Digital Commons Network^™

Brucella Species Survey In Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) Of Northern Alaska, Todd M. O'Hara, Darce Holcomb, Philip Elzer, Jessica Estepp, Quinesha Perry, Sue Hagius, Cassandra Kirk

Faculty Publications

We report on the presence of specific antibodies to Brucella spp. and Yersinia enterocolitica in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from northern Alaska (southern Beaufort Sea) during 2003-2006. Based on numerous known stressors (e.g., climate change and loss of sea ice habitat, contaminants), there is increased concern regarding the status of polar bears. Considering these changes, it is important to assess exposure to potentially pathogenic organisms and to improve understanding of transmission pathways. Brucella or specific antibodies to Brucella spp. has been reported in marine mammals. Various assays were used to elucidate the pathway or source of exposure (e.g., "marine" vs. …

Testing Protozoacidal Activity Of Ligand-Lytic Peptides Against Termite Gut Protozoa In Vitro (Protozoa Culture) And In Vivo (Microinjection Into Termite Hindgut), Claudia Husseneder, Amit Sethi, Lane Foil, Jennifer Delatte

Faculty Publications

We are developing a novel approach to subterranean termite control that would lead to reduced reliance on the use of chemical pesticides. Subterranean termites are dependent on protozoa in the hindguts of workers to efficiently digest wood. Lytic peptides have been shown to kill a variety of protozoan parasites (Mutwiri et al. 2000) and also protozoa in the gut of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus (Husseneder and Collier 2009). Lytic peptides are part of the nonspecific immune system of eukaryotes, and destroy the membranes of microorganisms (Leuschner and Hansel 2004). Most lytic peptides are not likely to harm higher …

A Phylogenetic Approach To Disentangling The Role Of Competition And Habitat Filtering In Community Assembly Of Neotropical Forest Birds, Juan Pablo Gómez, Gustavo A. Bravo, Robb T. Brumfield, José G. Tello, Carlos Daniel Cadena

Faculty Publications

Methods that assess patterns of phylogenetic relatedness, as well as character distribution and evolution, allow one to infer the ecological processes involved in community assembly. Assuming niche conservatism, assemblages should shift from phylogenetic clustering to evenness with decreasing geographic scale because the relative importance of mechanisms that shape assemblages is hypothesized to be scale-dependent. Whereas habitat filtering is more likely to act at regional scales because of increased habitat heterogeneity that allows sorting of ecologically similar species in contrasting environments, competition is more likely to act at local scales because low habitat heterogeneity provides few opportunities for niche partitioning. We …

Unofficial Legislative History Of The Biologics Price Competition And Innovation Act 2009, An, Erika Lietzan, Krista Hessler Carver, Jeffrey Elikan

Faculty Publications

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (BPCIA) which created a regulatory pathway for, and scheme for litigation of patent issues relating to, “biosimilar” biological products. This article discusses the history of the BPCIA and explains its provisions. Section I provides background and a history of the regulation of drugs and biological products in the United States. Section II describes the growing interest in biosimilar approval from the early 2000s through September 2006, when the legislative debate began in earnest. Section III describes the legislative and stakeholder process from …

Nuclear Actin-Related Proteins At The Core Of Epigenetic Control, Richard B. Meagher, Muthugapatti K. Kandasamy, Aaron P. Smith, Elizabeth C. Mckinney

Faculty Publications

Nuclear Actin-Related Proteins (ARPs) and actin combine as heterodimers to bind a large helicase subunit and form a core complex essential to the assembly and function of most chromatin remodeling and modifying machines. They are the most common shared subunits of these large and diverse assemblies in eukaryotes. We recently argued that most nuclear ARPs evolved directly from actin prior to the divergence of the eukaryotic kingdoms and did not evolve from pre-existing ARPs.2 Arabidopsis plants defective in nuclear ARP4, ARP5, ARP6 or ARP7 have extreme developmental phenotypes. Our recent publication demonstrates that ARP5-defective plants are not only dwarfed and …

Targeted Gene Replacement By Homologous Recombination In Drosophila Stimulates Production Of Second-Site Mutations, Swarnava Roy, Craig M. Hart

Faculty Publications

Gene replacement by homologous recombination is a powerful technique for generating mutations in Drosophila. While using this technique for the BEAF gene, we encountered non-targeted lethal mutations on the target chromosome that complicated the analysis of the BEAF mutations until they were discovered and removed by meiotic recombination. Subsequent experiments indicated that the gene-targeting method leads to a modest but significant three-fold increase in the rate of production of non-targeted lethal mutations. It is important to be aware of this phenomenon when using this method. © 2010 Landes Bioscience.

Endoreplication Controls Cell Fate Maintenance, Jonathan Bramsiepe, Katja Wester, Christina Weinl, Farshad Roodbarkelari, Remmy Kasili, John C. Larkin, Martin Hülskamp, Arp Schnittger

Faculty Publications

Cell-fate specification is typically thought to precede and determine cell-cycle regulation during differentiation. Here we show that endoreplication, also known as endoreduplication, a specialized cell-cycle variant often associated with cell differentiation but also frequently occurring in malignant cells, plays a role in maintaining cell fate. For our study we have used Arabidopsis trichomes as a model system and have manipulated endoreplication levels via mutants of cell-cycle regulators and overexpression of cell-cycle inhibitors under a trichome-specific promoter. Strikingly, a reduction of endoreplication resulted in reduced trichome numbers and caused trichomes to lose their identity. Live observations of young Arabidopsis leaves revealed …

Pr10 Expression In Maize And Its Effect On Host Resistance Against Aspergillus Flavus Infection And Aflatoxin Production, Zhi Yuan Chen, Robert L. Brown, Kenneth E. Damann, Thomas E. Cleveland

Faculty Publications

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major crop susceptible to Aspergillus flavus infection and subsequent contamination with aflatoxins, the potent carcinogenic secondary metabolites of the fungus. Protein profiles of maize genotypes resistant and susceptible to A. flavus infection and/or aflatoxin contamination have been compared, and several resistance-associated proteins have been found, including a pathogenesis-related protein 10 (PR10). In this study, RNA interference (RNAi) gene silencing technology was employed to further investigate the importance of PR10. An RNAi gene silencing vector was constructed and introduced into immature Hi II maize embryos through both bombardment and Agrobacterium infection procedures. PR10 expression was …

Darwinian Populations And Natural Selection, Grant Ramsey, Hope Hollocher, Agustín Fuentes, Charles H. Pence, Edwin Siu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Coastal Roots: Connecting Students With Sustainability In Mississippi And Louisiana, Christine E.H. Coker, Gary Bachman, Chris Boyd, Pamela B. Blanchard, Ed Bush, Mengmeng Gu

Faculty Publications

The Coastal Roots School Seedling Nursery Program for Habitat Restoration was initiated by Louisiana State University in 2000 in cooperation with Louisiana Sea Grant. The program enhances learning areas such as plant growth, wetland issues, conservation, and hands-on habitat restoration, and includes the installation of a small container nursery for the production of coastal plants in schoolyards. The program was adopted by Mississippi State University's Coastal Research and Extension Center in 2008. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the program as well as Mississippi's plans to adapt the Louisiana model to demonstrate teaching by example …

Reputation In A Networked World: Revisiting The Social Foundations Of Defamation Law, David S. Ardia

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Environmental Role Of Agriculture In An Era Of Carbon Caps, Donald Thomas Hornstein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Equal Protection View Of The First Amendment, Patrick Garry

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crisis Informatics: Introduction, Christine Hagar

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Is God's Law Part Of The "New Covenant"?, Roy E. Gane

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Beliefs And Attitudes Toward Vegetarian Lifestyle Across Generations, Peter Pribis, Rose C. Pencak, Tevni Grajales

Faculty Publications

The objective of the study was to examine whether reasons to adopt vegetarian lifestyle differ significantly among generations. Using a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), we identified that 4% of the participants were vegans, 25% lacto-ovo-vegetarians, 4% pesco-vegetarians and 67% non-vegetarian. Younger people significantly agreed more with the moral reason and with the environmental reason. People ages 41-60 significantly agreed more with the health reason. There are significant differences across generations as to why people choose to live a vegetarian lifestyle. © 2010 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Multiple Intelligences In The Gospel Classroom, John Hilton Iii

Faculty Publications

In a worldwide training broadcast, Elder W. Rolfe Kerr taught, “We cannot expect our students to learn all that we hope they will learn by just hearing a concept or principle one time. Multiple presentations, utilizing various approaches, often appealing to multiple senses, increase the likelihood of our students actually learning and internalizing the concepts we teach.”

Married With Children: The Influence Of Parental Status And Gender On Ambulatory Blood Pressure, Wendy C. Birmingham, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Adam M. Howard, Dustin Thoman

Faculty Publications

Background Although there is substantial evidence that social relationships and marriage may influence both psychological and physical health, little is known about the influence of children. Purpose This study examined the competing predictions regarding the directional influence of parental status and its interaction with gender—given that mothers are typically disproportionately more responsible for everyday care of children—on cardiovascular functioning. Method We examined ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) over 24 hours among 198 married males and females. Results Couples without children had significantly higher ambulatory SBP and DBP than those with children. Moreover, we found a significant interaction between parental status and …

Directable Weathering Of Concave Rock Using Curvature Estimation, Matthew Beardall, Joseph Butler, Mckay Farley, Michael D. Jones

Faculty Publications

We address the problem of directable weathering of exposed concave rock for use in computer-generated animation or games. Previous weathering models that admit concave surfaces are computationally inefficient and difficult to control. In nature, the spheroidal and cavernous weathering rates depend on the surface curvature. Spheroidal weathering is fastest in areas with large positive mean curvature and cavernous weathering is fastest in areas with large negative mean curvature. We simulate both processes using an approximation of mean curvature on a voxel grid. Both weathering rates are also influenced by rock durability. The user controls rock durability by editing a durability …

Pharmaceutical Reverse Payment Settlements: Presumptions, Procedural Burdens, And Covenants Not To Sue Generic Drug Manufacturers, Catherine J. K. Sandoval

Faculty Publications

This Article analyzes recent developments in antitrust law, focusing on agreements between pharmaceutical patent holders and generic drug manufacturers that require a generic manufacturer to delay its market entry in exchange for a payment or other consideration from the patent holder. A predictable consequence of settlements that delay the marketing of a generic drug is that prices for the patented drug will remain higher than if the generic competitor had prevailed in its challenge to the patent's validity or the patent holder had failed to show that the generic infringed on its patent. Analysis of the legality of these settlements …

Filling The Due Process Donut Hole: Abuse And Neglect Cases Between Disposition And Permanency, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Comprehensive Planning, Dominant-Use-Zones, And User Rights: A New Era In Ocean Governance, James N. Sanchirico, Josh Eagle, Steve Palumbi, Barton H. Thompson Jr.

Faculty Publications

Ocean-zoning arguments often center on the biology of ocean species, the geography of fishing-use patterns, and the need for preventing use conflicts. Here we expand this discussion to the social and legal aspects of ocean zoning, focusing on comprehensive planning, segregation of activities into use-priority areas, and the allocation of user rights within each zone. The inclusion of all of these features within an ocean-zoning regime can be a catalyst for a variety of ancillary benefits, including opportunities for user groups to form informal or formal long-lived institutions and a reassessment of the focus and scope of the regulatory institutions …

Lakewood Farm: The Private Zoo That The Public Loved, Geoffrey D. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Lakewood Farm:  The Private Zoo That the Public Loved is an article concerning the private zoo in Holland, Michigan, that was owned by Chicago coal merchant George Fulmer Getz and helped form the Illionois based Brookfiekd Zoo and John Ball Zoo of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Foreword: Lawfare!, Michael P. Scharf, Shannon Pagano

Faculty Publications

Forward to the Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law's symposium "Lawfare!" 2012, Cleveland, OH.

First Report Of Viral Pathogens Wssv And Ihhnv In Argentine Crustaceans, Sergio R. Martorelli, Robin M. Overstreet, Jean A. Jovonovich

Faculty Publications

The pathogenic penaeid shrimp viruses white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) are reported for the first time from Argentina. They both occurred in wild crustaceans in Bahia Blanca Estuary, with WSSV detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods as infecting samples as high as 56% of the penaeid Artemesia longinaris Bate, 1888, 67% of the grapsoid Cyrtograpsus angulatus Dana, 1851, and 40% of the introduced palaemonid Palaemon macrodactylus Rathbun, 1902. The highest detected copy number was 39,600 copies/mu g DNA. IHHNV was tested for using PCR in …

Environmental Correlates Of Abundances Of Mosquito Species And Stages In Discarded Vehicle Tires, Donald A. Yee, Jamie M. Kneitel, Steven A. Juliano

Faculty Publications

Discarded vehicle tires are a common habitat for container mosquito larvae, although the environmental factors that may control their presence or abundance within a tire are largely unknown. We sampled discarded vehicle tires in six sites located within four counties of central Illinois during the spring and summer of 2006 to determine associations between a suite of environmental factors and community composition of container mosquitoes. Our goal was to find patterns of association between environmental factors and abundances of early and late instars. We hypothesized that environmental factors correlated with early instars would be indicative of oviposition cues, whereas environmental …

Improving Teacher's Self Confidence In Learning Technology Skills And Math Education Through Professional Development, Taralynn Hartsell, Sherry S. Herron, Houbin Lewis Fang, Avinash Rathod

Faculty Publications

Using technology tools in math instruction can help stimulate problem-solving skills and understanding of math concepts. However, teachers need to be confident in their abilities to use technology tools. This study investigated whether or not a four-week in-service professional development institute that addressed the use of technology in math education helped improved the teachers’ attitude and confidence in applying technology. Findings indicated that as the teachers explored and used the available technology tools relevant to math instruction during the institute, the more proactive and motivated they became to continue their professional development in using technology for classroom instruction. They realized …

Bayesmotif: De Novo Protein Sorting Motif Discovery From Impure Datasets, Jianjun Hu, F. Zhang

Faculty Publications

Background

Protein sorting is the process that newly synthesized proteins are transported to their target locations within or outside of the cell. This process is precisely regulated by protein sorting signals in different forms. A major category of sorting signals are amino acid sub-sequences usually located at the N-terminals or C-terminals of protein sequences. Genome-wide experimental identification of protein sorting signals is extremely time-consuming and costly. Effective computational algorithms for de novo discovery of protein sorting signals is needed to improve the understanding of protein sorting mechanisms.

Methods

We formulated the protein sorting motif discovery problem as a classification problem …

Constructing A Fish Metabolic Network Model, Shuzhao Li, Alexander Pozhitkov, Rachel A. Ryan, Charles Steve Manning, Nancy J. Brown-Peterson, Marius Brouwer

Faculty Publications

We report the construction of a genome-wide fish metabolic network model, MetaFishNet, and its application to analyzing high throughput gene expression data. This model is a stepping stone to broader applications of fish systems biology, for example by guiding study design through comparison with human metabolism and the integration of multiple data types. MetaFishNet resources, including a pathway enrichment analysis tool, are accessible at http://metafishnet.appspot.com.

The End Of Farming In The “Northern Periphery” Of The Southwest, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Prehispanic farmers belonging to the Virgin and Fremont traditions once occupied most of Utah and adjacent parts of Arizona and Nevada. Through much of the twentieth century, these areas were called the "Northern Periphery'' of the Southwest, but in recent decades, both Fremont and Virgin have often been left out of syntheses of southwestern archaeology-even though they clearly had strong connections to the Southwest and represented, respectively, the northernmost and westernmost extensions of maize-based horticulture in western North America. This exclusion results from a combination of factors, the most important of which are geography and the territorial behavior of some …