Digital Commons Network^™

Phlip-Fire, A Cell Insertion-Triggered Fluorescent Probe For Imaging Tumors Demonstrates Targeted Cargo Delivery In Vivo, Alexander G. Karabadzhak, Ming An, Lan Yao, Rachel Langenbacher, Anna Moshnikova, Ramona Cosmina Adochite, Oleg A. Andreev, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Donald M. Engelman

Physics Faculty Publications

We have developed an improved tool for imaging acidic tumors by reporting the insertion of a transmembrane helix: the pHLIP-Fluorescence Insertion REporter (pHLIP-FIRE). In acidic tissues, such as tumors, peptides in the pHLIP family insert as α-helices across cell membranes. The cell-inserting end of the pHLIP-FIRE peptide has a fluorophore-fluorophore or fluorophore-quencher pair. A pair member is released by disulfide cleavage after insertion into the reducing environment inside a cell, resulting in dequenching of the probe. Thus, the fluorescence of the pHLIP-FIRE probe is enhanced upon cell-insertion in the targeted tissues but is suppressed elsewhere due to quenching. Targeting studies …

Media Now: A Historical Review Of A Media Literacy Curriculum, Yonty Friesem, Diane Quaglia Beltran, Ed Crane

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The Elizabeth Thoman Archive at the Harrington School of Communication and Media, University of Rhode Island, has the last complete kit of one of the milestones in the early chronology of media literacy, the 1972 Media Now curriculum. This curriculum was the first of its kind, using self-contained lesson modules that were part of a larger series of kits, text references, and accompanying workbook. Its self-directed learning model gave students the opportunity to learn about the media, by doing, responding to, and reflecting on core concepts of media production. Using physical artifacts from the Media Now kit, historical documents, promotional …

Cinekyd: Exploring The Origins Of Youth Media Production, Renee Hobbs, David Cooper Moore

Journal of Media Literacy Education

No abstract provided.

Reproduction Of Endangered Big-Headed Turtle, Platysternon Megacephalum (Reptilia: Testudines: Platysternidae), Yik-Hei Sung, Billy C.H. Hau, Nancy E. Karraker

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

The big-headed turtle (Platysternon megacephalum) is heavily harvested to support tremendous demands from food and pet markets, and thus its ecology remains poorly understood. The presence of self-sustaining populations in Hong Kong (22°09’-22°37’N, 113°50’-114°30’E) provides important opportunities to advance our understanding of this species. We employed mark-recapture surveying, radio-tracking of two gravid females, and directed streamside searches to document the reproductive ecology of the species between September 2009 and June 2011 in Hong Kong. We found seven gravid females between 20-27 June 2010 and 2011, and which subsequently oviposited on average three eggs (range 2-8), with mean length …

Smarter Vaccine Design Will Circumvent Regulatory T Cell-Mediated Evasion In Chronic Hiv And Hcv Infection, Leonard Moise, Frances Terry, Andres H. Gutierrez, Ryan Tassone, Phyllis Losikoff, Stephen H. Gregory, Chris Bailey-Kellogg, William D. Martin, Anne S. De Groot

Institute for Immunology and Informatics Faculty Publications

Despite years of research, vaccines against HIV and HCV are not yet available, due largely to effective viral immunoevasive mechanisms. A novel escape mechanism observed in viruses that cause chronic infection is suppression of viral-specific effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by stimulating regulatory T cells (Tregs) educated on host sequences during tolerance induction. Viral class II MHC epitopes that share a T cell receptor (TCR)-face with host epitopes may activate Tregs capable of suppressing protective responses. We designed an immunoinformatic algorithm, JanusMatrix, to identify such epitopes and discovered that among human-host viruses, chronic viruses appear more human-like than viruses …

Journal Usage Report For Fiscal Year 2014, Michael A. Cerbo Ii

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Journal usage for the University Libraries are listed alphabetically by authority title. The report includes the usage statistics taken from each vendor and incorporated in Serials Solutions 360 Counter.

The report is broken down monthly for fiscal year 2014 and shows each journal's usage per month and the total usage for the year..

Electronic Journals Overlap Analysis 2014, Michael A. Cerbo Ii

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Overlap analysis for the University of Rhode Island's electronic journals are complied alphabetically by database name. The report shows the number or titles that are exclusive to that database as compiled by Serials Solutions.

The table located under the report gives a brief explanation of the headings used in the analysis.

The Glanville Fritillary Genome Retains An Ancient Karyotype And Reveals Selective Chromosomal Fusions In Lepidoptera, Virpi Ahola, Marian R. Goldsmith, Et Al

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Previous studies have reported that chromosome synteny in Lepidoptera has been well conserved, yet the number of haploid chromosomes varies widely from 5 to 223. Here we report the genome (393Mb) of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia; Nymphalidae), a widely recognized model species in metapopulation biology and eco-evolutionary research, which has the putative ancestral karyotype of n¼31. Using a phylogenetic analyses of Nymphalidae and of other Lepidoptera, combined with orthologue-level comparisons of chromosomes, we conclude that the ancestral lepidopteran karyotype has been n¼31 for at least 140My. We show that fusion chromosomes have retained the ancestral chromosome segments and …

Quantitative Factors Proposed To Influence The Prevalence Of Canine Tick-Borne Disease Agents In The United States, Roger W. Stich, Byron L. Blagburn, Dwight D. Bowman, Christopher Carpenter, M. Roberto Cortinas, Sidney A. Ewing, Desmond Foley, Janet E. Foley, Holly Gaff, Graham J. Hickling, R. Ryan Lash, Susan E. Little, Catherine Lund, Robert Lund, Thomas N. Mather, Glen R. Needham, William L. Nicholson, Julia Sharp, Andrea Varela-Stokes, Dongmei Wang

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

The Companion Animal Parasite Council hosted a meeting to identify quantifiable factors that can influence the prevalence of tick-borne disease agents among dogs in North America. This report summarizes the approach used and the factors identified for further analysis with mathematical models of canine exposure to tick-borne pathogens.

Comparison Of Survival Patterns Of Northern And Southern Genotypes Of The North American Tick Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) Under Northern And Southern Conditions, Howard S. Ginsberg, Eric L. Rulison, Alexandra Azevedo, Genevieve C. Pang, Isis M. Kuczaj, Jean I. Tsao, Roger A. Lebrun

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

Background: Several investigators have reported genetic differences between northern and southern populations of Ixodes scapularis in North America, as well as differences in patterns of disease transmission. Ecological and behavioral correlates of these genetic differences, which might have implications for disease transmission, have not been reported. We compared survival of northern with that of southern genotypes under both northern and southern environmental conditions in laboratory trials.

Methods: Subadult I. scapularis from laboratory colonies that originated from adults collected from deer from several sites in the northeastern, north central, and southern U.S. were exposed to controlled conditions in environmental …

Serials Solutions Click-Through Statistics By Provider And Database 2013-2014, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the total number of database and journal-level clicks, by provider and database, of Serials Solutions tools at the University of Rhode Island Libraries by month for 2013-2014. Clicks may have originated from the A-Z full text electronic journal list (at http://zu4tq4pb5v.search.serialssolutions.com/), from OpenURL links ("360 Link"), or the 856 fields of Serials Solutions-generated MARC records ("360 MARC Updates").

Serials Solutions Subject Search Report 2013-2014, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the total number of Serials Solutions subject searches at the University of Rhode Island Libraries by month for 2013-2014. Shows how many times the A-Z full text electronic journal list (at http://zu4tq4pb5v.search.serialssolutions.com/) was browsed by specific subjects.

Transcriptome Of American Oysters, Crassostrea Virginica, In Response To Bacterial Challenge: Insights Into Potential Mechanisms Of Disease Resistance, Ian C. Mcdowell, Chamilani Nikapitiya, Derek Aguiar, Christopher E. Lane, Sorin Istrail, Marta Gomez-Chiarri

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The American oyster Crassostrea virginica, an ecologically and economically important estuarine organism, can suffer high mortalities in areas in the Northeast United States due to Roseovarius Oyster Disease (ROD), caused by the gram-negative bacterial pathogen Roseovarius crassostreae. The goals of this research were to provide insights into: 1) the responses of American oysters to R. crassostreae, and 2) potential mechanisms of resistance or susceptibility to ROD. The responses of oysters to bacterial challenge were characterized by exposing oysters from ROD-resistant and susceptible families to R. crassostreae, followed by high-throughput sequencing of cDNA samples from various timepoints after …

Dendritic Cell-Mediated, Dna-Based Vaccination Against Hepatitis C Induces The Multi-Epitope-Specific Response Of Humanized, Hla Transgenic Mice, Sasmita Mishra, Bianca J. Lavelle, Joe Desrosiers, Matt T. Ardito, Frances Terry, William D. Martin, Anne S. De Groot, Stephen H. Gregory

Institute for Immunology and Informatics Faculty Publications

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the etiologic agent of chronic liver disease, hepatitis C. Spontaneous resolution of viral infection is associated with vigorous HLA class I- and class II-restricted T cell responses to multiple viral epitopes. Unfortunately, only 20% of patients clear infection spontaneously, most develop chronic disease and require therapy. The response to chemotherapy varies, however; therapeutic vaccination offers an additional treatment strategy. To date, therapeutic vaccines have demonstrated only limited success. Vector-mediated vaccination with multi-epitope-expressing DNA constructs alone or in combination with chemotherapy offers an additional treatment approach. Gene sequences encoding validated HLA-A2- and HLA-DRB1-restricted epitopes were synthesized …

Targeting Breast Tumors With Ph (Low) Insertion Peptides, Ramona Cosmina Adochite, Anna Moshnikova, Sean D. Carlin, Renato A. Guerrieri, Oleg A. Andreev, Jason S. Lewis, Yana K. Reshetnyak

Physics Faculty Publications

Extracellular acidity is associated with tumor progression. Elevated glycolysis and acidosis promote the appearance of aggressive malignant cells with enhanced multidrug resistance. Thus, targeting of tumor acidity can open new avenues in diagnosis and treatment of aggressive tumors and targeting metastatic cancers cells within a tumor. pH (low) insertion peptides (pHLIPs) belong to the class of pH-sensitive agents capable of delivering imaging and/or therapeutic agents to cancer cells within tumors. Here, we investigated targeting of highly metastatic 4T1 mammary tumors and spontaneous breast tumors in FVB/N-Tg (MMTV-PyMT)634Mul transgenic mice with three fluorescently labeled pHLIP variants including well-characterized WT-pHLIP and, recently …

Complementary Therapies As Stress-Reduction In Children With Mental-Illness, Meghan M. Neubauer

Senior Honors Projects

Meghan Neubauer

Abstract: Complementary Therapies as Stress-Reduction in Children with Mental Illness

Mental Illness is being diagnosed at a faster rate and in younger populations than in the past. While children with Mental Illness face a number of physical, social, and emotional concerns, how can we balance a child’s physical, social, emotional, and developmental needs while supporting mental wellness? The National Institute for Mental Health identifies current treatment for children with mental illness to include psychotherapy and medications. Complementary therapies can help support children’s therapy by reducing stress in children with mental illness. If we can reduce stress in children …

Deep-Sea Octopus (Graneledone Boreopacifica) Conducts The Longest-Known Egg-Brooding Period Of Any Animal, Bruce Robison, Brad A. Seibel, Jeffrey Drazen

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Octopuses typically have a single reproductive period and then they die (semelparity). Once a clutch of fertilized eggs has been produced, the female protects and tends them until they hatch. In most shallow-water species this period of parental care can last from 1 to 3 months, but very little is known about the brooding of deep-living species. In the cold, dark waters of the deep ocean, metabolic processes are often slower than their counterparts at shallower depths. Extrapolations from data on shallow-water octopus species suggest that lower temperatures would prolong embryonic development periods. Likewise, laboratory studies have linked lower temperatures …

The Marine Microbial Eukaryote Transcriptome Sequencing Project (Mmetsp): Illuminating The Functional Diversity Of Eukaryotic Life In The Oceans Through Transcriptome Sequencing, Patrick J. Keeling, Bethany D. Jenkins, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Et Al

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Funding: This project was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF; Grants GBMF2637 and GBMF3111) to the National Center for Genome Resources (NCGR) and the National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota (NCMA). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Authors apart from NCGR and NCMA affiliates, FB and HMW (who performed 18S rRNA gene analyses), are community members who submitted samples for sequencing, including members of the advisory committee, but did not receive GBMF funds directly in support of these efforts.

A History Of The College Of Business Administration Of The University Of Rhode Island, 1923-2012, Richard Vangermeersch, Brian Stack

A History of the College of Business Administration

This book by Professor Emeritus Richard Vangermeersch chronicles the history of the University of Rhode Island's College of Business Administration. It includes written accounts of alumni interviews, as well as images and excerpts from archival sources. The years from 1992-2012 were compiled by Brian Stack, a URI graduate. In 2014, the University Libraries digitized the book, and enhanced it with high-quality digitized photos from the original yearbooks and other sources. It is published here on the occasion of the College's centennial.

Introduced And Native Congeners Use Different Resource Allocation Strategies To Maintain Performance During Infection, Courtney A.C. Coon, Amber J. Brace, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Marshall D. Mccue, Lynn B. Martin

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Hosts can manage parasitic infections using an array of tactics, which are likely to vary contingent on coevolutionary history between the host and the parasite. Here we asked whether coping ability of congeners that differ in host-parasite coevolutionary history differed in response to experimental infections with a coccidian parasite. House sparrows (Passer domesticus) and gray-headed sparrows (Passer griseus) are sympatric and ecologically similar, but house sparrows are recent colonizers of Kenya, the site of our comparison, whereas gray-headed sparrows are native. We evaluated three variables as barometers of infection coping ability: vertical flight, pectoral muscle size, …

Activity Of Daptomycin Or Linezolid In Combination With Rifampin Or Gentamicin Against Biofilm-Forming Enterococcus Faecalis Or E. Faecium In An In Vitro Pharmacodynamic Model Using Simulated Endocardial Vegetations And An In Vivo Survival Assay Using Galleria Mellonella Larvae, Megan K. Luther, Arvanitis, Eleftherios Mylonakis, Kerry L. Laplante

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Enterococci are the third most frequent cause of infective endocarditis. A high-inoculum stationary-phase in vitro pharmacodynamic model with simulated endocardial vegetations was used to simulate the human pharmacokinetics of daptomycin at 6 or 10 mg/kg of body weight/day or linezolid at 600 mg every 12 h (q12h), alone or in combination with gentamicin at 1.3 mg/kg q12h or rifampin at 300 mg q8h or 900 mg q24h. Biofilm-forming, vancomycin-susceptible Enterococcus faecalis and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (vancomycin-resistant enterococcus [VRE]) strains were tested. At 24, 48, and 72 h, all daptomycin-containing regimens demonstrated significantly more activity (decline in CFU/g) than any linezolid-containing …

Effect Of Long-Term Dietary Arginyl-Fructose (Af) On Hyperglycemia And Hba1c In Diabetic Db/Db Mice, Kwang-Hyoung Lee, Kyoung-Soo Ha, Sung-Hoon Jo, Chong M. Lee, Young-Cheul Kim, Kwang-Hoe Chung, Young-In Kwon

Nutrition Faculty Publications

We have previously reported that Amadori compounds exert anti-diabetic effects by lowering sucrose-induced hyperglycemia in normal Sprague-Dawley rats. In the present study we extended our recent findings to evaluate whether α-glucosidase inhibitor arginyl-fructose (AF) lowers blood glucose level in diabetic db/db mice, a genetic model for type 2 diabetes. The db/db mice were randomly assigned to high-carbohydrate diets (66.1% corn starch) with and without AF (4% in the diet) for 6 weeks. Changes in body weight, blood glucose level, and food intake were measured daily for 42 days. Dietary supplementation of AF resulted in a significant …

A Lack Of Parasitic Reduction In The Obligate Parasitic Green Alga Helicosporidium, Jean-François Pombert, Nicolas Achille Blouin, Christopher E. Lane, Drion Boucias, Patrick J. Keeling

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The evolution of an obligate parasitic lifestyle is often associated with genomic reduction, in particular with the loss of functions associated with increasing host-dependence. This is evident in many parasites, but perhaps the most extreme transitions are from free-living autotrophic algae to obligate parasites. The best-known examples of this are the apicomplexans such as Plasmodium, which evolved from algae with red secondary plastids. However, an analogous transition also took place independently in the Helicosporidia, where an obligate parasite of animals with an intracellular infection mechanism evolved from algae with green primary plastids. We characterised the nuclear genome of Helicosporidium …

Report Of The Nominating Committee May 8, 2014, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Committee Reports and Appendices

No abstract provided.

Zutrition: Analyzing And Evaluating Diets Fed To Captive Mammals At Capron Park Zoo, Briell M. Dzierga

Senior Honors Projects

Zoos provide both experiential and educational opportunities for the general public to learn about animals found in a variety of habitats around the world. A successful zoo must provide a safe and enjoyable environment for the visitors, in addition to the species living within the enclosures. Animal husbandry and welfare are crucial aspects to which close attention must be paid, and zoos have a responsibility to attempt to approximate the captive species’ natural habitats and life histories. An essential part of maintaining a captive zoo animal’s health and wellbeing is providing the animal with an appropriate diet. In addition to …

Annual Report Honors Program And Visiting Scholars Committee 2013-2014, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Committee Reports and Appendices

No abstract provided.

Macroinvertebrate Assemblages And Dynamic Soil Properties: Influence Of Dredging, Bianca N. Ross

Senior Honors Projects

Bianca Peixoto

Senior Honors Project

Macroinvertebrate Assemblages and Dynamic Soil Properties: Influence of Dredging: Abstract

The habitat characterization of subaqueous soils is important for inventorying natural resources and monitoring changes in ecosystem processes. This project aimed to characterize benthic communities within coastal ponds of southern Rhode Island, and develop an understanding of how these communities change due to habitat alterations. I explored the distribution of benthic biology among a range of estuarine subaqueous soils and the effect of anthropogenic disturbance (dredging) on these distributions. The term “benthic” refers to the collection of organisms living in the substrate at the interface …

Ban The Bag: Narragansett, Emma E. Meyer

Senior Honors Projects

Rhode Island, the smallest state in the country at 37 miles wide and 48 miles long, rightfully earns its nickname “The Ocean State” when considering the 400 miles of shoreline constituting Narragansett Bay. Despite the obvious necessities of sustaining a healthy bay within a state known for its beaches, at present day one would be challenged to walk along the Narragansett Sea Wall without spotting a plastic bag floating in or around the neighboring coastline. Not only are these bags an eye soar and a nuisance to Narragansett – a community whose financial prosperity is highly reliant upon its summer …

Global Malnutrition: Challenges Associated With Current Intervention Strategies And Prevention Initiatives, Duncan Stiller

Senior Honors Projects

Few, if any, tribulations in the field of public health have managed to transcend the epidemiological transition from acute to chronic disease as malnutrition has. Officially, malnutrition is a category of diseases that includes micronutrient deficiency, under-nutrition (calories/protein), as well as excessive nutrition. The World Food Program estimates that 842 million people worldwide do not have access to enough food, approximately 146 million of which are children. The most serious types of hunger are known as Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), with 20 million and 35 million respective cases each year occurring in children less than …

Curricular Affairs Committee Report #514, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Committee Reports and Appendices

No abstract provided.