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Insulin Resistance, Ceramide Accumulation, And Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress In Human Chronic Alcohol-Related Liver Disease, Lisa Longato, Kelsey Ripp, Mashiko Setshedi, Miroslav Dostalek, Fatemeh Akhlaghi, Mark Branda, Jack R. Wands, Suzanne M. De La Monte

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background. Chronic alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) is mediated by insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, oxidative stress, and DNA damage. Recent studies suggest that dysregulated lipid metabolism with accumulation of ceramides, together with ER stress potentiate hepatic insulin resistance and may cause steatohepatitis to progress. Objective. We examined the degree to which hepatic insulin resistance in advanced human ALD is correlated with ER stress, dysregulated lipid metabolism, and ceramide accumulation. Methods. We assessed the integrity of insulin signaling through the Akt pathway and measured proceramide and ER stress gene expression, ER stress signaling proteins, and ceramide profiles in …

The Streptomycin-Treated Mouse Intestine Selects Escherichia Coli Envz Missense Mutants That Interact With Dense And Diverse Intestinal Microbiota, Mary P. Leatham-Jensen, Jakob Frimodt-Møller, Jimmy Adediran, Matthew E. Mokszycki, Megan E. Banner, Joyce E. Caughron, Karen A. Krogfelt, Tyrrell Conway, Paul S. Cohen

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Previously, we reported that the streptomycin-treated mouse intestine selected nonmotile Escherichia coli MG1655 flhDC deletion mutants of E. coli MG1655 with improved colonizing ability that grow 15% faster in vitro in mouse cecal mucus and 15 to 30% faster on sugars present in mucus (M. P. Leatham et al., Infect. Immun. 73:8039–8049, 2005). Here, we report that the 10 to 20% remaining motile E. coli MG1655 are envZ missense mutants that are also better colonizers of the mouse intestine than E. coli MG1655. One of the flhDC mutants, E. coli MG1655 ΔflhD, and one of the envZ missense …

Urinformed Spring 2012, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Integration Of Genome-Wide Expression And Methylation Data: Relevance To Aging And Alzheimer's Disease, Hany Alashwal, Remi Dosunmu, Nasser H. Zawia

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The progressive and latent nature of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) indicates the role of epigenetic modification in disease susceptibility. Previous studies from our lab show that developmental exposure to lead (Pb) perturbs the expression of AD-associated proteins. In order to better understand the role of DNA methylation as an epigenetic modifications mechanism in gene expression regulation, an integrative study of global gene expression and methylation profiles is essential. Given the different formats of gene expression and methylation data, combining these data for integrative analysis can be challenging. In this paper we describe a method to integrate and …

Developmental Exposure To Lead (Pb) Alters The Expression Of The Human Tau Gene And Its Products In A Transgenic Animal Model, M. Dash, A. Eid, G. Subaiea, J. Chang, R. Deeb, A. Masoud, William E. Renehan, A. Adem, Nasser H. Zawia

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Tauopathies are a class of neurodegenerative diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of the tau protein in the human brain. The best known of these illnesses is Alzheimer’s disease (AD); a disease where the microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) becomes hyperphosphorylated (lowering its binding affinity to microtubules) and aggregates within neurons in the form of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). In this paper we examine whether environmental factors play a significant role in tau pathogenesis. Our studies were conducted in a double mutant mouse model that expressed the human tau gene and lacked the gene for murine tau. The human tau mouse …

Genome-Wide Expression And Methylation Profiling In The Aged Rodent Brain Due To Early-Life Pb Exposure And Its Relevance To Aging, Remi Dosunmu, Hany Alashwal, Nasser H. Zawia

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, we assessed global gene expression patterns in adolescent mice exposed to lead (Pb) as infants and their aged siblings to identify reprogrammed genes. Global expression on postnatal day 20 and 700 was analyzed and genes that were down- and up-regulated (≥2 fold) were identified, clustered and analyzed for their relationship to DNA methylation. About 150 genes were differentially expressed in old age. In normal aging, we observed an up-regulation of genes related to the immune response, metal-binding, metabolism and transcription/transduction coupling. Prior exposure to Pb revealed a repression in these genes suggesting that disturbances in developmental stages …

Hepatic Immunosuppressive Effects Of Systemically Administered Novel Dextran–Methylprednisolone Prodrugs With Peptide Linkers In Rats, Imam H. Shaik, Hitesh K. Agarwal, Keykavous Parang, Reza Mehvar

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The hepatic immunosuppressive activities of two novel dextran prodrugs of methylprednisolone (MP) containing one (DMP1) or five (DMP5) amino acids as linkers were studied in rats. At various times (0–2 weeks) after intravenous administration of single 5 mg/kg (MP equivalent) doses of each prodrug or MP succinate (MPS), livers were isolated and immunologically stimulated ex vivo with lipopolysaccharide. The concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α in the outlet perfusate were then quantitated to assess immune response. Additionally, the concentrations of DMP1, DMP5, and/or MP were measured in the liver. MPS, DMP5, or DMP1 injections caused a maximum of 48.9%, 63.5%, …

Combination Of Trail And Actinomycin D Liposomes Enhances Antitumor Effect In Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Liangran Guo, Li Fan, Jinfeng Ren, Zhiqing Pang, Yulong Ren, Jingwei Li, Ziyi Wen, Yong Qian, Lin Zhang, Hang Ma, Xinguo Jiang

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The intractability of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to multimodality treatments plays a large part in its extremely poor prognosis. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a promising cytokine for selective induction of apoptosis in cancer cells; however, many NSCLC cell lines are resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. The therapeutic effect can be restored by treatments combining TRAIL with chemotherapeutic agents. Actinomycin D (ActD) can sensitize NSCLC cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis by upregulation of death receptor 4 (DR4) or 5 (DR5). However, the use of ActD has significant drawbacks due to the side effects that result from its nonspecific biodistribution …

Modeling Range Dynamics In Heterogeneous Landscapes: Invasion Of The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid In Eastern North America, Matthew C. Fitzpatrick, Evan L. Preisser, Adam Porter, Joseph Elkinton, Aaron M. Ellison

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Range expansion by native and exotic species will continue to be a major component of global change. Anticipating the potential effects of changes in species distributions requires models capable of forecasting population spread across realistic, heterogeneous landscapes and subject to spatiotemporal variability in habitat suitability. Several decades of theory and model development, as well as increased computing power and availability of fine‐resolution GIS data, now make such models possible. Still unanswered, however, is the question of how well this new generation of dynamic models will anticipate range expansion. Here we develop a spatially explicit stochastic model that combines dynamic dispersal …

Temperature Compensation Of Aerobic Capacity And Performance In The Antarctic Pteropod, Clione Antarctica, Compared With Its Northern Congener, C. Limacina, Agnieszka K. Dymowska, Thomas Manfredi, Joshua J. C. Rosenthal, Brad A. Seibel

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In ectotherms living in cold waters, locomotory performance is constrained by a slower generation of the ATP that is needed to fuel muscle contraction. Both polar and temperate pteropods of the genus Clione, however, are able to swim continuously by flapping their parapodia (wings) at comparable frequencies at their respective habitat temperatures. Therefore, we expected polar species to have increased aerobic capacities in their wing muscles when measured at common temperatures. We investigated muscle and mitochondrial ultrastructure of Clione antarctica from the Southern Ocean (−1.8°C) and populations of a sister species, Clione limacina, from the Arctic (−0.5 to …

Feeding In The Dark: Lateral-Line-Mediated Prey Detection In The Peacock Cichlid Aulonocara Stuartgranti, Margot A. B. Schwalbe, Daniel K. Bassett, Jacqueline F. Webb

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The cranial lateral line canal system of teleost fishes is morphologically diverse and is characterized by four patterns. One of these, widened lateral line canals, has evolved convergently in a wide range of teleosts, including the Lake Malawi peacock cichlids (Aulonocara), and has been attributed to its role in prey detection. The ability to study Aulonocara in the laboratory provides an opportunity to test the hypothesis that their reported ability to feed on invertebrate prey living in sandy substrates in their natural habitat is the result of lateral-line-mediated prey detection. The goal of this study was to determine …

Allocation Of Endogenous And Dietary Protein In The Reconstitution Of The Gastrointestinal Tract In Migratory Blackcaps At Stopover Sites, Agusti Muñoz-Garcia, Sarah Aamidor, Marshall D. Mccue, Scott R. Mcwilliams, Berry Pinshow

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

During migratory flight, the mass of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and its associated organs in small birds decreases in size by as much as 40%, compared with the preflight condition because of the catabolism of protein. At stopover sites, birds need 2–3 days to rebuild their GIT so that they can restore body mass and fat reserves to continue migration. The source of protein used to rebuild the GIT may be exogenous (from food ingested) or endogenous (reallocated from other organs) or both. Because the relative contribution of these sources to rebuild the GIT of migratory birds is not yet …

Out Of Florida: Mtdna Reveals Patterns Of Migration And Pleistocene Range Expansion Of The Green Anole Lizard (Anolis Carolinensis), Shane C. Campbell-Staton, Rachel M. Goodman, Niclas Backström, Scott V. Edwards, Jonathan B. Losos, Jason J. Kolbe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Anolis carolinensis is an emerging model species and the sole member of its genus native to the United States. Considerable morphological and physiological variation has been described in the species, and the recent sequencing of its genome makes it an attractive system for studies of genome variation. To inform future studies of molecular and phenotypic variation within A. carolinensis, a rigorous account of intraspecific population structure and relatedness is needed. Here, we present the most extensive phylogeographic study of this species to date. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequence data support the previous hypothesis of a western Cuban origin …

Rethinking Placental Transfusion And Cord Clamping Issues, Judith S. Mercer, Debra A. Erickson-Owens

College of Nursing Faculty Publications

A brief delay in clamping the umbilical cord results in a placental transfusion that supplies the infant with a major source of iron during the first few months of life. Cord circulation continues for several minutes after birth and placental transfusion results in approximately 30% more blood volume. Gravity influences the amount of placental transfusion that an infant receives. Placing the infant skin-to-skin requires a longer delay of cord clamping (DCC) than current recommendations. Uterotonics are not contraindicated with DCC. Cord milking is a safe alternative to DCC when one must cut the cord prematurely. Recent randomized controlled trials demonstrate …

Aboard Gso: A Newsletter For Alumni And Friends Of The University Of Rhode Island’S Graduate School Of Oceanography For Fall 2012, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

The Fall 2012 (Volume 10, Issue 1) issue of Aboard GSO: A Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, a periodical about GSO events, faculty research and essays by alumni.

Efficient 18F-Labeling Of Large 37-Amino-Acid Phlip Peptide Analogues And Their Biological Evaluation, Pierre Daumar, Cindy A. Wanger-Baumann, Nagavarakishore Pillarsetty, Laura Fabrizio, Sean D. Carlin, Oleg A. Andreev, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Jason S. Lewis

Physics Faculty Publications

Solid tumors often develop an acidic microenvironment, which plays a critical role in tumor progression and is associated with increased level of invasion and metastasis. The 37-residue pH (low) insertion peptide (pHLIP) is under study as an imaging platform because of its unique ability to insert into cell membranes at a low extracellular pH (pH_e < 7). Labeling of peptides with [¹⁸F]-fluorine is usually performed via prosthetic groups using chemoselective coupling reactions. One of the most successful procedures involves the alkyne–azide copper(I) catalyzed cycloaddition (CuAAC). However, none of the known “click” methods have been applied to peptides as large as pHLIP. We designed a …

Ballroom Music Spillover Into A Beluga Whale Aquarium Exhibit, Peter M. Scheifele, John Greer Clark, Kristine Sonstrom, Huikwan Kim, Gopu R. Potty, James H. Miller, Eric Gaglione

Ocean Engineering Faculty Publications

It is not uncommon for modern aquaria to be built with special entertainment areas. There are no known measurements of sound spillover from such entertainment areas into underwater animal exhibits. Entertainment organizations typically prefer to play music for events at 95 and 100 dBA in a ballroom at Georgia Aquarium. Concern over the potential effects of the music and noise on animals in adjacent exhibits inspired an initial project to monitor and compare sound levels in the adjacent underwater exhibits against the typical in-air sound levels of the ballroom. Measured underwater noise levels were compared to modeled levels based on …

Severe Diabetes And Leptin Resistance Cause Differential Hepatic And Renal Transporter Expression In Mice, Vijay More, Xia Wen, Paul E. Thomas, Lauren M. Aleksunes, Angela L. Slitt

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Type-2 Diabetes is a major health concern in the United States and other Westernized countries, with prevalence increasing yearly. There is a need to better model and predict adverse drug reactions, drug-induced liver injury, and drug efficacy in this population. Because transporters significantly contribute to drug clearance and disposition, it is highly significant to determine whether a severe diabetes phenotype alters drug transporter expression, and whether diabetic mouse models have altered disposition of acetaminophen (APAP) metabolites.

Results:

Transporter mRNA and protein expression were quantified in livers and kidneys of adult C57BKS and db/db mice, which have a …

Age-Related Inducibility Of Carboxylesterases By The Antiepileptic Agent Phenobarbital And Implications In Drug Metabolism And Lipid Accumulation, Da Xiao, Yi-Tzai Chen, Dongfang Yang, Bingfang Yan

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Carboxylesterases (CES) constitute a class of hydrolytic enzymes that play critical roles in drug metabolism and lipid mobilization. Previous studies with a large number of human liver samples have suggested that the inducibility of carboxylesterases is inversely related with age. To directly test this possibility, neonatal (10 days of age) and adult mice were treated with the antiepileptic agent phenobarbital. The expression and hydrolytic activity were determined on six major carboxylesterases including ces1d, the ortholog of human CES1. Without exception, all carboxylesterases tested were induced to a greater extent in neonatal than adult mice. The induction was detected at mRNA, …

Hormonal And Pheromonal Effects Of 20-Hydroxyecdysone In The American Lobster, Homarus Americanus, Michael W. Sipala

Open Access Dissertations

20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), the active principle of the molting hormone in the American lobster has significant effects on the animals’ agonistic behavior and has been shown to influence the outcome of agonistic interactions. Animals injected with 20E are significantly more aggressive than saline-injected control animals, and premolt animals, which have high circulating levels of 20E in their hemolymph, are more successful than intermolt animals in agonistic interactions. 20E has been shown to act as an internal modulator of neuromuscular physiology: there is an increase in the amplitude of excitatory post-synaptic potentials in the claw opener muscle and a decrease of them …

Uri Undergraduate And Graduate Course Catalog 2012-2013, University Of Rhode Island

URI Course Catalogs Archive

This is a downloadable PDF version of the University of Rhode Island course catalog.

Caught Between A Rock And A Hard Place: The Title Ix Generation, Mathematics, And The State Of Feminist Quantitative Social Science Research, Jill R. Williams

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In this essay I reflect on the fortieth anniversary of the Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act of 1972 (Title IX), which prohibited discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs in the United States and inspired educational programs that encourage girls to pursue math and science careers. I argue that despite the feminist underpinnings of Title IX, in recent years feminism has discouraged the advancement of women in math and science by excluding quantitative research from its publications, quantitative researchers from women's and gender studies programs, and quantitative training from its curriculum. I examine my own experience of …

Characterization Of Maize Sex-Determination Gene Orthologs In Rice (Oryza Sativa L. Japonica Cv. Nipponbare), John Ventura

Open Access Master's Theses

Ensuring food security will be a crucial problem in the coming decades. Heterosis, the phenomenon where hybrid progeny exhibit increased vigor in comparison to their inbred parents, has been exploited to increase agricultural yield in maize (Zea mays) for decades due to its monoecious reproductive state. Unisexuality in maize is genetically controlled due to the concerted action of the Tassel seed1 (ts1), Tassel seed2 (ts2), and Silkless1 (sk1) genes. Orthologs of the Tassel seed genes and sk1 can be found in the rice genome even though rice maintains an ancestral cosexual floral …

Quantifying The Effects Of Tidal Restrictions And Plant Invasions On Resident Fish In Atlantic Coast Salt Marshes, Kimberly Lellis Dibble

Open Access Dissertations

This research investigates the combined effects of tidal restriction and Phragmites australis invasion on habitat quality for marsh fauna across a large geographic area while evaluating the reversal of those effects through ecological restoration. We used meta-analytic tools and published literature to examine differences in the quantity, condition, and diversity of fauna in invaded and restored marshes relative to uninvaded (reference) marshes in the mid-Atlantic and in New England. In addition, we collected data for two projects designed to move beyond the collection of community data (e.g., density, richness, as included in the meta-analysis) to assess the functional response of …

Brain Penetration Of Tolfenamic Acid And Its Ability To Enhance The Cognitive Functions And To Lower Amyloid Pathology In Animal Models Of Alzheimer's Disease, Gehad Mohammed Subaiea

Open Access Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that is responsible for up to 80% of all dementia cases. Hallmarks of AD include the presence of beta-amyloid (Aβ) deposits and twisted strands of abnormal hyperphosphorylated tau forming neurofibrillary tangles (NFT_s), which ultimately lead to damage and death of nerve cells in the brain. Symptoms of the disease include impairments in cognitive and functional abilities that gradually worsen as the disease progress. Finally, in advanced AD, patients become unable to perform basic daily activities, become more susceptible to infections, and ultimately die. Only five drugs are FDA-approved for use in …

Dominant Eukaryotic Export Production During Ocean Anoxic Events Reflects The Importance Of Recycled Nh4+, Meytal B. Higgins, Rebecca S. Robinson, Jonathan M. Husson, Susan J. Carter, Ann Pearson

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The Mesozoic is marked by several widespread occurrences of intense organic matter burial. Sediments from the largest of these events, the Cenomanian–Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE 2) are characterized by lower nitrogen isotope ratios than are seen in modern marine settings. It has remained a challenge to describe a nitrogen cycle that could achieve such isotopic depletion. Here we use nitrogen-isotope ratios of porphyrins to show that eukaryotes contributed the quantitative majority of export production throughout OAE 2, whereas cyanobacteria contributed on average approximately 20%. Such data require that any explanation for the OAE nitrogen cycle and its isotopic values …

Vibrio Parahaemolyticus In Rhode Island Coastal Ponds And The Estuarine Environment Of Narragansett Bay, Annie M. Cox, Marta Gomez-Chiarri

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Quantification of the abundance of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in water and oysters from Rhode Island showed the presence of environmental strains and low levels of potentially pathogenic strains when water temperatures were ≥18°C, with peak levels in late July to early August. A higher abundance of the trh gene than of the tdh gene was observed.

Toward A Noninvasive Automatic Seizure Control System In Rats With Transcranial Focal Stimulations Via Tripolar Concentric Ring Electrodes, Oleksandr Makeyev, Xiang Liu, Hiram Luna-Munguía, Garbiela Rogel-Salazar, Samuel Mucio-Ramirez, Yuhong Liu, Yan (Lindsay) Sun, Steven M. Kay, Walter G. Besio

Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Epilepsy affects approximately 1% of the world population. Antiepileptic drugs are ineffective in approximately 30% of patients and have side effects. We are developing a noninvasive, or minimally invasive, transcranial focal electrical stimulation system through our novel tripolar concentric ring electrodes to control seizures. In this study, we demonstrate feasibility of an automatic seizure control system in rats with pentylenetetrazole-induced seizures through single and multiple stimulations. These stimulations are automatically triggered by a real-time electrographic seizure activity detector based on a disjunctive combination of detections from a cumulative sum algorithm and a generalized likelihood ratio test. An average seizure onset …

Ambient Habitat Noise And Vibration At The Georgia Aquarium, P. M. Scheifele, M. T. Johnson, L. Kretschmer, J. G. Clark, D. Kemper, Gopu R. Potty

Ocean Engineering Faculty Publications

Underwater and in-air noise evaluations were completed in performance pool systems at Georgia Aquarium under normal operating conditions and with performance sound tracks playing. Ambient sound pressure levels at in-pool locations, with corresponding vibration measures from life support system (LSS) pumps, were measured in operating configurations, from shut down to full operation. Results indicate noise levels in the low frequency ranges below 100 Hz were the highest produced by the LSS relative to species hearing thresholds. The LSS had an acoustic impact of about 10 dB at frequencies up to 700 Hz, with a 20 dB re 1 μPa impact …

Nrf2 As A Nutrient Sensitive Transcription Factor, Supriya Kulkarni

Open Access Dissertations

Obesity and diabetes are the most prevalent metabolic disorders. It is estimated that more than 86% of US adults would be overweight or obese and more than 50% obese by the year 2030. Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) has also been referred to as hepatic manifestation of insulin resistance. NAFLD or steatosis is defined as lipid accumulation exceeding 5% by weight in hepatocytes in the absence of substantial alcohol intake. The prevalence of NAFLD is estimated to be between 17% and 40% of the world population, known to afflict obese and normal weight persons and children as well. Epidemiological …