Digital Commons Network^™

A Genetic Basis For Differential Survival Of Escherichia Coli In The Environment, Chelsea Kliebert

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Conceptual Framework For Analyzing Social-Ecological Models Of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Melissa L. Finucane, Jefferson Fox, Sumeet Saksena, James H. Spencer

Faculty Publications

Unraveling mechanisms that underlie new and reemerging infectious diseases (EID) requires exploring complex interactions within and among coupled natural and human (CNH) systems. This scientifi c problem poses one of the most diffi cult challenges for society today (Wilcox and Colwell 2005 ). EID are diseases that have recently increased in incidence or in geographic or host range (e.g., tuberculosis, cholera, malaria, dengue fever), and diseases caused by new pathogens and new variants assigned to known pathogens (e.g., HIV, SARS, Nipah virus, and avian infl uenza) (Morse 2005 ). Wilcox and Gubler ( 2005 ) and Wilcox and Colwell ( …

Capillary Electrophoresis-Based Assay Of Phosphofructokinase-1, Andrew Malina, Sherrisse K. Bryant, Simon H. Chang, Grover L. Waldrop, S. Douglass Gilman

Faculty Publications

An assay was developed for phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1) using capillary electrophoresis (CE). In the glycolytic pathway, this enzyme catalyzes the rate-limiting step from fructose-6-phosphate and magnesium-bound adenosine triphosphate (Mg-ATP) to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and magnesium-bound adenosine diphosphate (Mg-ADP). This enzyme has recently become a research target because of the importance of glycolysis in cancer and obesity. The CE assay for PFK-1 is based on the separation and detection by ultraviolet (UV) absorbance at 260 nm of Mg-ATP and Mg-ADP. The separation was enhanced by the addition of Mg 2+ to the separation buffer. Inhibition studies of PFK-1 by aurintricarboxylic acid and palmitoyl coenzyme …

Effects Of Biological Control On Long-Term Population Dynamics: Identifying Unexpected Outcomes, James R. Reilly, Bret D. Elderd

Faculty Publications

Attempts to control natural systems through management have often met with success but have also led to unexpected and often undesirable outcomes. Unfortunately, the ultimate result of such management programmes may not be apparent until long after the control efforts have begun. This is particularly true for forest-defoliating species that exhibit long-period cycles such as the invasive gypsy moth Lymantria dispar, which causes widespread damage in some years but is rare in other years. We studied the effects of two commonly employed biocontrol agents on gypsy moth dynamics using a series of field-tested and empirically parameterized mathematical models, which allowed …

Relative Importance Of Host Environment, Transmission Potential And Host Phylogeny To The Structure Of Parasite Metacommunities, Tad Dallas, Steven J. Presley

Faculty Publications

Identification of mechanisms that shape parasite community and metacommunity structures have important implications to host health, disease transmission, and the understanding of community assembly in general. Using a long-term dataset on parasites from desert rodents, we examined the relative contributions of host traits that represent important aspects of parasite environment, transmission probability between host species, and host phylogeny to the structure of a parasite metacommunity as well as for taxonomically restricted parasite metacommunities (coccidians, ectoparasites and helminths). This was done using a combination of metacommunity analysis and variance partitioning based on canonical correspondence analysis. Coccidian and ectoparasite metacommunities did not …

Nitrate Enrichment Alters A Daphnia-Microparasite Interaction Through Multiple Pathways, Tad Dallas, John M. Drake

Faculty Publications

© 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Nutrient pollution has the potential to alter many ecological interactions, including host-parasite relationships. One of the largest sources of nutrient pollution comes from anthropogenic alteration of the nitrogen (N) cycle, specifically the increased rate of nitrate (NO3 -N) deposition to aquatic environments, potentially altering host-parasite relationships. This study aimed to assess the mechanisms through which nitrate may impact host-pathogen relationships using a fungal pathogen (Metschnikowia bicuspidata) parasitic to crustacean zooplankton (Daphnia dentifera) as a tractable model system. First, the influence of nitrate on host population dynamics …

Marrow Of Tragedy: The Health Crisis Of The American Civil War, Rea Andrew Redd

Civil War Book Review

The Issue of Public Health in a Time of War

At the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting during August, 1986, Maris A. Vinovskis posed a question: “Have social historians lost the Civil War?" He stated that indeed the “social historians of the nineteenth century appear to hav....

Ruminant Self-Medication Against Gastrointestinal Nematodes: Evidence, Mechanism, And Origins Ẫ†, Juan J. Villalba, James Miller, Eugene D. Ungar, Serge Y. Landau, John Glendinning

Faculty Publications

Gastrointestinal helminths challenge ruminants in ways that reduce their fitness. In turn, ruminants have evolved physiological and behavioral adaptations that counteract this challenge. Ruminants display anorexia and avoidance behaviors, which tend to reduce the incidence of parasitism. In addition, ruminants appear to learn to self-medicate against gastrointestinal parasites by increasing consumption of plant secondary compounds with antiparasitic actions. This selective feeding improves health and fitness. Here, we review the evidence for self-medication in ruminants, propose a hypothesis to explain self-medicative behaviors (based on post-ingestive consequences), and discuss mechanisms (e.g., enhanced neophilia, social transmission) that may underlie the ontogeny and spread …

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Protein Ul37 Interacts With Viral Glycoprotein Gk And Membrane Protein Ul20 And Functions In Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, Nithya Jambunathan, Dmitry Chouljenko, Prashant Desai, Anu Susan Charles, Ramesh Subramanian, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

We have shown that glycoprotein K (gK) and its interacting partner, the UL20 protein, play crucial roles in virion envelopment. Specifically, virions lacking either gK or UL20 fail to acquire an envelope, thus causing accumulation of capsids in the cytoplasm of infected cells. The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) UL37 protein has also been implicated in cytoplasmic virion envelopment. To further investigate the role of UL37 in virion envelopment, the recombinant virus DC480 was constructed by insertion of a 12-amino-acid protein C (protC) epitope tag within the UL37 amino acid sequence immediately after amino acid 480. The DC480 mutant virus …

Computational Redesign Of Bacterial Biotin Carboxylase Inhibitors Using Structure-Based Virtual Screening Of Combinatorial Libraries, Michal Brylinski, Grover L. Waldrop

Faculty Publications

As the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria steadily increases, there is an urgent need for new antibacterial agents. Because fatty acid synthesis is only used for membrane biogenesis in bacteria, the enzymes in this pathway are attractive targets for antibacterial agent development. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase catalyzes the committed and regulated step in fatty acid synthesis. In bacteria, the enzyme is composed of three distinct protein components: biotin carboxylase, biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and carboxyltransferase. Fragment-based screening revealed that amino-oxazole inhibits biotin carboxylase activity and also exhibits antibacterial activity against Gram-negative organisms. In this report, we redesigned previously identified lead inhibitors to …

Specimen Collection: An Essential Tool, L. A. Rocha, A. Aleixo, G. Allen, F. Almeda, C. C. Baldwin, M. V.L. Barclay, J. M. Bates, A. M. Bauer, F. Benzoni, C. M. Berns, M. L. Berumen, D. C. Blackburn, S. Blum, F. Bolaños, R. C.K. Bowie, R. Britz, R. M. Brown, C. D. Cadena, K. Carpenter, L. M. Ceríaco, P. Chakrabarty, G. Chaves, J. H. Choat, K. D. Clements, B. B. Collette, A. Collins, J. Coyne, J. Cracraft, T. Daniel, M. R. De Carvalho, K. De Queiroz, F. Di Dario, R. Drewes

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hepatitis E Antibodies In Laboratory Rabbits From 2 Us Vendors, Leslie Birke, Stephania A. Cormier, Dahui You, Rhett W. Stout, Christian Clement, Merlin Johnson, Hilary Thompson

Faculty Publications

We tested laboratory rabbits from 2 US vendors for antibodies against hepatitis E virus (HEV); Seroprevalences were 40% and 50%. Retrospective analysis of an ocular herpes simplex 1 experiment demonstrated that HEV seropositivity had no effect on experiment outcome. HEV probably is widespread in research rabbits, but effects on research remain unknown.

Developing Ethread Pipeline Using Saga-Pilot Abstraction For Large-Scale Structural Bioinformatics, Anjani Ragothaman, Sairam Chowdary Boddu, Nayong Kim, Wei Feinstein, Michal Brylinski, Shantenu Jha, Joohyun Kim

Faculty Publications

While most of computational annotation approaches are sequence-based, threading methods are becoming increasingly attractive because of predicted structural information that could uncover the underlying function. However, threading tools are generally compute-intensive and the number of protein sequences from even small genomes such as prokaryotes is large typically containing many thousands, prohibiting their application as a genome-wide structural systems biology tool. To leverage its utility, we have developed a pipeline for eThread - a meta-threading protein structure modeling tool, that can use computational resources efficiently and effectively. We employ a pilot-based approach that supports seamless data and task-level parallelism and manages …

Vitamin D Levels Are Low In Adult Patients With Sickle Cell Disease In Jamaica And West Africa, Bamidele O. Tayo, Titilola S. Akingbola, Babatunde L. Salako, Colin A. Mckenzie, Marvin Reid, Jennifer Layden, Ifeyinwa Osunkwo, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Amy Luke, Ramon Durazo-Arvizu, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Background: Patients with sickle cell disease in the USA have been noted to have lower levels of vitamin D – measured as 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) – compared to controls. Average serum 25(OH)D levels are also substantially lower in African Americans than whites, while population distributions of 25(OH)D among Jamaicans of African descent and West Africans are the same as among USA whites. The purpose of this study was to examine whether adult patients with sickle cell disease living in tropical regions had reduced 25(OH)D relative to the general population. Methods: We analyzed serum 25(OH)D in stored samples collected from studies …

Comparison Of Patients From Nigeria And The Usa Highlights Modifiable Risk Factors For Sickle Cell Anemia Complications, Titilola S. Akingbola, Bamidele O. Tayo, Babatunde Salako, Jennifer E. Layden, Lewis L. Hsu, Richard S. Cooper, Victor R. Gordeuk, Santosh L. Saraf

Faculty Publications

To identify factors that affect manifestations of sickle cell anemia we compared patients 11-30 years of age from University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria (n = 214) and University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA (n = 209). Paralleling findings in the general populations of the two countries, the Chicago patients were more often overweight or obese as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA) guidelines, and more often had elevated blood pressure (BP) as defined by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Bethesda, MD, USA guidelines. The Ibadan patients did not …

Research Capacity. Enabling The Genomic Revolution In Africa, Charles Rotimi, Akin Abayomi, Alash'le Abimiku, Victoria May Adabayeri, Clement Adebamowo, Ezekiel Adebiyi, Adebowale D. Ademola, Adebowale Adeyemo, Dwomoa Adu, Dissou Affolabi, Godfred Agongo, Samuel Ajayi, Sally Akarolo-Anthony, Rufus Akinyemi, Albert Akpalu, Marianne Alberts, Orlando Alonso Betancourt, Ahmed Mansour Alzohairy, Gobena Ameni, Olukemi Amodu, Gabriel Anabwani, Kristian G. Andersen, Fatiu Arogundade, Oyedunni Arulogun, Danny A. Asogun, Rasheed Bakare, Naby Balde, Mary Lynn Baniecki, Christine Beiswanger, Alia Benkahla, Lara Bethke, Micheal Boehnke, Vincent Boima

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sampling Locality Is More Detectable Than Taxonomy Or Ecology In The Gut Microbiota Of The Brood-Parasitic Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus Ater), Sarah M. Hird, Bryan C. Carstens, Steven W. Cardiff, Donna L. Dittmann, Robb T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are the most widespread avian brood parasite in North America, laying their eggs in the nests of approximately 250 host species that raise the cowbird nestlings as their own. It is currently unknown how these heterospecific hosts influence the cowbird gut microbiota relative to other factors, such as the local environment and genetics. We test a Nature Hypothesis (positing the importance of cowbird genetics) and a Nurture Hypothesis (where the host parents are most influential to cowbird gut microbiota) using the V6 region of 16S rRNA as a microbial fingerprint of the gut from 32 cowbird …

Warmer Temperatures Increase Disease Transmission And Outbreak Intensity In A Host-Pathogen System, Bret D. Elderd, James R. Reilly

Faculty Publications

Summary: While rising global temperatures are increasingly affecting both species and their biotic interactions, the debate about whether global warming will increase or decrease disease transmission between individuals remains far from resolved. This may stem from the lack of empirical data. Using a tractable and easily manipulated insect host-pathogen system, we conducted a series of field and laboratory experiments to examine how increased temperatures affect disease transmission using the crop-defoliating pest, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) and its species-specific baculovirus, which causes a fatal infection. To examine the effects of temperature on disease transmission in the field, we manipulated baculovirus …

Is The Foliar Yellow Vein Of Some Ornamental Plants Caused By Plant Viruses?, Favio Eduardo Herrera

LSU Master's Theses

Plant viruses have shown to be the cause of the yellow vein symptoms on the foliage of several ornamental plants. In this study five ornamental plants: oxalis (Oxalis debilis var. corymbosa) cv. Golden Veined Oxalis, geranium (Pelargonium peltatum) cv. Crocodile, pseuderanthemum (Pseuderanthemum carruthersii) cv. Golden Net Bush (narrow leaf and broad leaf variants), honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) cv. Yellow Net Honeysuckle and coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) cv. Electric Lime, showing foliar yellow vein were used. Graft transmissions indicated that, except for coleus, the foliar yellow vein of all other plants was caused by infectious agents, likely plant viruses. With the exception of …

Design, Synthesis, And Evaluation Of Small Molecule-Based, Profluorogenic Activatable Substrate Probes For Detection And Visualization Of Human Cancer Enzyme Nad(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase-1, Suraj Uditha Hettiarachchi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Cancer comprises many specific diseases, and it is currently responsible for millions of deaths worldwide. This broad disease profile is a great challenge for personalized oncology. Critical for the success of cancer therapy is the exploration of improved methodologies for the early detection of localized and disseminated tumor cells in patients, where bio-molecular imaging has become an indispensable tool. Being one of many different imaging techniques, optical fluorescence imaging has been translated over the years from the bench to clinical research, and it is now on the verge of being able to address some of the pressing challenges in molecular …

The Anti-Inflammatory Effects Of Vitamin D And Exercise, Laura Ann Forney

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Elevated inflammation is associated with several chronic diseases, including obesity. Exercise is an established effective treatment of this condition by decreasing adiposity and independently regulating inflammatory pathways. The potential for vitamin D to confer anti-inflammatory benefits has been explored in cell culture studies, but few have explored its action at the whole body level. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between inflammatory markers in trained and untrained individuals with vitamin D levels either above or below a suggested optimal concentration. METHODS: College-aged females (N = 63), both trained and untrained, reported to the lab four times: to assess body size and …

Gumbos- And Ionic Liquid-Coated Quartz Crystal Microbalance Sensors For Detection And Molecular Weight Determination Of Organic Vapors, Bishnu Prasad Regmi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

There has been an ever-increasing demand for the development of high-performance sensing devices for detection and discrimination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in different environments. Among a number of sensing devices currently available, sorption-based sensors are particularly attractive because they are simple and inexpensive, require low power, and are appropriate for fabrication of multisensor arrays. A sorption-based sensor is comprised of a chemically active coating immobilized on the surface of a physical transducer. The chemically active film interacts with analytes, and the transducer converts the binding event into an electrical signal. This dissertation is focused on a sorption-based sensor …

Outer Surface Lipoprotein Layer Homeostasis And Gene Regulation In Borrelia Burgdorferi, Poonam Dadhwal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The outer surface lipoprotein (osp) layer forms an interface between the internal and the external environment of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. The homeostatic maintenance of the osp layer effectuates adaptation of B. burgdorferi as it gets transmitted from the tick vector to a mammalian host and vice-versa. However, the regulation of the outer surface lipoproteins (osps) is still a conundrum for borrelia scientists. Part of this dissertation inquires about the homeostatic maintenance of the osp layer. We found that the deletion of the dominantly expressed tick phase osp, OspA, induces expression of two other osps. OspD, and BBJ41. …

Prevalence Of Campylobacter Jejuni In Small-Scale Broiler Operations And The Effects Of Sulfadimethoxine Administered To Control C. Jejuni Infection In Broilers, Wannee Tangkham

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Campylobacter spp. particularly C. jejuni has been recognized as one of the most prevalent causes of foodborne bacterial illnesses in humans. Most previous studies have focused on the transmission routes of C. jejuni from commercial flock farms to the final retail product. To date, no in vivo studies have addressed the efficacy of sulfadimethoxine in the control of C. jejuni in poultry. This dissertation research proceeds along two lines of investigation. The objectives of the first line of investigation are to determine the enumeration of Campylobacter spp. and the prevalence on both Campylobacter spp. and C. jejuni on live egg …

Teaching Climate Literacy Using Geospatial Tools, Steven L. Babcock

LSU Master's Theses

Antarctica is the world’s coldest, driest and windiest continent. It is a harsh environment that few people will ever see but it is a very important part of our Earth system. Over the past 34 million years the climate in Antarctica has deteriorated from one that supported lush vegetation to the conditions observed today. By studying this trend and the associated changes to ice and vegetation we can gain critical insight into climate changes taking place today. This thesis presents three pieces of curricula that will help students and the general public understand some of the research currently underway in …

Design, Synthesis, And Antibacterial Properties Of Dual-Ligand Inhibitors Of Acetyl-Coa Carboxylase And Mechanism Of Action For The Antibacterial Agent Moiramide B, Molly Anne Silvers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

An urgent demand for the development of new antibiotics has been created by the increase in clinical cases involving drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. A novel target for antibacterial development is acetyl-CoA carboxylase, a multifunctional enzyme that catalyzes the first committed step in fatty acid synthesis. The bacterial form of the enzyme consists of three proteins: biotin carboxylase, biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and carboxyltransferase. The research presented in this dissertation describes dual-ligand inhibitors incorporating selective inhibitors against biotin carboxylase and carboxyltransferase that were synthesized by covalently attaching them with saturated hydrocarbon linkers containing 7 and 15 carbon atoms. The ability to inhibit …

Area-Wide Management Of Aedes Albopictus. Part 2: Gauging The Efficacy Of Traditional Integrated Pest Control Measures Against Urban Container Mosquitoes, Dina M. Fonseca, Isik Unlu, Taryn Crepeau, Ary Farajollahi, Sean P. Healy, Kristen Bartlett-Healy, Daniel Strickman, Randy Gaugler, George Hamilton, Daniel Kline, Gary G. Clark

Faculty Publications

Background: Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) is an important disease vector and biting nuisance. During the 2009 active season, six ∼1000-parcel sites were studied, three in urban and three in suburban areas of New Jersey, United States, to examine the efficacy of standard integrated urban mosquito control strategies applied area wide. Active source reduction, larviciding, adulticiding and public education (source reduction through education) were implemented in one site in each county, an education-only approach was developed in a second site and a third site was used as an untreated experimental control. Populations were surveyed weekly with BG-Sentinel traps and ovitraps. Results: …

Single Dose Of Glycoprotein K (Gk)-Deleted Hsv-1 Live-Attenuated Virus Protects Mice Against Lethal Vaginal Challenge With Hsv-1 And Hsv-2 And Induces Lasting T Cell Memory Immune Responses, Arun V. Iyer, Bapi Pahar, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Jason D. Walker, Brent Stanfield, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Background: Herpes simplex virus type-1(HSV-1) and HSV-2 are important human pathogens that cause significant ocular and urogenital complications, respectively. We have previously shown that HSV-1 virions lacking glycoprotein K (gK) are unable to enter into neurons via synaptic axonal membranes and be transported in either retrograde or anterograde manner. Here, we tested the ability of HSV-1 (F) gK-null to protect against lethal challenge with either highly virulent ocular HSV-1 (McKrae strain), or genital HSV-2 (G strain). The gK-null virus vaccine efficiently protected mice against lethal vaginal infection with either HSV-1(McKrae) or HSV-2 (G). Results: Female mice were immunized via a …

A Review Of Vaccine Approaches For West Nile Virus, Arun V. Iyer, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

The West Nile virus (WNC) first appeared in North America in 1999. The North American lineages of WNV were characterized by the presence of neuroinvasive and neurovirulent strains causing disease and death in humans, birds and horses. The 2012 WNV season in the United States saw a massive spike in the number of neuroinvasive cases and deaths similar to what was seen in the 2002-2003 season, according to the West Nile virus disease cases and deaths reported to the CDC by year and clinical presentation, 1999-2012, by ArboNET (Arboviral Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In addition, the …

Induced Plant Defenses, Host-Pathogen Interactions, And Forest Insect Outbreaks, Bret D. Elderd, Brian J. Rehill, Kyle J. Haynes, Greg Dwyer

Faculty Publications

Cyclic outbreaks of defoliating insects devastate forests, but their causes are poorly understood. Outbreak cycles are often assumed to be driven by density-dependent mortality due to natural enemies, because pathogens and predators cause high mortality and because natural-enemy models reproduce fluctuations in defoliation data. The role of induced defenses is in contrast often dismissed, because toxic effects of defenses are often weak and because induced-defense models explain defoliation data no better than naturalenemy models. Natural-enemy models, however, fail to explain gypsy moth outbreaks in North America, in which outbreaks in forests with a higher percentage of oaks have alternated between …