Digital Commons Network^™

Solvent Effects In The Extraction And Detection Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons From Complex Oils In Complex Environments, Nicole Serio, Mindy Levine

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Anthropogenic oil spills such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill present a number of unique challenges in environmental remediation, detection, and monitoring of a wide range of toxicants in complex environments. We have previously reported the use of cyclodextrin derivatives to accomplish the selective extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and facilitate their detection via proximity-induced energy transfer. Reported herein is the ability of these cyclodextrins to operate in a real-world scenario: extracting PAHs from oil collected from an oil spill site and from tar ball extracts into crude seawater from the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. The ability …

Comparing Structures Of Two Antimicrobial Peptides Using A Self-Organized Mapping Approach, Faramarz Joodaki, Preston Steele, Lenore M. Martin, Michael L. Greenfield

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Escherichia Coli Edl933 Requires Gluconeogenic Nutrients To Successfully Colonize The Intestines Of Streptomycin-Treated Mice Precolonized With E. Coli Nissle 1917, Silvia A. C. Schinner, Matthew E. Mokszycki, Jimmy Adediran, Mary Leatham-Jensen, Paul S. Cohen

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Escherichia coli MG1655, a K-12 strain, uses glycolytic nutrients exclusively to colonize the intestines of streptomycin-treated mice when it is the only E. coli strain present or when it is confronted with E. coli EDL933, an O157:H7 strain. In contrast, E. coli EDL933 uses glycolytic nutrients exclusively when it is the only E. coli strain in the intestine but switches in part to gluconeogenic nutrients when it colonizes mice precolonized with E. coli MG1655 (R. L. Miranda et al., Infect Immun 72:1666–1676, 2004, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/IAI.72.3.1666-1676.2004). Recently, J. W. Njoroge et al. (mBio 3:e00280-12, 2012, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mBio.00280-12) reported that E …

Genetic Indicators Of Iron Limitation In Wild Populations Of Thalassiosira Oceanica From The Northeast Pacific Ocean, P. Dreux Chappell, Leann P. Whitney, Joselynn R. Wallace, Adam I. Darer, Samua Jean-Chales, Bethany D. Jenkins

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Assessing the iron (Fe) nutritional status of natural diatom populations has proven challenging as physiological and molecular responses can differ in diatoms of the same genus. We evaluated expression of genes encoding flavodoxin (FLDA1) and an Fe-starvation induced protein (ISIP3) as indicators of Fe limitation in the marine diatom Thalassiosira oceanica. The specificity of the response to Fe limitation was tested in cultures grown under Fe- and macronutrient-deficient conditions, as well as throughout the diurnal light cycle. Both genes showed a robust and specific response to Fe limitation in laboratory cultures and were detected in …

Typology Of Alcohol Users Based On Longitudinal Patterns Of Drinking, Magdalena Harrington, Wayne F. Velicer, Susan Ramsey

Cancer Prevention Research Center Faculty Publications

Objective: Worldwide, alcohol is the most commonly used psychoactive substance. However, heterogeneity among alcohol users has been widely recognized. This paper presents a typology of alcohol users based on an implementation of idiographic methodology to examine longitudinal daily and cyclic (weekly) patterns of alcohol use at the individual level.

Method: A secondary data analysis was performed on the pre-intervention data from a large randomized control trial. A time series analysis was performed at the individual level, and a dynamic cluster analysis was employed to identify homogenous longitudinal patterns of drinking behavior at the group level. The analysis employed 180 daily …

A Molecular-Assisted Alpha Taxonomic Study Of The Genus Centroceras (Ceramiaceae, Rhodophyta) In Bermuda Reveals Two Novel Species, Craig W. Schneider, Elisabeth N. Cianciola, Thea R. Popolizio, Dylan S. Spagnuolo, Christopher E. Lane

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

When the generitype Centroceras clavulatum, a presumed cosmopolitan warm temperate to tropical red alga, was discovered to have a biogeographic distribution limited to the Pacific Ocean using molecular and morphological evidence, the taxonomy in the genus Centroceras was thrown into chaos worldwide. An analysis of what species was, or were, previously identified as C. clavulatum in Bermuda is the focus of the present molecular (COI-5P, rbcL) and morphological study. Two novel species are proposed, C. arcii sp. nov. and C. illaqueans sp. nov., and the distributions of three taxa recently segregated in the 'C. clavulatum complex' …

Structure Activity Related, Mechanistic, And Modeling Studies Of Gallotannins Containing A Glucitol-Core And Α-Glucosidase, Hang Ma, Ling Wang, Daniel B. Niesen, Ang Cai, Bongsup P. Cho, Wen Tan, Qiong Gu, Jun Xu, Navindra P. Seeram

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Gallotannins containing a glucitol core, which are only produced by members of the maple (Acer) genus, are more potent α-glucosidase inhibitors than the clinical drug, acarbose. While this activity is influenced by the number of substituents on the glucitol core (e.g. more galloyl groups leads to increased activity), the mechanisms of inhibitory action are not known. Herein, we investigated ligand–enzyme interactions and binding mechanisms of a series of ‘glucitol-core containing gallotannins (GCGs)’ against the α-glucosidase enzyme. The GCGs included ginnalins A, B and C (containing two, one, and one galloyl/s, respectively), maplexin F (containing 3 galloyls) and …

Genomic Characterization Of Interspecific Hybrids And An Admixture Population Derived From Panicum Amarum × P. Virgatum, Christopher Heffelfinger, Adam P. Deresienski, Kimberly A. Nelson, Maria A. Moreno, Joel P. Hague, Stephen L. Dellaporta, Albert P. Kausch

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and its relatives are regarded as top bioenergy crop candidates; however, one critical barrier is the introduction of useful genetic diversity and the development of new cultivars and hybrids. Combining genomes from related cultivars and species provides an opportunity to introduce new traits. In switchgrass, a breeding advantage would be achieved by combining the genomes of intervarietal ecotypes or interspecific hybrids. The recovery of wide crosses, however, is often tedious and may involve complicated embryo rescue and numerous backcrosses. Here, we demonstrate a straightforward approach to wide crosses involving the use of a selectable transgene …

Designing Amped: The Practical Antimicrobial Peptide Editable Database, Tripti Garg, George Konstantinidis, Joan Peckham, Admir Monteiro, Roxanne Lacroix, Lenore M. Martin

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Deficiency In Nrf2 Transcription Factor Decreases Adipose Tissue Mass And Hepatic Lipid Accumulation In Leptin‐Deficient Mice, Jialin Xu, Ajay C. Donepudi, Vijay R. More, Supriya R. Kulkarni, Liya Li, Liangran Guo, Bingfang Yan, Tapan Chatterjee, Neal Weintraub, Angela L. Slitt

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Objective: To evaluate whether Nrf2 deficiency impacts insulin resistance and lipid accumulation in liver and white adipose tissue.

Methods: Lep^ob/ob mice (OB) with targeted Nrf2 deletion (OB‐Nrf2KO) were generated. Pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes was measured in C57BL/6J, Nrf2KO, OB, and OB‐Nrf2KO mice. Hepatic lipid content, lipid clearance, and very low‐density lipoprotein (VLDL) secretion were determined between OB and OB‐Nrf2KO mice.

Results: OB‐Nrf2KO mice exhibited decreased white adipose tissue mass and decreased adipogenic and lipogenic gene expression compared with OB mice. Nrf2 deficiency prolonged hyperglycemia in response to glucose challenge, which was paralleled by reduced insulin‐stimulated Akt …

Urinformed Summer 2015, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Winter 2015, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Design, Synthesis, Antiviral Activity, And Pre-Formulation Development Of Poly-L-Arginine-Fatty Acyl Derivatives Of Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, Bhanu P. Pemmaraju, Swapnil Malekar, Hitesh K. Agarwal, Rakesh K. Tiwari, Donghoon Oh, Gustavo F. Doncel, David R. Worthen, Keykavous Parang

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The objective of this work was to design conjugates of anti-HIV nucleosides conjugated with fatty acids and cell-penetrating poly-L-arginine (polyArg) peptides. Three conjugates of polyArg cell-penetrating peptides with fatty acyl derivatives of alovudine (FLT), lamivudine (3TC), and emtricitabine (FTC) were synthesized. In general, the compounds exhibited anti-HIV activity against X4 and R5 cell-free virus with EC₅₀ values of 1.5–16.6 μM. FLT-CO-(CH₂)₁₂-CO-(Arg)₇ exhibited EC₅₀ values of 2.9 μM and 3.1 μM against X4 and R5 cell-free virus, respectively. The FLT conjugate was selected for further preformulation studies by determination of solution state …

Effects Of Light And Water Availability On The Performance Of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), Mauri Hickin, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carriere) is a dominant shade-tolerant tree in northeastern United States that has been declining since the arrival of the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand). Determining where A. tsugae settles under different abiotic conditions is important in understanding the insect’s expansion. Resource availability such as light and water can affect herbivore selectivity and damage. We examined how A. tsugae settlement and survival were affected by differences in light intensity and water availability, and how adelgid affected tree performance growing in these different abiotic treatments. In a greenhouse at the University of Rhode Island, …

Going Global: The Introduction Of The Asian Isopod Ianiropsis Serricaudis Gurjanova (Crustacea: Peracarida) To North America And Europe, Niels-Viggo Hobbs, Eric Lazo-Wasem, Marco Faasse, Jeffrey R. Cordell, John W. Chapman, Carter S. Smith, Robert Prezant, Rebecca Shell, James T. Carlton

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The Asian isopod Ianiropsis serricaudis is now well established in fouling communities, often associated with introduced ascidians, throughout the Northern Hemisphere but has gone largely unnoticed because of its diminutive size (typically less than 3 mm in length) and the difficulties of identifying small peracarid crustaceans. Known locations include the northeastern Pacific (Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay, and Monterey Bay), the northwestern Atlantic (from the Gulf of Maine to Barnegat Bay, NJ), and the northeastern Atlantic (England and the Netherlands). We predict that this species is widespread along North America and European coasts, and may already be introduced to cold …

Debating The Role Of Higher Education In Society, Bryan Dewsbury

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Review of: Beyond the University: In Defense of Liberal Education, Michael S. Roth; (2014). Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 228 pages.

Maternal Plasma And Breastmilk Viral Loads Are Associated With Hiv-1-Specific Cellular Immune Responses Among Hiv-1-Exposed, Uninfected Infants In Kenya, Amy Y. Liu, Barbara Lohman-Payne, Michael H. Chung, James Kiarie, John Kinuthia, Jennifer Slyker, Barbra Richardson, Dara Lehman, Carey Farquhar, Grace John-Stewart

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Infants exposed to maternal HIV-1 provide an opportunity to assess correlates of HIV-1-specific interferon (IFN)-γ responses and may be informative in the development of HIV-1 vaccines. HIV-1-infected women with CD4 counts 200-500 cells/mm(3) were randomized to short-course zidovudine/nevirapine (ZDV/NVP) or highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) between 2003 and 2005. Maternal plasma and breastmilk HIV-1 RNA and DNA were quantified during the first 6-12 months postpartum. HIV-1 gag peptide-stimulated enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assays were conducted in HIV-1-exposed, uninfected infants (EU), and correlates were determined using regression and generalized estimating equations. Among 47 EU infants, 21 (45%) had ≥1 positive ELISPOT result …

The Thermal Stress Response To Diel Vertical Migration In The Hyperiid Amphipod Phronima Sedentaria, Leanne E. Elder, Brad A. Seibel

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The hyperiid amphipod Phronima sedentaria experiences a temperature change of 15 °C during diel migration in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) from 8–10 °C at depth to 25–27 °C at night in the surface waters. The aim of this study was to determine if the natural temperature gradient experienced by P. sedentaria results in a thermal stress response. Individuals were initially exposed to their night time temperatures (23 °C) and subsequently subjected to temperatures within and above the range they typically experience. In the Eastern Tropical North Pacific P. sedentaria tolerates its normal night-time temperature (~ 23 °C), but …

Manager Perspectives On Communication And Public Engagement In Ecological Restoration Project Success, Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Kristen C. Hychka

Professional and Public Writing Faculty Publications

We look to a particular social-ecological system, the restoration community in Rhode Island, USA and the rivers, wetlands, marshes, and estuaries they work to protect, to draw connections between communication, community involvement, and ecological restoration project success. Offering real-world examples drawn from interviews with 27 local, state, federal, and nonprofit restoration managers, we synthesize the mechanisms that managers found effective to argue that the communication employed by resource managers in each phase of the restoration process, in prioritization, implementation, and monitoring, and for garnering broad-based support, shapes the quality of public engagement in natural resources management, which, in turn, can …

The Association Between Impulsivity And Alcohol/Drug Use Among Prison Inmates, Michael H. Bernstein, Savannah N. Mcsheffrey, Jacob J. Van Den Berg, Jamie E. Vela, L.A.R. Stein, Mary B. Roberts, Rosemarie A. Martin, Jennifer G. Clarke

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Few studies have examined the relation between impulsivity and drug involvement with prison inmates, in spite of their heavy drug use. Among this small body of work, most studies look at clinically relevant drug dependence, rather than drug use specifically.

Method: N = 242 adult inmates (34.8% female, 52% White) with an average age of 35.58 (SD = 9.19) completed a modified version of the 15-item Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) and measures assessing lifetime alcohol, opiate, benzodiazepine, cocaine, cannabis, hallucinogen, and polysubstance use. Lifetime users also reported the frequency of use for the 30 days prior to incarceration. …

Relationships Of Eating Competence, Sleep Behaviors And Quality, And Overweight Status Among College Students, Virginia Quick, Suzanne Shoff, Barbara Lohse, Adrienne White, Tanya Horacek, Geoffrey Greene

Nutrition Faculty Publications

Little is known about the relationships between eating competence (intra-individual approach to eating and food-related attitudes and behaviors that entrain positive bio-psychosocial outcomes) and sleep behaviors and quality in college students, a high-risk group for poor eating habits, weight gain, and inadequate sleep. Thus, data from full-time college students (N = 1035; 82% White; 61% female) aged 18–24 years from 5 U.S. universities were obtained from online questionnaires (eating competence (ecSI), Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), physical activity, demographics) and physical assessments (measured height, weight), to explore sleep behavior and quality between eating-competent (EC; ecSI score ≥ 32) and …

Graduate School Of Oceanography Annual Report For Fy2015, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

Annual report for the Graduate School Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island for the year 2015 fiscal year.

Includes research projects by faculty and students, biographies of new faculty, events on the Bay campus and program development and list of donors.

Monodisperse Hard Rods In External Potentials, Benaoumeur Bakhti, Michael Karbach, Philipp Maass, Gerhard Müller

Physics Faculty Publications

We consider linear arrays of cells of volume Vc populated by monodisperse rods of size σV_c, σ = 1,2, . . ., subject to hardcore exclusion interaction. Each rod experiences a position-dependent external potential. In one application we also examine effects of contact forces between rods. We employ two distinct methods of exact analysis with complementary strengths and different limits of spatial resolution to calculate profiles of pressure and density on mesoscopic and microscopic length scales at thermal equilibrium. One method uses density functionals and the other statistically interacting vacancy particles. The applications worked out include gravity, …

Advanced Targeted Nanomedicine, Mohan C.M. Arachchige, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Oleg A. Andreev

Physics Faculty Publications

Targeted drug delivery has been the major topic in drug formulation and delivery. As nanomedicine emerges to create nano scale therapeutics and diagnostics, it is still essential to embed targeting capability to these novel systems to make them useful. Here we discuss various targeting approaches for delivery of therapeutic and diagnostic nano materials in view of search for more universal methods to target diseased tissues. Many diseases are accompanied with hypoxia and acidosis. Coating nanoparticles with pH Low Insertion Peptides (pHLIPs) increases efficiency of targeting acidic diseased tissues. It has been showing promising results to create future nanotheranostics for cancer …

Fathers' And Mothers' Verbal Responsiveness And The Language Skills Of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Michelle Flippin, Linda R. Watson

Communicative Disorders Faculty Publications

Purpose: In this observational study, we examined the interactions of 16 young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their parents to investigate (a) differences in verbal responsiveness used by fathers and mothers in interactions with their children with ASD and (b) concurrent associations between the language skills of children with ASD and the verbal responsiveness of both fathers and mothers.

Method: Parent verbal responsiveness was coded from video recordings of naturalistic parent–child play sessions using interval-based coding. Child language skills were measured by the Preschool Language Scale–Fourth Edition (Zimmerman, Steiner, & Pond, 2002).

Results: For both …

Switchable Release Of Entrapped Nanoparticles From Alginate Hydrogels, Cathal J. Kearney, Hadas Skaat, Stephen M. Kennedy, Jennifer Hu, Max Darnell, Theresa M. Raimondo, David J. Mooney

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Natural biological processes are intricately controlled by the timing and spatial distribution of various cues. To mimic this precise level of control, the physical sizes of gold nanoparticles are utilized to sterically entrap them in hydrogel materials, where they are subsequently released only in response to ultrasound. These nanoparticles can transport bioactive factors to cells and direct cell behavior on‐demand.

Predictive Time Series Analysis Linking Bengal Cholera With Terrestrial Water Storage Measured From Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment Sensors, Antarpreet Jutla, Ali Akanda, Avinash Unnikrishnan, Anwar Huq, Rita Colwell

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Outbreaks of diarrheal diseases, including cholera, are related to floods and droughts in regions where water and sanitation infrastructure are inadequate or insufficient. However, availability of data on water scarcity and abundance in transnational basins, are a prerequisite for developing cholera forecasting systems. With more than a decade of terrestrial water storage (TWS) data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, conditions favorable for predicting cholera occurrence may now be determined. We explored lead–lag relationships between TWS in the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna basin and endemic cholera in Bangladesh. Since bimodal seasonal peaks in cholera in Bangladesh occur during spring and autumn seasons, …

Integrating Molecular And Traditional Systematic Techniques To Redefine Red Algal (Rhodophyte) Diversity In The Bermuda Islands, Thea Ruth Popolizio

Open Access Dissertations

Molecular-assisted alpha taxonomy (MAAT) is a groundbreaking methodology that combines molecular tools with traditional morphological investigations. From studies using these methods, researchers can determine whether specimens with different morphologies are actually one entity exhibiting high phenotypic plasticity or are multiple genetic species with convergent morphologies, an important breakthrough for phycologists since algae are notoriously difficult to identify on morphology alone. Molecular-assisted techniques have also significantly increased the rate of novel species discovery among the algae, especially rhodophytes. From our own biodiversity assessments, we have learned that numerous members of Bermuda’s macroalgal flora have been misnamed, overlooked, or have not been …

Synchrony Capture Filterbank (Scfb): Auditory-Inspired Signal Processing For Frequency Tracking, Vijay Kumar Peddinti

Open Access Dissertations

The mammalian auditory system is a more robust and versatile sound analyzer than any artificial system that has been developed to date. Nature found a simple yet elegant solution for the hearing mechanism. Incorporating some key aspects of the functional organization of the mammalian auditory system into artificial signal-processing systems may drastically simplify problems of auditory representation and scene analysis such that capabilities for acoustic signal separation, detection, classification, recognition and identification can be greatly improved.

The objective of the thesis is to mimic the functionality of the mammalian peripheral auditory system in a digital computer by developing a synchrony …

An Investigation Of The Interactions Between Escherichia Coli And The Intestinal Microbiota In Vivo And In Vitro, Matthew E. Mokszycki

Open Access Dissertations

We previously proposed that colonizing strains of E. coli likely occupy specific niches as minimal members of mixed biofilms formed primarily by anaerobic members of the gut flora. These "restaurants" formed by the different community members of the gut provide individual strains of E. coli with various unique binding pockets and locally provided mono- and disaccharides by breaking down polysaccharides which facultative anaerobes, such as E. coli, could not break down on their own. This allows strains of E. coli that cannot grow as efficiently on available sugars to colonize if they are able to occupy niches that other …