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Red Pepper Seed Water Extract Inhibits Preadipocyte Differentiation And Induces Mature Adipocyte Apoptosis In 3t3-L1 Cells, Hwa-Jin Kim, Mi-Kyoung You, Young-Hyun Lee, Hyun-Jung Kim, Deepak Adhikari, Hyeon-A Kim

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Reducing the number of adipocytes by inducing apoptosis of mature adipocytes as well as suppressing differentiation of preadipocytes plays an important role in preventing obesity. This study examines the anti-adipogenic and pro-apoptotic effect of red pepper seed water extract (RPS) prepared at 4°C (RPS4) in 3T3-L1 cells.

MATERIALS/METHODS: Effect of RPS4 or its fractions on lipid accumulation was determined in 3T3-L1 cells using oil red O (ORO) staining. The expressions of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and adipogenic associated proteins [peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ), CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins α (C/EBP α), sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS), and …

Need (More Than) Two To Tango: Multiple Tools To Adapt To Changes In Oxygen Availability, Deborah Fratantonio, Francesco Cimino, Antonio Speciale, Fabio Virgili

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Oxygen is a fundamental element for the life of a large number of living organisms allowing an efficient energetic utilization of substrates. Organisms relying on oxygen evolved complex structures for oxygen delivery and biochemical machineries dealing with its safe utilization and the ability to overcome the potentially harmful consequences of changes in oxygen availability. On fact, cells composing complex Eukaryotic organisms are set to live within an optimum narrow range of oxygen, quite specific for each cell type. Minute modifications of oxygen availability, either positive or negative, induce the expression of specific genes, the major actors of this responses being …

Development And Validation Of A Simple Convenience Store Shelf Audit, Tanya M. Horacek, Elif Dede Yildirim, Erin Kelly, Adrienne A. White, Karla P. Shelnutt, Kristin Riggsbee, Melissa D. Olfert, Jesse Stabile Morrell, Anne E. Matthews, Terezie T. Mosby, Tandalayo Kidd, Kendra Kattelmann, Geoffrey Greene, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Sarah E. Colby, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Onikia Brown

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background This paper describes the development, reliability, and convergent validity of a practical tool—the Convenience Store Supportive Healthy Environment for Life-Promoting Food (SHELF) Audit. Methods Audit items included: a variety of fresh, processed, and frozen fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy products; healthy staples and frozen meals; healthy food incentive programs; items sold in check-out areas; portion/cup sizes; and pricing. Each audit item was scored using a five-point semantic-differential scale (1 = provides little or no support for healthful foods to 5 = provides high support for healthful foods). Convergent validity was examined by comparing the SHELF audit to Ghirardelli et …

Exploring H.Pylori Seropositivity As A Risk Factor For Type 2 Diabetes, Virginia Chaidez, Yumou Qiu

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: In the US, the percentage of adults with diagnosed diabetes are higher in members of racial and ethnic minority groups compared to non-Latino Whites. Understanding why such disparities exist has been less forthcoming.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2000 cross-sectional data.

Results: H.pylori seropositivity was highest in Mexican Americans (43.7%), lowest in non- Hispanic Whites (18.1%). Diabetes was highest in non-Hispanic Blacks (5.9%); lowest in non-Hispanic whites (4.3%). H.pylori seropositivity was associated with greater likelihood of having type 2 diabetes (1.927, 95% CI 1.142, 3.257) compared to H.pylori negative …

Effects Of Environment On Depressive Symptoms On Chinese Left-Behind Children, Lanyan Ding, Eric S. Buhs

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Estimates indicate that about 70 million children in China have been left behind in their hometowns by one or both parents as their parents migrate to other places for work opportunities. However, the potential impact of parental migration on the emotional well-being of left-behind children is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine depression levels in Chinese left-behind children and to identify potential risk factors contributing to depressive symptoms in this population. Using a nationally-representative, stratified sample from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database (3019 children, ages 10-15), an HLM model was applied at 1) the …

Provitamin A Biofortification Of Cassava Enhances Shelf Life But Reduces Dry Matter Content Of Storage Roots Due To Altered Carbon Partitioning Into Starch, Getu Beyene, Felix R. Solomon, Raj D. Chauhan, Eliana Gaitán-Solis, Narayanan Narayanan, Jackson Gehan, Dimuth Siritunga, Robin L. Stevens, John Jifon, Joyce Van Eck, Edward Linsler, Malia Gehan, Muhammad Ilyas, Martin Fregene, Richard T. Sayre, Paul Anderson, Nigel Taylor, Edgar B. Cahoon

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Storage roots of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), a major subsistence crop of sub-Saharan Africa, are calorie rich but deficient in essential micronutrients, including provitamin A β-carotene. In this study, β-carotene concentrations in cassava storage roots were enhanced by coexpression of transgenes for deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) and bacterial phytoene synthase (crtB), mediated by the patatin-type 1 promoter. Storage roots harvested from field-grown plants accumulated carotenoids to ≤50 lg/g DW, 15- to 20-fold increases relative to roots from nontransgenic plants. Approximately 85%–90% of these carotenoids accumulated as all-trans-β-carotene, the most nutritionally efficacious carotenoid. β-Carotene-accumulating storage roots displayed delayed onset of postharvest …

A Gut Pathobiont Synergizes With The Microbiota To Instigate Inflammatory Disease Marked By Immunoreactivity Against Other Symbionts But Not Itself, João Carlos Gomes-Neto, Hatem Kittana, Sara Mantz, Rafael R. Segura Munoz, Robert J. Schmaltz, Laure B. Bindels, Jennifer L. Clarke, Jesse M. Hostetter, Andrew K. Benson, Jens Walter, Amanda Ramer-Tait

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are likely driven by aberrant immune responses directed against the resident microbiota. Although IBD is commonly associated with a dysbiotic microbiota enriched in putative pathobionts, the etiological agents of IBD remain unknown. Using a pathobiont-induced intestinal inflammation model and a defined bacterial community, we provide new insights into the immune-microbiota interactions during disease. In this model system, the pathobiont Helicobacter bilis instigates disease following sub-pathological dextran sulfate sodium treatment. We show that H. bilis causes mild inflammation in mono-associated mice, but severe disease in the presence of a microbiota, demonstrating synergy between the pathobiont and microbiota …

Expression And Role Of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone 2 And Its Receptor In Mammals, Amy Desaulniers, Rebecca A. Cederberg, Clay A. Lents, Brett R. White

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) and its receptor (GnRHR1) drive mammalian reproduction via regulation of the gonadotropins. Yet, a second form of GnRH (GnRH2) and its receptor (GnRHR2) also exist in mammals. GnRH2 has been completely conserved throughout 500 million years of evolution, signifying high selection pressure and a critical biological role. However, the GnRH2 gene is absent (e.g., rat) or inactivated (e.g., cow and sheep) in some species but retained in others (e.g., human, horse, and pig). Likewise, many species (e.g., human, chimpanzee, cow, and sheep) retain the GnRHR2 gene but lack the appropriate coding sequence to produce a full-length …

Impacts Of Active School Design On Schooltime Sedentary Behavior And Physical Activity: A Pilot Natural Experiment, Jeri Brittin, Leah Frerichs, John R. Sirard, Nancy M. Wells, Beth M. Myers, Jeanette Garcia, Dina Sorensen, Matthew J. Trowbridge, Terry Huang

Interior Design Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Background Children spend a significant portion of their days in sedentary behavior (SB) and on average fail to engage in adequate physical activity (PA). The school built environment may influence SB and PA, but research is limited. This natural experiment evaluated whether an elementary school designed to promote movement impacted students' school-time SB and PA.

Methods Accelerometers measured SB and PA at pre and post time-points in an intervention group who moved to the new school (n = 21) and in a comparison group experiencing no school environmental change (n = 20). Difference-in-difference (DD) analysis examined SB and PA outcomes …

Summer Habitat Selection Of The Lower Colorado River Valley Population Of Greater Sandhill Cranes, Kammie L. Kruse, Daniel P. Collins, Courtenay M. Conring, Blake A. Grisham, Warren C. Conway, Jeffrey M. Knetter

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Identifying habitat selection and use is important to understand in wildlife management because it informs habitat manipulations, conservation efforts, and species distribution. Habitat selection by sandhill cranes (Antigone canadensis) has been studied primarily on overwintering areas and a few summering locations. Summer habitat selection by the Lower Colorado River Valley Population of greater sandhill cranes (A. c. tabida) in the Intermountain West is not widely known, but has been identified as an information need by many wildlife management agencies. We captured and attached satellite platform transmitter terminals to 21 adult sandhill cranes on Cibola and Sonny Bono Salton Sea National …

Analyzing Communities In Black America: How Urban And Regional Planners Can Plan For Prosperous Black Communities, Tatiana Height

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

The black community in the United States has evolved out of a unique set of circumstances which have led to few black neighborhoods being able to prosper. Considering the negative influences on the black community such as wide-spread discrimination, mass incarceration, concentrations of poverty, and poor housing quality this community requires unique considerations to prosper. Given that only 10% of urban and regional planners are black, this research is meant to be a guide for urban and regional planners at large to plan in such a way that allows black communities to thrive. The results of this research indicate that …

Openebgm: An R Implementation Of The Gamma-Poisson Shrinker Data Mining Model, Travis Canida, John Ihrie

The R Journal

We introduce the R package openEBGM, an implementation of the Gamma-Poisson Shrinker (GPS) model for identifying unexpected counts in large contingency tables using an empirical Bayes approach. The Empirical Bayes Geometric Mean (EBGM) and quantile scores are obtained from the GPS model estimates. openEBGM provides for the evaluation of counts using a number of different methods, including the model-based disproportionality scores, the relative reporting ratio (RR), and the proportional reporting ratio (PRR). Data squashing for computational efficiency and stratification for confounding variable adjustment are included. Application to adverse event detection is discussed.

Furniture For Quantitative Scientists, Tyson S. Barrett, Emily Brignone

The R Journal

A basic understanding of the distributions of study variables and the relationships among them is essential to inform statistical modeling. This understanding is achieved through the computation of summary statistics and exploratory data analysis. Unfortunately, this step tends to be under-emphasized in the research process, in part because of the often tedious nature of thorough exploratory data analysis. The table1() function in the furniture package streamlines much of the exploratory data analysis process, making the computation and communication of summary statistics simple and beautiful while offering significant time-savings to the researcher

Zika Virus Encoding Nonglycosylated Envelope Protein Is Attenuated And Defective In Neuroinvasion, Arun S. Annamalai, Aryamav Pattnaik, Bikash R. Sahoo, Ezhumalai Muthukrishnan, Sathish Kumar Natarajan, David Steffen, Hiep Vu, Gustavo Delho, Fernando Osorio, Thomas M. Petro, Shi-Hua Xiang, Asit K. Pattnaik

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus responsible for sporadic outbreaks of mild and febrile illness in Africa and Asia, reemerged in the last decade causing serious human diseases, including microcephaly, congenital malformations, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Although genomic and phylogenetic analyses suggest that genetic evolution may have led to the enhanced virulence of ZIKV, experimental evidence supporting the role of specific genetic changes in virulence is currently lacking. One sequence motif, VNDT, containing an N-linked glycosylation site in the envelope (E) protein, is polymorphic; it is absent in many of the African isolates but present in all isolates from the recent …

Horticulture For Pollinator Conservation, Carter M. Westerhold

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Pollinators worldwide are declining. Consequently, the agricultural and ecological services these insects provide are in danger of being lost. Land use intensification, via urbanization, has greatly influenced this decline in pollinators. Luckily, through targeted horticultural practices, stable populations of pollinators can be sustained within urban areas. The horticultural practices of planting diverse floral resources and managing pollinator habitat in urban areas can sustain these populations. Two studies were conducted with the intent to identify horticultural knowledge gaps that could be reduced to aid in pollinator conservation efforts. First, a study to compare Nebraska native and non-native ornamental plants was conducted. …

Whole Grain Processing And Effects On Carbohydrate Digestion And Fermentation, Sandrayee Brahma

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Whole grains are a major source of dietary fibers in the human diet that provide specific nutrients to the gut microbiota and thereby plays a major role in modulating microbiota composition and increasing diversity of the gut ecosystem. A common approach of consuming whole grains is in the form of ready-to-eat extruded breakfast cereals. Studies reported herein established that extrusion conditions not only affected the physicochemical properties but also in vitro starch digestibility, β-glucan extractability and in vitro fermentation characteristics of whole grain oats. Moderate screw speed (300 rpm) led to higher slowly digestible starch (SDS) with an accompanying decrease …

Radiofrequency Processing For Inactivation Of Salmonella Spp. And Enterococcus Faecium Nrrl B-2354 In Whole Black Peppercorn And Ground Black Pepper, Xinyao Wei

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Black pepper has been implicated in several foodborne illness outbreaks and food product recalls due to Salmonella contamination. Conventional decontamination methods for black pepper are challenged by harmful residues or quality deterioration. Radiofrequency (RF) heating reduces the come-up time which allows to design a high-temperature short-time processing to inactivate Salmonella with minimal deterioration in product quality. The objectives of this study were to investigate RF heating for inactivation of Salmonella in whole black peppercorn and ground black pepper samples, evaluate Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 as a surrogate for Salmonella, and assess quality deterioration during RF heating of whole black peppercorn …

Increasing Cis-Lycopene Content Of The Oleoresin From Tomato Processing Byproducts Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide And Assessment Of Its Bioaccessibility, Lisbeth Vallecilla Yepez

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In recent years, health- and wellness-promoting foods have been one of the major focus of consumers; therefore, the food industry is increasing its efforts in developing these food products. Tomatoes, tomato-food products and their byproducts have gained special attention in virtue of the carotenoids-rich source that they represent, especially lycopene (~90%). The role of lycopene in human diet has been highlighted as a result of its direct relationship with the decrease of chronic diseases. Nevertheless, lycopene is water-insoluble making its extraction simple with organic-toxic solvents; in addition, lycopene degrades easily with light, time, and storage. Lycopene exist in nature mostly …

Thermodynamic Limitations To Agricultural Productivity And Food Security: Livestock In Sub-Saharan Africa, Calvin Harman

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

By 2050, to feed a nearly tripling and more urbanized population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will require significant increases in crop productivity throughout the region’s agricultural systems, if a greater reliance on imports is to be avoided. Increases in crop yields to maximum potential productivity (closure of crop yield gaps) can produce more calories and protein, but may be insufficient to sustain the burgeoning human population according to recent analysis (van Ittersum et al., 2016). In this thesis, alternative management options (i.e. crop allocation and crop substitutions) are found to increase total energy productivity and the thermodynamic efficiency of food …

Cultivation Of Chlorella Sorokiniana Using Beef Feedlot Runoff Holding Pond Effluent, Mitchell Klaus Goedeken

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A study was conducted to test the suitability of utilizing beef feedlot runoff holding pond effluent for cultivating algae. The algae strain used, Chlorella sorokiniana, was previously identified as a potential energy feedstock for cattle. The previous research was initiated in pursuit of a goal to develop a cycle of utilizing nutrients from beef manure to cultivate algae and then utilizing dewatered algae as a feed supplement for beef cattle.

Runoff holding pond effluent samples were collected from commercial beef production operations in Nebraska during spring 2016. Equal portions of samples from each cooperating farm were composited and then aliquoted …

Assessing Relationships Between Angling Effort And Larval Trematodes In Small Bluegill, Alexis Park

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

I wanted to determine if catch-and-release angling increased larval trematodes in small (50-160 mm) bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). I used angling effort as a proxy for amount of catch-and-release angling. I assumed bluegill assessed, due to their size and age, experienced catch-and-release events. I assessed larval trematode intensity, black spot (Crassiphiala bulboglossa), and white grub (Posthodiplostomum minimum centrarchi), in 750 bluegill. The first objective was to quantify the association between angling effort and reservoir area. Angling effort and reservoir area were positively correlated. The second objective was to determine if angling effort, reservoir area, bluegill …

Effects Of Vagotomy And Fenugreek On Hyperlipidemia And Insulin Resistance, Rituraj Khound

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Hyperlipidemia is the impairment of lipid metabolism marked by abnormally high levels of lipid in circulation. This has been implicated in a number of metabolic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Insulin resistance is the impairment of insulin action, which leads to several diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. New clinical and therapeutic approaches are warranted for the prevention and treatment of hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance. In our study, we investigated the mechanism underlying the effect of complete disruption of the sub-diaphragmatic vagus nerve (vagotomy) on hyperlipidemia and insulin sensitivity. We observed that vagotomy …

Zika Virus Encoding Nonglycosylated Envelope Protein Is Attenuated And Defective In Neuroinvasion, Arun Saravanakumar Annamalai, Aryamav Pattnaik, Bikash R. Sahoo, Ezhumalai Muthukrishnan, Sathish Kumar Natarajan, David Steffen, Hiep Vu, Gustavo A. Delhon, Fernando Osorio, Thomas M. Petro, Shi-Hua Xiang, Asit K. Pattnaik

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

ABSTRACT Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus responsible for sporadic outbreaks of mild and febrile illness in Africa and Asia, reemerged in the last decade causing serious human diseases, including microcephaly, congenital malformations, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Although genomic and phylogenetic analyses suggest that genetic evolution may have led to the enhanced virulence of ZIKV, experimental evidence supporting the role of specific genetic changes in virulence is currently lacking. One sequence motif, VNDT, containing an N-linked glycosylation site in the envelope (E) protein, is polymorphic; it is absent in many of the African isolates but present in all isolates from the …

Small Rna-Dependent Gene Silencing In The Green Alga Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii: Functions And Mechanisms, Eun Jeong Kim

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Small RNAs (sRNAs), ~20-30 nucleotides in length, are non-coding RNAs that play essential roles in the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. They lead to inactivation of cognate sequences at the post-transcriptional level via a variety of mechanisms involved in translation inhibition and/or RNA degradation.

In the Chlorophyta Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, however, the molecular machinery responsible for sRNA-mediated translational repression remains unclear. To address the mechanisms of translation inhibition by sRNA, we have isolated an RNAi defective mutant (Mut26), which contains a deletion of the gene encoding the homolog of CCR4 in Chlamydomonas. We investigated the expression …

Management Strategies For Beef Heifer Development, Shelby Ann Springman

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Four experiments were conducted to determine the impact of development systems, trace mineral source, and trace mineral supplementation on beef heifers. Experiment 1 utilized 300 Angus-based, spring-born heifers to evaluate postweaning heifer development systems on gain, reproductive performance, and feed efficiency as a pregnant heifer. Heifers were blocked by BW and randomly assigned to graze corn residue, upland range, or were fed 1 of 2 diets in a drylot differing in energy levels: high or low. Heifer development system did not impact AI or final pregnancy rates. Development cost per pregnant heifer was not different among treatments. Furthermore, pregnant heifer …

Methane From Lactating Dairy Cattle: Studies For Mitigation, Diurnal Variation, And Role In Energy Metabolism, Jared Vern Judy

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Reducing methane production in dairy cattle has received an increased interest due to environmental concerns associated with its potency as a greenhouse gas. Methane represents lost energy in cattle and reduction may increase animal efficiency and productivity. Experiment 1 evaluated strategies of mitigating methane production in lactating dairy cattle with inclusion of dried distillers grains and solubles (DDGS), DDGS with added corn oil, and DDGS with added calcium sulfate and effects on energy and nitrogen balance. Inclusion of DDGS, corn oil, and calcium sulfate, increased DMI and milk yield. Methane production was reduced with addition of corn oil …

Evaluation Of Corn Condensed Distillers Solubles In Beef Cattle Diets And Grazing Double-Cropped Forages Following Corn Harvest, Benjamin H. Hansen

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Corn condensed distillers solubles (CDS) is a protein and energy dense by-product from dry-milled production of ethanol. Recent oil extraction has posed modifications to the nutrient profile of CDS, suggesting that de-oiled CDS needs to be re-evaluated in beef cattle diets. Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of CDS in high-concentrate diets, forage-based diets, as well as evaluate the effects of CDS on diet digestibility and rumen fermentation parameters in forage-based diets. Feeding CDS in high-concentrate diets up to 20% of the diet DM or in combination with wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) improved performance and resulted …

How Livestock Production In Eastern Nebraska May Affect Nitrate Concentrations In Platte River, Yuzhe Luo

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The Platte River is one of the largest rivers in Nebraska and serves as a valuable water source to cities along its watershed. Water is essential for both human life and social and economic development. The human body cannot survive without water for more than 3 days, and many industries require water to function. At a regional scale, the total amount of water is relatively constant, which means if some water sources were contaminated there will be less water available to use.

Monitoring Energy Expenditure Using A Multi-Sensor Device—Applications And Limitations Of The Sensewear Armband In Athletic Populations, Karsten Koehler, Clemens Drenowatz

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

In order to monitor their energy requirements, athletes may desire to assess energy expenditure (EE) during training and competition. Recent technological advances and increased customer interest have created a market for wearable devices that measure physiological variables and bodily movement over prolonged time periods and convert this information into EE data. This mini-review provides an overview of the applicability of the SenseWear armband (SWA), which combines accelerometry with measurements of heat production and skin conductivity, to measure total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and its components such as exercise energy expenditure (ExEE) in athletic populations. While the SWA has been shown …

Nebline, November/December 2017

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: 4-H’ers Grow Into True Leaders through Service

Food & Health

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events