Digital Commons Network^™

Density And Diversity Of Penaeid Shrimp And Fish Species In Near-Shore Seagrass Beds Of Northern Biscayne Bay, Florida (Usa), Robin Cascioli

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Seagrass beds serve critical functions in coastal Florida ecosystems. The beds serve as nursery habitat for many juvenile reef fish species and provide protection for many types of benthic organisms found in Biscayne Bay. They help stabilize sediment that would otherwise increase turbidity around coral reefs, filter the water of contaminants, and help support an entire food web. Three species of seagrass were found at the study sites in northern Biscayne Bay: Thalassia testudinum, Halodule wrightii, and Syringodium filiforme. This study focused on understanding the organism habitat interaction by determining the species diversity, seasonal densities, and the …

The Role Of Gene Duplication And Unconstrained Selective Pressures In The Melanopsin Gene Family Evolution And Vertebrate Circadian Rhythm Regulation, Rui Borges, Warren E. Johnson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Vitor Vasconcelos, Agostinho Antunes

Biology Faculty Articles

Melanopsin is a photosensitive cell protein involved in regulating circadian rhythms and other non-visual responses to light. The melanopsin gene family is represented by two paralogs,OPN4x and OPN4m, which originated through gene duplication early in the emergence of vertebrates. Here we studied the melanopsin gene family using an integrated gene/protein evolutionary approach, which revealed that the rhabdomeric urbilaterian ancestor had the same amino acid patterns (DRY motif and the Y and E conterions) as extant vertebrate species, suggesting that the mechanism for light detection and regulation is similar to rhabdomeric rhodopsins. Both OPN4m and OPN4x paralogs are found …

Peroxiredoxin Ii Regulates Effector And Secondary Memory Cd8+ T Cell Responses, Ryan D. Michalek, Katie E. Crump, Ashley E. Weant, Elizabeth M. Hiltbold, Daniel G. Juneau, Eun-Yi Moon, Dae-Yeul Yu, Leslie B. Poole, Jason M. Grayson

Biology Faculty Articles

Reactive oxygen intermediates (ROI) generated in response to receptor stimulation play an important role in cellular responses. However, the effect of increased H₂O₂on an antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell response was unknown. Following T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation, the expression and oxidation of peroxiredoxin II (PrdxII), a critical antioxidant enzyme, increased in CD8⁺ T cells. Deletion of PrdxII increased ROI, S phase entry, division, and death during in vitro division. During primary acute viral and bacterial infection, the number of effector CD8⁺ T cells in PrdxII-deficient mice was increased, while the number of memory …

How The Leopard Hides Its Spots: Asip Mutations And Melanism In Wild Cats, Alexsandra Schneider, Victor A. David, Warren E. Johnson, Stephen J. O'Brien, Gregory S. Barsh, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond, Eduardo Eizirik

Biology Faculty Articles

The occurrence of melanism (darkening of the background coloration) is documented in 13 felid species, in some cases reaching high frequencies at the population level. Recent analyses have indicated that it arose multiple times in the Felidae, with three different species exhibiting unique mutations associated with this trait. The causative mutations in the remaining species have so far not been identified, precluding a broader assessment of the evolutionary dynamics of melanism in the Felidae. Among these, the leopard (Panthera pardus) is a particularly important target for research, given the iconic status of the ‘black panther’ and the extremely …

The Principal Genetic Determinants For Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma In China Involve The Hla Class I Antigen Recognition Groove, Minzhong Tang, J. A. Lautenberger, Xiaojiang Gao, Efe Sezgin, Sher L. Hendrickson, Jennifer L. Troyer, Victor A. David, Li Guan, Carl Mcintosh, Xiuchan Guo, Yuming Zheng, Jian Liao, Hong Deng, Michael Malasky, Bailey Kessing, Cheryl Winkler, Mary Carrington, Guy De The, Yi Zeng, Stephen J. O'Brien

Biology Faculty Articles

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an epithelial malignancy facilitated by Epstein-Barr Virus infection. Here we resolve the major genetic influences for NPC incidence using a genome-wide association study (GWAS), independent cohort replication, and high-resolution molecular HLA class I gene typing including 4,055 study participants from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong province of southern China. We detect and replicate strong association signals involving SNPs, HLA alleles, and amino acid (aa) variants across the major histocompatibility complex-HLA-A, HLA –B, and HLA -C class I genes (P_{HLA-A-aa-site-62}= 7.4×10⁻²⁹; P _{HLA-B-aa-site-116}= 6.5×10⁻¹⁹; P _{HLA-C-aa-site-156} = 6.8×10 …

Global Trophic Position Comparison Of Two Dominant Mesopelagic Fish Families (Myctophidae, Stomiidae) Using Amino Acid Nitrogen Isotopic Analyses, C. Anela Choy, Peter C. Davison, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Adrian Flynn, Elizabeth J. Gier, Joel C. Hoffman, Jennifer P. Mcclain-Counts, Todd W. Miller, Brian N. Popp, Steve W. Ross, Tracey Sutton

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The δ15N values of organisms are commonly used across diverse ecosystems to estimate trophic position and infer trophic connectivity. We undertook a novel cross-basin comparison of trophic position in two ecologically well-characterized and different groups of dominant mid-water fish consumers using amino acid nitrogen isotope compositions. We found that trophic positions estimated from the δ15N values of individual amino acids are nearly uniform within both families of these fishes across five global regions despite great variability in bulk tissue δ15N values. Regional differences in the δ15N values of phenylalanine confirmed that bulk tissue δ15N values reflect region-specific water mass biogeochemistry …

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 14, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 13, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Flexural Rigidity Measurements Of Biopolymers Using Gliding Assays, Douglas S. Martin, Lu Yu, Brian L. Van Hoozen Jr.

Chemistry and Physics Faculty Articles

Microtubules are cytoskeletal polymers which play a role in cell division, cell mechanics, and intracellular transport. Each of these functions requires microtubules that are stiff and straight enough to span a significant fraction of the cell diameter. As a result, the microtubule persistence length, a measure of stiffness, has been actively studied for the past two decades. Nonetheless, open questions remain: short microtubules are 10-50 times less stiff than long microtubules, and even long microtubules have measured persistence lengths which vary by an order of magnitude.

Here, we present a method to measure microtubule persistence length. The method is based …

Microbial Effects On The Production And Transformation Of Surfactants Within The Microlayer And Subsurface Waters In Application To Remote Sensing Techniques, Katie E. Vella

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The sea surface microlayer is a millimeter-scale interfacial layer between the atmosphere and the ocean. A number of studies have suggested that there is a unique ecosystem for marine bacteria in the sea surface microlayer, but little information exists on the microbial community composition of this ecosystem due to sampling complexities. In this work, we present an improved method to sample and compare the bacterial diversity of the sea surface microlayer with that of subsurface water at the same site. Bacterial samples were collected from the sea surface microlayer with a sampling method, which minimized sample contamination from the research …

Capturing Fleeting Intermediates In A Catalytic C-H Amination Reaction Cycle, Richard H. Perry, Thomas J. Cahill Iii, Jennifer L. Roizen, Justin Du Bois, Richard N. Zare

Chemistry and Physics Faculty Articles

We have applied an ambient ionization technique, desorption electrospray ionization MS, to identify transient reactive species of an archetypal C–H amination reaction catalyzed by a dirhodium tetracarboxylate complex. Using this analytical method, we have detected previously proposed short-lived reaction intermediates, including two nitrenoid complexes that differ in oxidation state. Our findings suggest that an Rh-nitrene oxidant can react with hydrocarbon substrates through a hydrogen atom abstraction pathway and raise the intriguing possibility that two catalytic C–H amination pathways may be operative in a typical bulk solution reaction. As highlighted by these results, desorption electrospray ionization MS should have broad applicability …

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 12, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Fostering Change In Organizational Culture Using A Critical Ethnographic Approach, Rosemary A. Brander, Margo Patterson, Yolande E. Chan

The Qualitative Report

Healthcare organizations are striving to meet legislated and public expectations to include patients as equal partners in their care, and research is needed to guide successful implementation and outcomes. The current research examined the meaning of customer service as related to the culture of care relationships within a Canadian hospital in southeastern Ontario. The goals were to better understand these expectations, develop shared meanings and influence cultural change from the perspective of the organization’s employees about their interactions with patients, families and work colleagues, and to generate ideas and groundswell for change. An ethnographic approach within the critical research paradigm …

Air-Sea Interface In Hurricane Conditions, Alexander Soloviev, A. Fujimura, Silvia Matt

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Improving hurricane prediction models requires better understanding of complex processes taking place at the air-sea interface at high wind speeds. The change of the air-sea interaction regime in hurricane conditions has been linked to the mechanism of direct disruption of the air-sea interface by pressure fluctuations working against the surface tension force. This can be achieved through the Kelvin-Helmholtz type instability. In order to investigate this mechanism, we have conducted a series of 3D numerical experiments using a volume of fluid multiphase model. The experiments were initialized with either a flat interface or short wavelets and wind stress applied at …

Functional And Structural Divergence Of An Unusual Ltr Retrotransposon Family In Plants, Dongying Gao, Jose Jimenez-Lopez, Aiko Iwata, Navdeep Gill, Scott Jackson

Biology Faculty Articles

Retrotransposons with long terminal repeats (LTRs) more than 3 kb are not frequent in most eukaryotic genomes. Rice LTR retrotransposon, Retrosat2, has LTRs greater than 3.2 kb and two open reading frames (ORF): ORF1 encodes enzymes for retrotransposition whereas no function can be assigned to ORF0 as it is not found in any other organism. A variety of experimental and in silico approaches were used to determine the origin of Retrosat2 and putative function of ORF0. Our data show that not only is Retrosat2 highly abundant in the Oryza genus, it may yet be active in rice. Homologs of Retrosat2 …

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 11, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 10, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 9, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 8, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 7, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Inkling (Review), Amanda Chiplock

HPD Library Faculty/Staff Articles

Inkling strives to build digital textbooks that streamline learning and create an engaging experience for both teachers and students, while keeping prices lower than traditional textbooks by partnering with major publishers such as McGraw-Hill, Wolters Kluwer (LWW), Thieme, Pearson, Elsevier, and more.

Light And Vision In The Deep-Sea Benthos: Ii. Vision In Deep-Sea Crustaceans, Tamara M. Frank, Sönke Johnsen, Thomas W. Cronin

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Using new collecting techniques with the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible, eight species of deep-sea benthic crustaceans were collected with intact visual systems. Their spectral sensitivities and temporal resolutions were determined shipboard using electroretinography. Useable spectral sensitivity data were obtained from seven species, and in the dark-adapted eyes, the spectral sensitivity peaks were in the blue region of the visible spectrum, ranging from 470 to 497 nm. Under blue chromatic adaptation, a secondary sensitivity peak in the UV portion of the spectrum appeared for two species of anomuran crabs:Eumunida picta (λ_max 363 nm) and Gastroptychus spinifer (λ_max 383 nm). Wavelength-specific …

Light And Vision In The Deep-Sea Benthos: I. Bioluminescence At 500-1000 M Depth In The Bahamian Islands, Sönke Johnsen, Tamara M. Frank, Steven H.D. Haddock, Edith A. Widder, Charles G. Messing

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Bioluminescence is common and well studied in mesopelagic species. However, the extent of bioluminescence in benthic sites of similar depths is far less studied, although the relatively large eyes of benthic fish, crustaceans and cephalopods at bathyal depths suggest the presence of significant biogenic light. Using the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible, we collected numerous species of cnidarians, echinoderms, crustaceans, cephalopods and sponges, as well as one annelid from three sites in the northern Bahamas (500–1000 m depth). Using mechanical and chemical stimulation, we tested the collected species for light emission, and photographed and measured the spectra of the emitted light. In addition, …

Development And Characterization Of 11 Novel Microsatellite Loci For The Roundscale Spearfish Tetrapturus Georgii And Their Cross-Species Amplification Among Other Istiophorid Species, Andrea M. Bernard, Kevin A. Feldheim, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Eleven novel polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed and characterized for the recently validated roundscale spearfish Tetrapturus georgii. Characterization of these markers, based on 35 roundscale spearfish from the western North Atlantic, revealed two to 21 alleles per locus with an average expected heterozygosity (HE) of 0·09–0·94, and all loci conformed to Hardy–Weinberg expectations. Cross-amplification of these 11 loci against all other eight known istiophorid species indicates promising prospects for the utility of these markers for istiophorids in general.

Stem Cell Based Tissue Engineering And Regenerative Medicine: A Review Focusing On Adult Stem Cells, Jordan Greenberg, Veronica R. Fortino, Daniel Pelaez, Herman S. Cheung

Biology Faculty Articles

Tissue engineering has emerged as a field that attempts to harness the bodies' own developmental and repair features to treat diseases and illnesses. Many of these illnesses are caused by necrosis or loss of functionality of complete organs or specific cell types. Early discoveries in embryonic stem cells fueled a wave of research that led to claims about possibly regenerating nonfunctioning organs. Although we are still far away from being able to grow functional organs in a Petri dish, the field continues to progress forward, and new clinical trials have been approved for using both embryonic and adult stem cell …

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 6, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 5, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 4, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

2012 Nova Southeastern University Convocation Program, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Convocation Programs

No abstract provided.

The Current Volume 23 : Issue 3, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.