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Worldwide Consequences Of Covid-19 On Research In Stem, Michelle Hoang, Santanu De

Biology Faculty Articles

A global public health emergency like the Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires accurate and timely data collection in the research community. High-impact research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been prioritized in the fight against COVID-19. The present study analyzed the consequences of COVID-19 on STEM research and the collaboration between research institutions and industries worldwide. It was noted that COVID19 had caused significant delays in non-COVID-19-related research projects and the onset of several remote studies. Most importantly, researchers in the STEM fields directed their attention and expertise to help mitigate virus transmission, treat patients, and …

Emergence Activity At Hibernacula Differs Among Four Bat Species Affected By White-Nose Syndrome, Reilly T. Jackson, Emma V. Wilcox, John M. Zobel, Riley F. Bernard

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior to the introduction of white-nose syndrome (WNS) to North America, temperate bats were thought to remain within hibernacula throughout most of the winter. However, recent research has shown that bats in the southeastern United States emerge regularly from hibernation and are active on the landscape, regardless of their WNS status. The relationship between winter activity and susceptibility to WNS has yet to be explored but warrants attention, as it may enable managers to implement targeted management for WNS-affected species. We investigated this relationship by implanting 1346 passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags in four species that vary in their susceptibility …

The Effect Of Salvia Fruticosa Water Extract In Acetic-Acid-Induced Colitis In Mice, Rim Mrad, Suzana Salhab, Miriam Al-Battal, Jamilah Borjac

BAU Journal - Science and Technology

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease, is a chronic condition of the intestine characterized by an uncontrolled inflammatory response. Current biologic treatments developed to treat IBD are expensive and associated with significant side effects; thus, alternative approaches are required. Recently, herbal concoctions have emerged as promising intervention. This study investigates the protective effects of Salvia fruticosa (SF) against acetic acid-induced colitis in mice, a model of human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Mice were divided into four groups (n=3). IBD was induced with acetic acid (6%). SF was administered by gavage at 1.5ug/kg mimicking folk medicine. …

Increasing The Resilience Of Plant Immunity To A Warming Climate, Jong Hum Kim, Christian Castroverde, Shuai Huang, Chao Li, Richard Hilleary, Adam Seroka, Reza Sohrabi, Diana Medina-Yerena, Bethany Huot, Jie Wang, Sharon Marr, Mary Wildermuth, Tao Chen, John Macmicking, Sheng Yang He

Biology Faculty Publications

Extreme weather conditions associated with climate change affect many aspects of plant and animal life, including the response to infectious diseases. Production of salicylic acid (SA), a central plant defence hormone, is particularly vulnerable to suppression by short periods of hot weather above the normal plant growth temperature range via an unknown mechanism. Here we show that suppression of SA production in Arabidopsis thaliana at 28 °C is independent of PHYTOCHROME B (phyB) and EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3), which regulate thermo-responsive plant growth and development. Instead, we found that formation of GUANYLATE BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE 3 (GBPL3) defence-activated biomolecular condensates (GDACs) …

Gain-Of-Signal Assays For Probing Inhibition Of Sars-Cov-2 Mpro/3clpro In Living Cells, Seyed Arad Moghadasi, Morgan A Esler, Yuka Otsuka, Jordan T Becker, Sofia N Moraes, Constance B Anderson, Srinivas Chamakuri, Christopher Belica, Chloe Wick, Daniel A Harki, Damian W Young, Louis Scampavia, Timothy P Spicer, Ke Shi, Hideki Aihara, William L Brown, Reuben S Harris

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The main protease, Mpro, of SARS-CoV-2 is required to cleave the viral polyprotein into precise functional units for virus replication and pathogenesis. Here, we report quantitative reporters for Mpro function in living cells in which protease inhibition by genetic or chemical methods results in robust signal readouts by fluorescence (enhanced green fluorescent protein [eGFP]) or bioluminescence (firefly luciferase). These gain-of-signal systems are scalable to high-throughput platforms for quantitative discrimination between Mpro mutants and/or inhibitor potencies as evidenced by validation of several reported inhibitors. Additional utility is shown by single Mpro amino acid variants and structural information combining to demonstrate that …

Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia Coli And EnterococcusSpp. In Sand And Water At Tampa Bay Beaches, Jennifer K. Sabater

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As antibiotic resistance in the environment continues to rise there is an increased concern that infections may become harder to treat as bacteria acquire genes for multidrug resistance. Recreational beach waters in the Tampa Bay area are routinely monitored by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the presence of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) such as Escherichia coli and enterococci. Exceedances of beach action values (BAV) 235 CFU/100 mL (E. coli) and 70 CFU/100 mL (enterococci) indicate the presence of fecal contamination which is associated with an increased risk of disease for beachgoers. Antibiotic-resistant E. coli and Enterococcus spp. have …

Why Are There So Many Mosquitoes?, Alan L. Gillen, Savannah Childs, Megan Goin, Karly Mckinney

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mosquitoes have been challenging man and animals alike since the fall.Mosquitoes number in the trillions worldwide. Not only is the mosquito a nuisance with the constant buzz around your ear, they also are the primary vector of many dangerous diseases including the West Nile Virus (WNV). WNV has become a more prominent mosquito-transmitted disease in the United States and more specifically in Colorado, Texas, and other states in the Midwest. While commonly found in the genus Culex, WNV and other diseases can be found in differentgenera of mosquito, including Aedes and Anopheles. While these two are not themost common regarding …

The Roleo F Selectionin Maintaining Mhc Variationi N Mammals: Heterozygotaed Vantage,R Area Llelea Dvantagea Nd Mate Choice, Carol Titterton Ms

Student Scholarship

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is the most polymorphic gene

region in jawed vertebrates. Its gene products play a critical role in determining

individual and population fitness by presenting foreign antigens to immune system

cells, thereby initiating immune response to pathogen and parasite infections and

cancer. I surveyed the literature to investigate how selection maintains such

important adaptive diversity in mammalian populations and how MHC diversity

affects individual and population fitness. Balancing selection in the form of either

heterozygote advantage or rare allele advantage has long been proposed as the key

mechanism for maintaining the extreme diversity in MHC gene …

Humidity Reduces Rapid And Distant Airborne Dispersal Of Viable Viral Particles In Classroom Settings, Antun Skanata, Fabrizio Spagnolo, Molly Metz, Davida S. Smyth, John J. Dennehy

Biology Faculty Publications (Archived)

The transmission of airborne pathogens is considered to be the main route through which a number of known and emerging respiratory diseases infect their hosts. While physical distancing and mask wearing may help mitigate short-range transmission, the extent of long-range transmission in closed spaces where a pathogen remains suspended in the air remains unknown. We have developed a method to detect viable virus particles by using an aerosolized bacteriophage Phi6 in combination with its host Pseudomonas phaseolicola, which when seeded on agar plates acts as a virus detector that can be placed at a range of distances away from …

In Sickness And In Health: Parasites Of Stranded Pacific Harbor Seals (Phoca Vitulina Richardii) In Northern Oregon And Southern Washington, Cecily Douglas Bronson

Dissertations and Theses

Parasites have the capability to infect virtually every living organism on the planet and have adapted to infiltrate every trophic level. Many species have complex indirect life cycles and rely upon hosts at different levels of the food web for growth and reproduction. In the marine environment, having a high level of parasite diversity is thought to indicate a more stable ecosystem than an environment with low parasite diversity. As one of the top predators in their environment and because of their amphibious behaviors, pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) are exposed to a wide variety of parasites, making them ideal …

Maternal Responses In The Face Of Infection Risk, Patricia C. Lopes, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Chathuni Liyanage, Ursula K. Beattie, L. Michael Romero

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

When animals are sick, their physiology and behavior change in ways that can impact their offspring. Research is emerging showing that infection risk alone can also modify the physiology and behavior of healthy animals. If physiological responses to environments with high infection risk take place during reproduction, it is possible that they lead to maternal effects. Understanding whether and how high infection risk triggers maternal effects is important to elucidate how the impacts of infectious agents extend beyond infected individuals and how, in this way, they are even stronger evolutionary forces than already considered. Here, to evaluate the effects of …

(R1507) Mathematical Modeling And Analysis Of Seqiahr Model: Impact Of Quarantine And Isolation On Covid-19, Manoj Kumar Singh, . Anjali

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

At the moment in time, an outbreak of COVID-19 is transmitting on from human to human. Different parts have different quality of life (e.g., India compared to Russia), which implies the impact varies in each part of the world. Although clinical vaccines are available to cure, the question is how to minimize the spread without considering the vaccine. In this paper, via a mathematical model, the transmission dynamics of novel coronavirus with quarantine and isolation facilities have been proposed. The examination of the proposed model is set in motion with the boundedness and positivity of the solution, sole disease-free equilibrium, …

Immunosuppression Broadens Evolutionary Pathways To Drug Resistance And Treatment Failure During Acinetobacter Baumannii Pneumonia In Mice, Wenwen Ho, Lindsay M. Busch, Juan Hernandez-Bird, Efrat Hamami, Christopher Marshall, Edward Geisinger, Vaughn S. Cooper, Tim Van Opijnen, Jason W. Rosch, Ralph R. Isberg

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Acinetobacter baumannii is increasingly refractory to antibiotic treatment in healthcare settings. As is true of most human pathogens, the genetic path to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the role that the immune system plays in modulating AMR during disease are poorly understood. Here we reproduced several routes to fluoroquinolone resistance, performing evolution experiments using sequential lung infections in mice that are replete with or depleted of neutrophils, providing two key insights into the evolution of drug resistance. First, neutropenic hosts acted as reservoirs for the accumulation of drug resistance during drug treatment. Selection for variants with altered drug sensitivity profiles arose …

Immunosuppression Broadens Evolutionary Pathways To Treatment Failure During Acinetobacter Baumannii Pneumonia, Wenwen Huo, Lindsay M. Busch, Juan Hernandez-Bird, Efrat Hamami, Christopher Marshall, Edward Geisinger, Vaughn S. Cooper, Tim Van Opijnen, Jason W. Rosch, Ralph R. Isberg

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Acinetobacter baumannii is increasingly refractory to antibiotic treatment in healthcare settings. As is true of most human pathogens, the genetic path to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the role that the immune system plays in modulating AMR during disease are poorly understood. Here we reproduced several routes to fluoroquinolone resistance, performing evolution experiments using sequential lung infections in mice that are replete or depleted of neutrophils, providing two key insights into the evolution of drug resistance. First, neutropenic hosts acted as reservoirs for the accumulation of drug resistance during drug treatment. Selection for variants with altered drug sensitivity profiles arose readily …

Syphilis In The Esophagus, Ronan Allencherril, Paul Nicholls, Shilpa Jain, Robert Sealock, Priti Dangayach

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This report documents a unique case of syphilis with esophageal involvement. Such a presentation is exceedingly rare in the modern era, particularly among patients without human immunodeficiency virus. Most instances were documented in the 1900s and earlier. Our patient presented with months of odynophagia and recurrent oral lesions. He was found to have a sizeable esophageal ulcer on endoscopy, with biopsy confirming the diagnosis of syphilis. His symptoms quickly resolved with intramuscular penicillin. This case highlights the importance of keeping a broad differential for odynophagia and suspicious lesions, cutaneous or mucosal.

Repeated Low-Level Blast Induces Chronic Neuroinflammation And Neurobehavioral Changes In Rat Models, Arun Reddy Ravula

Dissertations

Blast-induced neurotrauma (bTBI) is a signature medical concern for military personnel when they are exposed to explosions in active combat zones. However, soldiers as well as law enforcement personnel are also repeatedly exposed to low-level blasts during training sessions with heavy weaponries as part of combat readiness. Service personnel who sustain brain injuries from repeated low-level blasts (rLLBs) do not display overt pathological symptoms immediately but rather develop cognitive impairments, attention deficits, anxiety, and sleep disturbances over time. An improved rat model of rLLB was developed in this thesis by applying controlled low-level blast pressures (10 psi) repeated five times …

Modeling The Impact Of Climate Change On Cervid Chronic Wasting Disease In Semi-Arid South Texas, Md Rafiul Islam, Ummugul Bulut, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a spongiform encephalopathy disease caused by the transmission of infectious prion agents. CWD is a fatal disease that affects wild and farmed cervids in North America with few cases reported overseas. Social interaction of cervids, feeding practices by wildlife keepers and climate effects on the environmental carrying capacity all can affect CWD transmission in deer. Wildlife deer game hunting is economically important to the semi-arid South Texas region and is affected by climate change. In this paper, we model and investigate the effect of climate change on the spread of CWD using typical climate scenarios. …

Virucidal N95 Respirator Face Masks Via Ultrathin Surface-Grafted Quaternary Ammonium Polymer Coatings, Mirco Sorci, Tanner D. Fink, Vaishali Sharma, Sneha Singh, Ruiwen Chen, Brigitte L. Arduini, Katharine Dovidenko, Caryn L. Heldt, Edmund F. Palermo, R Helen Zha

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

N95 respirator face masks serve as effective physical barriers against airborne virus transmission, especially in a hospital setting. However, conventional filtration materials, such as nonwoven polypropylene fibers, have no inherent virucidal activity, and thus, the risk of surface contamination increases with wear time. The ability of face masks to protect against infection can be likely improved by incorporating components that deactivate viruses on contact. We present a facile method for covalently attaching antiviral quaternary ammonium polymers to the fiber surfaces of nonwoven polypropylene fabrics that are commonly used as filtration materials in N95 respirators via ultraviolet (UV)-initiated grafting of biocidal …

Female Presence Does Not Increase Testosterone But Still Ameliorates Sickness Behaviours In Male Japanese Quail, Brenna M. G. Gormally, Kaelyn Bridgette, Aubrey Emmi, Delilah Schuerman, Patricia C. Lopes

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Infections can dramatically modify animal behaviour. The extent of these changes depends on an animal's environment. It has been proposed that testosterone modulates the suppression of behavioural symptoms of sickness under certain reproductive contexts. To further understand the role played by testosterone in modulating sickness behaviours under reproductive contexts, we studied a species, the Japanese quail, in which female exposure rapidly decreases circulating testosterone in males. Males received either an immune challenge (lipopolysaccharide – LPS) or a control injection and their behaviours, mass change and testosterone levels were quantified in the presence or absence of a female. Both the presence …

Seasonal Migration Distance Varies With Natal Dispersal And Predicts Parasitic Infection In Song Sparrows, Tosha R. Kelly, Heather L. Macgillivray, Yanina Sarquis-Adamson, Matthew J. Watson, Keith A. Hobson, Elizabeth A. Macdougall-Shackleton

Biology Publications

Seasonal migration and natal dispersal represent the major large-scale movements in the lives of animals. Individuals that are relatively prone to movement and exploration might thus be more likely to disperse and also to migrate farther. Such movement might be either negatively associated with parasitic infection (if infection prevents hosts from successful long-distance migration) or positively associated (e.g. if longer-distance migrants encounter more abundant or more diverse parasites). We examined whether natal dispersal tendency predicts seasonal migration distance in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) and whether migration distance predicts infection with bloodborne parasites upon arrival at the breeding grounds. …

Editorial Board

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

No abstract provided.

Engineering Of A Multi-Epitope Subunit Vaccine Against Sasrs-Cov-2 Through The Viroinformatic Approach, Aamir Shehzada, Christijogo Sumartono, Jusak Nugraha, Helen Susilowatid, Andi Yasmin Wijayab, Hafiz Ishfaq Ahmad, Wiwiek Tyasningsih, Fedik Abdul Rantam

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The COVID-19 outbreak has infected millions of people worldwide, but no vaccine has been discovered to combat it efficiently. This research aims to design a multi-epitope vaccine using highly efficient B- and T-cell epitopes from the SARS-CoV-2 Surabaya isolate through a viroinformatic approach. First, the putative epitopes were linked together to develop tertiary structures and then docked with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) that demonstrated a robust interaction with a low eigenvalue of 4.816138 e-06. Furthermore, the structure's high immunogenic response was observed and successfully cloned into the expression vector pET28a (+). This implies that the designed vaccine can prove effective …

Candida Species And Bacterial Strains In The Vaginal Microbiome, Brett Tortelli

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The vaginal environment is a dynamic ecosystem, hosting various microbial species from diverse taxa including bacteria, fungi and viruses. The composition of bacteria within the vaginal microbiome has gained a lot of recent attention and has been associated with reproductive health and disease. The vaginal microbiome of healthy reproductive-aged women is frequently dominated by Lactobacillus species and has low species diversity when compared to other anatomic sites. The composition of the bacterial community is often described in terms of five common community types. Four of the five community types are dominated by a single Lactobacillus species (L. crispatus, L. iners, …

Characterizing The Role Of Interferons In Host-Microbe Interactions In Disseminated Murine Norovirus Infection And Steady-State Hematopoiesis, Forrest Walker

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Interferons are critical cytokines responsible for regulating host-microbe interactions in the context of infectious disease as well as homeostatic interactions with the host’s native microbiota. Although significant knowledge regarding the role of interferons in these interactions has been gained in the past sixty years, the diversity of microbes with which the host interacts and the plethora of interferons (with over twenty distinct cytokines organized into three types, based on their receptor utilization) which the host uses in these responses leads to a significant number of interactions which remain to be characterized. Here, we further dissect the role of interferons in …

Tertiary Lymphoid Tissue In The Urinary Bladder Of Aging Mice And Women, Marianne Morris Ligon

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common infection of women, affecting roughly half of all women during their lifetime. UTIs frequently recur within 6 months to 1 year of the initial infection to cause recurrent UTIs (rUTIs). Repeated treatment of rUTIs with antibiotics may lead to antibiotic resistance, disruption of the microbiota, and adverse effects of the drugs. To avoid excess antibiotic use, there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms of host defense against infection to identify new targets for UTI treatment and prophylaxis in women with rUTIs. Postmenopausal and older women have the highest risk of …

Does Manuka Honey Induce Antibiotic Resistant Bacterial Persisters And Viable But Non-Culturable Subpopulations?, Bryn Tennyson

2022 Symposium

Long-term antibiotic use has allowed microbes to develop resistance and cause chronic infectious diseases that were previously treatable. Resistance is phenomenon in which bacteria survive treatment with a concentration of antibiotics that was once lethal. Bacteria resist antibiotic treatment by genetic change or initiating states of dormancy called persisters or Viable but Non-Culturable (VBNCs) cells. These subpopulations of antibiotic resistant persisters and VBNCs increase with exposure to stresses, including antibiotic treatment, and are a major cause of reoccurring infections that result in significant morbidity and mortality. Manuka honey (MH), a well-known alternative broad-spectrum antimicrobial, is a promising treatment for cutaneous …

Effects Of Water Quality On Oyster Health On Georgia Coast, Laurel Henderson

Honors College Theses

ABSTRACT

Oysters are an economically and ecologically important shellfish species found along most coastlines. Along the Georgia coastline, oysters form extensive reefs, and are economically important as a food source. In addition, oysters perform a vital role in maintaining water quality due to their high filtration capacity in coastal waters. Oyster reefs form solid, 3-D substrate that prevent coastline erosion and provide structure for numerous other coastal species to grow, including many commercially and recreationally important species. Water quality factors, such as temperature and salinity, can influence oyster density, condition, and growth, and ultimately affect the services the reefs provide …

Seasonality Of Orthohantavirus Seroprevalence In Northwest Arkansas Rodents, Amy Schexnayder

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Zoonotic viruses are viruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Rodent species are likely to be reservoirs for zoonotic viruses, and particular rodent-borne viruses, such as orthohantaviruses, may greatly threaten human health. Orthohantaviruses are a group of rodent-borne viruses that are at risk for spillover to human populations. Many aspects of orthohantaviruses have been well-researched, yet the seasonality of orthohantaviruses has not yet been thoroughly examined, especially in the southern United States. In this study, we captured 616 rodents trapped over 5953 trap nights across 13 grassland sites in Northwest Arkansas. Rodents were trapped for two consecutive nights …

Identifying The Distinct Adaptive And Plastic Gene Expression Patterns And Microbial Indicators That Mediate Coral Disease Resistance, Nicholas James Macknight

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Infectious diseases are an increasing threat to coral reefs, resulting in altered community structure and hindering the functional contributions of disease susceptible species. While forecasting disease outbreaks based on environmental factors has progressed, we still lack a comparative understanding of susceptibility among coral species that would help predict disease impacts on coral communities. This dissertation compared the phenotypic, microbial, and coral host gene expression responses of seven diverse Caribbean coral species after exposure to white plague disease. Disease incidence and lesion progression rates were evaluated over a seven-day exposure. Coral microbiomes and RNA were sampled after lesion appearance or at …

Evaluation Of Ranavirus Major Capsid Protein Gene Sequence Mutations In United States East Coast Frog And Tadpole Populations, Erin Marie Tyll

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Infectious disease is a leading cause of death in ectothermic taxa including amphibians, reptiles, and bony fish. Frog Virus 3 (FV3) Ranavirus is a prominent pathogen that infects frog and tadpole populations with lethal consequences, especially for pre-metamorphosed individuals. Wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) are particularly susceptible to FV3 infection and mortality events. Conservation of this animal is a critical effort for the maintenance of these ecologically significant animals. Amphibians contribute to the regulation of insect pest levels, energy transfer between aquatic and terrestrial habitats, algae community productivity and function, and vertebrate biomass. Understanding genetic variations of FV3 is crucial to …