Digital Commons Network^™

Rescuing Minute-Like Phenotypes Due To Rnai-Mediated Knockdown Of Nopp140 By Deletion Of P53 In Drosophila Melanogaster, Renford Cindass Jr

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Cytokine Production During Microsporidia Infection Of Macrophages, Anne Louise Hotard

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Cytokine Production During Microsporidia Infection Of Macrophages, Anne Hotard

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Conservation Genetics Of Boelen‟S Python (Morelia Boeleni) From New Guinea: Reduced Genetic Diversity And Divergence Of Captive And Wild Animals, Joshua Lee Jordan

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Structure Of A Receptor With Two Associating Transmembrane Domains On The Cell Surface: Integrin ΑIibΒ3, Jieqing Zhu, Bing Hao Luo, Patrick Barth, Jack Schonbrun, David Baker, Timothy A. Springer

Faculty Publications

Structures of intact receptors with single-pass transmembrane domains are essential to understand how extracellular and cytoplasmic domains regulate association and signaling through transmembrane domains. A chemical and computational method to determine structures of the membrane regions of such receptors on the cell surface is developed here and validated with glycophorin A. An integrin heterodimer structure reveals association over most of the lengths of the α and β transmembrane domains and shows that the principles governing association of hetero and homo transmembrane dimers differ. A turn at the Gly of the juxtamembrane GFFKR motif caps the α TM helix and brings …

Evolutionary Conserved Motif Finder (Ecmfinder) For Genome-Wide Identification Of Clustered Yy1- And Ctcf-Binding Sites, Keunsoo Kang, Jae Hoon Chung, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

We have developed a new bioinformatics approach called ECMFinder (Evolutionary Conserved Motif Finder). This program searches for a given DNA motif within the entire genome of one species and uses the gene association information of a potential transcription factor-binding site (TFBS) to screen the homologous regions of a second and third species. If multiple species have this potential TFBS in homologous positions, this program recognizes the identified TFBS as an evolutionary conserved motif (ECM). This program outputs a list of ECMs, which can be uploaded as a Custom Track in the UCSC genome browser and can be visualized along with …

Universal Constant For Heat Production In Protists, Matthew D. Johnson, Jens Völker, Holly V. Moeller, Edward Laws, Kenneth J. Breslauer, Paul G. Falkowski

Faculty Publications

Using a high sensitivity differential scanning calorimeter in isothermal mode, we directly measured heat production in eukaryotic protists from 5 phyla spanning over 5 orders of magnitude in carbon biomass and 8 orders of magnitude in cell volume. Our results reveal that metabolic heat production normalized to cell mass is virtually constant in these organisms, with a median of 0.037 pW pg C ^-1 (95% confidence interval = 0.022-0.061 pW pg C ^-1) at 5 °C. Contrary to allometric models, the relationship between heat production and cell carbon content or surface area is isometric (scaling exponents, 1.056 and 1.057, …

The Risk Of Developing A Second Cancer After Receiving Craniospinal Proton Irradiation, Wayne D. Newhauser, Jonas D. Fontenot, Anita Mahajan, David Kornguth, Marilyn Stovall, Yuanshui Zheng, Phillip J. Taddei, Dragan Mirkovic, Radhe Mohan, James D. Cox, Shiao Woo

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this work was to compare the risk of developing a second cancer after craniospinal irradiation using photon versus proton radiotherapy by means of simulation studies designed to account for the effects of neutron exposures. Craniospinal irradiation of a male phantom was calculated for passively-scattered and scanned-beam proton treatment units. Organ doses were estimated from treatment plans; for the proton treatments, the amount of stray radiation was calculated separately using the Monte Carlo method. The organ doses were converted to risk of cancer incidence using a standard formalism developed for radiation protection purposes. The total lifetime risk of …

Stray Radiation Dose And Second Cancer Risk For A Pediatric Patient Receiving Craniospinal Irradiation With Proton Beams, Phillip J. Taddei, Dragan Mirkovic, Jonas D. Fontenot, Annelise Giebeler, Yuanshui Zheng, David Kornguth, Radhe Mohan, Wayne D. Newhauser

Faculty Publications

Proton beam radiotherapy unavoidably exposes healthy tissue to stray radiation emanating from the treatment unit and secondary radiation produced within the patient. These exposures provide no known benefit and may increase a patient's risk of developing a radiogenic cancer. The aims of this study were to calculate doses to major organs and tissues and to estimate second cancer risk from stray radiation following craniospinal irradiation (CSI) with proton therapy. This was accomplished using detailed Monte Carlo simulations of a passive-scattering proton treatment unit and a voxelized phantom to represent the patient. Equivalent doses, effective dose and corresponding risk for developing …

Impedance Spectroscopy Of Zebrafish Sperm, Robert Egnatchik

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Amplify Ultrafine Particle Mediated Cellular Oxidative Stress And Cytotoxicity, Shrilatha Balakrishna, Slawo Lomnicki, Kevin M. Mcavey, Richard B. Cole, Barry Dellinger, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

Background: Combustion generated particulate matter is deposited in the respiratory tract and pose a hazard to the lungs through their potential to cause oxidative stress and inflammation. We have previously shown that combustion of fuels and chlorinated hydrocarbons produce semiquinone-type radicals that are stabilized on particle surfaces (i.e. environmentally persistent free radicals; EPFRs). Because the composition and properties of actual combustion-generated particles are complex, heterogeneous in origin, and vary from day-to-day, we have chosen to use surrogate particle systems. In particular, we have chosen to use the radical of 2-monochlorophenol (MCP230) as the EPFR because we have previously shown that …

Occurrence Of Mitochondria-Targeted Late Embryogenesis Abundant (Lea) Gene In Animals Increases Organelle Resistance To Water Stress, Michael A. Menze, Leaf Boswell, Mehmet Toner, Steven C. Hand

Faculty Publications

Anhydrobiotic animals survive virtually complete loss of cellular water. The mechanisms that explain this phenomenon are not fully understood but often include the accumulation of low molecular weight solutes such as trehalose and macromolecules like Late Embryogenesis Abundant (LEA) proteins. Here we report for the first time the occurrence of a mitochondria-targeted LEA gene (Afrlea3m) product in an animal species. The deduced molecular mass of the 307-amino acid polypeptide from the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana is 34 kDa. Bioinformatic analyses reveal features typical of a Group 3 LEA protein, and subcellular localization programs predict targeting of the mature peptide to …

Polyubiquitination Of The Demethylase Jhd2 Controls Histone Methylation And Gene Expression, Douglas P. Mersman, Hai Ning Du, Ian M. Fingerman, Paul F. South, Scott D. Briggs

Faculty Publications

The identification of histone methyltransferases and demethylases has uncovered a dynamic methylation system needed to modulate appropriate levels of gene expression. Gene expression levels of various histone demethylases, such as the JARID1 family, show distinct patterns of embryonic and adult expression and respond to different environmental cues, suggesting that histone demethylase protein levels must be tightly regulated for proper development. In our study, we show that the protein level of the yeast histone H3 Lys 4 (H3 K4) demethylase Jhd2/ Kdm5 is modulated through polyubiquitination by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Not4 and turnover by the proteasome. We determine that polyubiquitin-mediated …

Increased Gene Expression Of A Facilitated Diffusion Urea Transporter In The Skin Of The African Lungfish (Protopterus Annectens) During Massively Elevated Post-Terrestrialization Urea Excretion, Carrie Y.C. Hung, Fernando Galvez, Yuen K. Ip, Chris M. Wood

Faculty Publications

The full-length cDNA sequence of a putative urea transporter (IfUl) of the facilitated diffusion UT-A type has been cloned from the African lungfish Protopterus annectens. The IFUTcDNA is 1990bp in length and its open reading frame encodes a 409 amino acid long protein, with a calculated molecular mass of 44,723 Da. The sequence is closest to those of amphibians (∼65% amino acid homology), followed by mammals and elasmobranchs (∼60%), and then teleosts (∼50%). IfUT was clearly expressed in gill, kidney, liver, skeletal muscle and skin. Upon re-immersion in water after 33days of air exposure ('terrestrialization'), lungfish exhibited a massive rise …

Measurement Of The Top-Quark Mass With Dilepton Events Selected Using Neuroevolution At Cdf, T. Aaltonen, J. Adelman, T. Akimoto, M. G. Albrow, B. Álvarez González, S. Amerio, D. Amidei, A. Anastassov, A. Annovi, J. Antos, G. Apollinari, A. Apresyan, T. Arisawa, A. Artikov, W. Ashmanskas, A. Attal, A. Aurisano, F. Azfar, P. Azzurri, W. Badgett, A. Barbaro-Galtieri, V. E. Barnes, B. A. Barnett, V. Bartsch, G. Bauer, P. H. Beauchemin, F. Bedeschi, P. Bednar

Faculty Publications

We report a measurement of the top-quark mass Mt in the dilepton decay channel tt̄→bl′+νl′b̄l-ν̄l. Events are selected with a neural network which has been directly optimized for statistical precision in top-quark mass using neuroevolution, a technique modeled on biological evolution. The top-quark mass is extracted from per-event probability densities that are formed by the convolution of leading order matrix elements and detector resolution functions. The joint probability is the product of the probability densities from 344 candidate events in 2.0fb-1 of pp̄ collisions collected with the CDF II detector, yielding a measurement of Mt=171.2±2.7(stat)±2.9(syst)GeV/c2. © 2009 The American Physical …

Neutron Production From Beam-Modifying Devices In A Modern Double Scattering Proton Therapy Beam Delivery System, Angélica Pérez-Andjar, Wayne D. Newhauser, Paul M. Deluca

Faculty Publications

In this work the neutron production in a passive beam delivery system was investigated. Secondary particles including neutrons are created as the proton beam interacts with beam shaping devices in the treatment head. Stray neutron exposure to the whole body may increase the risk that the patient develops a radiogenic cancer years or decades after radiotherapy. We simulated a passive proton beam delivery system with double scattering technology to determine the neutron production and energy distribution at 200 MeV proton energy. Specifically, we studied the neutron absorbed dose per therapeutic absorbed dose, the neutron absorbed dose per source particle and …

Nutrient Enrichment Drives Gulf Of Mexico Hypoxia, Donald F. Boesch, Walter R. Boyton, Larry B. Crowder, Robert J. Diaz, Robert W. Howarth, Laurence D. Mee, Scott W. Nixon, Nancy N. Rabalais, Rutger Rosenberg, James G. Sanders, Donald Scavia, R. Eugene Turner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Calculation Of Water Equivalent Thickness Of Materials Of Arbitrary Density, Elemental Composition And Thickness In Proton Beam Irradiation, Rui Zhang, Wayne D. Newhauser

Faculty Publications

In proton therapy, the radiological thickness of a material is commonly expressed in terms of water equivalent thickness (WET) or water equivalent ratio (WER). However, the WET calculations required either iterative numerical methods or approximate methods of unknown accuracy. The objective of this study was to develop a simple deterministic formula to calculate WET values with an accuracy of 1 mm for materials commonly used in proton radiation therapy. Several alternative formulas were derived in which the energy loss was calculated based on the Bragg-Kleeman rule (BK), the Bethe-Bloch equation (BB) or an empirical version of the Bethe-Bloch equation (EBB). …

Intact And Top-Down Characterization Of Biomolecules And Direct Analysis Using Infrared Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Electrospray Ionization Coupled To Ft-Icr Mass Spectrometry, Jason S. Sampson, Kermit K. Murray, David C. Muddiman

Faculty Publications

We report the implementation of an infrared laser onto our previously reported matrix-assisted laser desorption electrospray ionization (MALDESI) source with ESI post-ionization yielding multiply charged peptides and proteins. Infrared (IR)-MALDESI is demonstrated for atmospheric pressure desorption and ionization of biological molecules ranging in molecular weight from 1.2 to 17 kDa. High resolving power, high mass accuracy single-acquisition Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectra were generated from liquid- and solid-state peptide and protein samples by desorption with an infrared laser (2.94 μm) followed by ESI post-ionization. Intact and top-down analysis of equine myoglobin (17 kDa) desorbed from the solid …

Host Specificity Of Ischnodemus Variegatus, An Herbivore Of West Indian Marsh Grass (Hymenachne Amplexicaulis) (Biocontrol Doi: 10.1007/S10526-008-9188- 3), Rodrigo Diaz, William A. Overholt, James P. Cuda, Paul D. Pratt, Alison Fox

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Louisiana Agriculture Spring, 2009

Louisiana Agriculture

No abstract provided.

The Storm 2.0 Project Next Generation Hurricane Data Collection, Santhana Krishnan Balaji

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Island Area And Species Diversity In The Southwest Pacific Ocean: Is The Lizard Fauna Of Vanuatu Depauperate?, Alison M. Hamilton, Joseph H. Hartman, Christopher C. Austin

Faculty Publications

One island group suggested to be an exception to the species-area Relationship is the Vanuatu Archipelago, a group of 13 large and 80 small islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean. To test the hypothesis that the lizard fauna of the Vanuatu Archipelago does not meet the predictions of the species-area relationship, and thus is depauperate, we compare diversity among several island groups in the southwest Pacific: Fiji, the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu. We found that the lizard diversity of Vanuatu meets the pattern of diversity predicted by the species-area relationship. The Solomon Islands, …

S09rs Sgb No. 29 (Colorado's Taj Ma Tech), Martin

Student Senate Enrolled Legislation

A BILL

to allocate a maximum of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) from the Senate Contingency Account, seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) from the Student Government Initiatives Account, and seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) from the Student Government Surplus Account to supplement the creation of the LSU Learning Commons Tutorial Center, a centralized studying and tutoring center to be located in Middleton Library.

Functional Morphology Of The Superficial Branchial Musculature Of The Dogfish Shark, Squalus Acanthias, Roy Andermann

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Recent Kremlin Aggression: The Bear Is Back; But Is Russia Ready To Be A Superpower Again?, Blythe Erin Adams

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

“Thefts & Lies”, Joseph Calvasina

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The In Vitro Characterization Of Chitosan-Plga Nanoparticle/Plasmid Dna Complexes, Hali Bordelon

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Protozoan Epibionts On Deep-Sea Nematodes, Alicia Leigh Gabriele

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Effects On Hatchability Due To Pre-Incubation Warming Of End Of Lay Broiler Breeder Eggs, William Andrew Greenwald

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.