Digital Commons Network^™

Trophic Upgrading And Mobilization Of Wax Esters In Microzooplankton, Keyana Roohani, Brad A. Haubrich, Kai-Lou Yue, Nigel D'Souza, Amanda Mantalbano, Tatiana Rynearson, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Christopher Reid

Science and Technology Department Faculty Journal Articles

Heterotrophic protists play pivotal roles in aquatic ecosystems by transferring matter and energy, including lipids, from primary producers to higher trophic predators. Using Oxyrrhis marina as a model organism, changes to the non-saponifiable protist lipids were investigated under satiation and starvation conditions. During active feeding on the alga Cryptomonas sp., the O. marina hexane soluble non-saponifiable fraction lipid profile reflected its food source with the observed presence of long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohols up to C25:1. Evidence of trophic upgrading in O. marina was observed with long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohol accumulation of up to C35:1. To the best of …

Siderophore-Dependent Transport Paradigms For Iron Across The Bacterial Cell Envelope In The Human Pathogen Staphylococcus Aureus, Nathaniel Endicott

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This work is focused on iron trafficking through ABC transporters in Staphylococcus aureus and combatting the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis by exploiting virulence factors as therapeutic targets. Specifically, the goal was to understand the role of a siderophore-binding lipoprotein FhuD2 in S. aureus iron trafficking. While S. aureus endogenously produces three metallophores for metal sequestration from the host, FhuD2 is thought to scavenge metals from hydroxamate-based xenosiderophores encountered in the host environment. FhuD2 is a critical virulence factor and vaccine candidate (Novartis) for MRSA. Since xenosiderophore scavenging systems are often dispensable, it was hypothesized that FhuD2 must be playing another …

Siderophore-Dependent Transport Paradigms For Iron Across The Bacterial Cell Envelope In The Human Pathogen Staphylococcus Aureus, Nathaniel Endicott

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This work is focused on iron trafficking through ABC transporters in Staphylococcus aureus and combatting the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis by exploiting virulence factors as therapeutic targets. Specifically, the goal was to understand the role of a siderophore-binding lipoprotein FhuD2 in S. aureus iron trafficking. While S. aureus endogenously produces three metallophores for metal sequestration from the host, FhuD2 is thought to scavenge metals from hydroxamate-based xenosiderophores encountered in the host environment. FhuD2 is a critical virulence factor and vaccine candidate (Novartis) for MRSA. Since xenosiderophore scavenging systems are often dispensable, it was hypothesized that FhuD2 must be playing another …

Comparison Of The Efficacy Of Four Drug Combinations For Immobilization Of Wild Pigs, Christine K. Ellis, Morgan E. Wehtje, Lisa L. Wolfe, Peregrine L. Wolff, Clayton D. Hilton, Mark C. Fisher, Shari Green, Michael P. Glow, Joeseph M. Halseth, Michael J. Lavelle, Nathan P. Snow, Eric H. Vannatta, Jack C. Rhyan, Kurt C. Vercauteren, William R. Lance, Pauline Nol

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Field immobilization of native or invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) is challenging. Drug combinations commonly used often result in unsatisfactory immobilization, poor recovery, and adverse side effects, leading to unsafe handling conditions for both animals and humans. We compared four chemical immobilization combinations, medetomidine–midazolam–butorphanol (MMB), butorphanol–azaperone–medetomidine (BAM™), nalbuphine–medetomidine–azaperone (NalMed-A), and tiletamine– zolazepam–xylazine (TZX), to determine which drug combinations might provide better chemical immobilization of wild pigs. We achieved adequate immobilization with no post-recovery morbidity withMMB. Adequate immobilization was achieved with BAM™; however, we observed post-recovery morbidity. Both MMB and BAM™ produced more optimal results relative to body temperature, recovery, and …

Systematic Optimization For Production Of The Anti-Mrsa Antibiotics Wap-8294a In An Engineered Strain Of Lysobacter Enzymogenes, Xusheng Chen, Shanren Li, Lingjun Yu, Amanda Miller, Liangcheng Du

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

WAP-8294A is a group of cyclic lipodepsipeptides and considered as the first-in-class new chemical entity with potent activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. One of the roadblocks in developing the WAP-8294A antibiotics is the very low yield in Lysobacter. Here, we carried out a systematic investigation of the nutritional and environmental conditions in an engineered L. enzymogenes strain for the optimal production of WAP-8294A. We developed an activity-based simple method for quick screening of various factors, which enabled us to optimize the culture conditions. With the method, we were able to improve the WAP-8294A yield by 10-fold in small-scale cultures and …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Non-Communicable Disease Risk: A Narrative Review, Catherine M. Phillips, Ling-Wei Chen, Barbara Heude, Jonathan Y. Bernard, Nicholas C. Harvey, Liesbeth Duijts, Sara M. Mensink-Bout, Kinga Polanska, Giulia Mancano, Matthew Suderman, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert

Faculty Publications

There are over 1,000,000 publications on diet and health and over 480,000 references on inflammation in the National Library of Medicine database. In addition, there have now been over 30,000 peer-reviewed articles published on the relationship between diet, inflammation, and health outcomes. Based on this voluminous literature, it is now recognized that low-grade, chronic systemic inflammation is associated with most non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory and musculoskeletal disorders, as well as impaired neurodevelopment and adverse mental health outcomes. Dietary components modulate inflammatory status. In recent years, the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII^®), a literature-derived …

Increased Dietary Inflammatory Index Is Associated With Schizophrenia: Results Of A Case–Control Study From Bahrain, Haitham Jahrami, Moez Al-Islam Faris, Hadeel Ghazzawi, Zahra Saif, Layla Habib, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert

Faculty Publications

Background: Several studies have indicated that chronic low-grade inflammation is associated with the development of schizophrenia. Given the role of diet in modulating inflammatory markers, excessive caloric intake and increased consumption of pro-inflammatory components such as calorie-dense, nutrient-sparse foods may contribute toward increased rates of schizophrenia. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary inflammation, as measured by the dietary inflammatory index (DII^®), and schizophrenia. Methods: A total of 120 cases attending the out-patient department in the Psychiatric Hospital/Bahrain were recruited, along with 120 healthy controls matched on age and sex. The energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) was computed …

Foodai: Food Image Recognition Via Deep Learning For Smart Food Logging, Doyen Sahoo, Hao Wang, Ke Shu, Xiongwei Wu, Hung Le, Palakorn Achananuparp, Ee-Peng Lim, Hoi, Steven C. H.

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

An important aspect of health monitoring is effective logging of food consumption. This can help management of diet-related diseases like obesity, diabetes, and even cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, food logging can help fitness enthusiasts, and people who wanting to achieve a target weight. However, food-logging is cumbersome, and requires not only taking additional effort to note down the food item consumed regularly, but also sufficient knowledge of the food item consumed (which is difficult due to the availability of a wide variety of cuisines). With increasing reliance on smart devices, we exploit the convenience offered through the use of smart phones …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Point-Of-Use Water Filtration Units In Fiji, Nathan L. Tintle, Adam Heynen, Kristin Van De Griend, Rachel Ulrich, Matthew Ojo, Emma Boven, Sarah Brokus, Randall Wade, Aaron A. Best

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Background: To develop and evaluate a strategy for reducing the prevalence and impact of waterborne disease, a water quality intervention was developed for Fiji by Give Clean Water, Inc. in partnership with the Fiji Ministry of Health. Residents were provided and trained on how to use a Sawyer® PointONE™ filter, while also being taught proper handwashing techniques. At the time of the filter installation, all households were surveyed inquiring about the prior 2- to 4-week period. Households were measured a second time between 19 and 225 days later (mean = 66 days).

Results: To date, five economic and health outcomes …

Innovative Solutions For State Medicaid Programs To Leverage Their Data, Build Their Analytic Capacity, And Create Evidence-Based Policy, Lauren Adams, Susan Kennedy, Lindsay Allen, Andrew Barnes, Tom Bias, Dushka Crane, Paul Lanier, Rachel Mauk, Shamis Mohamoud, Nathan Pauly, Jeffery C. Talbert, Cynthia Woodcock, Kara Zivin, Julie Donohue

Pharmacy Practice and Science Faculty Publications

As states have embraced additional flexibility to change coverage of and payment for Medicaid services, they have also faced heightened expectations for delivering high-value care. Efforts to meet these new expectations have increased the need for rigorous, evidence-based policy, but states may face challenges finding the resources, capacity, and expertise to meet this need. By describing state-university partnerships in more than 20 states, this commentary describes innovative solutions for states that want to leverage their own data, build their analytic capacity, and create evidence-based policy. From an integrated web-based system to improve long-term care to evaluating the impact of permanent …

Water Productivity In Meat And Milk Production In The Us From 1960 To 2016, Mesfin Mekonnen, C.M.U. Neale, Chittaranjan Ray, Galen E. Erickson, Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Global demand for livestock products is rising, resulting in a growing demand for feed and potentially burdening freshwater resources to produce this feed. To offset this increased pressure on water resources, the environmental performance of livestock sector should continue to improve. Over the last few decades, product output per animal and feedstuff yields in the US have improved, but before now it was unclear to what extent these improvements influenced the water productivity (WP) of the livestock products. In this research, we estimate changes in WP of animal products from 1960 to 2016. We consider feed conversion ratios (dry matter …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Its Relationship With Cervical Carcinogenesis Risk In Korean Women: A Case-Control Study, Sundara Raj Sreeja, Hyun Yi Lee, Minji Kwon, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert, Mi Kyung Kim

Faculty Publications

Several studies have reported that diet’s inflammatory potential is related to chronic diseases such as cancer, but its relationship with cervical cancer risk has not been studied yet. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII^®) and cervical cancer risk among Korean women. This study consisted of 764 cases with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)1, 2, 3, or cervical cancer, and 729 controls from six gynecologic oncology clinics in South Korea. The DII was computed using a validated semiquantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Odds ratios and 95% CI were calculated using multinomial …

Non-Heme Iron Oxygenases: An Investigation Of The Protein Ligand Effects On The Chemical Reactivity In Miae And Cysteamine Dioxygenases, Philip Palacios

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

Considerable research interest has focused on the non-heme oxygenase/oxidase enzyme family because of vast array of chemically diverse O2-depedent oxidations they participate in. For example, the bacterial multicomponent monooxygenases (sMMOH and ToMOH) are bacterial diiron enzymes that are involved in the oxidations of simple carbon sources (methane and toluene) for nutrition and other cellular cycles. Investigations of the BMM systems have significant implications for the research and development in greenhouse emissions. The hydroxylase component of the BMM superfamily is coordinated by 2-Histidine-4-carboxylate ligands (Asp or Glu) [2H4C]. The [2H4C] configuration is the typical moiety for the 2-electron oxidation in the …

Artificial Intelligence The Use Of Knowledge Graphs, Besar Mehmeti

Theses and Dissertations

In this digital age, an overwhelming amount of unstructured data found in the web is increasing at an unprecedented rate. In response, information extraction techniques have been developed to automatically extract information from unstructured text and populate knowledge bases. This thesis will introduce the reader to the idea of Knowledge Graphs, the history of how they were first experimented on and later developed, and in particular, this thesis is going to elaborate how Diffbot, Wikidata and IBM Watson technologies are modeled, stored and queried. By having this information at our fingertips, we believe that we can make smarter decisions, keep …

The Spirulina Strategy, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

This is an adapted version of the SMU Case, “Navigating an Eternal Ocean: EnerGaia’s Emergent Strategy in the Market for Spirulina" written by Research Fellow Ryan Merrill and Assistant Professor Simon Schillebeeckx. To see the full case, please click on the following link: https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/3986

EnerGaia began life trying to address nutrition issues in the developing world. The prospect of profit is testing its founder to balance both or choose one over the other

The Archaeology Of Mississippian Vulnerability And Resilience In The New Madrid Seismic Zone, Michelle Megan Rathgaber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the vulnerability and resilience of Mississippian people in the Central Mississippi Valley to the large-scale New Madrid seismic zone earthquakes of the late15th to early 16th century. This is done using the theory of eventful archaeology/anthropology to look at cultural materials both before and after an event (such as an earthquake and sand blows) to look for evidence of changes to the schema and resources on which a society relies. If changes are present, the event can be labeled as such, if there are no changes, it means that the society affected did not see the event …

Consumer Preferences For Sustainable Rice Practices In Nigeria, Glory Esohe Okpiaifo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improving the sustainability of rice production is important given its position as a global staple and its environmental footprint. The adoption of sustainable practices can generate positive externalities such as lower environmental pollution and improved working conditions for rice industry workers that could be capitalized via the design of consumer-based marketing strategies. The Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP) initiative aims at advancing the adoption of sustainable practices in rice production. We assess consumers’ perceptions of the SRP sustainability indicators using the Best-Worst Scaling approach to rank SRP sustainability attributes according to their preference shares and examine the effects of demographic characteristics …

Amyloidogenicity Of Naturally Occurring Full-Length Animal Iapp Variants, Larry M. Palato, Shannon Pilcher, Alissa Oakes, Arleen Lamba, Jaris Torres, Litza I. Ledesma Monjaraz, Crystabel Munoz, Edward Njoo, Dillon J. Rinauro, Kate Alexandra Menefee, Angela Tun, Betssy L. Jauregui, Sarah Shapiro, Olivia H. Nossiff, Eileen Olivares, Kevin Chang, Viviane Nguyen, Luiza A. Nogaj, David A. Moffet

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Works

Aim: To identify naturally occurring variants of IAPP capable of inhibiting the aggregation of human IAPP and protecting living cells from the toxic effects of human IAPP. Background: The loss of insulin-producing β-cells and the overall progression of type 2 diabetes appears to be linked to the formation of toxic human IAPP (hIAPP, Islet Amyloid Polypeptide, amylin) amyloid in the pancreas. Inhibiting the initial aggregation of hIAPP has the potential to slow, if not stop entirely, the loss of β-cells and halt the progression of the disease. Objective: To identify and characterize naturally occurring variants of IAPP capable of inhibiting …

Quality Of Wheat Grains (Triticum Aestivum) Generationally Exposed To Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles (Nceo2), Oluwasegun Michael Abolade

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The impacts of generational exposure to engineered nanomaterial on grain quality are poorly documented. This study was performed on wheat grains harvested from plants grown in soil amended with cerium oxide nanoparticles (nCeO₂) at the 2^nd and 3^rd generations. Third generation experiment was performed at low and high nitrogen (N) soil levels. The goal was to investigate changes in grain fatty acid and elemental contents due to parental exposure (C₁ vs T₁ in 2^nd generation, C₁C₂ vs T₁T₂ in 3^rd generation) or current generation …

Feature Selection And Analysis For Standard Machine Learning Classification Of Audio Beehive Samples, Chelsi Gupta

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The beekeepers need to inspect their hives regularly in order to protect them from various stressors. Manual inspection of hives require a lot of time and effort. Hence, many researchers have started using electronic beehive monitoring (EBM) systems to collect critical information from beehives, so as to alert the beekeepers of possible threats to the hive. EBM collects information by applying multiple sensors into the hive. The sensors collect information in the form of video, audio or temperature data from the hives.

This thesis involves the automatic classification of audio samples from a beehive into bee buzzing, cricket chirping and …

Synthesis And Biological Studies Of Amphiphilic Compounds Derived From Saccharides And Aminoglycosides, Madher N. Alfindee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Adjacent cells communicate through gap junctions (GJs). These GJs are formed by head to head docking of two hemichannels (HCs) from two adjacent cells. HCs are connexin hexamer proteins. Connexin mutation is the most frequent cause of childhood hearing loss. This hearing impairment affects 2 in every 2000 children. Inhibition of the HCs might be the key factor to treat such disorders. A library of amphiphilic kanamycins was synthesized to be tested as HC inhibitors. These compounds showed excellent inhibition activity in comparison with the parent compound (kanamycin A) with less toxicity.

A library of monosaccharide esters with varying carbon …

Factors Associated With Eosinophilic Esophagitis In Nevada, Julia Lorraine Anderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a rare immune-mediated illness with symptoms that range from difficulty swallowing to food impaction of the esophagus. Most published studies have been documented among patients residing in cool regions with significant annual rainfall. No published studies to our knowledge have been performed examining the healthcare utilization trends of EoE in Nevada. Utilizing two unique databases, the factors associated with EoE healthcare utilization patterns in Nevada were examined. All analyses were performed in R version 3.5.1. This study included a demographic and regional analysis identifying risk factors associated with having an EoE healthcare visit in Nevada. Several …

Microbial Community, Functioning, And Its Relationship With Heavy Metals In An Urban Brownfield, Jay Prakash Singh

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The ubiquity of urban brownfields presents a challenge for environmental managers for managing degraded ecosystems that are in close contact with human habitation. Presence of metal contaminants in brownfields further complicate the matters as it cannot be degraded and hence pose a high risk to human and environmental health, and well-being of the local community. However, previous studies indicate that management and restoration of brownfields are possible through the use of low input longer term and sustainable remediation approaches. These sustainable approaches include the use of plants, fungi, and bacteria to increase soil function and mitigate risks from the contaminants. …

Predictive Biomarkers Demonstrating The Effect Of Levels Of Copper And Zinc From Exposure To World Trade Center 9/11 Particulate Matter On Human Esophageal Cells In Vitro, Rossara Nunez

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The World Trade Center Attack on September 11th, 2001 was the largest environmental attack that has ever happened in New York City. In the aftermath of the collapse of the twin towers, many first responders and rescue workers were exposed to the resulting clouds of dust. This toxic material has been shown to be responsible for membrane damage in human lung cells and can possibly become the cause of increased oxidative stress. The underlying factors that produce these findings are thought to the synergistic effects of the many components found within the market street sample. Complete analysis of the heavy …

Topic Enhanced Word Embedding For Toxic Content Detection In Q&A Sites, Do Yeon Kim, Xiaohang Li, Sheng Wang, Yunying Zhuo, Ka Wei, Roy Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Increasingly, users are adopting community question-and-answer (Q&A) sites to exchange information. Detecting and eliminating toxic and divisive content in these Q&A sites are paramount tasks to ensure a safe and constructive environment for the users. Insincere question, which is founded upon false premises, is one type of toxic content in Q&A sites. In this paper, we proposed a novel deep learning framework enhanced pre-trained word embeddings with topical information for insincere question classification. We evaluated our proposed framework on a large real-world dataset from Quora Q&A site and showed that the topically enhanced word embedding is able to achieve better …

The Effects Of Clipping On The Biomass Production Of Native Warm Season Grasses On Reclaimed Abandoned Coal Mine Soils, James A K Daniel

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

THE EFFECTS OF CLIPPING ON THE BIOMASS PRODUCTION OF NATIVE

WARM SEASON GRASSES ON RECLAIMED

ABANDONED COAL MINE SOILS

James A K Daniel

Strip mining leaves behind highly disrupted plant and soil communities. Mined land reclamation returns the land back to a natural or economically usable state, however, reclamation cannot completely restore the soils to their original state. Subsequently, normal frequencies of management practices may not be as effective as in undisturbed soils. Understanding how the severity of soil disturbance affects plant production is important for habitat rehabilitation and determining effective management techniques to be implemented following reclamation. This project …

Reconstruction Of Northeastern Pacific Ocean Holocene Production Using Marine Mammal Archaeofauna, Andrea M. Traffichini

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Changes in marine production play a key role in determining the trophic structure of the northeastern Pacific Ocean. This is a region of great environmental fluctuations due to modern, historical, and paleo-environmental variability recorded throughout the Holocene. These fluctuations are recorded in the bone collagen of the marine mammals that reside in these waters. Marine mammal remains from four previously excavated archaeological deposits on Unalaska Island, Alaska are used as a proxy for marine production changes throughout the Holocene (4,500 BP to 350 BP). Historic and modern samples from museum collections, subsistence harvests, and previously published data provide a distinct …

Optimizing Lighting Regimes For Rearing Orbicella Faveolata And Acropora Cervicornis Recruits, Paul D. Kreh

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral reef decline worldwide has led to the need for coral reef restoration. The use of sexual reproduction in restoration efforts is required to increase genetic diversity; however, the procedures for rearing newly-settled coral recruits ex situ still need to be optimized. Recruits initially require low light irradiance, but it is unclear when higher irradiances are required to enhance growth and survival. Here we determined the optimal light regime for Orbicella faveolata and Acropora cervicornis recruits. Newly settled recruits were reared under treatments with varied rates of increasing irradiance (after reaching 5 weeks of age), and their survival, growth, and …

Iamhappy: Towards An Iot Knowledge-Based Cross-Domain Well-Being Recommendation System For Everyday Happiness, Amelia Gyrard, Amit Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Nowadays, healthy lifestyle, fitness, and diet habits have become central applications in our daily life. Positive psychology such as well-being and happiness is the ultimate dream of everyday people’s feelings (even without being aware of it). Wearable devices are being increasingly employed to support well-being and fitness. Those devices produce physiological signals that are analyzed by machines to understand emotions and physical state. The Internetof Things (IoT) technology connects (wearable) devices to the Internet to easily access and process data, even using Web technologies (aka Web of Things).

We design IAMHAPPY, an innovative IoT-based well-being recommendation system to encourage every …

Are We Providing Preferred Floral Resources For Bees In Our Neighborhoods? : Assessing The Relationship Between Small Scale Vegetation Metrics And Bee Presence In Se Portland, Hailey Wallace

Dissertations and Theses

Bee pollinators can thrive in highly urbanized environments if their preferred floral resources and habitat types are available. Enhanced pollinator habitats are being created globally, with a large local effort in Portland, Oregon. This project determined if we were providing the most preferred floral resources at enhanced pollinator sites for bees, if floral resources were available throughout the season, and if differences in dietary preferences between native and honey bees would allow for the identification of "native bee floral resources" in South East Portland. Bee pollinators were monitored from June to August at three enhanced pollinator sites in South East …