Digital Commons Network^™

Bisphenol A And Peripheral Arterial Disease: Results From The Nhanes, Anoop Shankar, Srinivas Teppala, Charumathi Sabanayagam

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA) is a common chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, and > 93% of U.S. adults have detectable levels of urinary BPA. Recent animal studies have suggested that BPA exposure may have a role in several mechanisms involved in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including weight gain, insulin resistance, thyroid dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. However, few human studies have examined the association between markers of BPA exposure and CVD. Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a subclinical measure of atherosclerotic vascular disease and a strong independent risk factor for CVD and …

Microrna-212 Post-Transcriptionally Regulates Oocyte-Specific Basic-Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factor, Factor In The Germline Alpha (Figla), During Bovine Early Embryogenesis, Swamy K. Tripurani, Gabbine Wee, Kyung-Bon Lee, George W. Smith, Lei Wang, Jianbo Yao

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Factor in the germline alpha (FIGLA) is an oocyte-specific basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor essential for primordial follicle formation and expression of many genes required for folliculogenesis, fertilization and early embryonic survival. Here we report the characterization of bovine FIGLA gene and its regulation during early embryogenesis. Bovine FIGLA mRNA expression is restricted to gonads and is detected in fetal ovaries harvested as early as 90 days of gestation. FIGLA mRNA and protein are abundant in germinal vesicle and metaphase II stage oocytes, as well as in embryos from pronuclear to eight-cell stage but barely detectable at morula and blastocyst stages, …

Emulating Natural Disturbances For Declining Late- Successional Species: A Case Study Of The Consequences For Cerulean Warblers (Setophaga Cerulea), Than J. Boves, David A. Buehler, James Sheehan, Petra B. Wood, Amanda D. Rodewald, Jeffrey L. Larkin, Patrick D. Keyser, Felicity L. Newell, Gregory A. George, Marja H. Bakermans, Andrea Evans, Tiffany A. Beachy, Molly E. Mcdermott, Kelly A. Perkins, Matthew White, T Bently Wigley

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Forest cover in the eastern United States has increased over the past century and while some late-successional species have benefited from this process as expected, others have experienced population declines. These declines may be in part related to contemporary reductions in small-scale forest interior disturbances such as fire, windthrow, and treefalls. To mitigate the negative impacts of disturbance alteration and suppression on some late-successional species, strategies that emulate natural disturbance regimes are often advocated, but large-scale evaluations of these practices are rare. Here, we assessed the consequences of experimental disturbance (using partial timber harvest) on a severely declining late-successional species, …

Ntra-Cellular Staphylococcus Aureus Alone Causes Infection In Vivo, Therwa Hamza, Matthew Dietz, Danh Pham, Nina Clovis, Suzanne Danley, Bingyun Li

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Chronic and recurrent bone infections occur frequently but have not been explained. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is often found among chronic and recurrent infections and may be responsible for such infections. One possible reason is that S. aureus can internalize and survive within host cells and by doing so, S. aureus can evade both host defense mechanisms and most conventional antibiotic treatments. In this study, we hypothesized that intra-cellular S. aureus could induce infections in vivo. Osteoblasts were infected with S. aureus and, after eliminating extra-cellular S. aureus, inoculated into an open fracture rat model. Bacterial cultures and radiographic observations …

Effect Of Xiaoyaosan Decoction On Learning And Memory Deficit In Rats Induced By Chronic Immobilization Stress, Zhen-Zhi Mang, Jia-Xu Chen, You-Ming Jiang, Han-Ting Zhang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Xiaoyaosan (XYS) decoction is a famous prescription which can protect nervous system from stress and treat liver stagnation and spleen deficiency syndrome (LSSDS). In this experiment, we observed the effect of XYS decoction on chronic immobilization stress (CIS) induced learning and memory deficit in rats from behaviors and changes of proteins in hippocampus. We used XYS decoction to treat CIS induced learning and memory deficit in rats with rolipram as positive control, used change of body weight and behavioral tests to determine whether the rats have LSSDS and have learning and memory deficit or not. We used Western blotting to …

Rna-Seq Identifies Snp Markers For Growth Traits In Rainbow Trout, Mohamed Salem, Roger L. Vallejo, Timothy D. Leeds, Yniv Palti, Sixin Liu, Annas Sabbagh, Caird E. Rexroad, Jianbo Yao

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Fast growth is an important and highly desired trait, which affects the profitability of food animal production, with feed costs accounting for the largest proportion of production costs. Traditional phenotype-based selection is typically used to select for growth traits; however, genetic improvement is slow over generations. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) explain 90% of the genetic differences between individuals; therefore, they are most suitable for genetic evaluation and strategies that employ molecular genetics for selective breeding. SNPs found within or near a coding sequence are of particular interest because they are more likely to alter the biological function of a protein. …

Multifunctional Role Of Bcl-2 In Malignant Transformation And Tumorigenesis Of Cr(Vi)-Transformed Lung Cells, Djordje Medan, Sudjit Luanpitpong, Neelam Azad, Liying Wang, Bing-Hua Jiang, Mary E. Davis, John B. Barnett, Lan Guo, Yon Rojanasakul

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) is an antiapoptotic protein known to be important in the regulation of apoptosis in various cell types. However, its role in malignant transformation and tumorigenesis of human lung cells is not well understood. We previously reported that chronic exposure of human lung epithelial cells to the carcinogenic hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) caused malignant transformation and Bcl-2 upregulation; however, the role of Bcl-2 in the transformation is unclear. Using a gene silencing approach, we showed that Bcl-2 plays an important role in the malignant properties of Cr(VI)-transformed cells. Downregulation of Bcl-2 inhibited the invasive and proliferative properties of the …

Skin Transcriptome Profiles Associated With Coat Color In Sheep, Ruiwen Fan, Jianshan Xie, Junming Bai, Haidong Wang, Xue Tian, Rui Bai, Xiaoyun Jia, Lei Yang, Muren Herrid, Wenjun Gao, Xiaoyan He, Jianbo Yao, George W. Smith, Changsheng Dong

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Previous molecular genetic studies of physiology and pigmentation of sheep skin have focused primarily on a limited number of genes and proteins. To identify additional genes that may play important roles in coat color regulation, Illumina sequencing technology was used to catalog global gene expression profiles in skin of sheep with white versus black coat color.

Results

There were 90,006 and 74,533 unigenes assembled from the reads obtained from white and black sheep skin, respectively. Genes encoding for the ribosomal proteins and keratin associated proteins were most highly expressed. A total of 2,235 known genes were differentially expressed in …

Chronic Delivery Of A Thrombospondin-1 Mimetic Decreases Skeletal Muscle Capillarity In Mice, Gerald N. Audet, Daniel Fulks, Janelle C. Stricker, I Mark Olfert

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Angiogenesis is an essential process for normal skeletal muscle function. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), a potent antiangiogenic protein in tumorigenesis, is an important regulator of both physiological and pathological skeletal muscle angiogenesis. We tested the hypothesis that chronic exposure to a TSP-1 mimetic (ABT-510), which targets the CD36 TSP-1 receptor, would decrease skeletal muscle capillarity as well as alter the balance between positive and negative angiogenic proteins under basal conditions. Osmotic minipumps with either ABT-510 or vehicle (5% dextrose) were implanted subcutaneously in the subscapular region of C57/BL6 mice for 14 days. When …

Multiple Faces Elicit Augmented Neural Activity, Aina Puce, Marie E. Mcneely, Michael E. Berrebi, James C. Thompson, Jillian Hardee, Julie Brefczynski-Lewis

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

How do our brains respond when we are being watched by a group of people? Despite the large volume of literature devoted to face processing, this question has received very little attention. Here we measured the effects on the face-sensitive N170 and other ERPs to viewing displays of one, two and three faces in two experiments. In Experiment 1, overall image brightness and contrast were adjusted to be constant, whereas in Experiment 2 local contrast and brightness of individual faces were not manipulated. A robust positive-negative-positive (P100-N170-P250) ERP complex and an additional late positive ERP, the P400, were elicited to …

Legumegrn: A Gene Regulatory Network Prediction Server For Functional And Comparative Studies, Mingyi Wang, Jerome Verdier, Vagner A. Benedito, Yuhong Tang, Jeremy D. Murray, Yinbing Ge, Jorg D. Becker

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Building accurate gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from high-throughput gene expression data is a long-standing challenge. However, with the emergence of new algorithms combined with the increase of transcriptomic data availability, it is now reachable. To help biologists to investigate gene regulatory relationships, we developed a web-based computational service to build, analyze and visualize GRNs that govern various biological processes. The web server is preloaded with all available Affymetrix GeneChip-based transcriptomic and annotation data from the three model legume species, i.e., Medicago truncatula, Lotus japonicus and Glycine max. Users can also upload their own transcriptomic and transcription factor datasets from any …

Learning Contrast-Invariant Cancellation Of Redundant Signals In Neural Systems, Jorge F. Mejias, Gary Marsat, Kieran Bol, Leonard Maler, Andre Longtin

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Cancellation of redundant information is a highly desirable feature of sensory systems, since it would potentially lead to a more efficient detection of novel information. However, biologically plausible mechanisms responsible for such selective cancellation, and especially those robust to realistic variations in the intensity of the redundant signals, are mostly unknown. In this work, we study, via in vivo experimental recordings and computational models, the behavior of a cerebellar-like circuit in the weakly electric fish which is known to perform cancellation of redundant stimuli. We experimentally observe contrast invariance in the cancellation of spatially and temporally redundant stimuli in such …

A 454 Survey Reveals The Community Composition And Core Microbiome Of The Common Bed Bug (Cimex Lectularius) Across An Urban Landscape, Matthew Meriweather, Sara Matthews, Rita Rio, Regina S. Baucom

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Elucidating the spatial dynamic and core constituents of the microbial communities found in association with arthropod hosts is of crucial importance for insects that may vector human or agricultural pathogens. The hematophagous Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), known as the human bed bug, has made a recent resurgence in North America, as well as worldwide, potentially owing to increased travel, climate change and resistance to insecticides. A comprehensive survey of the bed bug microbiome has not been performed to date, nor has an assessment of the spatial dynamics of its microbiome. Here we present a survey of internal and external bed …

High Humidity Leads To Loss Of Infectious Influenza Virus From Simulated Coughs, John D. Noti, Francoise M. Blachere, Cynthia M. Mcmillen, William G. Lindsley, Michael L. Kashon, Denzil R. Slaughter, Donald H. Beezhold

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

The role of relative humidity in the aerosol transmission of influenza was examined in a simulated examination room containing coughing and breathing manikins.

Methods

Nebulized influenza was coughed into the examination room and Bioaerosol samplers collected size-fractionated aerosols (<1 µM, 1–4 µM, and >4 µM aerodynamic diameters) adjacent to the breathing manikin’s mouth and also at other locations within the room. At constant temperature, the RH was varied from 7–73% and infectivity was assessed by the viral plaque assay.

Results

Total virus collected for 60 minutes retained 70.6–77.3% infectivity at relative humidity ≤23% but only 14.6–22.2% at relative humidity ≥43%. Analysis of the …

Extrapulmonary Transport Of Mwcnt Following Inhalation Exposure, Robert R. Mercer, James F. Scabilloni, Ann F. Hubbs, Liying Wang, Lori A. Battelli, Walter Mckinney, Vincent Castranova, Dale W. Porter

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Inhalation exposure studies of mice were conducted to determine if multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) distribute to the tracheobronchial lymphatics, parietal pleura, respiratory musculature and/or extrapulmonary organs. Male C57BL/6 J mice were exposed in a whole-body inhalation system to a 5 mg/m3 MWCNT aerosol for 5 hours/day for 12 days (4 times/week for 3 weeks, lung burden 28.1 ug/lung). At 1 day and 336 days after the 12 day exposure period, mice were anesthetized and lungs, lymph nodes and extrapulmonary tissues were preserved by whole body vascular perfusion of paraformaldehyde while the lungs were inflated with air. Separate, clean-air control …

Effects Of Resveratrol On The Recovery Of Muscle Mass Following Disuse In The Plantaris Muscle Of Aged Rats, Brian T. Bennett, Junaith S. Mohamed, Stephen E. Alway

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Aging is associated with poor skeletal muscle regenerative ability following extended periods of hospitalization and other forms of muscular disuse. Resveratrol (3,5,4’-trihydroxystilbene) is a natural phytoalexin which has been shown in skeletal muscle to improve oxidative stress levels in muscles of aged rats. As muscle disuse and reloading after disuse increases oxidative stress, we hypothesized that resveratrol supplementation would improve muscle regeneration after disuse. A total of thirty-six male Fisher 344 × Brown Norway rats (32 mo.) were treated with either a water vehicle or resveratrol via oral gavage. The animals received hindlimb suspension for 14 days. Thereafter, they were …

Plant-Symbiotic Fungi As Chemical Engineers: Multi-Genome Analysis Of The Clavicipitaceae Reveals Dynamics Of Alkaloid Loci, Christopher L. Schardl, Carolyn A. Young, Uljana Hesse, Stefan G. Amyotte, Kalina Andreeva, Patrick J. Calie, Damien J. Fleetwood, David C. Haws, Neil Moore, Birgitt Oeser, Daniel G. Panaccione, Kathryn K. Schweri, Christine R. Voisey, Mark L. Farman, Jerzy W. Jaromczyk, Bruce A. Roe, Donal M. O'Sullivan, Barry Scott, Paul Tudzynski, Zhiqiang An, Elissaveta G. Arnaoudova, Charles T. Bullock, Nikki D. Charlton, Li Chen, Murray Cox, Randy D. Dinkins, Simona Florea, Anar K. Khan, Eckhard Leistner, Adrian Leuchtmann, Chunjie Li, Jinge Liu, Jinze Liu, Miao Liu, Wade Mace, Caroline Machado, Ella V. Wilson, Jennifer L. Wiseman, Ruriko Yoshida, Zheng Zheng

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The fungal family Clavicipitaceae includes plant symbionts and parasites that produce several psychoactive and bioprotective alkaloids. The family includes grass symbionts in the epichloae clade (Epichloë and Neotyphodium species), which are extraordinarily diverse both in their host interactions and in their alkaloid profiles. Epichloae produce alkaloids of four distinct classes, all of which deter insects, and some—including the infamous ergot alkaloids—have potent effects on mammals. The exceptional chemotypic diversity of the epichloae may relate to their broad range of host interactions, whereby some are pathogenic and contagious, others are mutualistic and vertically transmitted (seed-borne), and still others vary in pathogenic …

Creation Of An Open-Access, Mutation-Defined Fibroblast Resource For Neurological Disease Research, Selina Wray, Matthew Self, Ninds Parkinson's Disease Ipsc Consortium, Ninds Huntington's Disease Ipsc Consortium, Ninds Als Ipsc Consortium, Patrick A. Lewis, Jan-Willem Taanman, Natalie S. Ryan, Colin J. Mahoney, Yuying Liang, Michael J. Devine, Una-Marie Sheerin, Henry Houlden, Huw R. Morris, Daniel Healy, Jose-Felix Marti-Masso, Elisavet Preza, Suzanne Barker, Margret Sutherland, Roderick A. Corriveau, Michael D'Andrea, Anthony H V Schapira, Ryan J. Uitti, Jaroslaw Slawek, Ludwig Gutmann, Bradley F. Boeve, Kevin Boylan, A Jon Stoessl, Owne A. Ross, Nicholas J. Maragakis, Serge E. Przedborski, Steven Finkbeiner, Jeffery D. Rothstein, Zbigniew K. Wszolek, Martin N. Rossor, John Hardy

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of many neurological disorders has been greatly enhanced by the discovery of mutations in genes linked to familial forms of these diseases. These have facilitated the generation of cell and animal models that can be used to understand the underlying molecular pathology. Recently, there has been a surge of interest in the use of patient-derived cells, due to the development of induced pluripotent stem cells and their subsequent differentiation into neurons and glia. Access to patient cell lines carrying the relevant mutations is a limiting factor for many centres wishing to pursue this research. …

Children With Special Health Care Need’S Association Of Passive Tobacco Smoke Exposure And Dental Caries: 2007 National Survey Of Children’S Health, R Constance Wiener

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine a relationship between passive tobacco smoke exposure (secondhand and third hand tobacco smoke exposure) and dental caries in Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) ages 0-17 years.

Method: This study used data from the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health involving 17,901 CSHCN. Telephone survey data were used to determine recent caries experience and passive tobacco smoke exposure (secondhand and third hand tobacco smoke exposure). Recent caries was defined as a positive response to if CSHCN had “decayed teeth or cavities within the past 6 months.” Passive smoke was defined …

Effects Of Antimicrobial Peptide Revealed By Simulations: Translocation, Pore Formation, Membrane Corrugation And Euler Buckling, Licui Chen, Nana Jia, Lianghui Gao, Weihai Fang, Leonardo Golubovic

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We explore the effects of the peripheral and transmembrane antimicrobial peptides on the lipid bilayer membrane by using the coarse grained Dissipative Particle Dynamics simulations. We study peptide/lipid membrane complexes by considering peptides with various structure, hydrophobicity and peptide/lipid interaction strength. The role of lipid/water interaction is also discussed. We discuss a rich variety of membrane morphological changes induced by peptides, such as pore formation, membrane corrugation and Euler buckling.

Can Spatial Dependence Enhance Industry Sustainability? The Case Of Pasture-Based Beef, Inocencio Rodriguez, Gerard D'Souza, Thomas Griggs

Regional Research Institute Working Papers

Can sustainability be enhanced by maximizing the sum of private and social benefits from an industry? This might take place, for example, by identifying production options that increase profitability side-by-side with societal goals such as renewable energy production and carbon sequestration, healthier communities, environmental quality, and economic development. We explore this issue for pasture based beef (PBB), a nascent industry where industry profitability, community development, and quality of life can be enhanced by explicitly linking the PBB supply chain spatially and intertemporally, thereby increasing the sum of private and social benefits. We develop a framework based on optimal control theory …

Does Regulation Chill Democratic Deliberation? The Case Of Gmos, Alison Peck

Law Faculty Scholarship

Breakthroughs in science and technology pose a challenge to the U.S. legal system: either regulate under pre-existing laws using a business-as-usual approach, or pass new laws to deal with new relationships and conflicts created by these breakthroughs. How does the legal process determine when to regulate and when to legislate? Does that process adequately ensure deliberative democratic debate and implementation of democratic consensus? Does it adequately protect urgent interests in the meantime? Currently, this determination is ongoing with regard to new scientific developments such as climate change science, and new technological developments such as hydraulic fracturing of unconventional natural gas …

2013 Symposium Brochure

Programs

No abstract provided.

Skeletal Muscle Regeneration And The Role Of Sirtuin 1, Brian T. Bennett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The main objective of this master's thesis project was to elucidate the role of the deacetylase Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) in skeletal muscle regeneration. We developed two specific aims to accomplish this task, which involved separate studies in order to study the effects of Sirt1 in multiple models of regeneration. The results from these studies may potentially lead to the development of novel therapies to treat various clinical conditions which require muscle regeneration.;Specific aim 1 utilized resveratrol, a Sirt1 activator, as a supplement to improve muscle regeneration following a period of disuse in aged animals. Aged Fisher 344 x Brown Norway …

A Study Of Determinants Of Coping In Childhood Cancer Survivors, Lea Helene Mallett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this research were to (1) determine the association between time since the completion of cancer treatment and the type of stressor (cancer-related versus non-cancer-related) identified; (2) determine whether the stressor identified (cancer-related or non-cancer-related) and strategies utilized to cope with that stressor change over time; (3) determine whether type of cancer and treatment are associated with specific coping strategies, and (4) determine if family characteristics (household structure, median household income, and presence of siblings) impact the endorsement and efficacy of coping strategies utilized to cope with a stressor.;BACKGROUND: Cancer alters children's lives in many ways, beginning …

Effect Of Electron Beam Radiation On Microbial Inactivation, Radio-Resistance And Nutritional Quality Of Food, Adiam Tsegai Tesfai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A non-thermal food processing method, Electron beam radiation efficiently inactivates foodborne pathogens. However, foodborne pathogens may develop resistance in response to sublethal stresses. Thus it is important to study the response of food microorganisms to e-beam and understand the mechanism underlying their survival abilities. The overall objective of this study was to examine the inactivation of foodborne microorganisms by electron beam radiation at sublethal levels, understand the radio-resistance development to this processing method and also to determine the effects of e-beam on chemical changes of nutrients in infant formula.;Four independent studies are included in this dissertation, in the first study, …

The Evaluation Of Az66, An Optimized Sigma Receptor Antagonist, Against Methamphetamine-Induced Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity And Memory Impairment In Mice, Michael J. Seminerio, Rolf Hansen, Nidhi Kaushal, Han-Ting Zhang, Christopher R. Mccurdy, Rae R. Matsumoto

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Sigma (σ) receptors have recently been identified as potential targets for the development of novel therapeutics aimed at mitigating the effects of methamphetamine. Particularly, σ receptors are believed to mitigate some of the neurotoxic effects of methamphetamine through modulation of dopamine, dopamine transporters and body temperature. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that targeting σ receptors may prevent cognitive impairments produced by methamphetamine. In the present study, an optimized σ receptor antagonist, AZ66, was evaluated against methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity and cognitive dysfunction. AZ66 was found to be highly selective for σ receptors compared to 64 other sites tested. Pretreatment of male, Swiss Webster …

Application Of Liquid Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry Techniques To Forensic, Environmental And Clinical Analyses., Lucy Sian Oldfield

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is a powerful technique offering superior selectivity, sensitivity and flexibility for a diverse range of applications. This document describes the application of LC-MS/MS to analytical problems in environmental, clinical and forensic fields. LC-UV and LC-MS/MS methods were implemented and compared for the analysis of nitroaromatics, nitramines and nitrate esters in soil. Analysis of soils collected at detonation sites showed the presence and concentration of contaminants to be a function of parameters such as: time since detonation, type of charge employed, nature of detonation and size of charge used. Multi-increment (MI) sampling strategies recommended …

Effects Of Varying Levels Of Caclium Lignosulfonate, Mixer-Added Fat And Feed Form On Feed Manufacture And Broiler Performance, Alina M. Corey

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Feed manufacture accounts for approximately 60--70% of the costs required for commercial broiler chicken production. Increased costs resulting from manufacturing high quality pellets can be problematic for commercial poultry production. However, these costs can be justified by improved broiler performance attributed to high quality pellets. In Experiment 1 pellets were manufactured by utilizing varying levels of a commercial Calcium lignosulfonate (CaLS) pellet binder inclusion (0, 0.5, or 1%), mixer-added fat (MAF) (1 or 3%), and feed form (pellet or ground pellet) in order to create 12 dietary treatments. In Experiment 2 diets were fed and broiler performance and digesta viscosity …

Characterizing Runoff Responses In A Mountaintop Mine Impacted And Forested Catchment In The Coalfields Of West Virginia, Andrew J. Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Mountaintop mining (MTM) represents the largest land cover/landuse change in the Central Appalachian region. By 2012, the U.S. EPA estimates that MTR will have impacted approximately 6.8% of the predominately forested Appalachian Coalfield region of West Virginia (WV), Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia with nearly 4,000 miles of headwater streams buried under valley fills (VF). In spite of the scale and extent of MTM, its hydrologic impacts are poorly understood. Several devastating floods in the region have been attributed to MTM, but there is little evidence to either confirm or refute this belief. Existing research on the hydrologic impacts of MTM …