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Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For March 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For July 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For May 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For June 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For August 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For October 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For September 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For December 2017, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

College Of Health Sciences Annual Report For Fy2017, Uri College Of Health Sciences

College of Health Sciences Publications

Annual report for the College of Health Sciences of the University of Rhode Island for the year 2016-2017.

Includes information listing faculty publications, grants and awards.

Pretty Picky For A Generalist: Impacts Of Toxicity And Nutritional Quality On Mantid Prey Processing, Jamie L. Rafter, Justin F. Vendettuoli, Liahna Gonda-King, Daniel Niesen, Navindra P. Seeram, Chad M. Rigsby, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Prey have evolved a number of defenses against predation, and predators have developed means of countering these protective measures. Although caterpillars of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus L., are defended by cardenolides sequestered from their host plants, the Chinese mantid Tenodera sinensis Saussure guts the caterpillar before consuming the rest of the body. We hypothesized that this gutting behavior might be driven by the heterogeneous quality of prey tissue with respect to toxicity and/or nutrients. We conducted behavioral trials in which mantids were offered cardenolide-containing and cardenolide-free D. plexippus caterpillars and butterflies. In addition, we fed mantids starved and unstarved …

Health Studies Program Newsletter For 2017, Uri Health Studies Program

Public Health Department Publications

The 2017 issue of “Health-e-Newsletter,” a periodical focused on the Health Studies Program events, faculty research and highlights of student achievements.

A U-Shaped Association Between Blood Pressure And Cognitive Impairment In Chinese Elderly, Yue-Bin Lv, Peng-Fei Zhu, Zhaeo-Xue Yin, Virginia Byers Kraus, Diane Threapleton, Choy-Lye Chei, Melanie S. Brasher, Juan Zhang, Han-Zhu Qian, Chen Mao, David Bruce Matchar, Jie-Si Luo, Yi Zeng, Xiao-Ming Shi

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Objectives: Higher or lower blood pressure may relate to cognitive impairment, whereas the relationship between blood pressure and cognitive impairment among the elderly is not well-studied. The study objective was to determine whether blood pressure is associated with cognitive impairment in the elderly, and, if so, to accurately describe the association.

Design: Cross-sectional data from the sixth wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) conducted in 2011.

Setting: Community-based setting in longevity areas in China.

Participants: A total of 7144 Chinese elderly aged 65 years and older were included in the sample.

Measures: Systolic blood pressures (SBP) and …

Family Child Care Home Providers As Role Models For Children: Cause For Concern?, Alison Tovar, Amber E. Vaughn, Anna Grummon, Regan Burney, Temitope Erinisho, Truls Østbye, Dianne S. Ward

Nutrition Faculty Publications

Health behaviors associated with chronic disease, particularly healthy eating and regular physical activity, are important role modeling opportunities for individuals working in child care programs. Prior studies have not explored these risk factors in family child care home (FCCH) providers which care for vulnerable and at-risk populations. To address this gap, we describe the socio-demographic and health risk behavior profiles in a sample of providers (n = 166 FCCH) taken from baseline data of an ongoing cluster-randomized controlled intervention (2011–2016) in North Carolina. Data were collected during on-site visits where providers completed self-administered questionnaires (socio-demographics, physical activity, fruit and vegetable …

Perceived Weight Discrimination And 10-Year Risk Of Allostatic Load Among Us Adults, Maya Vadiveloo, Joisemer Mattei

Nutrition Faculty Publications

Background: Discrimination promotes multisystem physiological dysregulation termed allostatic load, which predicts morbidity and mortality. It remains unclear whether weight-related discrimination influences allostatic load.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to prospectively examine 10-year associations between weight discrimination, allostatic load, and its components among adults 25–75 years in the Midlife Development in the US Biomarker Substudy.

Methods: Participants with information on weight discrimination were analyzed (n=986). At both timepoints, participants self-reported the frequency of perceived weight discrimination across nine scenarios as “never/rarely” (scored as 0), “sometimes” (1), or “often” (2). The two scores were averaged …

Does A Grill Menu Redesign Influence Sales, Nutrients Purchased, And Consumer Acceptance In A Worksite Cafeteria?, Maya Vadiveloo, Vasanti S. Malik, Donna Spiegelman, Walter C. Willett, Josiemer Mattei

Nutrition Faculty Publications

Worksite cafeterias are compelling venues to improve diet quality through environmental changes.

We conducted a pre-post study to evaluate how a cafeteria-initiated grill menu redesign influenced sales, revenue, and nutrient content of foods purchased. Secondly, we evaluated consumer opinions about menu changes to inform practices for worksite environment interventions. Monthly sales data (2012-2015) were used to compute gross sales and revenue of entrées and side dishes pre-post menu changes. Alternative protein sources replaced red meat; nutrient composition and nutrients purchased were compared using Food Pro software. Consumer responses were queried using online surveys; open-ended responses were analyzed using NVivo. Differences …

Momentum: Research & Innovation For Spring 2017, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The Spring 2017 issue of Momentum: Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Individual And Non‐Additive Effects Of Exotic Sap‐Feeders On Root Functional And Mycorrhizal Traits Of A Shared Conifer Host, Robert N. Schaeffer, Claire M. Wilson, Laura Radville, Mauri Barrett, Elizabeth Whitney, Sofia Roitman, Esther R. Miller, Benjamin E. Wolfe, Carol S. Thornber, Colin M. Orians, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Forest pests drive tree mortality through disruption of functional traits linked to nutrient acquisition, growth and reproduction. The impacts of attack by individual or multiple above‐ground herbivores on root functional traits critical to tree health have received little attention. This is especially true for exotic herbivores, organisms often found in disturbed forests.
2. We excavated whole‐root systems from eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) individuals experimentally infested with hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA: Adelges tsugae) and elongate hemlock scale (EHS: Fiorina externa) individually, or in combination, for periods of 2 and 4 years. Below‐ground root biomass, functional traits and storage …

Modeling Multiple Health Behaviors And General Health, Kelsey Elise Ufholz, Lisa L. Harlow

Psychology Faculty Publications

Multiple Health Behavior Change assumes health behaviors are related to one another, although research evidence is mixed. More research is needed to understand which behaviors are most closely related and how they collectively predict health. Principle component analysis and structural equation modeling were used to establish a model showing relations between health behaviors, including fruit/vegetable consumption, aerobic and strength exercise, alcohol intake, and smoking, and how these behaviors relate to general physical and mental health functioning in a large, national sample. Although health behaviors were found to coalesce into a health-promoting factor of diet, and exercise, a better overall model …

Hepatic Lipid Accumulation And Nrf2 Expression Following Perinatal And Peripubertal Exposure To Bisphenol A In A Mouse Model Of Nonalcoholic Liver Disease, Prajakta C. Shimpi, Vijay R. More, Maneesha Paranjpe, Ajay C. Donepudi, Jaclyn M. Goodrich, Dana C. Dolinoy, Beverly Rubin, Angela L. Slitt

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Exposure to chemicals during critical windows of development may re-program liver for increased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Bisphenol A (BPA), a plastics component, has been described to impart adverse effects during gestational and lactational exposure. Our work has pointed to nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) being a modulator of hepatic lipid accumulation in models of NAFLD.

Objectives: To determine if chemical exposure can prime liver for steatosis via modulation of NRF2 and epigenetic mechanisms.

Methods: Utilizing BPA as a model exposure, pregnant CD-1 mice were administered 25μg/kg/day" role="presentation">25μg/kg/day BPA via osmotic …

University Manual 2016-2017, Uri Faculty Senate

University Manual Archive

No abstract provided.

A Human Gut Commensal Ferments Cranberry Carbohydrates To Produce Formate, Ezgi Özcan, Jiadong Sun, David C. Rowley, David A. Sela

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Commensal bifidobacteria colonize the human gastrointestinal tract and catabolize glycans that are impervious to host digestion. Accordingly, Bifidobacterium longum typically secretes acetate and lactate as fermentative end products. This study tested the hypothesis that B. longum utilizes cranberry-derived xyloglucans in a strain-dependent manner. Interestingly, the B. longum strain that efficiently utilizes cranberry xyloglucans secretes 2.0 to 2.5 mol of acetate-lactate. The 1.5 acetate:lactate ratio theoretical yield obtained in hexose fermentations shifts during xyloglucan metabolism. Accordingly, this metabolic shift is characterized by increased acetate and formate production at the expense of lactate. α-l-Arabinofuranosidase, an arabinan endo-1,5-α-l-arabinosidase, and a β-xylosidase with a …

Urinformed Spring 2017, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Commencement 2017, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Fall 2017, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Plant Defense Negates Pathogen Manipulation Of Vector Behavior, Baiming Liu, Evan L. Preisser, Xiaobin Shi, Huaitong Wu, Chuanyou Li, Wen Xie, Shaoli Wang, Qingjun Wu, Youjun Zhang

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Although many vector‐borne plant pathogens can alter vector behaviour to the pathogen's benefit, how plants might counter such manipulation is unknown.

2. In the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (‘TYLCV’)–Bemisia tabaci–tomato interaction, TYLCV‐mediated changes in Bemisia feeding improves viral uptake and transmission. We tested how jasmonic acid (‘JA’), a central regulator of plant antiherbivore defences, affected the ability of TYLCV to (A) manipulate Bemisia behaviour; and (B) infect plants.

3. Viruliferous Bemisia fed much more than virus‐free whiteflies on JA‐deficient plants, more than virus‐free whiteflies on controls, and similarly on high‐JA plants.

4. When TYLCV was transmitted …

Seasonal Variation In Effects Of Herbivory On Foliar Nitrogen Of A Threatened Conifer, Robert N. Schaeffer, Nicole E. Soltis, Jennifer L. Martin, Aden L. Brown, Sara Gómez, Evan L. Preisser, Colins M. Orians

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Invasive herbivores can dramatically impact the nitrogen (N) economy of native hosts. In deciduous species, most N is stored in stem tissues, while in evergreen conifer species N is stored in needles, making them potentially more vulnerable to herbivory. In eastern forests of the USA, the long-lived, foundational conifer eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is under the threat of extirpation by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA: Adelges tsugae). We assessed the impact of HWA infestation on the patterns of seasonal foliar N availability in hemlock planted in a deciduous forest understory. Over the course of a year, …

Social Buffering In A Eusocial Invertebrate: Termite Soldiers Reduce The Lethal Impact Of Competitor Cues On Workers, Li Tian, Evan L. Preisser, Kenneth F. Haynes, Xuguo Zhou

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

While the impact of predator‐induced stress on prey has received considerable attention, there has been far less research into the effect of competitors. Cues from aggressive competitors should be particularly likely to evoke behavioral and/or physiological responses, since they may be indicative of both direct (interference) and indirect (exploitative) threats. The danger posed by such competitors, and the “fear” they evoke, should be reduced at lower competitor densities and by the presence of individual conspecifics specialized for defense. We assessed how Reticulitermes flavipes termite workers and soldiers were affected by cues from conspecific nestmates, conspecific non‐nestmates, and the heterospecific competitor …

Inbreeding Produces Trade-Offs Between Maternal Fecundity And Offspring Survival In A Monandrous Spider, Zhanqi Chen, Evan L. Preisser, Rong Xiao, Jian Chen, Daiqin Li, Xiaoguo Jiao

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Offspring born to related parents often have lower fitness than those born to unrelated parents, a phenomenon termed inbreeding depression. While many species have been shown to rely on pre- and/or postcopulatory mate choice to avoid inbreeding, such research has focused largely on polyandrous rather than monandrous species. The absence of postcopulatory mate choice in monandrous species suggests that precopulatory mate choice should play a more important role in inbreeding avoidance. We used a monandrous wolf spider, Pardosa astrigera, as a model system to investigate whether (1) male spiders respond differently to sibling and nonsibling females; (2) female spiders respond …

A Comparison Of Different Methods Of Zero - Inflated Data Analysis And An Application In Health Surveys, Si Yang, Gavino Puggioni, Lisa L. Harlow, Colleen A. Redding

Computer Science and Statistics Faculty Publications

The performance of several models under different conditions of zero-inflation and dispersion are evaluated. Results from simulated and real data showed that the zeroaltered or zero-inflated negative binomial model were preferred over others (e.g., ordinary least-squares regression with log-transformed outcome, Poisson model) when data have excessive zeros and over-dispersion.

Cultural Identity, Guo-Ming Chen

Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Cultural identity is a universal problem all human societies must face. It refers to the collective consciousness of a group based on the use of common symbols and the co-creation of shared meanings among its members. While different cultures may perceive identity in various ways, cultural identity shares five common characteristics across cultures: developmental, spatial, distinct, relational, and multifaceted. However, the development of human society instigated by the convergence of the globalization trend and new media, especially the emergence of the virtual community caused by the compression of time and space, has challenged different aspects of the traditional sense of …