Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Louisiana State University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 5671 - 5700 of 13619

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Exposure To Combustion Generated Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Enhances Severity Of Influenza Virus Infection, Greg I. Lee, Jordy Saravia, Dahui You, Bishwas Shrestha, Sridhar Jaligama, Valerie Y. Hebert, Tammy R. Dugas, Stephania A. Cormier Oct 2014

Exposure To Combustion Generated Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Enhances Severity Of Influenza Virus Infection, Greg I. Lee, Jordy Saravia, Dahui You, Bishwas Shrestha, Sridhar Jaligama, Valerie Y. Hebert, Tammy R. Dugas, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Lee et al. Background: Exposures to elevated levels of particulate matter (PM) enhance severity of influenza virus infection in infants. The biological mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is unknown. The recent identification of environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) associated with PM from a variety of combustion sources suggests its role in the enhancement of influenza disease severity. Methods: Neonatal mice (< seven days of age) were exposed to DCB230 (combustion derived PM with a chemisorbed EPFR), DCB50 (non-EPFR PM sample), or air for 30 minutes/day for seven consecutive days. Four days post-exposure, neonates were infected with influenza intranasally at 1.25 TCID50/neonate. Neonates were assessed for morbidity (% weight gain, peak pulmonary viral load, and viral clearance) and percent survival. Lungs were isolated and assessed for oxidative stress (8-isoprostanes and glutathione levels), adaptive immune response to influenza, and regulatory T cells (Tregs). The role of the EPFR was also assessed by use of transgenic mice expressing human superoxide dismutase 2. Results: Neonates exposed to EPFRs had significantly enhanced morbidity and decreased survival following influenza infection. Increased oxidative stress was also observed in EPFR exposed neonates. This correlated with increased pulmonary Tregs and dampened protective T cell responses to influenza infection. Reduction of EPFR-induced oxidative stress attenuated these effects. Conclusions: Neonatal exposure to EPFR containing PM resulted in pulmonary oxidative stress and enhanced influenza disease severity. EPFR-induced oxidative stress resulted in increased presence of Tregs in the lungs and subsequent suppression of adaptive immune response to influenza.

Go to article

A Consensus Taxonomy For The Hawaiian Honeycreepers, H. Douglas Pratt Oct 2014

A Consensus Taxonomy For The Hawaiian Honeycreepers, H. Douglas Pratt

Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University

No abstract provided.

Go to article

A Single Intramuscular Vaccination Of Mice With The Hsv-1 Vc2 Virus With Mutations In The Glycoprotein K And The Membrane Protein Ul20 Confers Full Protection Against Lethal Intravaginal Challenge With Virulent Hsv-1 And Hsv-2 Strains, Brent A. Stanfield, Jacque Stahl, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Ramesh Subramanian, Anu Susan Charles, Ahmad A. Saied, Jason D. Walker, Konstantin G. Kousoulas Oct 2014

A Single Intramuscular Vaccination Of Mice With The Hsv-1 Vc2 Virus With Mutations In The Glycoprotein K And The Membrane Protein Ul20 Confers Full Protection Against Lethal Intravaginal Challenge With Virulent Hsv-1 And Hsv-2 Strains, Brent A. Stanfield, Jacque Stahl, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Ramesh Subramanian, Anu Susan Charles, Ahmad A. Saied, Jason D. Walker, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Stanfield et al. Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 (HSV-1) and type-2 (HSV-2) establish life-long infections and cause significant orofacial and genital infections in humans. HSV-1 is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the western world. Currently, there are no available vaccines to protect against herpes simplex infections. Recently, we showed that a single intramuscular immunization with an HSV-1(F) mutant virus lacking expression of the viral glycoprotein K (gK), which prevents the virus from entering into distal axons of ganglionic neurons, conferred significant protection against either virulent HSV-1(McKrae) or HSV-2(G) intravaginal challenge in mice. Specifically, 90% of the mice …

Go to article

Data Access For The 1,000 Plants (1kp) Project, Naim Matasci, Ling Hong Hung, Zhixiang Yan, Eric J. Carpenter, Norman J. Wickett, Siavash Mirarab, Nam Nguyen, Tandy Warnow, Saravanaraj Ayyampalayam, Michael Barker, J. G. Burleigh, Matthew A. Gitzendanner, Eric Wafula, Joshua P. Der, Claude W. Depamphilis, Béatrice Roure, Hervé Philippe, Brad R. Ruhfel, Nicholas W. Miles, Sean W. Graham, Sarah Mathews, Barbara Surek, Michael Melkonian, Douglas E. Soltis, Pamela S. Soltis, Carl Rothfels, Lisa Pokorny, Jonathan A. Shaw, Lisa Degironimo, Dennis W. Stevenson, Juan C. Villarreal, Tao Chen, Toni M. Kutchan Oct 2014

Data Access For The 1,000 Plants (1kp) Project, Naim Matasci, Ling Hong Hung, Zhixiang Yan, Eric J. Carpenter, Norman J. Wickett, Siavash Mirarab, Nam Nguyen, Tandy Warnow, Saravanaraj Ayyampalayam, Michael Barker, J. G. Burleigh, Matthew A. Gitzendanner, Eric Wafula, Joshua P. Der, Claude W. Depamphilis, Béatrice Roure, Hervé Philippe, Brad R. Ruhfel, Nicholas W. Miles, Sean W. Graham, Sarah Mathews, Barbara Surek, Michael Melkonian, Douglas E. Soltis, Pamela S. Soltis, Carl Rothfels, Lisa Pokorny, Jonathan A. Shaw, Lisa Degironimo, Dennis W. Stevenson, Juan C. Villarreal, Tao Chen, Toni M. Kutchan

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Matasci et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. The 1,000 plants (1KP) project is an international multi-disciplinary consortium that has generated transcriptome data from over 1,000 plant species, with exemplars for all of the major lineages across the Viridiplantae (green plants) clade. Here, we describe how to access the data used in a phylogenomics analysis of the first 85 species, and how to visualize our gene and species trees. Users can develop computational pipelines to analyse these data, in conjunction with data of their own that they can upload. Computationally estimated protein-protein interactions and biochemical pathways can be visualized …

Go to article

Economic Evaluation Of An Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management Program To Control The Asian Tiger Mosquito In New Jersey, Donald S. Shepard, Yara A. Halasa, Dina M. Fonseca, Ary Farajollahi, Sean P. Healy, Randy Gaugler, Kristen Bartlett-Healy, Daniel A. Strickman, Gary G. Clark Oct 2014

Economic Evaluation Of An Area-Wide Integrated Pest Management Program To Control The Asian Tiger Mosquito In New Jersey, Donald S. Shepard, Yara A. Halasa, Dina M. Fonseca, Ary Farajollahi, Sean P. Healy, Randy Gaugler, Kristen Bartlett-Healy, Daniel A. Strickman, Gary G. Clark

Faculty Publications

Aedes albopictus is the most invasive mosquito in the world, an important disease vector, and a biting nuisance that limits outdoor activities. Area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) is the recommended control strategy. We conducted an economic evaluation of the AW-IPM project in Mercer and Monmouth Counties, New Jersey with a controlled design (AW-IPM vs. control) from 2009 through 2011. The study analyzed financial documents and staff time for AW-IPM and surveyed an average of 415 randomly chosen households in AW-IPM and control areas each fall from 2008 through 2011. Hours lost from yard and porch activities were calculated as differences …

Go to article

Amplification Of Angular Rotations Using Weak Measurements, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza, Mohammad Mirhosseini, Brandon Rodenburg, Robert W. Boyd Oct 2014

Amplification Of Angular Rotations Using Weak Measurements, Omar S. Magaña-Loaiza, Mohammad Mirhosseini, Brandon Rodenburg, Robert W. Boyd

Faculty Publications

We experimentally demonstrate the first weak-value amplification of the azimuthal degree of freedom. We estimate rotations using shifts in angular position and orbital angular momentum, via spin-orbit coupling and an applied geometric phase.

Go to article

Social Regulation Of Reproduction In Male Cichlid Fishes, Karen P. Maruska Oct 2014

Social Regulation Of Reproduction In Male Cichlid Fishes, Karen P. Maruska

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Elsevier Inc. Social interactions and relative positions within a dominance hierarchy have helped shape the evolution of reproduction in many animals. Since reproduction is crucial in all animals, and rank typically regulates access to reproductive opportunities, understanding the mechanisms that regulate socially-induced reproductive processes is extremely important. How does position in a dominance hierarchy impact an individual's reproductive behavior, morphology, and physiology? Teleost fishes, and cichlids in particular, are ideally-suited models for studying how social status influences reproduction on multiple levels of biological organization. Here I review the current knowledge on the reproductive behavioral and physiological consequences of …

Go to article

The Early History Of Chance In Evolution, Charles H. Pence Oct 2014

The Early History Of Chance In Evolution, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

Work throughout the history and philosophy of biology frequently employs ‘chance’, ‘unpredictability’, ‘probability’, and many similar terms. One common way of understanding how these concepts were introduced in evolution focuses on two central issues: the first use of statistical methods in evolution (Galton), and the first use of the concept of “objective chance” in evolution (Wright). I argue that while this approach has merit, it fails to fully capture interesting philosophical reflections on the role of chance expounded by two of Galton's students, Karl Pearson and W.F.R. Weldon. Considering a question more familiar from contemporary philosophy of biology—the relationship between …

Go to article

Contributions Of Non-Traditional Meat Animals To Global Food Security And Agricultural Economy, Surendranath P. Suman, Kenneth W. Mcmillin Oct 2014

Contributions Of Non-Traditional Meat Animals To Global Food Security And Agricultural Economy, Surendranath P. Suman, Kenneth W. Mcmillin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Anonymization Of Dicom Electronic Medical Records For Radiation Therapy, Wayne Newhauser, Timothy Jones, Stuart Swerdloff, Warren Newhauser, Mark Cilia, Robert Carver, Andy Halloran, Rui Zhang Oct 2014

Anonymization Of Dicom Electronic Medical Records For Radiation Therapy, Wayne Newhauser, Timothy Jones, Stuart Swerdloff, Warren Newhauser, Mark Cilia, Robert Carver, Andy Halloran, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

Electronic medical records (EMR) and treatment plans are used in research on patient outcomes and radiation effects. In many situations researchers must remove protected health information (PHI) from EMRs. The literature contains several studies describing the anonymization of generic Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) files and DICOM image sets but no publications were found that discuss the anonymization of DICOM radiation therapy plans, a key component of an EMR in a cancer clinic. In addition to this we were unable to find a commercial software tool that met the minimum requirements for anonymization and preservation of data integrity …

Go to article

Comparison Of Infrapatellar And Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Stromal Vascular Fraction And Stromal/Stem Cells In Osteoarthritic Subjects, Pedro Pires De Carvalho, Katie M. Hamel, Robert Duarte, Andrew G.S. King, Masudul Haque, Marilyn A. Dietrich, Xiying Wu, Forum Shah, David Burk, Rui L. Reis, Jennifer Rood, Ping Zhang, Mandi Lopez, Jeffrey M. Gimble, Vinod Dasa Oct 2014

Comparison Of Infrapatellar And Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Stromal Vascular Fraction And Stromal/Stem Cells In Osteoarthritic Subjects, Pedro Pires De Carvalho, Katie M. Hamel, Robert Duarte, Andrew G.S. King, Masudul Haque, Marilyn A. Dietrich, Xiying Wu, Forum Shah, David Burk, Rui L. Reis, Jennifer Rood, Ping Zhang, Mandi Lopez, Jeffrey M. Gimble, Vinod Dasa

Faculty Publications

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Since inflammatory mechanisms have been postulated to link obesity to osteoarthritis, the current study evaluated the ratio of immune cells to multipotent stromal cells within the infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SQ) of the knee; each depot has potential as a source of regenerative cells. The immunophenotypes of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) and adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) of the IPFP and SQ were determined in tissues from osteoarthritic subjects (n=7) undergoing total knee replacement. Based on a subset of surface antigens, the immunophenotype of ASCs from SQ of OA subjects …

Go to article

Influence Of Season And Method Of Topkill On Resprouting Characteristics And Biomass Of Quercus Nigra Saplings From A Southeastern U.S. Pine-Grassland Ecosystem, Tracy L. Hmielowski, Kevin M. Robertson, William J. Platt Oct 2014

Influence Of Season And Method Of Topkill On Resprouting Characteristics And Biomass Of Quercus Nigra Saplings From A Southeastern U.S. Pine-Grassland Ecosystem, Tracy L. Hmielowski, Kevin M. Robertson, William J. Platt

Faculty Publications

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. The resprouting ability of woody plants in frequently burned ecosystems may be influenced by the season and method of topkill. We conducted an experiment to test for the effects of season and method of topkill on aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, and mortality of hardwoods found in a southeastern U.S. pine-grassland. We predicted that topkill occurring during the growing season and topkill by fire would have greater negative impacts on resprouting and root growth and result in greater mortality. We conducted a shadehouse experiment in north Florida in which we applied topkill treatments (burn, clip, …

Go to article

Lsu Research Fall 2014, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College Oct 2014

Lsu Research Fall 2014, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

Research Magazine

LSU Research is published annually by the Office of Research & Economic Development, Louisiana State University.

Go to article

Paternally Expressed Peg3 Controls Maternally Expressed Zim1 As A Trans Factor, An Ye, Hongzhi He, Joomyeong Kim Sep 2014

Paternally Expressed Peg3 Controls Maternally Expressed Zim1 As A Trans Factor, An Ye, Hongzhi He, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Ye et al. The expression of two adjacent imprinted genes, Peg3 and Zim1, is inversely correlated: down-regulation of Peg3 coinciding with up-regulation of Zim1. The current study characterized this inverse correlation using a mutant allele targeting Peg3. According to the results, the mutation on the paternal allele of Peg3 resulted in a dramatic increase in the transcription levels of the maternal allele of Zim1, suggesting the involvement of unknown trans factors in this trans-allelic event. Subsequent ChIP experiments revealed that the protein encoded by Peg3 itself binds to the zinc finger exon of Zim1, which is modified with …

Go to article

Integrating The Public In Mosquito Management: Active Education By Community Peers Can Lead To Significant Reduction In Peridomestic Container Mosquito Habitats, Kristen Healy, George Hamilton, Taryn Crepeau, Sean Healy, Isik Unlu, Ary Farajollahi, Dina M. Fonseca Sep 2014

Integrating The Public In Mosquito Management: Active Education By Community Peers Can Lead To Significant Reduction In Peridomestic Container Mosquito Habitats, Kristen Healy, George Hamilton, Taryn Crepeau, Sean Healy, Isik Unlu, Ary Farajollahi, Dina M. Fonseca

Faculty Publications

Mosquito species that utilize peridomestic containers for immature development are commonly aggressive human biters, and because they often reach high abundance, create significant nuisance. One of these species, the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, is an important vector of emerging infectious diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika fevers. Integrated mosquito management (IMM) of Ae. albopictus is particularly difficult because it requires access to private yards in urban and suburban residences. It has become apparent that in the event of a public health concern due to this species, homeowners will have to be active participants in the control process by …

Go to article

Bringing The Congregations Back In: Religious Markets, Congregational Density, And American Religious Participation, Troy Blanchard, Samuel Stroope, Charles Tolbert Sep 2014

Bringing The Congregations Back In: Religious Markets, Congregational Density, And American Religious Participation, Troy Blanchard, Samuel Stroope, Charles Tolbert

Faculty Publications

We draw on the organizational ecology tradition to frame the relationship between the religious environment of a community and local religious participation. Prior research linking religious environments to religious participation downplays a key organizational aspect of religion: the congregation. Following the organizational ecology usage of density, we argue that congregational density—the number of congregations per person within a community—impacts religious involvement by providing opportunities for participation and by fostering social accountability networks within congregations. Drawing on data from the 2000 Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, we test the hypothesis that congregational density in a locality is associated with greater religious …

Go to article

Comments On Some African Taxa Of Leptotyphlopid Snakes, Jeff Boundy Sep 2014

Comments On Some African Taxa Of Leptotyphlopid Snakes, Jeff Boundy

Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University

Miscellaneous material of African Leptotyphlopidae are discussed: An overlooked senior synonym of Namibiana latifrons, mental scale characteristics in Tricheilostoma greenwelli, an insular record of Leptotyphlops pembae, a range expansion of Myriopholis adleri (new to the country of Ghana), and cephalic scale terminology of Rhinoleptus koniagui.

Go to article

Responses Of Sympatric Karenia Brevis, Prorocentrum Minimum, And Heterosigma Akashiwo To The Exposure Of Crude Oil, Koray Özhan, Sibel Bargu Sep 2014

Responses Of Sympatric Karenia Brevis, Prorocentrum Minimum, And Heterosigma Akashiwo To The Exposure Of Crude Oil, Koray Özhan, Sibel Bargu

Faculty Publications

Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on phytoplankton, particularly, the tolerability and changes to the toxin profiles of harmful toxic algal species remain unknown. The degree to which oil-affected sympatric Karenia brevis, Prorocentrum minimum, and Heterosigma akashiwo, all of which are ecologically important species in the Gulf of Mexico, was investigated. Comparison of their tolerability to that of non-toxic species showed that the toxin-production potential of harmful species does not provide a selective advantage. Investigated toxin profiles for K. brevis and P. minimum demonstrated an increase in toxin productivity at the lowest crude oil concentration (0.66 mg L−1 …

Go to article

Tangram: A Comprehensive Toolbox For Mobile Element Insertion Detection, Jiantao Wu, Wan Ping Lee, Alistair Ward, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel, Mark A. Batzer, Gabor T. Marth Sep 2014

Tangram: A Comprehensive Toolbox For Mobile Element Insertion Detection, Jiantao Wu, Wan Ping Lee, Alistair Ward, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel, Mark A. Batzer, Gabor T. Marth

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Wu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Background: Mobile elements (MEs) constitute greater than 50% of the human genome as a result of repeated insertion events during human genome evolution. Although most of these elements are now fixed in the population, some MEs, including ALU, L1, SVA and HERV-K elements, are still actively duplicating. Mobile element insertions (MEIs) have been associated with human genetic disorders, including Crohn's disease, hemophilia, and various types of cancer, motivating the need for accurate MEI detection methods. To comprehensively identify and accurately characterize these variants in whole genome next-generation sequencing (NGS) data, a …

Go to article

Gibbon Genome And The Fast Karyotype Evolution Of Small Apes, Lucia Carbone, R. Alan Harris, Sante Gnerre, Krishna R. Veeramah, Belen Lorente-Galdos, John Huddleston, Thomas J. Meyer, Javier Herrero, Christian Roos, Bronwen Aken, Fabio Anaclerio, Nicoletta Archidiacono, Carl Baker, Daniel Barrell, Mark A. Batzer, Kathryn Beal, Antoine Blancher, Craig L. Bohrson, Markus Brameier, Michael S. Campbell, Oronzo Capozzi, Claudio Casola, Giorgia Chiatante, Andrew Cree, Annette Damert, Pieter J. De Jong, Laura Dumas, Marcos Fernandez-Callejo, Paul Flicek, Nina V. Fuchs, Ivo Gut, Marta Gut, Matthew W. Hahn, Jessica Hernandez-Rodriguez, Ladeana W. Hillier, Robert Hubley, Bianca Ianc, Zsuzsanna Izsvák, Nina G. Jablonski, Laurel M. Johnstone, Anis Karimpour-Fard, Miriam K. Konkel, Dennis Kostka, Nathan H. Lazar, Sandra L. Lee, Lora R. Lewis, Yue Liu, Devin P. Locke, Swapan Mallick, Fernando L. Mendez, Matthieu Muffato, Lynne V. Nazareth, Kimberly A. Nevonen, Majesta O'Bleness, Cornelia Ochis, Duncan T. Odom, Katherine S. Pollard, Javier Quilez, David Reich, Mariano Rocchi, Gerald G. Schumann, Stephen Searle, James M. Sikela, Gabriella Skollar, Arian Smit, Kemal Sonmez, Boudewijn Ten Hallers, Elizabeth Terhune, Gregg W. C. Thomas, Brygg Ullmer, Mario Ventura, Jerilyn A. Walker, Jeffrey D. Wall, Lutz Walter, Michelle C. Ward, Sarah J. Wheelan, Christopher W. Whelan, Simon White, Larry J. Wilhelm, August E. Woerner, Mark Yandell, Baoli Zhu, Michael F. Hammer, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Evan E. Eichler, Lucinda Fulton, Catrina Fronick, Donna M. Muzny, Wesley C. Warren, Kim C. Worley, Jeffrey Rogers, Richard K. Wilson, Richard A. Gibbs Sep 2014

Gibbon Genome And The Fast Karyotype Evolution Of Small Apes, Lucia Carbone, R. Alan Harris, Sante Gnerre, Krishna R. Veeramah, Belen Lorente-Galdos, John Huddleston, Thomas J. Meyer, Javier Herrero, Christian Roos, Bronwen Aken, Fabio Anaclerio, Nicoletta Archidiacono, Carl Baker, Daniel Barrell, Mark A. Batzer, Kathryn Beal, Antoine Blancher, Craig L. Bohrson, Markus Brameier, Michael S. Campbell, Oronzo Capozzi, Claudio Casola, Giorgia Chiatante, Andrew Cree, Annette Damert, Pieter J. De Jong, Laura Dumas, Marcos Fernandez-Callejo, Paul Flicek, Nina V. Fuchs, Ivo Gut, Marta Gut, Matthew W. Hahn, Jessica Hernandez-Rodriguez, Ladeana W. Hillier, Robert Hubley, Bianca Ianc, Zsuzsanna Izsvák, Nina G. Jablonski, Laurel M. Johnstone, Anis Karimpour-Fard, Miriam K. Konkel, Dennis Kostka, Nathan H. Lazar, Sandra L. Lee, Lora R. Lewis, Yue Liu, Devin P. Locke, Swapan Mallick, Fernando L. Mendez, Matthieu Muffato, Lynne V. Nazareth, Kimberly A. Nevonen, Majesta O'Bleness, Cornelia Ochis, Duncan T. Odom, Katherine S. Pollard, Javier Quilez, David Reich, Mariano Rocchi, Gerald G. Schumann, Stephen Searle, James M. Sikela, Gabriella Skollar, Arian Smit, Kemal Sonmez, Boudewijn Ten Hallers, Elizabeth Terhune, Gregg W. C. Thomas, Brygg Ullmer, Mario Ventura, Jerilyn A. Walker, Jeffrey D. Wall, Lutz Walter, Michelle C. Ward, Sarah J. Wheelan, Christopher W. Whelan, Simon White, Larry J. Wilhelm, August E. Woerner, Mark Yandell, Baoli Zhu, Michael F. Hammer, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Evan E. Eichler, Lucinda Fulton, Catrina Fronick, Donna M. Muzny, Wesley C. Warren, Kim C. Worley, Jeffrey Rogers, Richard K. Wilson, Richard A. Gibbs

Faculty Publications

©2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Gibbons are small arboreal apes that display an accelerated rate of evolutionary chromosomal rearrangement and occupy a key node in the primate phylogeny between Old World monkeys and great apes. Here we present the assembly and analysis of a northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys) genome. We describe the propensity for a gibbon-specific retrotransposon (LAVA) to insert into chromosome segregation genes and alter transcription by providing a premature termination site, suggesting a possible molecular mechanism for the genome plasticity of the gibbon lineage. We further show that the gibbon genera (Nomascus, Hylobates, Hoolock and …

Go to article

Space Radiation: The Number One Risk To Astronaut Health Beyond Low Earth Orbit, Jeffery C. Chancellor, Graham B.I. Scott, Jeffrey P. Sutton Sep 2014

Space Radiation: The Number One Risk To Astronaut Health Beyond Low Earth Orbit, Jeffery C. Chancellor, Graham B.I. Scott, Jeffrey P. Sutton

Faculty Publications

Projecting a vision for space radiobiological research necessitates understanding the nature of the space radiation environment and how radiation risks influence mission planning, timelines and operational decisions. Exposure to space radiation increases the risks of astronauts developing cancer, experiencing central nervous system (CNS) decrements, exhibiting degenerative tissue effects or developing acute radiation syndrome. One or more of these deleterious health effects could develop during future multi-year space exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). Shielding is an effective countermeasure against solar particle events (SPEs), but is ineffective in protecting crew members from the biological impacts of fast moving, highly-charged galactic …

Go to article

Protozoacidal Trojan-Horse: Use Of A Ligand-Lytic Peptide For Selective Destruction Of Symbiotic Protozoa Within Termite Guts, Amit Sethi, Jennifer Delatte, Lane Foil, Claudia Husseneder Sep 2014

Protozoacidal Trojan-Horse: Use Of A Ligand-Lytic Peptide For Selective Destruction Of Symbiotic Protozoa Within Termite Guts, Amit Sethi, Jennifer Delatte, Lane Foil, Claudia Husseneder

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Sethi et al. For novel biotechnology-based termite control, we developed a cellulose bait containing freeze-dried genetically engineered yeast which expresses a protozoacidal lytic peptide attached to a protozoa-recognizing ligand. The yeast acts as a 'Trojan-Horse' that kills the cellulose-digesting protozoa in the termite gut, which leads to the death of termites, presumably due to inefficient cellulose digestion. The ligand targets the lytic peptide specifically to protozoa, thereby increasing its protozoacidal efficiency while protecting non-target organisms. After ingestion of the bait, the yeast propagates in the termite's gut and is spread throughout the termite colony via social interactions. This …

Go to article

Transcriptional Profiles Of Bovine In Vivo Pre-Implantation Development, Zongliang Jiang, Jiangwen Sun, Hong Dong, Oscar Luo, Xinbao Zheng, Craig Obergfell, Yong Tang, Jinbo Bi, Rachel O'Neill, Yijun Ruan, Jingbo Chen, Xiuchun Tian Sep 2014

Transcriptional Profiles Of Bovine In Vivo Pre-Implantation Development, Zongliang Jiang, Jiangwen Sun, Hong Dong, Oscar Luo, Xinbao Zheng, Craig Obergfell, Yong Tang, Jinbo Bi, Rachel O'Neill, Yijun Ruan, Jingbo Chen, Xiuchun Tian

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Jiang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. Background: During mammalian pre-implantation embryonic development dramatic and orchestrated changes occur in gene transcription. The identification of the complete changes has not been possible until the development of the Next Generation Sequencing Technology.Results: Here we report comprehensive transcriptome dynamics of single matured bovine oocytes and pre-implantation embryos developed in vivo. Surprisingly, more than half of the estimated 22,000 bovine genes, 11,488 to 12,729 involved in more than 100 pathways, is expressed in oocytes and early embryos. Despite the similarity in the total numbers of genes expressed across stages, the nature of …

Go to article

Relative Importance Of Environmental, Geographic, And Spatial Variables On Zooplankton Metacommunities, Tad Dallas, John M. Drake Sep 2014

Relative Importance Of Environmental, Geographic, And Spatial Variables On Zooplankton Metacommunities, Tad Dallas, John M. Drake

Faculty Publications

© 2014 Dallas and Drake. Understanding the factors responsible for structuring ecological communities is a central goal in community ecology. Previous work has focused on determining the relative roles of two classes of variables (e.g., spatial and environmental) on community composition. However, this approach may ignore the disproportionate impact of variables within classes, and is often confounded by spatial autocorrelation leading to collinearity among variables of different classes. Here, we combine pattern-based metacommunity and machine learning analyses to characterize metacommunity structure of zooplankton from lakes in the northeast United States and to identify environmental, spatial, and geographic covariates associated with …

Go to article

Efficiency Of Sampling To Determine Population Size Of Cyrtobagous Salviniae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Michael J. Grodowitz, Seth Johnson, Aaron N. Schad Sep 2014

Efficiency Of Sampling To Determine Population Size Of Cyrtobagous Salviniae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Michael J. Grodowitz, Seth Johnson, Aaron N. Schad

Faculty Publications

Salvinia molesta D. S. Mitchell (Salviniales: Salviniaceae), a small floating fern introduced from South America, is causing an increasing number of problems in the US. Increased reliance on the biocontrol agent, Cyrtobagous salviniae, in the US is becoming more commonplace and several mass-rearing facilities have been developed. Because of differences in sampling protocols including sample size, reporting parameters, and numbers released, an investigation into sampling efficiency was initiated. A small pond in southern Louisiana was sampled in an effort to understand what constitutes an adequate sample size and methodologies needed to estimate numbers of weevils. A clumped distribution in the …

Go to article

The Association Of The Vanin-1 N131s Variant With Blood Pressure Is Mediated By Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation And Loss Of Function, Ya Juan Wang, Bamidele O. Tayo, Anupam Bandyopadhyay, Heming Wang, Tao Feng, Nora Franceschini, Hua Tang, Jianmin Gao, Yun Ju Sung, Robert C. Elston, Scott M. Williams, Richard S. Cooper, Ting Wei Mu, Xiaofeng Zhu, Daniel Levy Sep 2014

The Association Of The Vanin-1 N131s Variant With Blood Pressure Is Mediated By Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation And Loss Of Function, Ya Juan Wang, Bamidele O. Tayo, Anupam Bandyopadhyay, Heming Wang, Tao Feng, Nora Franceschini, Hua Tang, Jianmin Gao, Yun Ju Sung, Robert C. Elston, Scott M. Williams, Richard S. Cooper, Ting Wei Mu, Xiaofeng Zhu, Daniel Levy

Faculty Publications

High blood pressure (BP) is the most common cardiovascular risk factor worldwide and a major contributor to heart disease and stroke. We previously discovered a BP-associated missense SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism)–rs2272996–in the gene encoding vanin-1, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored membrane pantetheinase. In the present study, we first replicated the association of rs2272996 and BP traits with a total sample size of nearly 30,000 individuals from the Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) of African Americans (P = 0.01). This association was further validated using patient plasma samples; we observed that the N131S mutation is associated with significantly lower plasma vanin-1 …

Go to article

Effects Of Oil On Terrestrial Vertebrates: Predicting Impacts Of The Macondo Blowout, Christine M.Bergeon Burns, Jill A. Olin, Philip C. Stouffer, Sabrina S. Taylor, Stefan Woltmann Sep 2014

Effects Of Oil On Terrestrial Vertebrates: Predicting Impacts Of The Macondo Blowout, Christine M.Bergeon Burns, Jill A. Olin, Philip C. Stouffer, Sabrina S. Taylor, Stefan Woltmann

Faculty Publications

In addition to external oiling, marine oil spills may affect vertebrate animals through degradation of habitat; alterations in food web structure; and contamination of resources by toxic compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These processes are not well understood for vertebrates breeding and foraging in terrestrial ecosystems affected by oil, such as coastal marshes that were heavily oiled following the 2010 Macondo oil spill. Here, we review what is known about the ecological and physiological effects of oil exposure on vertebrates in general. We then apply these concepts to salt-marsh vertebrates, with special reference to our ongoing monitoring of impacts and …

Go to article

Effects Of Oil Spills On Terrestrial Arthropods In Coastal Wetlands, Steven C. Pennings, Brittany D. Mccall, Linda Hooper-Bui Sep 2014

Effects Of Oil Spills On Terrestrial Arthropods In Coastal Wetlands, Steven C. Pennings, Brittany D. Mccall, Linda Hooper-Bui

Faculty Publications

Coastal wetlands are important to human well-being and vulnerable to oil spills. Research on biotic effects of oil has been focused on microbes, plants, and benthic invertebrates, neglecting terrestrial arthropods. We review how oil affects terrestrial arthropods in coastal marshes and suggest future research topics. Terrestrial arthropods play important ecological roles in coastal marshes, affecting primary production and decomposition and providing food to terrestrial and marine vertebrates. Some species are pests and disease vectors for humans and livestock. Terrestrial arthropods are sensitive to oil exposure and are suppressed even in lightly oiled sites where plants are not affected. Some arthropods …

Go to article

Integration Of Apo-Α-Phycocyanin Into Phycobilisomes And Its Association With FnrLIn The Absence Of The Phycocyanin Α-Subunit Lyase (Cpcf) In Synechocystis Sp. Pcc 6803, Pengpeng Zhang, Laurie K. Frankel, Terry M. Bricker Aug 2014

Integration Of Apo-Α-Phycocyanin Into Phycobilisomes And Its Association With FnrLIn The Absence Of The Phycocyanin Α-Subunit Lyase (Cpcf) In Synechocystis Sp. Pcc 6803, Pengpeng Zhang, Laurie K. Frankel, Terry M. Bricker

Faculty Publications

Phycocyanin is an important component of the phycobilisome, which is the principal light-harvesting complex in cyanobacteria. The covalent attachment of the phycocyanobilin chromophore to phycocyanin is catalyzed by the enzyme phycocyanin lyase. The photosynthetic properties and phycobilisome assembly state were characterized in wild type and two mutants which lack holo-α-phycocyanin. Insertional inactivation of the phycocyanin α-subunit lyase (ΔcpcF mutant) prevents the ligation of phycocyanobilin to α-phycocyanin (CpcA), while disruption of the cpcB/A/C2/C1 operon in the CK mutant prevents synthesis of both apo-α-phycocyanin (apo-CpcA) and apo-β-phycocyanin (apo-CpcB). Both mutants exhibited similar light saturation curves under white actinic light illumination conditions, indicating …

Go to article

Effects Of Caste On The Expression Of Genes Associated With Septic Injury And Xenobiotic Exposure In The Formosan Subterranean Termite, Claudia Husseneder, Dawn M. Simms Aug 2014

Effects Of Caste On The Expression Of Genes Associated With Septic Injury And Xenobiotic Exposure In The Formosan Subterranean Termite, Claudia Husseneder, Dawn M. Simms

Faculty Publications

As social insects, termites live in densely populated colonies with specialized castes under conditions conducive to microbial growth and transmission. Furthermore, termites are exposed to xenobiotics in soil and their lignocellulose diet. Therefore, termites are valuable models for studying gene expression involved in response to septic injury, immunity and detoxification in relation to caste membership. In this study, workers and soldiers of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus, were challenged by bacterial injection or by no-choice feeding with a sublethal concentration (0.5%) of phenobarbital. Constitutive and induced expression of six putative immune response genes (two encoding for lectin-like proteins, one …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last