Digital Commons Network^™

Inward Rectifier Potassium (Kir) Channels Mediate Salivary Gland Function And Blood Feeding In The Lone Star Tick, Amblyomma Americanum, Zhilin Li, Kevin R. Macaluso, Lane D. Foil, Daniel R. Swale

Faculty Publications

© 2019 Li et al. Background Tick feeding causes extreme morbidity and mortality to humans through transmission of pathogens and causes severe economic losses to the agricultural industry by reducing livestock yield. Salivary gland secretions are essential for tick feeding and thus, reducing or preventing saliva secretions into the vertebrate host is likely to reduce feeding and hinder pathogen life cycles. Unfortunately, the membrane physiology of tick salivary glands is underexplored and this gap in knowledge limits the development of novel therapeutics for inducing cessation of tick feeding. Methodology We studied the influence of inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channel subtypes …

Factors Affecting Growth Kinetics And Spontaneous Metastasis In The B16f10 Syngeneic Murine Melanoma Model, Natalie Fowlkes, Kelli Clemons, Paul Jf Rider, Ramesh Subramanian, Nobuko Wakamatsu, Ingeborg Langohr, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Melanoma is an immunogenic tumor that can metastasize quickly to proximal and distal sites, thus complicating the application of therapeutic modalities. Numerous mouse model systems have been used to gain understanding of the immunobiology and metastatic potential of melanoma. Here, we report the optimization of a syngeneic mouse melanoma model protocol using the mouse B16-derived melanoma cell line B16F10 that ensures the production of tumors on mice pinnae that are similar in size between animals and that enlarge in a time-dependent manner. In this model, B16F10 cells are first allowed to develop tumors after injection in the interscapular area or …

Deepdrug3d: Classification Of Ligand-Binding Pockets In Proteins With A Convolutional Neural Network, Limeng Pu, Rajiv Gandhi Govindaraj, Jeffrey Mitchell Lemoine, Hsiao Chun Wu, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

© 2019 Pu et al. Comprehensive characterization of ligand-binding sites is invaluable to infer molecular functions of hypothetical proteins, trace evolutionary relationships between proteins, engineer enzymes to achieve a desired substrate specificity, and develop drugs with improved selectivity profiles. These research efforts pose significant challenges owing to the fact that similar pockets are commonly observed across different folds, leading to the high degree of promiscuity of ligand-protein interactions at the system-level. On that account, novel algorithms to accurately classify binding sites are needed. Deep learning is attracting a significant attention due to its successful applications in a wide range of …

Adiabatic Temperature Changes At Structural And Magnetic Phase Transitions In Ni45mn43cosn11 At High Magnetic Fields, Sudip Pandey, Yury Koshkid'ko, Igor Dubenko, Jacek Cwik, Anil Aryal, Alexander Granovsky, Erkki Lahderanta, Shane Stadler, Naushad Ali

Faculty Publications

The adiabatic temperature change (Δ Tad) in Ni45Mn43CoSn11 has been measured by a direct method in magnetic field changes up to 14 T. Large reversible magnetocaloric effects resulting in Δ Tad of about =-11 and 5 K have been observed for magnetic field changes of 14 T at the magnetostructural (TA ∼ 260 K) and magnetic transitions (TC ∼ 320 K), respectively. The impact of the thermomagnetic history on Δ Tad at high magnetic fields has been reported. The significant observed changes in the relaxation time of Δ Tad, depending on the type of the phase transitions, magnetization, and demagnetization …

Constraints On Neutrino Lifetime From The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, B. Aharmim, S. N. Ahmed, A. E. Anthony, N. Barros, E. W. Beier, A. Bellerive, B. Beltran, M. Bergevin, S. D. Biller, R. Bonventre, K. Boudjemline, M. G. Boulay, B. Cai, E. J. Callaghan, J. Caravaca, Y. D. Chan, D. Chauhan, M. Chen, B. T. Cleveland, G. A. Cox, X. Dai, H. Deng, F. B. Descamps, J. A. Detwiler, P. J. Doe, G. Doucas, P. L. Drouin, M. Dunford

Faculty Publications

The long baseline between Earth and the Sun makes solar neutrinos an excellent test beam for exploring possible neutrino decay. The signature of such decay would be an energy-dependent distortion of the traditional survival probability which can be fit for using well-developed and high-precision analysis methods. Here a model including neutrino decay is fit to all three phases of B8 solar neutrino data taken by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). This fit constrains the lifetime of neutrino mass state ν2 to be >8.08×10-5 s/eV at 90% confidence. An analysis combining this SNO result with those from other solar neutrino experiments …

Distress Tolerance And Cannabis Craving: The Impact Of Laboratory-Induced Distress, Julia D. Buckner, Katherine Walukevich Dienst, Michael J. Zvolensky

Faculty Publications

Low levels of distress tolerance have been identified as an important vulnerability factor for negative cannabis outcomes. The current study is the first known experimental manipulation of state distress to test whether distress tolerance interacts with state distress to predict the urge to use cannabis. Current cannabis users (N = 126; 88.9% with cannabis use disorder; 54.0% non-Hispanic Caucasian) were randomly assigned to a distress task condition or neutral (reading) task condition. Participants in the 2 conditions did not differ on distress tolerance, negative affect (NA), or craving at baseline. The distress tolerance X condition interaction significantly predicted task NA, …

B Cell Homeostasis Is Maintained During Long-Duration Spaceflight, Guillaume Spielmann, Nadia Agha, Hawley Kunz, Richard J. Simpson, Brian Crucian, Satish Mehta, Mitzi Laughlin, John Campbell

Faculty Publications

Long-duration spaceflights reportedly induce immune dysregulation, which is considered a risk to astronaut safety and mission success. Recent studies have examined the impact of spaceflight on markers of adaptive and innate immunity, but no study, to date, has comprehensively evaluated humoral immunity and serological markers of B cell function. The aim of this study was to characterize changes in B cell numbers and phenotypes, along with plasma Igs and polyclonal free light chains (FLCs)—near-“real-time” biomarkers of Ig synthesis—in response to an ~6-mo mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Whole-blood samples were collected before flight, during flight (“Early flight,” “Mid-flight,” …

The Comparative Genomics And Complex Population History Of Papio Baboons, Jeffrey Rogers, Muthuswamy Raveendran, R. Alan Harris, Thomas Mailund, Kalle Leppälä, Georgios Athanasiadis, Mikkel Heide Schierup, Jade Cheng, Kasper Munch, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel, Vallmer E. Jordan, Cody J. Steely, Thomas O. Beckstrom, Christina Bergey, Andrew Burrell, Dominik Schrempf, Angela Noll, Maximillian Kothe, Gisela H. Kopp, Yue Liu, Shwetha Murali, Konstantinos Billis, Fergal J. Martin, Matthieu Muffato, Laura A. Cox, James Else, Todd Disotell, Donna M. Muzny, Jane Phillips-Conroy, Bronwen Aken, Evan E. Eichler, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Carolin Kosiol

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2019 The Authors, Recent studies suggest that closely related species can accumulate substantial genetic and phenotypic differences despite ongoing gene flow, thus challenging traditional ideas regarding the genetics of speciation. Baboons (genus Papio) are Old World monkeys consisting of six readily distinguishable species. Baboon species hybridize in the wild, and prior data imply a complex history of differentiation and introgression. We produced a reference genome assembly for the olive baboon (Papio anubis) and whole-genome sequence data for all six extant species. We document multiple episodes of admixture and introgression during the radiation of Papio baboons, thus demonstrating their …

An Experimental Study Of Fractional Wettability Effects On Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd), Abdullah Abdulrahman A. Al-Tameemi

LSU Master's Theses

Utilizing the power of nature to solve engineering problems has been a time-honored tradition, for example, using the sunlight as a heat and light source. From this principle, the visionary idea of Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) came. The GAGD process utilizes the natural segregation phenomenon of fluids with different densities in order to produce oil efficiently and economically. Waterflooding processes typically do not recover more than 40% of the original oil in place (OOIP), leaving a vast amount of oil behind. A practical and well-planned enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method is needed. However, to plan a successful project, the …

Monitoring Sediment Dynamics And Vegetation Competition Based On Micro-Topography And Terrestrial Lidar For Wetland Restoration, Xukai Zhang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With the ability to attenuate wave and limit erosion, coastal wetlands are important to protect shoreline for coastal communities. Micro-topography in coastal wetlands has a significant influence on hydrology, habitat variability and ecosystem functions. However, when mapping micro-topography by terrestrial LiDAR in coastal environments, the coverage of dense vegetation leads to a relatively low chance of laser penetration through the canopy to the ground. This dissertation proposes a rapid and flexible terrain mapping solution for the densely vegetated coastal environment by integrating crown structure from terrestrial LiDAR with terrain samples from GPS. The validated results in the study site demonstrate …

Conditional Knock-Out Of Mglur5 From Astrocytes During Epilepsy Development Impairs High-Frequency Glutamate Uptake, Anthony D. Umpierre, Peter J. West, John A. White, Karen S. Wilcox

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Short Communication: The Topographic Analysis Kit (Tak) For Topotoolbox, Adam M. Fortes

Faculty Publications

Quantitative analysis of digital topographic data is an increasingly important part of many studies in the geosciences. Initially, performing these analyses was a niche endeavor, requiring detailed domain knowledge and programming skills, but increasingly broad, flexible, open-source code bases have been developed to increasingly democratize topographic analysis. However, many of these analyses still require specific computing environments and/or moderate levels of knowledge of both the relevant programming language and the correct way to take these fundamental building blocks and conduct an efficient and effective topographic analysis. To partially address this, we have written the Topographic Analysis Kit (TAK), which leverages …

Modeling Of Leakage Through Fault-Zone Structures In Co2 Geological Storage, Dayna Rodriguez Zambrano

LSU Master's Theses

Faults intersecting target geological CO₂ storage zones have important implications for storage integrity. Potential leakage pathways due to fluid over-pressurization are investigated in this project to ensure long-term containment of injected CO₂. Numerical flow simulations coupled with a geomechanical module are presented in this work with the purpose of determining the extent of CO₂ up-fault migration, the driving mechanisms of leakage and the corresponding response of quantified pore pressure and stress variations.

This study uses dual-continuum models performed by using CMG (2017) to correctly account of flow through fractures in a fault damage zone. Numerical simulations …

The Genetic And Epigenetic Effects Of Pre-Treatment With The Small Molecule Inhibitors Chir99021, Pd0325901, And Nup0178 On Bovine Fetal Fibroblast Cells, Laura Whitney Coley

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The ability to produce genetically superior livestock has established somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) as an invaluable tool in commercial livestock production. Successful reprogramming of somatic cells towards pluripotency requires the epigenetic marks characteristic of the differentiated cell type first be erased in order to inactivate the somatic cell program and activate the embryonic program. Several small molecules have been shown to improve both the kinetics and efficiency of reprogramming. These chemical modifiers aid in overcoming the “roadblocks” encountered during the reprogramming process by inducing the necessary epigenetic modifications needed to silence the somatic cell genome and completely reactivate the …

Quantification Of Swell Energy And Its Impact On Wetlands In A Deltaic Estuary, Thomas Everett, Qin Chen, Arash Karimpour, Robert Twilley

Faculty Publications

The extensive coastal wetlands in Mississippi River Delta represent the seventh largest deltaic floodplain in the world, contributing to many services that sustain the economies of the region. Subsidence, sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, wave action from storms, and sediment depletion have contributed to chronic wetland losses, converting vegetated lands into open waters and increasing wind fetch. Among these factors listed, wave energy plays the largest role in marsh edge erosion in an open bay environment. Degrading barrier islands along the shoreline of this delta allow swell energy to enter protected bay areas, contributing to marsh edge erosion. Locally generated …

Effects Of Ball Milling On The Structure Of Cotton Cellulose, Zhe Ling, Tuo Wang, Mohamadamin Makarem, Michael Santiago Cintrón, H. N. Cheng, Xue Kang, Markus Bacher, Antje Potthast, Thomas Rosenau, Holly King, Christopher D. Delhom, Sunghyun Nam, J. Vincent Edwards, Seong H. Kim, Feng Xu, Alfred D. French

Faculty Publications

© 2019, This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply. Cellulose is often described as a mixture of crystalline and amorphous material. A large part of the general understanding of the chemical, biochemical and physical properties of cellulosic materials is thought to depend on the consequences of the ratio of these components. For example, amorphous materials are said to be more reactive and have less tensile strength but comprehensive understanding and definitive analysis remain elusive. Ball milling has been used for decades to increase the ratio of amorphous material. …

Wavepy - Python Package For X-Ray Grating Interferometry With Applications In Imaging And Wavefront Characterization, Walan Grizolli, Xianbo Shi, Lahsen Assoufid, Leslie G. Butler

Faculty Publications

© 2019 Author(s). X-ray grating interferometry has been employed for a wide range of imaging applications by using the Talbot self-images of a grating. At synchrotron facilities, it has also been exploited to characterize the coherence and wavefront of the x-ray beam. The method is relatively straightforward, easy to implement, and provides accurate quantitative data. However, to exploit its full potential, it requires highly specialized, robust data analysis. It this work, we have set the framework for the development and dissemination of a robust open-source code that is tailored to the data analysis for imaging and beam characterization using grating …

Composition And Ecology Of Avian Communities Along Elevational Gradients In Borneo, Ryan Christian Burner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A primary goal of ecology is to explain the diversity and distribution of organisms. Species distributions can be a function of abiotic factors, species interactions, dispersal limitations, and history, but the relative importance of these factors is widely debated. Elevational gradients are useful systems for studying these effects because many of these factors vary predictably with elevation, and because elevational gradients are replicated many times across the earth. However, few quantitative surveys of Southeast Asian bird communities have been conducted along elevational gradients. In this study, I surveyed birds using point counts and measured habitat and temperature across primary forest …

A Multi-Proxy Approach To Refining Paleotempestology Records On The Northern Gulf Of Mexico Coast, Marianne Elizabeth Dietz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Reconstructing pre-historic hurricane activity is typically accomplished through the analysis of sandy overwash deposits identified in coastal lake settings. This method has been used successfully in many parts of the world and can extend the hurricane record thousands of years into the past. However, this approach also has its limitations. This dissertation addresses some of the limitations associated with geologic proxies used to reconstruct hurricane landfalls in the absence of historic data and tests new proxies for the identification of hurricane-derived overwash deposits. Modern storm deposits from two sites on the northern Gulf of Mexico coast are analyzed in detail …

Experimentally Examining The Proposed Relationships Among “Rehearsal-Based” Effects, Corey Ian Mcgill

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the importance of rehearsal to most models of verbal working memory, its role has been recently called into question. Much prior work in support of rehearsal models has centered on the experimental effects of word-length, phonological-similarity, and irrelevant sound on serial order recall performance and the interaction of all three with concurrent articulation. However, recent research has suggested that confounding effects of stimuli, such as orthographic neighborhood, may be the true cause of the word-length effect. While these findings alone have significant implications for modern models of rehearsal, to understand them within the context of modern theories of working …

The Interplay Among Tax Specialists, Corporate Tax Behavior, And Tax Accrual Quality, Pradeep Sapkota

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Do tax specialists improve the accrual quality of tax accounts while simultaneously lowering effective tax rates (ETR)? Tax specialists are associated with lower ETRs. Since prior research finds that companies with lower ETRs are associated with lower financial reporting quality, companies that employ tax specialists may have lower tax accrual quality (TAQ). However, the potential for knowledge spillover and specialization effects suggests that tax specialists may simultaneously lower ETRs and improve TAQ. Thus, tax specialists can have an interesting influence on the joint effect with low ETRs on TAQ. I find that companies with lower ETRs are associated with lower …

Etoxpred: A Machine Learning-Based Approach To Estimate The Toxicity Of Drug Candidates 11 Medical And Health Sciences 1115 Pharmacology And Pharmaceutical Sciences 03 Chemical Sciences 0305 Organic Chemistry 03 Chemical Sciences 0304 Medicinal And Biomolecular Chemistry, Limeng Pu, Misagh Naderi, Tairan Liu, Hsiao Chun Wu, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: The efficiency of drug development defined as a number of successfully launched new pharmaceuticals normalized by financial investments has significantly declined. Nonetheless, recent advances in high-throughput experimental techniques and computational modeling promise reductions in the costs and development times required to bring new drugs to market. The prediction of toxicity of drug candidates is one of the important components of modern drug discovery. Results: In this work, we describe eToxPred, a new approach to reliably estimate the toxicity and synthetic accessibility of small organic compounds. eToxPred employs machine learning algorithms trained on molecular fingerprints to …

Synthetic Glycolate Metabolism Pathways Stimulate Crop Growth And Productivity In The Field, Paul F. South, Amanda P. Cavanagh, Helen W. Liu, Donald R. Ort

Faculty Publications

y © The Authors, some rights reserved Photorespiration is required in C3 plants to metabolize toxic glycolate formed when ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase-oxygenase oxygenates rather than carboxylates ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate. Depending on growing temperatures, photorespiration can reduce yields by 20 to 50% in C3 crops. Inspired by earlier work, we installed into tobacco chloroplasts synthetic glycolate metabolic pathways that are thought to be more efficient than the native pathway. Flux through the synthetic pathways was maximized by inhibiting glycolate export from the chloroplast. The synthetic pathways tested improved photosynthetic quantum yield by 20%. Numerous homozygous transgenic lines increased biomass productivity by >40% in replicated …

Consistify: Preserving Correctness And Sla Under Weak Consistency, Subhajit Sidhanta, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Wojciech Golab

Faculty Publications

While executing a client application, comprising a sequence of one or more storage operations (read, write, etc.), replicated datastores provide the option of tuning per-operation client-centric consistency settings, Weaker consistency settings allow client applications to execute with lower observed latency due to less coordination among the replica, improving throughput. To enable a client application running on a geo-replicated datastore to meet stringent SLA (Service Level Agreement) deadlines, i.e., latency thresholds provided in the SLA, users apply weak client-centric consistency settings. Strong consistency settings may result in higher latency due to coordination among greater number of replicas. However, since a weak …

Trophodynamics And Mercury Bioaccumulation In Reef And Open-Ocean Fishes From The Bahamas With A Focus On Two Teleost Predators, Oliver N. Shipley, Cheng Shiuan Lee, Nicholas S. Fisher, Georgiana Burruss, Michael G. Frisk, Edward J. Brooks, Zachary C. Zuckerman, Achim D. Herrmann, Daniel J. Madigan

Faculty Publications

© Inter-Research 2019. Identifying prey resource pools supporting fish biomass can elucidate trophic pathways of pollutant bioaccumulation. We used multiple chemical tracers (carbon [δ 13 C] and nitrogen [δ 15 N] stable isotopes and total mercury [THg]) to identify trophic pathways and measure contaminant loading in upper trophic level fishes residing at a reef and open-ocean interface near Eleuthera in the Exuma Sound, The Bahamas. We focused predominantly on the trophic pathways of mercury bioaccumulation in dolphinfish Coryphaena hippurus and wahoo Acanthocybium solandri, 2 commonly consumed pelagic sportfish in the region. Despite residing within close proximity to productive and extensive …

A Critical Edition Of The Bachianas Brasileiras Nº2 For Piano And Cello By Heitor Villa-Lobos, Henrique Borges Gomes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) is one of the most prominent names in Twentieth century music. His compositional scope encompasses languages that often combine national elements of Brazilian music with traditions of European music. Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras is one of the most representative works that reflect the dialogue of those distinct worlds. With this series of distinct pieces, Villa-Lobos aimed to achieve musical universality through incorporating elements of Bach’s music with that of his own, which was already permeated by Brazilian popular traditions.

This research focusses on the four movements of the “reduced” version of the Bachianas Brasileiras no.2 …

Sensitivity Of Evacuation Time Estimation To Modeling Parameter Adjustment, Nelida Andreina Herrera

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past 40 years, a range of tools and techniques have been employed to assess traffic and travel conditions associated with evacuation events. These tools provide key insights into the temporal-spatial conditions of traffic during an evacuation. The representation of an evacuation in a traffic simulation model requires a number of assumptions about the input and modeling parameters needed to capture relevant aspects of such event. Therefore, a key aspect to ensure appropriate estimations of evacuation clearance times and overall efficacy of emergency planning is to better understand the influence and the importance that simulation modeling parameters have on …

Properties Of The Binary Neutron Star Merger Gw170817, B. P. Abbott, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, T. Adams, P. Addesso, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, B. Agarwal, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, B. Allen, G. Allen, A. Allocca, M. A. Aloy, P. A. Altin, A. Amato, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, S. V. Angelova, S. Antier, S. Appert, K. Arai, M. C. Araya

Faculty Publications

On August 17, 2017, the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detectors observed a low-mass compact binary inspiral. The initial sky localization of the source of the gravitational-wave signal, GW170817, allowed electromagnetic observatories to identify NGC 4993 as the host galaxy. In this work, we improve initial estimates of the binary's properties, including component masses, spins, and tidal parameters, using the known source location, improved modeling, and recalibrated Virgo data. We extend the range of gravitational-wave frequencies considered down to 23 Hz, compared to 30 Hz in the initial analysis. We also compare results inferred using several signal models, which …

Design And Optimization Of An Ionizing-Radiation-Free Dental Imaging Scheme By Near Infrared Fluorescence, Thomas Hartzler

LSU Master's Theses

There is a global need for access to oral health care. Proper oral health care is necessary for physiological and psychological health, as well as social and economic issues. Major oral diseases that must be screened include caries, cracked teeth, and impacted molars. These diseases are screened and diagnosed using a variety of medical imaging methods, computed tomography (CT) X-ray being the most popular and efficient method. The challenges in screening with X-ray technology include financial and time cost as well as health risk, including radiation exposure induced cancer (REIC). This thesis summarizes research to explore the possibility of overcoming …

Effects Of Shoal Margin Collapses On The Morphodynamics Of A Sandy Estuary, M. R. Hiatt

Faculty Publications

Shoal margin collapses of several million cubic meters have occurred in the Western Scheldt estuary, the Netherlands, on average five times a year over the last decades. While these collapses involve significant volumes of material, their effect on the channel-shoal morphology is unknown. We hypothesize that collapses dynamicize the channel-shoal interactions, which could impact the ecological functioning, flood safety, and navigation in the estuary. The objective is to investigate how locations, probability, type, and volume of shoal margin collapse affect the channel-shoal dynamics. We implemented an empirically validated parameterization for shoal margin collapses and tested its effect on simulated estuary …