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First Impressions—The Potential Of Altering Initial Host-Virus Interactions For Rational Design Of Herpesvirus Vaccine Vectors, Paul J.F. Rider, Farhana Musarrat, Rafiq Nabi, Shan Naidu, Konstantin G. Kousoulas Mar 2018

First Impressions—The Potential Of Altering Initial Host-Virus Interactions For Rational Design Of Herpesvirus Vaccine Vectors, Paul J.F. Rider, Farhana Musarrat, Rafiq Nabi, Shan Naidu, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature. Purpose of Review: The earliest host-virus interactions occur during virus attachment and entry into cells. These initial steps in the virus lifecycle influence the outcome of infection beyond delivery of the viral genome into the cell. Herpesviruses alter host signaling pathways and processes during attachment and entry to facilitate virus infection and modulate innate immune responses. We suggest in this review that understanding these early events may inform the rational design of therapeutic and prevention strategies for herpesvirus infection, as well as the engineering of viral vectors for immunotherapy purposes. …

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The Amino Terminus Of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Glycoprotein K (Gk) Is Required For Gb Binding To Akt, Release Of Intracellular Calcium, And Fusion Of The Viral Envelope With Plasma Membranes, Farhana Musarrat, Nithya Jambunathan, Paul J.F. Rider, V. N. Chouljenko, K. G. Kousoulas Mar 2018

The Amino Terminus Of Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Glycoprotein K (Gk) Is Required For Gb Binding To Akt, Release Of Intracellular Calcium, And Fusion Of The Viral Envelope With Plasma Membranes, Farhana Musarrat, Nithya Jambunathan, Paul J.F. Rider, V. N. Chouljenko, K. G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Society for Microbiology. Previously, we have shown that the amino terminus of glycoprotein K (gK) binds to the amino terminus of gB and that deletion of the aminoterminal 38 amino acids of gK prevents herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) infection of mouse trigeminal ganglia after ocular infection and virus entry into neuronal axons. Recently, it has been shown that gB binds to Akt during virus entry and induces Akt phosphorylation and intracellular calcium release. Proximity ligation and two-way immunoprecipitation assays using monoclonal antibodies against gB and Akt-1 phosphorylated at S473 [Akt-1(S473)] confirmed that HSV-1(McKrae) gB interacted with …

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Detection Of Antibiotic Resistance Toxigenic Clostridium Difficile In Processed Retail Lettuce, Yi Han, Joan King, Marlene E. Janes Mar 2018

Detection Of Antibiotic Resistance Toxigenic Clostridium Difficile In Processed Retail Lettuce, Yi Han, Joan King, Marlene E. Janes

Faculty Publications

Objectives: Clostridium difficile is the major cause of infectious diarrhoea in humans after antimicrobial treatment. Clostridium difficile has been isolated from food animals and meat. The main purpose of this study was to characterize C. difficile isolated from retail lettuce and determine the antibiotic resistance using five common clinical-selected antibiotics (metronidazole, vancomycin, clindamycin, erythromycin, and cefotaxime). Materials and Methods: Lettuce samples (grown in California, Arkansas, and Louisiana) were purchased from retail stores. Results: Toxigenic C. difficile was isolated from 13.8 per cent (41/297) of the lettuce samples. Among the toxigenic isolates, only 82.9 per cent (34/41) produced toxin B, 17.1 …

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Recently Integrated Alu Insertions In The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Lineage And Application For Population Analyses, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Michael W. Denham, Charles D. Loupe, Mark A. Batzer Feb 2018

Recently Integrated Alu Insertions In The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Lineage And Application For Population Analyses, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Michael W. Denham, Charles D. Loupe, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: The evolution of Alu elements has been ongoing in primate lineages and Alu insertion polymorphisms are widely used in phylogenetic and population genetics studies. Alu subfamilies in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri), a New World Monkey (NWM), were recently reported. Squirrel monkeys are commonly used in biomedical research and often require species identification. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) Perform locus-specific PCR analyses on recently integrated Alu insertions in Saimiri to determine their amplification dynamics, and 2) Identify a subset of Alu insertion polymorphisms with species informative allele frequency distributions between the Saimiri sciureus …

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Recently Integrated Alu Insertions In The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Lineage And Application For Population Analyses, Mark Batzer, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Michael W. Denham, Charles D. Loupe Feb 2018

Recently Integrated Alu Insertions In The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Lineage And Application For Population Analyses, Mark Batzer, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Michael W. Denham, Charles D. Loupe

Faculty Publications

Background: The evolution of Alu elements has been ongoing in primate lineages and Alu insertion polymorphisms are widely used in phylogenetic and population genetics studies. Alu subfamilies in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri), a New World Monkey (NWM), were recently reported. Squirrel monkeys are commonly used in biomedical research and often require species identification. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) Perform locus-specific PCR analyses on recently integrated Alu insertions in Saimiri to determine their amplification dynamics, and 2) Identify a subset of Alu insertion polymorphisms with species informative allele frequency distributions between the Saimiri sciureus and Saimiri boliviensis groups. …

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Experimental Evidence Of A Pathogen Invasion Threshold, Tad A. Dallas, Martin Krkošek, John M. Drake Jan 2018

Experimental Evidence Of A Pathogen Invasion Threshold, Tad A. Dallas, Martin Krkošek, John M. Drake

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Authors. Host density thresholds to pathogen invasion separate regions of parameter space corresponding to endemic and diseasefree states. The host density threshold is a central concept in theoretical epidemiology and a common target of human and wildlife disease control programmes, but there is mixed evidence supporting the existence of thresholds, especially in wildlife populations or for pathogens with complex transmission modes (e.g. environmental transmission). Here, we demonstrate the existence of a host density threshold for an environmentally transmitted pathogen by combining an epidemiological model with a microcosm experiment. Experimental epidemics consisted of replicate populations of naive crustacean …

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Identifying Genome-Wide Immune Gene Variation Underlying Infectious Disease In Wildlife Populations - A Next Generation Sequencing Approach In The Gopher Tortoise, Jean P. Elbers, Mary B. Brown, Sabrina S. Taylor Jan 2018

Identifying Genome-Wide Immune Gene Variation Underlying Infectious Disease In Wildlife Populations - A Next Generation Sequencing Approach In The Gopher Tortoise, Jean P. Elbers, Mary B. Brown, Sabrina S. Taylor

Faculty Publications

Background: Infectious disease is the single greatest threat to taxa such as amphibians (chytrid fungus), bats (white nose syndrome), Tasmanian devils (devil facial tumor disease), and black-footed ferrets (canine distemper virus, plague). Although understanding the genetic basis to disease susceptibility is important for the long-term persistence of these groups, most research has been limited to major-histocompatibility and Toll-like receptor genes. To better understand the genetic basis of infectious disease susceptibility in a species of conservation concern, we sequenced all known/predicted immune response genes (i.e., the immunomes) in 16 Florida gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus. All tortoises produced antibodies against Mycoplasma agassizii …

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Independent Association Of Resting Energy Expenditure With Blood Pressure: Confirmation In Populations Of The African Diaspora, Chloe Creber, Richard S. Cooper, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Pascal Bovet, Estelle V. Lambert, Terrence E. Forrester, Dale Schoeller, Walter Riesen, Wolfgang Korte, Guichan Cao, Amy Luke, Lara R. Dugas Jan 2018

Independent Association Of Resting Energy Expenditure With Blood Pressure: Confirmation In Populations Of The African Diaspora, Chloe Creber, Richard S. Cooper, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Pascal Bovet, Estelle V. Lambert, Terrence E. Forrester, Dale Schoeller, Walter Riesen, Wolfgang Korte, Guichan Cao, Amy Luke, Lara R. Dugas

Faculty Publications

Background: Obesity is a major risk factor for hypertension, however, the physiologic mechanisms linking increased adiposity to elevations in blood pressure are not well described. An increase in resting energy expenditure (REE) is an obligatory consequence of obesity. Previous survey research has demonstrated that REE is an independent predictor of blood pressure, and eliminates the co-linear association of body mass index. This observation has received little attention and there have been no attempts to provide a causal explanation. Methods: At baseline in an international comparative study on obesity, 289 participants aged 25-44 were recruited from communities in the US, the …

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Nextgen Voices: Research Resolutions, Felicia Olmeta-Schult, Lauren Massa Segal, Sam Tyner, Twila Alexandra Moon, Ryan Dz Wei Chow, Prosanta Chakrabarty, Martin Pacesa, Anna Igorevna Podgornaia, Jennifer Chen, Bipin Singh, Bo Cao, Rishi Raj Singh Sidhu, Bryce W.Q. Tan, Prashant Sood, Stuart Parker, Matthew A. Scult, Desiree Van Haute, Nikos Konstantinides, Beat A. Schwendimann, Sudhakar Srivastava, Raffaele Fiorenza, Ken Dutton-Regester, Rachel Hale, Emre Ozan Polat, Edward Lau, Audrey L. Mayer, Easton R. White Jan 2018

Nextgen Voices: Research Resolutions, Felicia Olmeta-Schult, Lauren Massa Segal, Sam Tyner, Twila Alexandra Moon, Ryan Dz Wei Chow, Prosanta Chakrabarty, Martin Pacesa, Anna Igorevna Podgornaia, Jennifer Chen, Bipin Singh, Bo Cao, Rishi Raj Singh Sidhu, Bryce W.Q. Tan, Prashant Sood, Stuart Parker, Matthew A. Scult, Desiree Van Haute, Nikos Konstantinides, Beat A. Schwendimann, Sudhakar Srivastava, Raffaele Fiorenza, Ken Dutton-Regester, Rachel Hale, Emre Ozan Polat, Edward Lau, Audrey L. Mayer, Easton R. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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In Vivo Inhibition Of Tryptophan Catabolism Reorganizes The Tuberculoma And Augments Immune-Mediated Control Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Uma S. Gautam, Taylor W. Foreman, Allison N. Bucsan, Ashley V. Veatch, Xavier Alvarez, Toidi Adekambi, Nadia A. Golden, Kaylee M. Gentry, Lara A. Doyle-Meyers, Kasi E. Russell-Lodrigue, Peter J. Didier, James L. Blanchard, K. Gus Kousoulas, Andrew A. Lackner, Daniel Kalman, Jyothi Rengarajan, Shabaana A. Khader, Deepak Kaushal, Smriti Mehra Jan 2018

In Vivo Inhibition Of Tryptophan Catabolism Reorganizes The Tuberculoma And Augments Immune-Mediated Control Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Uma S. Gautam, Taylor W. Foreman, Allison N. Bucsan, Ashley V. Veatch, Xavier Alvarez, Toidi Adekambi, Nadia A. Golden, Kaylee M. Gentry, Lara A. Doyle-Meyers, Kasi E. Russell-Lodrigue, Peter J. Didier, James L. Blanchard, K. Gus Kousoulas, Andrew A. Lackner, Daniel Kalman, Jyothi Rengarajan, Shabaana A. Khader, Deepak Kaushal, Smriti Mehra

Faculty Publications

Mycobacterium tuberculosis continues to cause devastating levels of mortality due to tuberculosis (TB). The failure to control TB stems from an incomplete understanding of the highly specialized strategies that M. tuberculosis utilizes to modulate host immunity and thereby persist in host lungs. Here, we show that M. tuberculosis induced the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme involved in tryptophan catabolism, in macrophages and in the lungs of animals (mice and macaque) with active disease. In a macaque model of inhalation TB, suppression of IDO activity reduced bacterial burden, pathology, and clinical signs of TB disease, leading to increased host …

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Nanotechnology Considerations For Poultry And Livestock Production Systems - A Review, Mohamed I. El Sabry, Kenneth W. Mcmillin, Cristina M. Sabliov Jan 2018

Nanotechnology Considerations For Poultry And Livestock Production Systems - A Review, Mohamed I. El Sabry, Kenneth W. Mcmillin, Cristina M. Sabliov

Faculty Publications

© 2018 by Mohamed I. El Sabry. The global animal productivity should proportionally increase to meet the food needs of a growing population. This article presents an overview of the current and promising nano-applications in poultry and livestock production systems that could offer opportunities for improved efficiencies and productivity. Some basic information on nanotechnology and the economics of nanotechnology is provided. Poultry and animal production systems, current situation and available tools and techniques are presented in parallel with animal health care, animal nutrition, animal shetter and food processing nano-applications and their advantages. These applications are directly or indirectly related to …

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A Narrative Analysis Examining Influential Factors Of A Minority Research And Training Program, Gretchen S. Burton, Maria Da Graça H. Vicente Jan 2018

A Narrative Analysis Examining Influential Factors Of A Minority Research And Training Program, Gretchen S. Burton, Maria Da Graça H. Vicente

Faculty Publications

© The Author(s) 2018. The implementation of minority research and training programs at the postsecondary level has risen to close the educational achievement gap and generate a highly skilled and diverse science workforce. Numerous studies identify interventions influencing positive outcomes among minority research and training participants achieving graduate degrees. However, many of these studies utilize quantitative methods. To capture student voices and rich descriptive experiences, this study utilized a multiple case study featuring a narrative approach. Cross-case analysis identified four factors influencing matriculation into advanced degree programs: belonging and inclusion, peer mentoring, confidence as a scientist, and family influence. Findings …

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Nkg2d Regulation Of Lung Pathology And Dendritic Cell Function Following Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, Huan Liu, Andrew R. Osterburg, Jennifer Flury, Shuo Huang, Francis X. Mccormack, Stephania A. Cormier, Michael T. Borchers Jan 2018

Nkg2d Regulation Of Lung Pathology And Dendritic Cell Function Following Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, Huan Liu, Andrew R. Osterburg, Jennifer Flury, Shuo Huang, Francis X. Mccormack, Stephania A. Cormier, Michael T. Borchers

Faculty Publications

© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. Background. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common cause of respiratory tract infection in vulnerable populations. Natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells (DC) are important for the effector functions of both cell types following infection. Methods. Wild-type and NKG2D-deficient mice were infected with RSV. Lung pathology was assessed by histology. Dendritic cell function and phenotype were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and flow cytometry. The expression of NKG2D ligands on lung and lymph node DCs was measured by immunostaining and …

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Characterization Of Pathogenic Vibrio Parahaemolyticus From The Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, Arlene J. Chen, Nur A. Hasan, Bradd J. Haley, Elisa Taviani, Mitch Tarnowski, Kathy Brohawn, Crystal N. Johnson, Rita R. Colwell, Anwar Huq Dec 2017

Characterization Of Pathogenic Vibrio Parahaemolyticus From The Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, Arlene J. Chen, Nur A. Hasan, Bradd J. Haley, Elisa Taviani, Mitch Tarnowski, Kathy Brohawn, Crystal N. Johnson, Rita R. Colwell, Anwar Huq

Faculty Publications

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis associated with seafood consumption in the United States. Here we investigated the presence of virulence factors and genetic diversity of V. parahaemolyticus isolated from water, oyster, and sediment samples from the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Of more than 2,350 presumptive Vibrio collected, more than half were confirmed through PCR as V. parahaemolyticus, with 10 encoding both tdh and trh and 6 encoding only trh. Potentially pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus were then serotyped with O1:KUT and O3:KUT predominant. Furthermore, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was performed and the constructed dendrogram displayed high diversity, as did results …

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Species Are Not Most Abundant In The Centre Of Their Geographic Range Or Climatic Niche, Tad Dallas, Robin R. Decker, Alan Hastings Dec 2017

Species Are Not Most Abundant In The Centre Of Their Geographic Range Or Climatic Niche, Tad Dallas, Robin R. Decker, Alan Hastings

Faculty Publications

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS The pervasive idea that species should be most abundant in the centre of their geographic range or centre of their climatic niche is a key assumption in many existing ecological hypotheses and has been declared a general macroecological rule. However, empirical support for decreasing population abundance with increasing distance from geographic range or climatic niche centre (distance–abundance relationships) remains fairly weak. We examine over 1400 bird, mammal, fish and tree species to provide a thorough test of distance–abundance relationships, and their associations with species traits and phylogenetic relationships. We failed to detect consistent …

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Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Using Coral Microatolls (Sp. Siderastrea Siderea) From The Gulf Of Gonâve, Haiti, Gilman Reno Ouellette Jr. Nov 2017

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Using Coral Microatolls (Sp. Siderastrea Siderea) From The Gulf Of Gonâve, Haiti, Gilman Reno Ouellette Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural and anthropogenic climate changes present unique and serious risks to society. In order to plan and implement adaptation and mitigation strategies successfully, regional manifestations of broad-scale climate changes must be understood robustly. The Caribbean region contains part of the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool (WHWP), a major sea surface temperature (SST) feature that plays a key role in North Atlantic climate. Climate variability in the Caribbean is captured poorly by climate models, due in part to a lack of continuous, multidecadal instrumental climate records from the region. I explored three research questions in this dissertation: Does non-systematic bias exist in …

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Development Of Artificial Intelligence Approach To Nowcasting And Forecasting Oyster Norovirus Outbreaks Along The U.S. Gulf Coast, Shima Shamkhali Chenar Nov 2017

Development Of Artificial Intelligence Approach To Nowcasting And Forecasting Oyster Norovirus Outbreaks Along The U.S. Gulf Coast, Shima Shamkhali Chenar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Oyster norovirus outbreaks pose increasing risks to human health and seafood industry worldwide. This study presents an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based approach to identifying the primary cause of oyster norovirus outbreaks, nowcasting and forecasting the growing risk of oyster norovirus outbreaks in coastal waters. AI models were developed using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Genetic Programming (GP) methods and time series of epidemiological and environmental data. Input variable selection techniques, including Random Forests (RF) and Forwards Binary Logistic Regression (FBLR), were used to identify the significant model input variables among six independent environmental predictors including water temperature, solar radiation, gage height, …

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Isolation, Detection, And Prevention Of Foodborne Bacteria In Irrigation Water And Dairy Food, Mohammed Saleemallah Alhejaili Oct 2017

Isolation, Detection, And Prevention Of Foodborne Bacteria In Irrigation Water And Dairy Food, Mohammed Saleemallah Alhejaili

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Foodborne microorganisms can be beneficial to humans or cause disease. Salmonella is one of the most causative foodborne disease outbreaks in the U.S.A. Salmonella has been detected in surface water used in irrigation, and can survive for weeks to years in water. The purpose of the study was to detect low levels of Salmonella spp. by comparing surfactant modified zeolite (SMZ) filtration and Activated Carbon (AC) filtration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) method 1200. Also, to determine the generic E.coli counts and if there was a direct correlation of Salmonella to generic E. coli in irrigation water. The EPA …

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Parasite Biodiversity Faces Extinction And Redistribution In A Changing Climate, Colin J. Carlson, Kevin R. Burgio, Eric R. Dougherty, Anna J. Phillips, Veronica M. Bueno, Christopher F. Clements, Giovanni Castaldo, Tad A. Dallas, Carrie A. Cizauskas, Graeme S. Cumming, Jorge Doña, Nyeema C. Harris, Roger Jovani, Sergey Mironov, Oliver C. Muellerklein, Heather C. Proctor, Wayne M. Getz Sep 2017

Parasite Biodiversity Faces Extinction And Redistribution In A Changing Climate, Colin J. Carlson, Kevin R. Burgio, Eric R. Dougherty, Anna J. Phillips, Veronica M. Bueno, Christopher F. Clements, Giovanni Castaldo, Tad A. Dallas, Carrie A. Cizauskas, Graeme S. Cumming, Jorge Doña, Nyeema C. Harris, Roger Jovani, Sergey Mironov, Oliver C. Muellerklein, Heather C. Proctor, Wayne M. Getz

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved. Climate change is a well-documented driver of both wildlife extinction and disease emergence, but the negative impacts of climate change on parasite diversity are undocumented. We compiled the most comprehensive spatially explicit data set available for parasites, projected range shifts in a changing climate, and estimated extinction rates for eight major parasite clades. On the basis of 53, 133 occurrences capturing the geographic ranges of 457 parasite species, conservative model projections suggest that 5 to 10% of these species are committed to extinction by 2070 from climate-driven habitat loss alone. We find …

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Evolution Of Alu Subfamily Structure In The Saimiri Lineage Of New World Monkeys, Mark Batzer, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, John A. Vanchiere, Kacie R. Philippe, Corey P. St. Romain, Paulina Gonzalez-Quiroga, Michael W. Denham, Jackson R. Mierl, Miriam K. Konkel Sep 2017

Evolution Of Alu Subfamily Structure In The Saimiri Lineage Of New World Monkeys, Mark Batzer, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, John A. Vanchiere, Kacie R. Philippe, Corey P. St. Romain, Paulina Gonzalez-Quiroga, Michael W. Denham, Jackson R. Mierl, Miriam K. Konkel

Faculty Publications

Squirrelmonkeys,Saimiri,arecommonlyfoundinzoologicalparksandusedinbiomedicalresearch.S.boliviensisisthemostcommon species for research; however, there is little information about genome evolution within this primate lineage. Here, we reconstruct the Alu element sequence amplification and evolution in the genus Saimiri at the time of divergence within the family Cebidae lineage. Alu elements are the most successful SINE (Short Interspersed Element) in primates. Here, we report 46 Saimiri lineage specificAlusubfamilies.RetrotranspositionactivityinvolvedsubfamiliesrelatedtoAluS,AluTa10,andAluTa15.Manysubfamiliesare simultaneously active within the Saimiri lineage, a finding which supports the stealth model of Alu amplification. We also report a high resolution analysis of Alu subfamilies within the S. boliviensis genome [saiBol1].

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Evolution Of Alu Subfamily Structure In The Saimiri Lineage Of New World Monkeys, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, John A. Vanchiere, Kacie R. Phillippe, Corey P. St Romain, Paulina Gonzalez-Quiroga, Michael W. Denham, Jackson R. Mierl, Miriam K. Konkel, Mark A. Batzer Sep 2017

Evolution Of Alu Subfamily Structure In The Saimiri Lineage Of New World Monkeys, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, John A. Vanchiere, Kacie R. Phillippe, Corey P. St Romain, Paulina Gonzalez-Quiroga, Michael W. Denham, Jackson R. Mierl, Miriam K. Konkel, Mark A. Batzer

Faculty Publications

© The Author 2017. Squirrel monkeys, Saimiri, are commonly found in zoological parks and used in biomedical research. S. Boliviensis is the most common species for research; however, there is little information about genome evolution within this primate lineage. Here, we reconstruct the Alu element sequence amplification and evolution in the genus Saimiri at the time of divergence within the family Cebidae lineage. Alu elements are the most successful SINE (Short Interspersed Element) in primates. Here, we report 46 Saimiri lineage specific Alu subfamilies. Retrotransposition activity involved subfamilies related to AluS, AluTa10, and AluTa15. Many subfamilies are simultaneously active within …

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Cannibalism And Infectious Disease: Friends Or Foes?, Benjamin G. Van Allen, Forrest P. Dillemuth, Andrew J. Flick, Matthew J. Faldyn, David R. Clark, Volker H.W. Rudolf, Bret D. Elderd Sep 2017

Cannibalism And Infectious Disease: Friends Or Foes?, Benjamin G. Van Allen, Forrest P. Dillemuth, Andrew J. Flick, Matthew J. Faldyn, David R. Clark, Volker H.W. Rudolf, Bret D. Elderd

Faculty Publications

© 2017 by The University of Chicago. Cannibalism occurs in a majority of both carnivorous and noncarnivorous animal taxa from invertebrates to mammals. Similarly, infectious parasites are ubiquitous in nature. Thus, interactions between cannibalism and disease occur regularly. While some adaptive benefits of cannibalism are clear, the prevailing view is that the risk of parasite transmission due to cannibalism would increase disease spread and, thus, limit the evolutionary extent of cannibalism throughout the animal kingdom. In contrast, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the other half of the interaction between cannibalism and disease, that is, how cannibalism affects parasites. …

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Estimating Parasite Host Range, Tad Dallas, Shan Huang, Charles Nunn, Andrew W. Park, John M. Drake Aug 2017

Estimating Parasite Host Range, Tad Dallas, Shan Huang, Charles Nunn, Andrew W. Park, John M. Drake

Faculty Publications

© 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Estimating the number of host species that a parasite can infect (i.e. host range) provides key insights into the evolution of host specialism and is a central concept in disease ecology. Host range is rarely estimated in real systems, however, because variation in species relative abundance and the detection of rare species makes it challenging to confidently estimate host range. We applied a non-parametric richness indicator to estimate host range in simulated and empirical data, allowing us to assess the influence of sampling heterogeneity and data completeness. After …

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Moving Forward In Circles: Challenges And Opportunities In Modelling Population Cycles, Frédéric Barraquand, Stilianos Louca, Karen C. Abbott, Christina A. Cobbold, Flora Cordoleani, Donald L. Deangelis, Bret D. Elderd, Jeremy W. Fox, Priscilla Greenwood, Frank M. Hilker, Dennis L. Murray, Christopher R. Stieha, Rachel A. Taylor, Kelsey Vitense, Gail S.K. Wolkowicz, Rebecca C. Tyson Aug 2017

Moving Forward In Circles: Challenges And Opportunities In Modelling Population Cycles, Frédéric Barraquand, Stilianos Louca, Karen C. Abbott, Christina A. Cobbold, Flora Cordoleani, Donald L. Deangelis, Bret D. Elderd, Jeremy W. Fox, Priscilla Greenwood, Frank M. Hilker, Dennis L. Murray, Christopher R. Stieha, Rachel A. Taylor, Kelsey Vitense, Gail S.K. Wolkowicz, Rebecca C. Tyson

Faculty Publications

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS Population cycling is a widespread phenomenon, observed across a multitude of taxa in both laboratory and natural conditions. Historically, the theory associated with population cycles was tightly linked to pairwise consumer–resource interactions and studied via deterministic models, but current empirical and theoretical research reveals a much richer basis for ecological cycles. Stochasticity and seasonality can modulate or create cyclic behaviour in non-intuitive ways, the high-dimensionality in ecological systems can profoundly influence cycling, and so can demographic structure and eco-evolutionary dynamics. An inclusive theory for population cycles, ranging from ecosystem-level to demographic modelling, grounded …

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Effect Of Rickettsia Felis Strain Variation On Infection, Transmission, And Fitness In The Cat Flea (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), Sean P. Healy, Lisa D. Brown, Melena R. Hagstrom, Lane D. Foil, Kevin R. Macaluso Jul 2017

Effect Of Rickettsia Felis Strain Variation On Infection, Transmission, And Fitness In The Cat Flea (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), Sean P. Healy, Lisa D. Brown, Melena R. Hagstrom, Lane D. Foil, Kevin R. Macaluso

Faculty Publications

© The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. Rickettsia felis is a human pathogen transmitted by the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis (Bouché) (str. LSU), as well as an obligate symbiont of the parthenogenic booklouse Liposcelis bostrychophila (Badonnel) (str. LSU-Lb). The influence of genetic variability in these two strains of R. felis on host specialization and fitness and possible resulting differences on infection and transmission kinetics in C. felis is unknown. Utilizing an artificial host system, cat fleas were exposed to a R. felis str. LSU-Lb-infected bloodmeal and monitored for infection at 7-d …

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Il-4rα On Dendritic Cells In Neonates And Th2 Immunopathology In Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, Bishwas Shrestha, Dahui You, Jordy Saravia, David T. Siefker, Sridhar Jaligama, Greg I. Lee, Asmaa A. Sallam, Jeffrey N. Harding, Stephania A. Cormier Jul 2017

Il-4rα On Dendritic Cells In Neonates And Th2 Immunopathology In Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, Bishwas Shrestha, Dahui You, Jordy Saravia, David T. Siefker, Sridhar Jaligama, Greg I. Lee, Asmaa A. Sallam, Jeffrey N. Harding, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

© Society for Leukocyte Biology. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the leading causes of bronchiolitis in children, and severe RSV infection early in life has been associated with asthma development. Using a neonatal mouse model, we have shown that down-regulation of IL-4 receptor α (IL-4Rα) with antisense oligonucleotides in the lung during neonatal infection protected from RSV immunopathophysiology. Significant down-regulation of IL-4Rα was observed on pulmonary CD11b+ myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) suggesting a role for IL-4Rα on mDCs in the immunopathogenesis of neonatal RSV infection. Here, we demonstrated that neonatal CD11b+ mDCs expressed higher levels of IL-4Rα than …

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Neutral Genetic Processes Influence Mhc Evolution In Threatened Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus Polyphemus), Jean P. Elbers, Rachel W. Clostio, Sabrina S. Taylor Jul 2017

Neutral Genetic Processes Influence Mhc Evolution In Threatened Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus Polyphemus), Jean P. Elbers, Rachel W. Clostio, Sabrina S. Taylor

Faculty Publications

Levels of adaptive genetic variation influence how species deal with environmental and ecological change, but these levels are frequently inferred using neutral genetic markers. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes play a key role in the adaptive branch of the immune system and have been used extensively to estimate levels of adaptive genetic variation. Parts of the peptide binding region, sites where MHC molecules directly interact with pathogen and self-proteins, were sequenced from a MHC class I (95/441 tortoises) and class II (245/441 tortoises) gene in threatened and nonthreatened populations of gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus), and adaptive genetic variation at MHC …

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Intramuscular Immunization Of Mice With The Live-Attenuated Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Vaccine Strain Vc2 Expressing Equine Herpesvirus 1 (Ehv-1) Glycoprotein D Generates Anti-Ehv-1 Immune Responses In Mice, Shiliang A. Liu, Brent A. Stanfield, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Shan Naidu, Ingeborg Langohr, Fabio Del Piero, Jacqueline Ferracone, Alma A. Roy, Konstantin G. Kousoulas Jun 2017

Intramuscular Immunization Of Mice With The Live-Attenuated Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Vaccine Strain Vc2 Expressing Equine Herpesvirus 1 (Ehv-1) Glycoprotein D Generates Anti-Ehv-1 Immune Responses In Mice, Shiliang A. Liu, Brent A. Stanfield, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Shan Naidu, Ingeborg Langohr, Fabio Del Piero, Jacqueline Ferracone, Alma A. Roy, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2017 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Vaccination remains the best option to combat equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) infection, and several different strategies of vaccination have been investigated and developed over the past few decades. Herein, we report that the liveattenuated herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) VC2 vaccine strain, which has been shown to be unable to enter into neurons and establish latency in mice, can be utilized as a vector for the heterologous expression of EHV-1 glycoprotein D (gD) and that the intramuscular immunization of mice results in strong antiviral humoral and cellular immune responses. The VC2-EHV-1-gD …

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Anti-Microbial Effects Of Conductive Copper Nanoparticle Film, Daniel Parrott, Kevin M. Ringelman, Michael S. Chaussee Jun 2017

Anti-Microbial Effects Of Conductive Copper Nanoparticle Film, Daniel Parrott, Kevin M. Ringelman, Michael S. Chaussee

Faculty Publications

Novel infection control methods are needed to prevent further increases in the morbidity and mortality associated with hospital acquired infections. One method is to minimize bacterial transmission is to prevent bacterial growth on hospital surfaces. Copper has anti-microbial properties but is used sparingly in health care settings due to the cost associated with retrofitting surfaces with copper sheet metal or less durable foil. However, copper nanoparticles (CNPs) embedded in a polymer matrix may be similarly anti-microbial, which would offer a viable alternative to copper metal. In this pilot study, we created films with various densities of CNPs and tested their …

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Cardiovascular Risk Status Of Afro-Origin Populations Across The Spectrum Of Economic Development: Findings From The Modeling The Epidemiologic Transition Study, Lara R. Dugas, Terrence E. Forrester, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Pascal Bovet, Estelle V. Lambert, Ramon A. Durazo-Arvizu, Guichan Cao, Richard S. Cooper, Rasha Khatib, Laura Tonino, Walter Riesen, Wolfgang Korte, Stephanie Kliethermes, Amy Luke May 2017

Cardiovascular Risk Status Of Afro-Origin Populations Across The Spectrum Of Economic Development: Findings From The Modeling The Epidemiologic Transition Study, Lara R. Dugas, Terrence E. Forrester, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Pascal Bovet, Estelle V. Lambert, Ramon A. Durazo-Arvizu, Guichan Cao, Richard S. Cooper, Rasha Khatib, Laura Tonino, Walter Riesen, Wolfgang Korte, Stephanie Kliethermes, Amy Luke

Faculty Publications

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors are increasing in most developing countries. To date, however, very little standardized data has been collected on the primary risk factors across the spectrum of economic development. Data are particularly sparse from Africa. Methods: In the Modeling the Epidemiologic Transition Study (METS) we examined population-based samples of men and women, ages 25-45 of African ancestry in metropolitan Chicago, Kingston, Jamaica, rural Ghana, Cape Town, South Africa, and the Seychelles. Key measures of cardiovascular disease risk are described. Results: The risk factor profile varied widely in both total summary estimates of cardiovascular risk and in the magnitude …

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