematodes that cause elephantiasis and river blindness threaten hundreds of millions of people in the developing world. We have sequenced the ∼90 megabase (Mb) genome of the human filarial parasite Brugia malayi and predict ∼11,500 protein coding genes in 71 Mb of robustly assembled sequence. Comparative analysis with the free-living, model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans revealed that, despite these genes having maintained little conservation of local synteny during ∼350 million years of evolution, they largely remain in linkage on chromosomal units. More than 100 conserved operons were identified. Analysis of the predicted proteome provides evidence for adaptations of B. malayi …

Thalamic Gating Of Auditory Responses In Telencephalic Song Control Nuclei, Melissa J. Coleman, Arani Roy, J. Martin Wild, Richard Mooney

WM Keck Science Faculty Papers

In songbirds, nucleus Uvaeformis (Uva) is the sole thalamic input to the telencephalic nucleus HVC (used as a proper name), a sensorimotor structure essential to learned song production that also exhibits state dependent responses to auditory presentation of the bird’s own song (BOS). The role of Uva in influencing HVC auditory activity is unknown. Using in vivo extracellular and intracellular recordings in urethane-anesthetized zebra finches, we characterized the auditory properties of Uva and examined its influence on auditory activity in HVC and in the telencephalic nucleus interface (NIf), the main auditory afferent of HVC and a corecipient of Uva input. …

The Organizational Effects Of Oxytocin On The Central Expression Of Estrogen Receptor Alpha And Oxytocin In Adulthood, Kristin M. Kramer, Shigeto Yoshida, Eros Papademetriou, Bruce S. Cushing

Biology Faculty Research

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that neonatal manipulation of oxytocin (OT) has effects on the expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) and the central production of oxytocin observed in juveniles ( at weaning, 21 days of age). The goal of this study was to determine whether the effects of neonatal manipulation of OT last into adulthood, and if the effects differ from those observed during the early postnatal period. On the first day of life, prairie voles ( Microtus ochrogaster) received one of three doses of OT (High, 3 mu g; Med, 0.3 mu g; Low, 0.03 mu g), …

Extracellular Stimuli Specifically Regulate Localized Levels Of Individual Neuronal Mrnas, Dianna E. Willis, Erna A. Van Niekerk, Yukio Sasaki, Mariano Mesngon, Tanuja T. Merianda, Gervan G. Williams, Marvin Kendall, Deanna S. Smith, Gary J. Bassell, Jeffery L. Twiss

Faculty Publications

Subcellular regulation of protein synthesis requires the correct localization of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) within the cell. In this study, we investigate whether the axonal localization of neuronal mRNAs is regulated by extracellular stimuli. By profiling axonal levels of 50 mRNAs detected in regenerating adult sensory axons, we show that neurotrophins can increase and decrease levels of axonal mRNAs. Neurotrophins (nerve growth factor, brainderived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-3) regulate axonal mRNA levels and use distinct downstream signals to localize individual mRNAs. However, myelin-associated glycoprotein and semaphorin 3A regulate axonal levels of different mRNAs and elicit the opposite effect on axonal mRNA …

A Study Of The Mussels (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Unionidae) Of Symmes Creek And Tributaries In Jackson, Gallia And Lawrence Counties, Ohio, Michael A. Hoggarth, David A. Kimberly, Benjamin G. Van Allen

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Freshwater mussels (family Unionidae) are among the most threatened of Ohio's aquatic fauna. Interest in their biogeography has increased as their distribution and abundance has declined. This study was performed to assess the status of the mussels of Symmes Creek and it major tributaries in southern Ohio. Of the 24 species of mussels known to have inhabited this watershed, 16 were found alive in the system in 2004 and 2005 and two others were found as freshly dead shells. These species are thought to represent the extant mussel fauna in the system today. Of the remaining six species collected prior …

Dessication Stress, Steven C. Hand, Michael A. Menze

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

The threat of desiccation for organisms inhabiting the intertidal zone occurs during emersion at low tides or when organisms are positioned in the high intertidal zone, where wetting occurs primarily by spring tides, storm waves, and spray. Drying due to evaporative water loss is the most common mechanism for dehydration, although during winter in northern temperate regions freezing can also occur, which reduces the liquid water in extracellular fluids and can lead to intracellular dehydration in multicellular organisms. Freezing tolerance has been reported and characterized for a number of intertidal invertebrates, including gastropods such as an air-breathing snail and a …

Genetic Evidence For The Persistence Of The Critically Endangered Sierra Nevada Red Fox In California, John D. Perrine, John P. Pollinger, Benjamin N. Sacks, Reginald H. Barrett, Robert K. Wayne

Biological Sciences

California is home to both the native state-threatened Sierra Nevada red fox (Vulpes vulpes necator), which historically inhabited high elevations of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains, and to multiple low-elevation red fox populations thought to be of exotic origin. During the past few decades the lowland populations have dramatically expanded their distribution, and possibly moved into the historic range of the native high-elevation fox. To determine whether the native red fox persists in its historic range in California, we compared mitochondrial cytochrome-b haplotypes of the only currently-known high-elevation population (n = 9 individuals) to samples …

The Unusual 23s Rrna Gene Of Coxiella Burnetii: Two Self-Splicing Group I Introns Flank A 34-Base-Pair Exon, And One Element Lacks The Canonical Omega G, Rahul Raghavan, Scott R. Miller, Linda D. Hicks, Michael F. Minnick

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We describe the presence and characteristics of two self-splicing group I introns in the sole 23S rRNA gene of Coxiella burnetii. The two group I introns, Cbu.L1917 and Cbu.L1951, are inserted at sites 1917 and 1951 (Escherichia coli numbering), respectively, in the 23S rRNA gene of C. bumetii. Both introns were found to be self-splicing in vivo and in vitro even though the terminal nucleotide of Cbu.L1917 is adenine and not the canonical conserved guanine, termed Omega G, found in Cbu.L1951 and all other group I introns described to date. Predicted secondary structures for both introns were constructed and revealed …

Transcriptional Regulation Of The Heme Binding Protein Gene Family Of Bartonella Quintana Is Accomplished By A Novel Promoter Element And Iron Response Regulator, James M. Battisti, Laura S. Smitherman, Kate N. Sappington, Nermi L. Parrow, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We previously identified a five-member family of hemin-binding proteins (Hbp's) of Bartonella quintana that bind hemin on the outer surface but share no homology with known bacterial heme receptors. Subsequently, we demonstrated that expression of the hbp family is significantly influenced by oxygen, heme, and temperature conditions encountered by the pathogen in the human host and the body louse vector; e.g., we observed a dramatic (>100-fold) increase in hbpC transcript levels in response to the "louse-like" temperature of 30 degrees C. The goal of the present study was to identify a transcription factor(s) involved in the coordinated and differential …

Land Cover Types Of The Las Vegas Wash, Nevada, Seth A. Shanahan, Dave Silverman, Art Ehrenberg

Publications (WR)

Vegetation type, extent, continuity, and structure are some of the most important factors that determine wildlife diversity and distribution. Other contributing factors that shape wildlife communities include disturbance, competition, climate, and water availability. Because vegetation communities in the southwestern U.S. gradate sharply along zones of soil moisture, wildlife are often restricted to specific vegetation types. Along the Las Vegas Wash (Wash), Nevada, more than 250 wildlife species have been documented to occur in distinct wetland, riparian, and upland vegetation types. Recent studies have investigated the diversity and distribution of amphibians, birds, fishes, mammals, and reptiles (Shanahan 2005, 2005a, Van Dooremolen …

Dessication Stress., Steven Hand, Michael Menze

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The threat of desiccation for organisms inhabiting the intertidal zone occurs during emersion at low tides or when organisms are positioned in the high intertidal zone, where wetting occurs primarily by spring tides, storm waves, and spray. Drying due to evaporative water loss is the most common mechanism for dehydration, although during winter in northern temperate regions freezing can also occur, which reduces the liquid water in extracellular fluids and can lead to intracellular dehydration in multicellular organisms. Freezing tolerance has been reported and characterized for a number of intertidal invertebrates, including gastropods such as an air-breathing snail and a …

Drosophila Piwi Associates With Chromatin And Interacts Directly With Hp1a, Brent Brower-Toland, Seth Findley, Ling Jiang, Li Liu, Hang Yin, Monica Dus, Pei Zhou, Sarah C.R. Elgin, Haifan Lin

Biology Faculty Research

The interface between cellular systems involving small noncoding RNAs and epigenetic change remains largely unexplored in metazoans. RNA-induced silencing systems have the potential to target particular regions of the genome for epigenetic change by locating specific sequences and recruiting chromatin modifiers. Noting that several genes encoding RNA silencing components have been implicated in epigenetic regulation in Drosophila, we sought a direct link between the RNA silencing system and heterochromatin components. Here we show that PIWI, an ARGONAUTE/PIWI protein family member that binds to Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), strongly and specifically interacts with heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a), a central player in heterochromatic …

Manipulating Underdetermination In Scientific Controversy: The Case Of The Molecular Clock, Michael Dietrich, Robert A. Skipper

Dartmouth Scholarship

Where there are cases of underdetermination in scientific controversies, such as the case of the molecular clock, scientists may direct the course and terms of dispute by playing off the multidimensional framework of theory evaluation. This is because assessment strategies themselves are underdetermined. Within the framework of assessment, there are a variety of trade-offs between different strategies as well as shifting emphases as specific strategies are given more or less weight in assessment situations. When a strategy is underdetermined, scientists can change the dynamics of a controversy by making assessments using different combinations of evaluation strategies and/or weighting whatever strategies …

Survival Of Pacific White Shrimp, , In Low-Salinity And Mixed-Ion Environments, Kirk Parmenter

All Theses

This study was conducted to (1) evaluate the effectiveness of two different salt mixtures, MI-2 (NaCl, MgSO4, MgCl2, KCl, CaCl2, and NaHCO3) and MI (NaCl, MgCl2, KCl, and CaCl2) as compared to artificial sea salt (SS) to provide a sufficient environment for the survival of Litopenaeus vannamei and (2) determine if additions of the MI-2 salt mixture to low concentrations of sea salt would result in comparable survival as that seen in pure SS environments.
Tests conducted at 5 g/L of total dissolved solids showed that the pure SS treatment had a significantly higher survival rate than the MI-2 and …

Evidence For Gondwanan Vicariance In An Ancient Clade Of Gecko Lizards, Tony Gamble, Aaron M. Bauer, E. Greenbaum, Todd R. Jackman

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Aim

Geckos (Reptilia: Squamata), due to their great age and global distribution, are excellent candidates to test hypotheses of Gondwanan vicariance against post‐Gondwanan dispersal. Our aims are: to generate a phylogeny of the sphaerodactyl geckos and their closest relatives; evaluate previous phylogenetic hypotheses of the sphaerodactyl geckos with regard to the other major gecko lineages; and to use divergence date estimates to inform a biogeographical scenario regarding Gondwanan relationships and assess the roles of vicariance and dispersal in shaping the current distributions of the New World sphaerodactyl geckos and their closest Old World relatives.

Location

Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, …

A Statewide Biomarker Approach To Estimate Contaminant Effects In The Wadeable Streams Of South Carolina, Molly Keaton

All Theses

Freshwater species in South Carolina have been declining for many years. However, the threats that these organisms face from point and non-point source pollution are largely unknown. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) began a five year survey of the wadeable streams of South Carolina in May 2006. One of the purposes of this study was to use molecular biomarkers of contaminant exposure to fully assess the health of fish in South Carolina's freshwater streams. During the first year of the study, sunfish (Lepomis sp.) were sampled from May through September 2006 at randomly selected sites in three …

The Effect Of Dispersal Ability In Winter And Summer Stoneflies On Their Genetic Differentiation, Alison L. Yasick, Robert A. Krebs, Julie A. Wolin

Biological, Geological, and Environmental Faculty Publications

1. Plecopteran species disperse less than most other aquatic insects. Within stoneflies, members of different families vary in the degree of wing morphology and season of adult emergence.

2.  Dispersal limitations were tested to determine if there were increased differences among the nearby, Chagrin and Grand River populations in north-eastern Ohio, by comparing genetic variation within the 16s rRNA region of mitochondrial DNA in two stoneflies. Allocapnia recta emerges in winter and often has rudimentary wings, and Leuctra tenuis emerges in summer with fully developed wings.

3. There was significant genetic variability between the samples of A. recta from two …

The Relationship Between Disperal Ability And Geographic Range Size, Sarah E. Lester, Benjamin I. Ruttenberg, Steven D. Gaines, Brian P. Kinlan

Biological Sciences

There are a variety of proposed evolutionary and ecological explanations for why some species have more extensive geographical ranges than others. One of the most common explanations is variation in species’ dispersal ability. However, the purported relationship between dispersal distance and range size has been subjected to few theoretical investigations, and empirical tests reach conflicting conclusions. We attempt to reconcile the equivocal results of previous studies by reviewing and synthesizing quantitative dispersal data, examining the relationship between average dispersal ability and range size for different spatial scales, regions and taxonomic groups. We use extensive data from marine taxa whose average …

Recombination And Positive Selection Contribute To Evolution Of Listeria Monocytogenes Inla, R. H. Orsi, D. R. Ripoll, M. Yeung, K. K. Nightingale, M. Wiedmann

Biological Sciences

The surface molecule InlA interacts with E-cadherin to promote invasion of Listeria monocytogenes into selected host cells. DNA sequencing of inlA for 40 L. monocytogenes isolates revealed 107 synonymous and 45 nonsynonymous substitutions. A frameshift mutation in a homopolymeric tract encoding part of the InlA signal peptide was identified in three lineage II isolates, which also showed reduced ability to invade human intestinal epithelial cells. Phylogenies showed clear separation of inlA sequences into lineages I and II. Thirteen inlA recombination events, predominantly involving lineage II strains as recipients (12 events), were detected and a number of amino acid residues were …

Effects Of Calcium Availability On The Reproductive Output Of Insectivorous Bats, Christina M. Booher

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reproduction is a period of high calcium demand in vertebrates, and calcium deficiency can limit reproductive output in mammals. Insects are a poor calcium source, suggesting that insectivorous species are more likely to be calcium deficient. Pregnant big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) consume 10 times less calcium than they are estimated to require. To accommodate calcium demand during pregnancy, many mammals mobilize more calcium from the skeleton, and extensive bone loss has been observed in some bats during pregnancy. A conflict may arise between the female and developing embryo over allocation of limited calcium supplies, which could limit reproductive output …

The Effects Of Aging And Activity On Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Expression In Skeletal Muscle, Nathan Peplinski

Dissertations

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is an extracellular signaling protein that is produced by skeletal muscle and is important for the motor neurons that control muscle movement. GDNF has been shown to keep neurons alive under conditions that they would otherwise not persist. In skeletal muscle, GDNF has been shown to be one of the most potent neurotrophic factors that influence motor neuron survival. While the role of GDNF has been well studied during early development, not much is known about what happens to GDNF expression in the adult and with advanced aging. Previous results from our lab have …