Digital Commons Network^™

B Cell Homeostasis Is Maintained During Long-Duration Spaceflight, Guillaume Spielmann, Nadia Agha, Hawley Kunz, Richard J. Simpson, Brian Crucian, Satish Mehta, Mitzi Laughlin, John Campbell

Faculty Publications

Long-duration spaceflights reportedly induce immune dysregulation, which is considered a risk to astronaut safety and mission success. Recent studies have examined the impact of spaceflight on markers of adaptive and innate immunity, but no study, to date, has comprehensively evaluated humoral immunity and serological markers of B cell function. The aim of this study was to characterize changes in B cell numbers and phenotypes, along with plasma Igs and polyclonal free light chains (FLCs)—near-“real-time” biomarkers of Ig synthesis—in response to an ~6-mo mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Whole-blood samples were collected before flight, during flight (“Early flight,” “Mid-flight,” …

Extra-Mitochondrial Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase (Sod1) Is Dispensable For Protection Against Oxidative Stress But Mediates Peroxide Signaling In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Claudia Montllor-Albalate, Alyson E. Colin, Bindu Chandrasekharan, Naimah Bolaji, Joshua L. Andersen, Franklin W. Outten, Amit R. Reddi

Faculty Publications

Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase (Sod1) is a highly conserved and abundant metalloenzyme that catalyzes thedisproportionation of superoxide radicals into hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen. As a consequence, Sod1serves dual roles in oxidative stress protection and redox signaling by both scavenging cytotoxic superoxideradicals and producing hydrogen peroxide that can be used to oxidize and regulate the activity of downstreamtargets. However, the relative contributions of Sod1 to protection against oxidative stress and redox signaling arepoorly understood. Using the model unicellular eukaryote, Baker's yeast, we found that only a small fraction ofthe total Sod1 pool is required for protection against superoxide toxicity and that …

More Than A Pretty Interface: The Louisiana Digital Library As A Data Hub, Sl Ziegler

Faculty Publications

The Louisiana Digital Library (LDL) is an online platform for libraries, museums, archives, and historical organizations across the state. The books, manuscripts, oral histories, maps, and photographs held in the LDL showcase the cultural resources of Louisiana. The interface enables users to discover materials through search and browse, and to view and interact with these materials. The metadata about these items is also a great asset. When explored in their entirety, the data held in the LDL is as valuable as the digital facsimiles. The LDL may be conceptualized as a data hub, a place to gather and share the …

Prediction Of Ice-Free Conditions For A Perennially Ice-Covered Antarctic Lake, M. K. Obryk, P. T. Doran, J. C. Priscu

Faculty Publications

©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Although perennially ice-covered Antarctic lakes have experienced variable ice thicknesses over the past several decades, future ice thickness trends and associated aquatic biological responses under projected global warming remain unknown. Heat stored in the water column in chemically stratified Antarctic lakes that have middepth temperature maxima can significantly influence the ice thickness trends via upward heat flux to the ice/water interface. We modeled the ice thickness of the west lobe of Lake Bonney, Antarctica, based on possible future climate scenarios utilizing a 1D thermodynamic model that accounts for surface radiative fluxes as well …

The Underdeveloped Innate Immunity In Embryonic Stem Cells: The Molecular Basis And Biological Perspectives From Early Embryogenesis, Yan-Lin Guo

Faculty Publications

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have been intensively studied as a promising cell source for regenerative medicine. The rapid advancements in the field have not only proven the feasibility of ESC‐based cell therapy, but also led to a better understanding of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) as a unique cell population at an early stage of embryogenesis. Recent studies have revealed that both human and mouse ESCs have attenuated innate immune responses to infectious agents and inflammatory cytokines. These findings raise interesting questions about the rationale for ESCs, the PSCs experimentally derived from preimplantation stage embryos, to not have an innate defense …

The Surprising Reach Of Fda Regulation Of Cannabis, Even After Descheduling, Erika Lietzan, Sean M. O'Connor

Faculty Publications

As more states legalize cannabis, the push to "deschedule" it from the Controlled Substances Act is gaining momentum. At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first conventional drug containing a cannabinoid derived from cannabis - cannabidiol (CBD) for two rare seizure disorders. This would all seem to bode well for proponents of full federal legalization of medical cannabis. But some traditional providers are wary of drug companies pulling medical cannabis into the regular small molecule drug development system. The FDA's focus on precise analytical characterization and on individual active and inactive ingredients may be …

Predator-Prey Dynamics Of Bald Eagles And Glaucous-Winged Gulls At Protection Island, Washington, Usa, Shandelle M. Henson, Robert A. Desharnais, Eric T. Funasaki, Joseph G. Galusha, James W. Watson, James L. Hayward

Faculty Publications

1. Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) populations in North America rebounded in the latter part of the twentieth century, the result of tightened protection and outlawing of pesticides such as DDT. An unintended consequence of recovery may be a negative impact on seabirds. During the 1980s, few bald eagles disturbed a large glaucous‐winged gull (Larus glaucescens) colony on Protection Island, Washington, USA, in the Salish Sea. Breeding gull numbers in this colony rose nearly 50% during the 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning in the 1990s, a dramatic increase in bald eagle activity ensued within the colony, after which began a significant …

Supportive Hand-Holding Attenuates Pupillary Responses To Stress In Adult Couples, Wendy C. Birmingham, Tyler C. Graff, Steven G. Luke

Faculty Publications

Background

Social relationships, particularly marriage, have been shown to ameliorate the potentially pathogenic impact of stressful events but prior research has been mostly aimed at downstream effects, with less research on real-time reactivity. Pupillometry is an innovative procedure that allows us to see the effects of acute stress in real time. The muscles that control pupil size are linked to the autonomic nervous system, so that when stressed, the pupils dilate; this occurs within 200ms. This quick response allows us to see the immediate effects of acute stress on the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and the real-time effects of social …

Restoration Of Soil Microbial Function Following Degradation On Department Of Defense Lands: Mediating Biological Invasions In A Global Change Context, Kristina Stinson, Serita D. Frey

Faculty Publications

This project was designed to better understand the roles of soil biota in 1 mediating native species-NIS interactions and 2 facilitating the recovery of degraded ecosystems. The associated Research Needs were listed as follows 1. To quantify the functional diversity of soil biota and the role of key taxa in maintaining desired functional ecosystem attributes 2. To identify processes by which desired soil properties and associated soil biotic communities are degraded by NIS invasion and test potential mechanisms to restore them 3. To examine the role of disturbance in determining the functional attributes of the soil community 4. To test …

The Comparative Genomics And Complex Population History Of Papio Baboons, Jeffrey Rogers, Muthuswamy Raveendran, R. Alan Harris, Thomas Mailund, Kalle Leppälä, Georgios Athanasiadis, Mikkel Heide Schierup, Jade Cheng, Kasper Munch, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel, Vallmer E. Jordan, Cody J. Steely, Thomas O. Beckstrom, Christina Bergey, Andrew Burrell, Dominik Schrempf, Angela Noll, Maximillian Kothe, Gisela H. Kopp, Yue Liu, Shwetha Murali, Konstantinos Billis, Fergal J. Martin, Matthieu Muffato, Laura A. Cox, James Else, Todd Disotell, Donna M. Muzny, Jane Phillips-Conroy, Bronwen Aken, Evan E. Eichler, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Carolin Kosiol

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2019 The Authors, Recent studies suggest that closely related species can accumulate substantial genetic and phenotypic differences despite ongoing gene flow, thus challenging traditional ideas regarding the genetics of speciation. Baboons (genus Papio) are Old World monkeys consisting of six readily distinguishable species. Baboon species hybridize in the wild, and prior data imply a complex history of differentiation and introgression. We produced a reference genome assembly for the olive baboon (Papio anubis) and whole-genome sequence data for all six extant species. We document multiple episodes of admixture and introgression during the radiation of Papio baboons, thus demonstrating their …

Exposure To Environmental Radionuclides Associates With Tissue-Specific Impacts On Telomerase Expression And Telomere Length, Jenni Kesaniemi, Anton Lavrinienko, Eugene Tukalenko, Zbyszek Boratynski, Kati Kivisaari, Tapio Mappes, Gennadi Milinevsky, Anders Pape Moller, Timothy A. Mousseau, Phillip C. Watts

Faculty Publications

Telomeres, the protective structures at the ends of chromosomes, can be shortened when individuals are exposed to stress. In some species, the enzyme telomerase is expressed in adult somatic tissues, and potentially protects or lengthens telomeres. Telomeres can be damaged by ionizing radiation and oxidative stress, although the effect of chronic exposure to elevated levels of radiation on telomere maintenance is unknown for natural populations. We quantified telomerase expression and telomere length (TL) in different tissues of the bank vole Myodes glareolus, collected from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, an environment heterogeneously contaminated with radionuclides, and from uncontaminated control sites …

Deep Learning Based Analysis Of Histopathological Images Of Breast Cancer, Juanying Xie, Ran Liu, Joseph Luttrell Iv, Chaoyang Zhang

Faculty Publications

Breast cancer is associated with the highest morbidity rates for cancer diagnoses in the world and has become a major public health issue. Early diagnosis can increase the chance of successful treatment and survival. However, it is a very challenging and time-consuming task that relies on the experience of pathologists. The automatic diagnosis of breast cancer by analyzing histopathological images plays a significant role for patients and their prognosis. However, traditional feature extraction methods can only extract some low-level features of images, and prior knowledge is necessary to select useful features, which can be greatly affected by humans. Deep learning …

Predictability Of Ocean Heat Content From Electrical Conductance, D. S. Trossman, R. H. Tyler

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Conditional Knock-Out Of Mglur5 From Astrocytes During Epilepsy Development Impairs High-Frequency Glutamate Uptake, Anthony D. Umpierre, Peter J. West, John A. White, Karen S. Wilcox

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Too Hot To Move: Temperatures During Transportation Might Reduce The Survival Of Salvinia Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Lauren A. Cozad, Rodrigo Diaz, Christopher R. Mudge

Faculty Publications

© 2019 Florida Entomological Society. All rights reserved. The biological control agent, Cyrtobagous salviniae Calder and Sands (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) (salvinia weevil), is being used for management of the highly invasive fern Salvinia molesta Mitchell (Salvinaceae) in Louisiana and Texas, USA. The weevils and plants are transported from the nurseries and rearing facilities to the field release sites in plastic totes. Despite the increased transport of weevil-infested plants during the warmer months, limited data exist on the impact of heat stress and survivability of adult C. salviniae. Therefore, research was conducted to determine temperatures inside totes during summer transport, and to …

Optimization Of Photonic Nanojets Generated By Multilayer Microcylinders With A Genetic Algorithm, Yin Huang, Zhishen Zhen, Yuecheng Shen, Changjun Min, Georgios Veronis

Faculty Publications

We employ a genetic algorithm coupled with Mie theory to optimize the magnetic field intensity profile of photonic nanojets (PNJs) generated by multilayer microcylinders at visible wavelengths in free space. We first optimize five-layer microcylinders to elongate the PNJs. We show that a properly designed five-layer microcylinder structure can generate an ultra-long PNJ with a beam length ∼ 107.5 times the illumination wavelength λ0. We then optimize five-layer microcylinders to narrow the waist of PNJs. We show that a PNJ with a full-width at half maximum waist of ∼ 0.22λ0 can be obtained outside the surface of the optimized microcylinder. …

Potential New Biomarkers For Endometrial Cancer, Michelle H. Townsend, Zac E. Ence, Abigail M. Felsted, Alyssa C. Parker, Stephen R. Piccolo, Richard A. Robison, Kim L. O'Neill

Faculty Publications

Abstract

Background: Incidence of endometrial cancer are rising both in the United States and worldwide. As endometrial cancer becomes more prominent, the need to develop and characterize biomarkers for early stage diagnosis and the treatment of endometrial cancer has become an important priority. Several biomarkers currently used to diagnose endometrial cancer are directly related to obesity. Although epigenetic and mutational biomarkers have been identified and have resulted in treatment options for patients with specific aberrations, many tumors do not harbor those specific aberrations. A promising alternative is to determine biomarkers based on differential gene expression, which can be used to …

Role Of Transcription-Regulating Kinase Cdk8 In Colon Cancer Metastasis, Jiaxin Liang, Mengqian Chen, Eugenia Broude, Igor Roninson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Variable Nonlinear Splitting Algorithm For Reaction Diffusion Systems With Self- And Cross-Diffusion, Matthew Beauregard, Joshua L. Padgett

Faculty Publications

Self- and cross-diffusion are important nonlinear spatial derivative terms that are included into biological models of predator-prey interactions. Self-diffusion models overcrowding effects, while cross-diffusion incorporates the response of one species in light of the concentration of another. In this paper, a novel nonlinear operator splitting method is presented that directly incorporates both self- and cross-diffusion into a computational efficient design. The numerical analysis guarantees the accuracy and demonstrates appropriate criteria for stability. Numerical experiments display its efficiency and accuracy

Enso-Induced Co-Variability Of Salinity, Plantkton Biomass And Coastal Currents In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Fabian A. Gomez, Sang-Ki Lee, Frank J. Hernandez Jr., Luciano M. Chiaverano, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Yanyun Liu, John T. Lamkin

Faculty Publications

The northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is a region strongly influenced by river discharges of freshwater and nutrients, which promote a highly productive coastal ecosystem that host commercially valuable marine species. A variety of climate and weather processes could potentially influence the river discharges into the northern GoM. However, their impacts on the coastal ecosystem remain poorly described. By using a regional ocean-biogeochemical model, complemented with satellite and in situ observations, here we show that El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a main driver of the interannual variability in salinity and plankton biomass during winter and spring. Composite analysis …

Predicting High-Dimensional Isotope Relationships From Diagnostic Fractionation Factors In Systems With Diffusional Mass Transfer, Yuyang He, Huiming Bao

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. A dual or multiple stable isotope relationship, for example, a trajectory in a δ-δ (or δ′-δ′) space, can be used to deduce the relationship of underlying diagnostic isotope fractionation factors (α) and therefore reveal the mechanism of a reaction process. While temporal data sampled from a closed-system can be treated by a Rayleigh distillation model, spatial data should be treated by a reaction-transport model. Owing to an apparent similarity between the temporal and spatial trajectories, the research community has often ignored this distinction and applied a Rayleigh distillation model to cases where a reaction-transport model …

Predicting High-Dimensional Isotope Relationships From Diagnostic Fractionation Factors In Systems With Diffusional Mass Transfer, Yuyang He, Huiming Bao

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Chemical Society. A dual or multiple stable isotope relationship, for example, a trajectory in a δ-δ (or δ′-δ′) space, can be used to deduce the relationship of underlying diagnostic isotope fractionation factors (α) and therefore reveal the mechanism of a reaction process. While temporal data sampled from a closed-system can be treated by a Rayleigh distillation model, spatial data should be treated by a reaction-transport model. Owing to an apparent similarity between the temporal and spatial trajectories, the research community has often ignored this distinction and applied a Rayleigh distillation model to cases where a reaction-transport model …

Effects Of Substrate On Movement Patterns And Behavior Of Stream Fish Through Culverts: An Experimental Approach, Kyla Johnson, Lindsay E. Wait, Suzanne K. Monk, Russell Rader, Rollin H. Hotchkiss, Mark C. Belk

Faculty Publications

Culverts can provide a significant barrier to fish passage by fragmenting fish habitats and impeding the passage success of small-bodied fish. Geographical connectivity is critical to the maintenance of diverse fish assemblages. Culverts with high cross-sectional velocity can cause population fragmentation by impeding passage of small, freshwater fish. Behavioral responses of small fish to high velocities can differ among functional groups, and swimming behavior of many species is not well known. We tested effects of substrate type on swimming behavior in two small, freshwater fish species—southern leatherside chub (Lepidomeda aliciae, a midwater species), and longnose dace (Rhinichthys …

Atomic Resolution Of Cotton Cellulose Structure Enabled By Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Solid-State Nmr, Alex Kirui, Zhe Ling, Xue Kang, Malitha C. Dickwella Widanage, Frederic Mentink-Vigier, Alfred D. French, Tuo Wang

Faculty Publications

© 2018, Springer Nature B.V. Abstract: The insufficient resolution of conventional methods has long limited the structural elucidation of cellulose and its derivatives, especially for those with relatively low crystallinities or in native cell walls. Recent 2D/3D solid-state NMR studies of 13 C uniformly labeled plant biomaterials have initiated a re-investigation of our existing knowledge in cellulose structure and its interactions with matrix polymers but for unlabeled materials, this spectroscopic method becomes impractical due to limitations in sensitivity. Here, we investigate the molecular structure of unlabeled cotton cellulose by combining natural abundance 13 C– 13 C 2D correlation solid-state NMR …

The Association Between Tea Consumption And Hyperhomocysteine In Chinese Hypertensive Patients, Jun Zhu, Wei Wang, Yaqing Xiong, Richard S. Cooper, Ramon Du Raza-Arvizu, Guichan Cao, Yi Wang, Peng Ji, Rongwen Bian, Jiaren Xu

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND There is no consistent evidence for the relationship between tea-drinking and hyperhomocysteine (hHcy). Because tea-drinking habit and hHcy have prevailed in Chinese hypertensive patients, this study aimed to investigate the association between hHcy and tea consumption in patients with hypertension. METHODS A total of 335 hypertensive participants were recruited from 7 communities. Demographic characteristics of participants were collected through face-to-face interviews using a standard questionnaire, whereas laboratory data were obtained within 1 week after patient recruitment. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between tea consumption and hHcy in hypertensive patients. RESULTS Of the 335 patients, …

Multivariate Information Fusion With Fast Kernel Learning To Kernel Ridge Regression In Predicting Lncrna-Protein Interactions, Cong Shen, Yijie Ding, Jijun Tang, Fei Guo

Faculty Publications

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute a large class of transcribed RNA molecules. They have a characteristic length of more than 200 nucleotides which do not encode proteins. They play an important role in regulating gene expression by interacting with the homologous RNA-binding proteins. Due to the laborious and time-consuming nature of wet experimental methods, more researchers should pay great attention to computational approaches for the prediction of lncRNA-protein interaction (LPI). An in-depth literature review in the state-of-the-art in silico investigations, leads to the conclusion that there is still room for improving the accuracy and velocity. This paper propose a novel …

A Scientific Name For Pacific Oysters, Brian Bayne, Marc Anglès D'Auriac, Thierry Backeljau, Peter Beninger, Pierre Boudry, Ryan B. Carnegie, Jonathan P. Davis, Ximing Guo, Dennis Hedgecock, Maureen Krause, Chris Langdon, Sylvie Lapègue, Donal Manahan, Roger Mann, Eric Powell, Sandra Shumway

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Microbiome Stress Project: Toward A Global Meta-Analysis Of Environmental Stressors And Their Effects On Microbial Communities, Jennifer D. Rocca, Marie Simonin, Joanna R. Blaszczak, Jessica G. Ernakovich, Sean M. Gibbons, Firas S. Midani, Alex D. Washburne

Faculty Publications

Microbial community structure is highly sensitive to natural (e.g., drought, temperature, fire) and anthropogenic (e.g., heavy metal exposure, land-use change) stressors. However, despite an immense amount of data generated, systematic, cross-environment analyses of microbiome responses to multiple disturbances are lacking. Here, we present the Microbiome Stress Project, an open-access database of environmental and host-associated 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing studies collected to facilitate cross-study analyses of microbiome responses to stressors. This database will comprise published and unpublished datasets re-processed from the raw sequences into exact sequence variants using our standardized computational pipeline. Our database will provide insight into general response patterns …

Practitioner To Professor: Joys, Challenges, And Thriving In The Transition, Kim P. Huckstadt, Susan Alborn-Yilek, Denise Schares, David Michael Schmid

Faculty Publications

Career transitions are common and even expected in today’s society, especially for individuals who are midlife (Crane, O’Hern, & Lawler, 2009, p. 24). Utilizing a case study approach, this project discusses the experiences of four individuals who transitioned from roles as successful practitioners to university faculty members. Their joys and challenges, in addition to the implications of their experiences, are described. Finally, tips on how to successfully move from practitioner to faculty member are offered.

Etoxpred: A Machine Learning-Based Approach To Estimate The Toxicity Of Drug Candidates 11 Medical And Health Sciences 1115 Pharmacology And Pharmaceutical Sciences 03 Chemical Sciences 0305 Organic Chemistry 03 Chemical Sciences 0304 Medicinal And Biomolecular Chemistry, Limeng Pu, Misagh Naderi, Tairan Liu, Hsiao Chun Wu, Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: The efficiency of drug development defined as a number of successfully launched new pharmaceuticals normalized by financial investments has significantly declined. Nonetheless, recent advances in high-throughput experimental techniques and computational modeling promise reductions in the costs and development times required to bring new drugs to market. The prediction of toxicity of drug candidates is one of the important components of modern drug discovery. Results: In this work, we describe eToxPred, a new approach to reliably estimate the toxicity and synthetic accessibility of small organic compounds. eToxPred employs machine learning algorithms trained on molecular fingerprints to …