Digital Commons Network^™

The Genome Of The Green Anole Lizard And A Comparative Analysis With Birds And Mammals, Jessica Alföldi, Federica Di Palma, Manfred Grabherr, Christina Williams, Lesheng Kong, Evan Mauceli, Pamela Russell, Craig B. Lowe, Richard Glor, Jacob D. Jaffe, David A. Ray, Stéphane Boissinot, Andrew M. Shedlock, Christopher Botka, Todd A. Castoe, John K. Colbourne, Matthew K. Fujita, Ricardo Godinez Moreno, Boudewijn F. Ten Hallers, David Haussler, Peter Novick

Publications and Research

The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations in the history of life, freeing vertebrates from an obligatory connection to water and thus permitting the conquest of terrestrial environments1. Among amniotes, genome sequences are available for mammals2 and birds3–5, but not for non-avian reptiles. Here we report the genome sequence of the North American green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis. We find that A. carolinensis microchromosomes are highly syntenic with chicken microchromosomes, yet do not exhibit the high GC and low repeat content that are characteristic of avian microchromosomes3. Also, A. carolinensis mobile elements are very …

Comparative Genomics Of The Pathogenic Ciliate Ichthyophthirius Multifiliis, Its Free-Living Relatives And A Host Species Provide Insights Into Adoption Of A Parasitic Lifestyle And Prospects For Disease Control, Robert S. Coyne, Linda Hannick, Dhanasekaran Shanmugam, Jessica B. Hostetler, Daniel Brami, Vinita S. Joardar, Justin Johnson, Diana Radune, Irtisha Singh, Jonathan H. Badger, Ujjwal Kumar, Milton Saier, Yufeng Wang, Hong Cai, Jianying Gu, Michael W. Mather, Akhil B. Vaidya, David E. Wilkes, Vidyalakshmi Rajagopalan, David J. Asai, Chad G. Pearson, Robert C. Findly, Harry W. Dickerson, Martin Wu, Cindy Martens, Yves Van De Peer, David S. Roos, Donna M. Cassidy-Hanley, Theodore G. Clark

Publications and Research

Background

Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, commonly known as Ich, is a highly pathogenic ciliate responsible for 'white spot', a disease causing significant economic losses to the global aquaculture industry. Options for disease control are extremely limited, and Ich's obligate parasitic lifestyle makes experimental studies challenging. Unlike most well-studied protozoan parasites, Ich belongs to a phylum composed primarily of free-living members. Indeed, it is closely related to the model organism Tetrahymena thermophila. Genomic studies represent a promising strategy to reduce the impact of this disease and to understand the evolutionary transition to parasitism.

Results

We report the sequencing, assembly and annotation …

Bone Morphogenetic Protein Inhibition Promotes Neurological Recovery After Intraventricular Hemorrhage, Krishna Dummula, Govindaiah Vinukonda, Philip Chu, Yiping Xing, Furong Hu, Sabrina Mailk, Anna Csiszar, Caroline Chua, Peter Mouton, Robert J. Kayton, Joshua C. Brumberg, Rashmi Bansal, Praveen Ballabh

Publications and Research

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) results in neural cell death and white matter injury in premature infants. No therapeutic strategy is currently available against this disorder. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling suppresses oligodendrocyte development through basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors and promotes astrocytosis. Therefore, we hypothesized that IVH in premature newborns initiates degeneration and maturation arrest of oligodendrocyte lineage and that BMP inhibition alleviates hypomyelination, gliosis, and motor impairment in the survivors of IVH. To test the hypotheses, a rabbit model of IVH was used in which premature rabbit pups (E29) are treated with intraperitoneal glycerol at 2 hours of age to induce …

The Rights Of Readers And The Threat Of The Kindle, Alycia Sellie, Matthew Goins

Publications and Research

This talk outlines the Readers' Bill of Rights for Digital Books, recommended for librarians to consider when purchasing electronic books for their collections. These slides were used for a webinar for the Metropolitan New York Library Council in 2011.

Mechanical Intervention For Maintenance Of Cartilage And Bone, Hui B. Sun, Luis Cardoso, Hiroki Yokota

Publications and Research

Mechanical loading provides indispensible stimuli for growth and development of the articular cartilage and bone. Interestingly, depending on loading conditions loads applied to the joint can be beneficial as well as harmful to skeletal maintenance and remodeling. Moderate loads to the synovial joint, for instance, suppress the expression levels of matrix metallproteinases (MMPs), while loads above a threshold tend to increase their destructive activities. This report focuses on two recently developed loading modalities from animal studies, joint motion and joint loading. Their unique characteristics and potential usages for maintenance of the articular cartilage and stimulation of bone remodeling are reviewed. …

Redesigned With Them In Mind: Evaluating An Online Library Information Literacy Tutorial, Rebeca Befus, Katrina Byrne

Urban Library Journal

This study investigates Wayne State University Library System’s redesigned information literacy tutorial: re:Seach. Seventy-two students participating in the 2010 Wayne State Federal TRIO Student Support Service Summer Residential Program participated in the questionnaire. The questionnaire measured student learning via a multiple choice knowledge based test. Confidence and satisfaction were also measured using a five point Likert scale. Students received an overall average score of 71% on the knowledge portion and student responses varied on the confidence and satisfaction portions of the questionnaire. Results clearly indicated the necessity for future revisions. The discussion will address the specific revisions being undertaken and …

Weight-Related Behavior Among Adolescents: The Role Of Peer Effects, Mir M. Ali, Aliaksandr Amialchuk, Frank W. Heiland

Publications and Research

Purpose To investigate whether social interactions in friendship networks influence the following weight-related behaviors of adolescents: exercising regularly, playing an active sport, hours of TV/Video viewing, sleeping six or fewer hours, eating breakfast on weekdays, frequency of eating at fast food restaurants, eating five servings of fruits/vegetables daily, and consuming calorie-dense snacks.

Method Data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents are used to examine the association between peer and individual weight-related behaviors. Evidence from multivariate regression analysis controlling for an extensive list of individual- and family-level factors as well as school-level unobserved heterogeneity is obtained. Results We find a …

“What” And “Where” In Auditory Sensory Processing: A High-Density Electrical Mapping Study Of Distinct Neural Processes Underlying Sound Object Recognition And Sound Localization, Victoria M. Leavitt, Sophie Molholm, Manuel Gomez-Ramirez, John J. Foxe

Publications and Research

Functionally distinct dorsal and ventral auditory pathways for sound localization (WHERE) and sound object recognition (WHAT) have been described in non-human primates. A handful of studies have explored differential processing within these streams in humans, with highly inconsistent findings. Stimuli employed have included simple tones, noise bursts, and speech sounds, with simulated left–right spatial manipulations, and in some cases participants were not required to actively discriminate the stimuli. Our contention is that these paradigms were not well suited to dissociating processing within the two streams. Our aim here was to determine how early in processing we …

¡Escriba! ¡Write! Volume 9, June 2011, Hostos Community College Library

¡Escriba!

No abstract provided.

Pulsed Out Of Awareness: Eeg Alpha Oscillations Represent A Pulsed-Inhibition Of Ongoing Cortical Processing, Kyle E. Mathewson, Alejandro Lleras, Diane M. Beck, Monica Fabiani, Tony Ro, Gabriele Gratton

Publications and Research

Alpha oscillations are ubiquitous in the brain, but their role in cortical processing remains a matter of debate. Recently, evidence has begun to accumulate in support of a role for alpha oscillations in attention selection and control. Here we first review evidence that 8–12 Hz oscillations in the brain have a general inhibitory role in cognitive processing, with an emphasis on their role in visual processing. Then, we summarize the evidence in support of our recent proposal that alpha represents a pulsed-inhibition of ongoing neural activity. The phase of the ongoing electroencephalography can influence evoked activity and subsequent processing, and …

Transplantation Of Adult Mouse Ips Cell-Derived Photoreceptor Precursors Restores Retinal Structure And Function In Degenerative Mice, Budd A. Tucker, In-Hyun Park, Sara D. Qi, Henry J. Klassen, Caihui Jiang, Jing Yao, Stephen Redenti, George Q. Daley, Michael J. Young

Publications and Research

This study was designed to determine whether adult mouse induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), could be used to produce retinal precursors and subsequently photoreceptor cells for retinal transplantation to restore retinal function in degenerative hosts. iPSCs were generated using adult dsRed mouse dermal fibroblasts via retroviral induction of the transcription factors Oct4, Sox2, KLF4 and c-Myc. As with normal mouse ES cells, adult dsRed iPSCs expressed the pluripotency genes SSEA1, Oct4, Sox2, KLF4, c-Myc and Nanog. Following transplantation into the eye of immunecompromised retinal degenerative mice these cells proceeded to form teratomas containing tissue comprising all three germ layers. At …

The Communicator, April 18, 2011, Bronx Community College

The Communicator

The Communicator newspaper published on April 18, 2011.

Experimental Tuberculosis In The Wistar Rat: A Model For Protective Immunity And Control Of Infection, Amit Singhal, El Moukhtar Aliouat, Maxime Herve, Vanessa Mathys, Mehdi Kiass, Colette Creusy, Baptiste Delaire, Liana Tsenova, Laurence Fleurisse, Julie Bertout, Luis Camacho, Damian Foo, Hui Chien Tay, Jie Yee Siew, Warda Boukhouchi, Marta Romano, Barun Mathema, Veronique Dartois, Gilla Kaplan, Pablo Bifani

Publications and Research

Background: Despite the availability of many animal models for tuberculosis (TB) research, there still exists a need for better understanding of the quiescent stage of disease observed in many humans. Here, we explored the use of the Wistar rat model for the study of protective immunity and control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection.

Methodology/Principal Findings: The kinetics of bacillary growth, evaluated by the colony stimulating assay (CFU) and the extent of lung pathology in Mtb infected Wistar rats were dependent on the virulence of the strains and the size of the infecting inoculums. Bacillary growth control was associated with induction …

In Transit Vol 5 Spring 2011, Laguardia Community College

LaGuardia Community College Publications

In Transit is the LaGuardia Journal on Teaching and Learning. It is published by the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY.

Review Of The Book Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology Of Things, Karen Weingarten

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Odor Fear Conditioning Modifies Piriform Cortex Local Field Potentials Both During Conditioning And During Post-Conditioning Sleep, Dylan C. Barnes, Julie Chapuis, Dipesh Chaudhury, Donald A. Wilson

Publications and Research

Background: Sleep plays an active role in memory consolidation. Sleep structure (REM/Slow wave activity [SWS]) can be modified after learning, and in some cortical circuits, sleep is associated with replay of the learned experience. While the majority of this work has focused on neocortical and hippocampal circuits, the olfactory system may offer unique advantages as a model system for exploring sleep and memory, given the short, non-thalamic pathway from nose to primary olfactory (piriform cortex), and rapid cortex-dependent odor learning.

Methodology/Principal Findings: We examined piriform cortical odor responses using local field potentials (LFPs) from freely behaving Long-Evans hooded rats over …

Molar Macrowear Reveals Neanderthal Eco-Geographic Dietary Variation, Luca Fiorenza, Stefano Benazzi, Jeremy Tausch, Ottmar Kullmer, Timothy G. Bromage, Friedemann Schrenk

Publications and Research

Neanderthal diets are reported to be based mainly on the consumption of large and medium sized herbivores, while the exploitation of other food types including plants has also been demonstrated. Though some studies conclude that early Homo sapiens were active hunters, the analyses of faunal assemblages, stone tool technologies and stable isotopic studies indicate that they exploited broader dietary resources than Neanderthals. Whereas previous studies assume taxon-specific dietary specializations, we suggest here that the diet of both Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens is determined by ecological conditions. We analyzed molar wear patterns using occlusal fingerprint analysis derived from optical 3D …

Bmp-12 Treatment Of Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells In Vitro Augments Tendon-Like Tissue Formation And Defect Repair In Vivo, Jonathan Y. Lee, Zuping Zhou, Peter J. Taub, Melissa Ramcharan, Yonghui Li, Takintope Akinbiyi, Edward R. Maharam, Daniel J. Leong, Damien M. Laudier, Takuya Ruike, Phillip J. Torina, Mone Zaidi, Robert Majeska, Mitchell B. Schaffler, Evan L. Flatow, Hui B. Sun

Publications and Research

We characterized the differentiation of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) into tenocyte-like cells in response to bone morphogenetic protein-12 (BMP-12). BM-MSCs were prepared from Sprague-Dawley rats and cultured as monolayers. Recombinant BMP-12 treatment (10 ng/ml) of BM-MSCs for 12 hours in vitro markedly increased expression of the tenocyte lineage markers scleraxis (Scx) and tenomodulin (Tnmd) over 14 days. Treatment with BMP-12 for a further 12-hour period had no additional effect. Colony formation assays revealed that ∼80% of treated cells and their progeny were Scx- and Tnmd-positive. BM-MSCs seeded in collagen scaffolds and similarly treated with a single dose …

The Communicator, March 8, 2011, Bronx Community College

The Communicator

The Communicator newspaper published on March 8, 2011.

John Jay Sentinel Volume 3, No 3, John Jay College Of Criminal Justice

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Methamphetamine Induces Striatal Cell Death Followed By The Generation Of New Cells And A Second Round Of Cell Death In Mice, I. K. Tulloch, L Afanador, J Zhu, J. A. Angulo

Publications and Research

Our laboratory has been investigating the impact of a neurotoxic exposure to methamphetamine (METH) on cellular components of the striatum post-synaptic to the dopaminergic terminals. A systemic bolus injection of METH (30 mg/kg, ip) induces the production of new cells in the striatum during a period lasting from 24-48 hours after METH. The newly generated cells arise from dormant striatal progenitors and not from the subventricular zone. The newly generated cells display glial phenotypes and begin to die 24 hours after birth, or 2.5 days post-METH. The protracted phase of cell death lasts for at least three months post-METH at …

The Impact Of Bisphenol A And Triclosan On Immune Parameters In The U.S. Population, Nhanes 2003–2006, Erin M. Rees Clayton, Megan Todd, Jennifer B. Dowd, Allison E. Aiello

Publications and Research

Background: Exposure to environmental toxicants is associated with numerous disease outcomes, many of which involve underlying immune and inflammatory dysfunction.

Objectives: To address the gap between environmental exposures and immune dysfunction, we investigated the association of two endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) with markers of immune function.

Methods: Using data from the 2003–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we compared urinary bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan levels with serum cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibody levels and diagnosis of allergies or hay fever in U.S. adults and children ≥ 6 years of age. We used multivariate ordinary least squares linear regression models to examine …

Seropositivity To Cytomegalovirus, Inflammation, All-Cause And Cardiovascular Disease-Related Mortality In The United States, Amanda M. Simanek, Jennifer Beam Dowd, Graham Pawelec, David Melzer, Ambarish Dutta, Allison E. Aiello

Publications and Research

Background: Studies have suggested that CMV infection may influence cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and mortality. However, there have been no large-scale examinations of these relationships among demographically diverse populations. The inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) is also linked with CVD outcomes and mortality and may play an important role in the pathway between CMV and mortality. We utilized a U.S. nationally representative study to examine whether CMV infection is associated with all-cause and CVD-related mortality. We also assessed whether CRP level mediated or modified these relationships.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Data come from subjects $25 years of age who were tested for …

Employing Cogenerative Dialogue To Share Classroom Authority, Edward Lehner

Publications and Research

In America’s high schools, particularly in large urban centers, racial and social class differences separating a teacher and students can create classroom management concerns that could seriously impede upon learning. These classroom management difficulties may branch from the misalignment between a teacher’s instructional methods and students’ learning approaches. This research reports data gathered from a New York City High School Suspension Center during a 9 month school year, including results from 56 focus group interviews and 300 hours of classroom observation. The data analysis reveals that classroom behavioral problems and authority concerns are prominent themes in this school. Informed by …

Antibodies Elicited In Response To Ebna-1 May Cross- React With Dsdna, Pragya Yadav, Hoa Tran, Roland Ebegbe, Paul Gottlieb, Hui Wei, Rita H. Lewis, Alice Mumbey-Wafula, Atira Kaplan, Elina Kholdarova, Linda Spatz

Publications and Research

Background:Several genetic and environmental factors have been linked to Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE). One environmental trigger that has a strong association with SLE is the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV). Our laboratory previously demonstrated that BALB/c mice expressing the complete EBNA-1 protein can develop antibodies to double stranded DNA (dsDNA). The present study was undertaken to understand why anti-dsDNA antibodies arise during the immune response to EBNA-1.

Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, we demonstrated that mouse antibodies elicited in response to EBNA-1 cross-react with dsDNA. First, we showed that adsorption of sera reactive with EBNA-1 and dsDNA, on dsDNA cellulose …

Sustainability: Can Law Meet The Challenge?, Rebecca Bratspies

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Still Trembling: State Obligation Under International Law To End Post-Earthquake Rape In Haiti, Lisa Davis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Learning In Context: Land Use And Community Lawyering, Andrea Mcardle

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Trumpet Professor Known For Giving Inspiration, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mccraken Knows Ulcers And Parasitic Worms, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.