Digital Commons Network^™

The Study Of Lagenidium Giganteum Crinkler Genes, Alexa Vyain, Tulsi Patel

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Lagenidium giganteum is an entomopathogenic oomycete that is known to infect and kill the larvae of mosquitoes. Due to this characteristic, the organism has been deemed a potential alternative to chemical insecticides. This information is significant when the world issue of mosquito control is considered. The human death toll now reaches one million per year by mosquito-borne diseases, and the research on potential alternatives to chemical insecticides is quite minimal. Only seven L. giganteum protein-coding gene sequences have been reported to date, and the objective of this project is to accelerate the gene research of L. giganteum and identify the …

A Cardiac Arrhythmogenesis Model: Spiraling Out Of Control, Rajeswari Murugan

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Arrhythmic Sudden Cardiac death accounts for up to 5 million cases per year across the world. Cardiac arrhythmia is an abnormal activity in the heart that can lead to sudden cardiac death resulting from ventricular fibrillation. The electrocardiogram (ECG) reading during an arrhythmia indicates rapid contractions of the heart. This phenomenon is due to the development of a re-entrant circuit of electrical activity that repetitively stimulates the heart. The heart presents a spatio-temporal complex system, where the tissue biophysics and structure leads to reaction diffusion type models. These models portray the re-entrant wave patterns observed during arrhythmia. Fibrillation is characterized …

The Effects Of An Unrestricted High-Protein/High-Fat Diet Plus Exercise On Body Composition: A Case Report, Diana Mantilla

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The purpose of this independent study is to demonstrate the effects of exercise, diet and dietary supplementation on body composition and various indices of performance and health using a case study model. The exercise regimen consisted of heavy resistance training in combination with various aerobic exercises. The training program will follow a periodized scheme such that the volume and intensity of the exercise will be altered throughout the 8-week intervention period. Furthermore, the alterations in diet will involve an isocaloric replacement of carbohydrate with protein and fat. No change in caloric intake will occur. Various dietary supplements such as whey …

The Language Of Mathematics: Proof Without Words, Bryan Candela

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Mathematics is the language of the sciences. Unlike most other scientific laws, mathematical laws are by nature unbiased and irrefutable, and as such, tend to be accepted as truth in a way that other scientific laws cannot. While understanding the proofs of many well-known mathematical facts requires a high level of mathematical maturity, there are also many (perhaps not so intuitive) facts whose proof can be easily understood by anyone. The goal of this project is to show the use of mathematics as a language in the hope of providing insight into the beauty of mathematics.

Com Outlook Spring 2011, College Of Osteopathic Medicine

COM Outlook

No abstract provided.

A Molecular Phylogeny Of Living Primates, Polina L. Perelman, Warren E. Johnson, Christian Roos, Hector Seuanez, Julie E. Horvath, Miguel A. M. Moreira, Bailey Kessing, J. U. Pontius, Melody E. Roelke, Yves Rumpler, Maria P. C. Schneider, Artur Silva, Stephen J. O'Brien, Jill Pecon-Slattery

Biology Faculty Articles

Comparative genomic analyses of primates offer considerable potential to define and understand the processes that mold, shape, and transform the human genome. However, primate taxonomy is both complex and controversial, with marginal unifying consensus of the evolutionary hierarchy of extant primate species. Here we provide new genomic sequence (~8 Mb) from 186 primates representing 61 (~90%) of the described genera, and we include outgroup species from Dermoptera, Scandentia, and Lagomorpha. The resultant phylogeny is exceptionally robust and illuminates events in primate evolution from ancient to recent, clarifying numerous taxonomic controversies and providing new data on human evolution. Ongoing speciation, reticulate …

From The Big Apple To Big Ben: An Insight Into Menu Labeling, Liza M. Escapa Lima

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Imagine looking around and recognizing that you are much heavier than your fellow peers.

College Of Osteopathic Medicine Program Overview, Nova Southeastern University

Health Professions Divisions Course Catalogs and Course Descriptions

No abstract provided.

Caribbean Corals In Crisis: Record Thermal Stress, Bleaching, And Mortality In 2005, C. Mark Eakin, Jessica A. Morgan, Scott F. Heron, Tyler B. Smith, Gang Liu, Lorenzo Alvarez-Filip, Bart J. Baca, Erich Bartels, Carolina Bastidas, Claude Bouchon, Marilyn Brandt, Andrew W. Bruckner, Lucy Bunkley-Williams, Andrew Cameron, Billy D. Causey, Mark Chiappone, Tyler R. L. Christensen, M. James C. Crabbe, Owen Day, Elena De La Guardia, Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, Daniel Diresta, Diego L. Gil-Agudelo, David S. Gilliam, Robert N. Ginsburg, Shannon Gore, Hector M. Guzman, James C. Hendee, Edwin A. Hernandez-Delgado, Ellen Husain, Christopher F. G. Jeffrey, Ross J. Jones, Eric Jordan-Dahlgren, Les S. Kaufman, David I. Kline, Philip A. Kramer, Judith C. Lang, Diego Lirman, Jennie Mallela, Carrie Manfrino, Jean-Philippe Marechal, Ken Marks, Jennifer Mihaly, W. Jeff Miller, Erich M. Mueller, Erinn M. Muller, Carlos A. Orozco Toro, Hazel A. Oxenford, Daniel Ponce-Taylor, Norman Quinn, Kim B. Ritchie, Sebastian Rodriguez, Alberto Rodriguez Ramirez, Sandra Romano, Jameal F. Samhouri, Juan A. Sanchez, George P. Schmahl, Burton V. Shank, William J. Skirving, Sascha C. C. Steiner, Estrella Villamizar, Sheila M. Walsh, Cory Walter, Ernesto Weil, Ernest H. Williams, Kimberly Woody Roberson, Yusri Yusuf

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Background: The rising temperature of the world’s oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the timing and location of researchers’ field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior …

Explorer, Fall 2010, College Of Dental Medicine

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Genetic Variants In Nuclear-Encoded Mitochondrial Genes Influence Aids Progression, Sher L. Hendrickson, J. A. Lautenberger, Leslie Wei Chinn, Michael Malasky, Lawrence Kingsley, James J. Goedert, Gregory D. Kirk, Edward Gomperts, Susan Buchbinder, Jennifer L. Troyer, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

Background: The human mitochondrial genome includes only 13 coding genes while nuclear-encoded genes account for 99% of proteins responsible for mitochondrial morphology, redox regulation, and energetics. Mitochondrial pathogenesis occurs in HIV patients and genetically, mitochondrial DNA haplogroups with presumed functional differences have been associated with differential AIDS progression.

Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we explore whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within 904 of the estimated 1,500 genes that specify nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins (NEMPs) influence AIDS progression among HIV-1 infected patients. We examined NEMPs for association with the rate of AIDS progression using genotypes generated by an Affymetrix 6.0 genotyping array of 1,455 …

"We're Locking The Door": Family Histories In A Sample Of Homeless Youth, Shahid Alvi, Hannah Scott, Wendy Stanyon

The Qualitative Report

It is well known that the pathways to homelessness for young people are embedded in often ongoing negative childhood experiences. Many of these experiences are rooted in multiple and intersecting problems including, but not limited to: family conflict, abuse, addictions, and mental health issues. The authors draw upon qualitative interviews conducted with 15 homeless male and female youth between the ages of 16 and 24 in a suburban area of Southern Ontario, Canada. We describe these young people's perceptions of family experiences and find support for Elliott Currie's (2004) proposition that a broader ethos of individualism and intolerant parenting underpins …

Genetic Polymorphisms Of Cyp2e1, Gstp1, Nqo1 And Mpo And The Risk Of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma In A Han Chinese Population Of Southern China, Xiuchan Guo, Yi Zeng, Hong Deng, Jian Liao, Yuming Zheng, Ji Li, Bailey Kessing, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

Background

Southern China is a major area for endemic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Genetic factors as well as environmental factors play a role in development of NPC. To investigate the roles of previously described carcinogen metabolism gene variants for NPC susceptibility in a Han Chinese population, we conducted a case-control study in two independent study population groups afflicted with NPC in Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces of southern China.

Methods

Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CYP2E1-rs2031920, CYP2E1-rs6413432, GSTP1-rs947894, MPO-rs2333227 and NQO1-rs1800566 were genotyped by PCR-based RFLP, sequencing and TaqMan assay in 358 NPC cases and 629 …

Diurnal Movements And Site Fidelity Of The Florida Manatee, Trichechus Manatus Latirostris, In Fort Lauderdale, Fl., Kym Walsh

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The diurnal movements of Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) in warmwater refugia are poorly understood and these may prove critical in accurately estimating populations of these animals. Previous studies indicate that manatee populations in such refuges in Tampa Bay, FL, peak mid-day and decline towards evening when the animals leave to forage. This trend suggests that variation in the timing of aerial manatee population surveys may hamper accurate estimation of the true population size. Aerial survey counts are known to underestimate population size, yet the extent of the underestimation may be greater than expected. In this study data …

Collective Human Rights: Public Health V. Structural And Ecological Violence (The Example Of Ecuador V. Colombia), Laura Westra

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

"Public health and safety are not simply the aggregate of each individual's interest in health and safety .... Public health and safety are community or group interests."

The Essential Role Of Social Work In Addressing Victims And Survivors Of Trafficking, Nancie Palmer

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

"All persons held as slaves ... are and henceforth free."' The orders from President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation first issued on September twenty-second in 1862 while limited in scope freeing certain slaves, served to ignite imagination and pride in those who now look back in history at this defining event.

Light Whole Genome Sequence For Snp Discovery Across Domestic Cat Breeds, James C. Mullikin, Nancy F. Hansen, Lei Shen, Heather Ebling, William F. Donahue, Wei Tao, David J. Saranga, Adrianne Brand, Marc J. Rubenfield, Alice C. Young, Pedro Cruz, Carlos Driscoll, Victor David, Samer W. K. Al-Murrani, Mary F. Locniskar, Mitchell S. Abrahamsen, Stephen J. O'Brien, Douglas R. Smith, Jeffrey A. Brockman

Biology Faculty Articles

Background

The domestic cat has offered enormous genomic potential in the veterinary description of over 250 hereditary disease models as well as the occurrence of several deadly feline viruses (feline leukemia virus -- FeLV, feline coronavirus -- FECV, feline immunodeficiency virus - FIV) that are homologues to human scourges (cancer, SARS, and AIDS respectively). However, to realize this bio-medical potential, a high density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) map is required in order to accomplish disease and phenotype association discovery.

Description

To remedy this, we generated 3,178,297 paired fosmid-end Sanger sequence reads from seven cats, and combined these data with the …

Common Genetic Variation And The Control Of Hiv-1 In Humans, Jacques Fellay, Dongliang Ge, Kevin V. Shianna, Sara Colombo, Bruno Ledergerber, Elizabeth T. Cirulli, Thomas J. Urban, Kunlin Zhang, Curtis Gumbs, Jason P. Smith, Antonella Castagna, Alessandro Cozzi-Lepri, Andrea De Luca, Philippa Easterbrook, Huldrych F. Gunthard, Simon Mallal, Cristina Mussini, Judith Dalmau, Javier Martinez-Picado, Jose M. Miro, Niels Obel, Steven M. Wolinsky, Jeremy J. Martinson, Roger Detels, Joseph Margolick, Lisa Jacobson, Patrick Descombes, Stylianos E. Antonarakis, Jacques S. Beckmann, Stephen J. O'Brien, Norman L. Letvin, Andrew J. Mcmichael, Barton F. Haynes, Mary Carrington, Sheng Feng, Amalio Telenti, David B. Goldstein, Niaid Center For Hiv/Aids Vaccine Immunology (Chavi)

Biology Faculty Articles

To extend the understanding of host genetic determinants of HIV-1 control, we performed a genome-wide association study in a cohort of 2,554 infected Caucasian subjects. The study was powered to detect common genetic variants explaining down to 1.3% of the variability in viral load at set point. We provide overwhelming confirmation of three associations previously reported in a genome-wide study and show further independent effects of both common and rare variants in the Major Histocompatibility Complex region (MHC). We also examined the polymorphisms reported in previous candidate gene studies and fail to support a role for any variant outside of …

Undergraduate Student Catalog Fall 2009, Nova Southeastern University

Undergraduate Programs Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Ccl3l1 And Hiv/Aids Susceptibility, Thomas J. Urban, Amy C. Weintrob, Jacques Fellay, Sara Colombo, Kevin V. Shianna, Curtis Gumbs, Margalida Rotger, Kimberly Pelak, Kristen K. Dang, Roger Detels, Jeremy J. Martinson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Norman L. Letvin, Andrew J. Mcmichael, Barton F. Haynes, Mary Carrington, Amalio Telenti, Nelson L. Michael, David B. Goldstein

Biology Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Genetics And Pathogenesis Of Feline Infectious Peritonitis Virus, Meredith Brown, Jennifer L. Troyer, Jill Pecon-Slattery, M. Roelke-Parker, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

Feline coronavirus (FCoV) is endemic in feral cat populations and cat colonies, frequently preceding outbreaks of fatal feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). FCoV exhibits 2 biotypes: the pathogenic disease and a benign infection with feline enteric coronavirus (FECV). Uncertainty remains regarding whether genetically distinctive avirulent and virulent forms coexist or whether an avirulent form mutates in vivo, causing FIP. To resolve these alternative hypotheses, we isolated viral sequences from FCoV-infected clinically healthy and sick cats (8 FIP cases and 48 FECV-asymptomatic animals); 735 sequences from 4 gene segments were generated and subjected to phylogenetic analyses. Viral sequences from healthy cats were …

Fall 2009 Nova Southeastern University Undergraduate Student Catalog, Nova Southeastern University

Undergraduate Programs Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

What Is A Fractal?, Bryan Candela

Undergraduate Student Symposium

What are fractals? Mathematicians like to make simple models to understand and advance the world around us. Common geometric objects, unfortunately, are often too simple to model the world we live in. A line as a model for a river, or a cone as a model for a mountain could be overly simplistic. Many objects in nature, such as broccoli, twigs and the venous and arterial system of a child's kidneys, exhibit a self-similar structure whose geometry can be modeled using "fractals." Fractals are much more than just pretty pictures. Fractals have many interesting and seemingly paradoxical properties. Such as …

Using Qualitative Research Methods To Guide Cultural Adaptations To Evidence-Based Practices For Effective Discipline: An Illustration, Diana Wile, Patricia Nabal

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Connections is a school-based, family focused intervention intended to enhance the family and school support available to ethnic minority and immigrant youth. In its development, we struggled with how to adapt evidence-based practices developed largely for European American families for the Latino, West Indian, and Haitian families served by the project. Ideally, cultural and contextual adaptations to EBPs are guided by research, but in our case, there was very little literature to guide our efforts. Furthermore, the immigrant population in South Florida continues to become more diverse, bringing with it ever-changing cultural customs and languages, which begs the question of …

The World Ages In Myth And Science, Trevor Borg

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The concept that time is cyclical in nature pervades the beliefs of most cultures worldwide. Even those cultures who believe there is a definite beginning and apocalyptic end to the universe believe in a rebirth of some sort. Many cultures that lack even this belief have some notion of the "fall of man." This notion of an idyllic "golden age" in the past usually holds that humans in the remote past lived longer and more peacefully. Through successive ages, each worse than the last, humans have sunk to their present state. Eventually, humans may rise again to attain the golden …

The Impact Of Emotional Stress On Raynaud’S Disease, Kara Faso

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Raynaud's Disease is a condition that causes blood vessels to constrict resulting indiscomfort in and discoloration of the hands and feet. Raynaud's Disease can occur inboth a primary and secondary form. The primary form is idiopathic while the secondaryform is comorbid with a second disease and is often classified as 'Raynaud's Phenomenon'. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) mediates the vasoconstrictive responses to cold exposure and also emotional stress. In fact, the symptoms of Raynaud's Disease are often exaggerated during periods of emotional stress. However, the impact of emotional stress on the development and instances of Raynaud's Disease is not well …

The Effects Of The Herbal Enzyme Bromelain Against Breast Cancer Cell Line Gi101a, Alexandra Paroulek

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Bromelain is a proteinase derived from the stem of pineapple and has been studied for its anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, and antimetastatic properties. Bromelain has also been known to significantly reduce local tumor growth and to raise the impaired cytotoxicity of monocytes in the immune system against tumor cells. The goal of this project is to advance the mechanistic knowledge of herbal remedies and to confirm the already known antimetastatic properties of Bromelain. The MTS assay method was used 24 hours after Bromelain treatment to detect the cell death. The data show that after 1 μM of Bromelain treatment, the population of …

The Effects Of Mood Manipulation On The Recall Of Neutral Stimulus, Cody Potter

Undergraduate Student Symposium

According to research by Clark and Teasdale (1985), an individual's mood has a strong influence on memory of past events. Other studies have found that the experimental manipulation of mood via hypnosis (Bower, Monteiro & Gilligan, 1987) and music (Kihlstrom & Miranda, 2005,) affects memory, such that positive mood is more conducive to memory than negative mood. In the present research, I propose to test the effect of an experimental mood manipulation on recall of a neutral stimulus. Thirty participants will read a short emotionally neutral passage, after which they will be randomly assigned to watch either a happy or …

The Effects Of Emotional Influences On Cognitive Processing, Kristen Dealmeida

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Although cognition and emotion are well researched topics, it is currently unclear how these two states influence each other. Here, we begin to untangle this complex relationship by assessing cognitive functioning while we simultaneously manipulate emotional state through the use of emotionally negative or neutral pictures. We hypothesize that the negative pictures will increase the demand on emotional resources, and as a consequence, limit cognitive processing. The electroencephalographic (EEG) event related brain potential (ERP) P3 component is used as the primary index of the influence of emotional processing on cognitive functioning. The results of this study will help to clarify …

The Effect Of Examination Stress On Tobacco Usage Amongst Undergraduate Smokers, Randy Denis, Lissette Cortes, Lauren Delucca, Giovanna Rivano

Undergraduate Student Symposium

Previous studies have revealed that tobacco contains chemicals known to reduce stress and anxiety (Kenney, 2006). Indeed, smokers claim to use tobacco as a tool to enhance mood and improve task performance (Croghan, 2006). This is especially true of college students who have the highest amount of tobacco usage and whose tobacco use increases during academic examination periods (Oaten & Cheng, 2005). In this study, we will test the relationship between examination stress and levels of tobacco use. Sixty undergraduate smokers will be tested twice, one month prior to class examination (baseline) and then twenty minutes prior to the final …