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Patterns Of Survival And Roost Switching In An African Insectivorous Bat, A. Monadjem, R. A. Mccleery, B. Collier May 2015

Patterns Of Survival And Roost Switching In An African Insectivorous Bat, A. Monadjem, R. A. Mccleery, B. Collier

Faculty Publications

Variation in survival over time and among age and sex classes drives population dynamics for a large majority of long-lived species and is critical to understanding species demography. For highly mobile species that actively move among potential breeding locations, coupling survival information with estimates of locational fidelity provides the basis for our understanding of species population dynamics. We studied the effect of time, age and sex class and climatic variables on survival and roost transition probabilities on a population of Egyptian slit-faced bats in Swaziland from 1450 marked individuals from 16 roosts over a 10-year period. We then used variance …

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Molecular And Phenotypic Characterization Of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Isolates Causing Bacteremia At A Major Hospital In Southern Mississippi, Dhritiman Samanta, Justin Batte, Stephanie N. Brown, Angela G. Crosby, Luis A. Marcos, Mohamed O. Elasri May 2015

Molecular And Phenotypic Characterization Of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Isolates Causing Bacteremia At A Major Hospital In Southern Mississippi, Dhritiman Samanta, Justin Batte, Stephanie N. Brown, Angela G. Crosby, Luis A. Marcos, Mohamed O. Elasri

Faculty Publications

Staphylococcus aureus is the predominant cause of bacteremia worldwide. We assessed the molecular epidemiology and antibiotic resistance of methicillin-resistant S aureus isolates causing bacteremia in southern Mississippi. Diverse genetic backgrounds in terms of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and multilocus sequence typing types of methicillin-resistant S aureus were identified as causing bacteremia in Mississippi. A strong association of Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes with elevated vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration is one of the important findings of our study.

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Biocontrol And Plant Growth-Promoting Activity Of Rhizobacteria From Chinese Fields With Contaminatd Soils, Xuefie Wang, Dmitri V. Mavrodi, Linfeng Ke, Olga V. Mavrodi, Mingming Yang, Linda S. Thomashow, Na Zheng, David M. Weller, Jibin Zhang May 2015

Biocontrol And Plant Growth-Promoting Activity Of Rhizobacteria From Chinese Fields With Contaminatd Soils, Xuefie Wang, Dmitri V. Mavrodi, Linfeng Ke, Olga V. Mavrodi, Mingming Yang, Linda S. Thomashow, Na Zheng, David M. Weller, Jibin Zhang

Faculty Publications

The aim of this study was to inventory the types of plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) present in the rhizosphere of plants grown in soils contaminated with heavy metals, recalcitrant organics, petroleum sewage or salinity in China. We screened 1223 isolates for antifungal activity and about 24% inhibited Rhizoctonia solani or Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Twenty‐four strains inhibitory to R. solani, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici and/or S. sclerotiorum and representing the dominant morphotypes were assayed for PGPR activity. Seven strains contained phlD, prnD, pltC or phzF genes and produced the antibiotics 2,4‐diacetylphloroglucinol, pyrrolnitrin, pyoluteorin and phenazines respectively. Six strains contained acdS, which encodes …

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Going With The Flow Or Against The Grain? The Promise Of Vegetation For Protecting Beaches, Dunes, And Barrier Islands From Erosion, Rusty A. Feagin, Jens Figlus, Julie C. Zinnert, Jake Sigren, Marisa L. Martínez, Rodolfo Silva, William K. Smith, Ashley Cox, Daniel Cox, Donald R. Young, Gregory A. Carter May 2015

Going With The Flow Or Against The Grain? The Promise Of Vegetation For Protecting Beaches, Dunes, And Barrier Islands From Erosion, Rusty A. Feagin, Jens Figlus, Julie C. Zinnert, Jake Sigren, Marisa L. Martínez, Rodolfo Silva, William K. Smith, Ashley Cox, Daniel Cox, Donald R. Young, Gregory A. Carter

Faculty Publications

Coastlines have traditionally been engineered to maintain structural stability and to protect property from storm‐related damage, but their ability to endure will be challenged over the next century. The use of vegetation to reduce erosion on ocean‐facing mainland and barrier island shorelines – including the sand dunes and beaches on these islands – could be part of a more flexible strategy. Although there is growing enthusiasm for using vegetation for this purpose, empirical data supporting this approach are lacking. Here, we identify the potential roles of vegetation in coastal protection, including the capture of sediment, ecological succession, and the building …

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Estimating Forest Structure In A Tropical Forest Using Field Measurements, A Synthetic Model And Discrete Return Lidar Data, Michael W. Palace, Franklin B. Sullivan, Mark J. Ducey, Robert N. Treuhaft, Christina Herrick, Julia Z. Shimbo, Jonas Mota-E Silva May 2015

Estimating Forest Structure In A Tropical Forest Using Field Measurements, A Synthetic Model And Discrete Return Lidar Data, Michael W. Palace, Franklin B. Sullivan, Mark J. Ducey, Robert N. Treuhaft, Christina Herrick, Julia Z. Shimbo, Jonas Mota-E Silva

Faculty Publications

Tropical forests are huge reservoirs of terrestrial carbon and are experiencing rapid degradation and deforestation. Understanding forest structure proves vital in accurately estimating both forest biomass and also the natural disturbances and remote sensing is an essential method for quantification of forest properties and structure in the tropics. Our objective is to examine canopy vegetation profiles formulated from discrete return LIght Detection And Ranging (lidar) data and examine their usefulness in estimating forest structural parameters measured during a field campaign. We developed a modeling procedure that utilized hypothetical stand characteristics to examine lidar profiles. In essence, this is a simple …

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Baad: A Biomass And Allometry Database For Woody Plants, Daniel S. Falster, Remko A. Duursma, Masae I. Ishihara, Diego R. Barneche, Richard G. Fitzjohn, Angelica Varhammar, Masahiro Aiba, Makoto Ando, Niels Anten, Michael J. Aspinwall, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Chrisopher Baraloto, Michael Battaglia, John J. Battles, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Michiel Van Breugel, James Camac, Yves Claveau, Lluis Coll, Masako Dannoura, Sylvain Delagrange, Jean-Christophe Domec, Farrah Fatemi, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur May 2015

Baad: A Biomass And Allometry Database For Woody Plants, Daniel S. Falster, Remko A. Duursma, Masae I. Ishihara, Diego R. Barneche, Richard G. Fitzjohn, Angelica Varhammar, Masahiro Aiba, Makoto Ando, Niels Anten, Michael J. Aspinwall, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Chrisopher Baraloto, Michael Battaglia, John J. Battles, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Michiel Van Breugel, James Camac, Yves Claveau, Lluis Coll, Masako Dannoura, Sylvain Delagrange, Jean-Christophe Domec, Farrah Fatemi, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur

Faculty Publications

Understanding how plants are constructed—i.e., how key size dimensions and the amount of mass invested in different tissues varies among individuals—is essential for modeling plant growth, carbon stocks, and energy fluxes in the terrestrial biosphere. Allocation patterns can differ through ontogeny, but also among coexisting species and among species adapted to different environments. While a variety of models dealing with biomass allocation exist, we lack a synthetic understanding of the underlying processes. This is partly due to the lack of suitable data sets for validating and parameterizing models. To that end, we present the Biomass And Allometry Database (BAAD) for …

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The Role Of Social Relationship In Hiv Healing And Its Implications In Hiv Cure In China, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Jing-Bao Nie, Joseph Tucker, Stuart Rennie, Xiao-Ming Li Apr 2015

The Role Of Social Relationship In Hiv Healing And Its Implications In Hiv Cure In China, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Jing-Bao Nie, Joseph Tucker, Stuart Rennie, Xiao-Ming Li

Faculty Publications

HIV is both a biomedical disease and a social phenomenon that is constructed in particular cultural contexts. A successful and humane HIV cure requires not only the science of eradicating pathogens, but also the art of healing to restore harmony between mind and body. Healing in the context of HIV cure will be both personal and interpersonal, biological and social, and will involve rebuilding connections between HIV patients and their social environment. Social conceptions of healing have been highlighted in many regions with rich non-biomedical healing traditions, including China. Based on an adapted theoretical model on social relationships and health, …

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Evidentiary Rulings As Police Reform, Seth W. Stoughton Apr 2015

Evidentiary Rulings As Police Reform, Seth W. Stoughton

Faculty Publications

How can law be a mechanism for police reform? The most familiar answer, for legal scholars who work on the regulation of law enforcement, is as a deterrent: the law sets some limit on police behavior and imposes some sanction for violations. But the deterrent model is not the only method through which the law can affect police behaviors. In this article, Stoughton contends that evidentiary considerations have the potential to change both police training and agency culture. Stoughton’s contention is based on the observation that evidentiary considerations have shaped not just police behavior but also the culture of policing …

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Visualization Of Risk Of Radiogenic Second Cancer In The Organs And Tissues Of The Human Body, Rui Zhang, Dragan Mirkovic, Wayne D. Newhauser Apr 2015

Visualization Of Risk Of Radiogenic Second Cancer In The Organs And Tissues Of The Human Body, Rui Zhang, Dragan Mirkovic, Wayne D. Newhauser

Faculty Publications

Background: Radiogenic second cancer is a common late effect in long term cancer survivors. Currently there are few methods or tools available to visually evaluate the spatial distribution of risks of radiogenic late effects in the human body. We developed a risk visualization method and demonstrated it for radiogenic second cancers in tissues and organs of one patient treated with photon volumetric modulated arc therapy and one patient treated with proton craniospinal irradiation. Methods: Treatment plans were generated using radiotherapy treatment planning systems (TPS) and dose information was obtained from TPS. Linear non-threshold risk coefficients for organs at risk of …

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Visualization Of Risk Of Radiogenic Second Cancer In The Organs And Tissues Of The Human Body, Rui Zhang, Dragan Mirkovic, Wayne D. Newhauser Apr 2015

Visualization Of Risk Of Radiogenic Second Cancer In The Organs And Tissues Of The Human Body, Rui Zhang, Dragan Mirkovic, Wayne D. Newhauser

Faculty Publications

Background: Radiogenic second cancer is a common late effect in long term cancer survivors. Currently there are few methods or tools available to visually evaluate the spatial distribution of risks of radiogenic late effects in the human body. We developed a risk visualization method and demonstrated it for radiogenic second cancers in tissues and organs of one patient treated with photon volumetric modulated arc therapy and one patient treated with proton craniospinal irradiation. Methods: Treatment plans were generated using radiotherapy treatment planning systems (TPS) and dose information was obtained from TPS. Linear non-threshold risk coefficients for organs at risk of …

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Deep Groundwater And Potential Subsurface Habitats Beneath An Antarctic Dry Valley, J. A. Mikucki, E. Auken, S. Tulaczyk, R. A. Virginia, C. Schamper, K. I. Sørensen, P. T. Doran, H. Dugan, N. Foley Apr 2015

Deep Groundwater And Potential Subsurface Habitats Beneath An Antarctic Dry Valley, J. A. Mikucki, E. Auken, S. Tulaczyk, R. A. Virginia, C. Schamper, K. I. Sørensen, P. T. Doran, H. Dugan, N. Foley

Faculty Publications

The occurrence of groundwater in Antarctica, particularly in the ice-free regions and along the coastal margins is poorly understood. Here we use an airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) sensor to produce extensive imagery of resistivity beneath Taylor Valley. Regional-scale zones of low subsurface resistivity were detected that are inconsistent with the high resistivity of glacier ice or dry permafrost in this region. We interpret these results as an indication that liquid, with sufficiently high solute content, exists at temperatures well below freezing and considered within the range suitable for microbial life. These inferred brines are widespread within permafrost and extend below …

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Rice Crop Monitoring And Yield Estimation Through Cosmo Skymed And Terrasar-X: A Sar-Based Experience In India, S. Pazhanivelan, P. Kannan, P. Christy Nirmala Mary, E. Subramanian, S. Jeyaraman, Andrew Nelson, Tri Setiyono, Francesco Holecz, Massimo Barbieri, Manoj Yadav Apr 2015

Rice Crop Monitoring And Yield Estimation Through Cosmo Skymed And Terrasar-X: A Sar-Based Experience In India, S. Pazhanivelan, P. Kannan, P. Christy Nirmala Mary, E. Subramanian, S. Jeyaraman, Andrew Nelson, Tri Setiyono, Francesco Holecz, Massimo Barbieri, Manoj Yadav

Faculty Publications

Rice is the most important cereal crop governing food security in Asia. Reliable and regular information on the area under rice production is the basis of policy decisions related to imports, exports and prices which directly affect food security. Recent and planned launches of SAR sensors coupled with automated processing can provide sustainable solutions to the challenges on mapping and monitoring rice systems. High resolution (3m) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imageries were used to map and monitor rice growing areas in selected three sites in TamilNadu, India to determine rice cropping extent, track rice growth and estimate yields. A simple, …

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Speech Codes Theory, Gerry Philipsen, Tabitha Hart Apr 2015

Speech Codes Theory, Gerry Philipsen, Tabitha Hart

Faculty Publications

Speech codes theory is an account of communication as a deeply cultured human activity. The theory, and the empirical research on which it is built, demonstrate that the kinds of local knowledge people deploy to talk about—to characterize, interpret, and rationalize—their communicative conduct is indeed local, particular knowledge, and that such knowledge can be discovered and described through systematic inquiry. This article describes the key theoretical commitments of speech codes theory, identifies its six propositions, illustrates research within the tradition, and assesses its purposes.

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Retrotransposon-Derived Promoter Of Mammalian Aebp2, Hana Kim, Arundhati Bakshi, Joomyeong Kim Apr 2015

Retrotransposon-Derived Promoter Of Mammalian Aebp2, Hana Kim, Arundhati Bakshi, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Kim et al. Variable DNA methylation in promoter regions has been implicated in altering transcriptional regulation. The current study analyzed the evolutionary origin and DNA methylation pattern of one of the promoters of Aebp2 . According to the results, the first promoter of Aebp2 has been derived from retrotransposons independently in the primate and rodent lineages. DNA methylation analyses revealed that this promoter is unmethylated in sperm, methylated in mature oocytes, and partially methylated at embryonic day 10.5 (78.3%) and 14.5 (58.3%). This promoter also shows variable levels of DNA methylation among adult organs, ranging from the highest …

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Variation In Marital Quality In A National Sample Of Divorced Women, Spencer L. James Apr 2015

Variation In Marital Quality In A National Sample Of Divorced Women, Spencer L. James

Faculty Publications

Previous work has compared marital quality between stably married and divorced individuals. Less work has examined the possibility of variation among divorcés in trajectories of marital quality as divorce approaches. This study addressed that hole by first examining whether distinct trajectories of marital quality can be discerned among women whose marriages ended in divorce and, second, the profile of women who experienced each trajectory. Latent class growth analyses with longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample were used to “look backward” from the time of divorce. Although demographic and socioeconomic variables from this national sample did not predict the trajectories …

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Reducing The Cost Of Proton Radiation Therapy: The Feasibility Of A Streamlined Treatment Technique For Prostate Cancer, Wayne D. Newhauser, Rui Zhang, Timothy G. Jones, Annelise Giebeler, Phillip J. Taddei, Robert D. Stewart, Andrew Lee, Oleg Vassiliev Apr 2015

Reducing The Cost Of Proton Radiation Therapy: The Feasibility Of A Streamlined Treatment Technique For Prostate Cancer, Wayne D. Newhauser, Rui Zhang, Timothy G. Jones, Annelise Giebeler, Phillip J. Taddei, Robert D. Stewart, Andrew Lee, Oleg Vassiliev

Faculty Publications

Proton radiation therapy is an effective modality for cancer treatments, but the cost of proton therapy is much higher compared to conventional radiotherapy and this presents a formidable barrier to most clinical practices that wish to offer proton therapy. Little attention in literature has been paid to the costs associated with collimators, range compensators and hypofractionation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of cost-saving modifications to the present standard of care for proton treatments for prostate cancer. In particular, we quantified the dosimetric impact of a treatment technique in which custom fabricated collimators were replaced with …

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The Physics Of Proton Therapy, Wayne D. Newhauser, Rui Zhang Apr 2015

The Physics Of Proton Therapy, Wayne D. Newhauser, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

The physics of proton therapy has advanced considerably since it was proposed in 1946. Today analytical equations and numerical simulation methods are available to predict and characterize many aspects of proton therapy. This article reviews the basic aspects of the physics of proton therapy, including proton interaction mechanisms, proton transport calculations, the determination of dose from therapeutic and stray radiations, and shielding design. The article discusses underlying processes as well as selected practical experimental and theoretical methods. We conclude by briefly speculating on possible future areas of research of relevance to the physics of proton therapy.

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Transits And Starspots In The Wasp-6 Planetary System, Jeremy Tregloan-Reed, John Southworth, M. Burgdorf, S. Calchi Novati, M. Dominik, F. Finet, U. G. Jørgensen, G. Maier, L. Mancini, S. Prof, D. Ricci, C. Snodgrass, V. Bozza, P. Browne, P. Dodds, T. Gerner, K. Harpsøe, T. C. Hinse, M. Hundertmark, N. Kains, E. Kerins, C. Liebig, M. T. Penny, S. Rahvar, K. Sahu, G. Scarpetta, S. Schäfer, F. Schönebeck, J. Skottfelt, J. Surdej Apr 2015

Transits And Starspots In The Wasp-6 Planetary System, Jeremy Tregloan-Reed, John Southworth, M. Burgdorf, S. Calchi Novati, M. Dominik, F. Finet, U. G. Jørgensen, G. Maier, L. Mancini, S. Prof, D. Ricci, C. Snodgrass, V. Bozza, P. Browne, P. Dodds, T. Gerner, K. Harpsøe, T. C. Hinse, M. Hundertmark, N. Kains, E. Kerins, C. Liebig, M. T. Penny, S. Rahvar, K. Sahu, G. Scarpetta, S. Schäfer, F. Schönebeck, J. Skottfelt, J. Surdej

Faculty Publications

We present updates to PRISM, a photometric transit-starspot model, and GEMC, a hybrid optimization code combining MCMC and a genetic algorithm. We then present high-precision photometry of four transits in the WASP-6 planetary system, two of which contain a starspot anomaly. All four transits were modelled using PRISM and GEMC, and the physical properties of the system calculated. We find the mass and radius of the host star to be 0.836 ± 0.063 M⊙ and 0.864 ± 0.024 R⊙, respectively. For the planet, we find a mass of 0.485 ± 0.027 MJup, a radius of 1.230 ± 0.035 RJup and …

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Electronic Signatures Of A Model Pollutant-Particle System: Chemisorbed Phenol On Tio2(110), Matthew C. Patterson, Chad A. Thibodeaux, Orhan Kizilkaya, Richard L. Kurtz, E. D. Poliakoff, Phillip T. Sprunger Apr 2015

Electronic Signatures Of A Model Pollutant-Particle System: Chemisorbed Phenol On Tio2(110), Matthew C. Patterson, Chad A. Thibodeaux, Orhan Kizilkaya, Richard L. Kurtz, E. D. Poliakoff, Phillip T. Sprunger

Faculty Publications

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) are a class of composite organic/metal oxide pollutants that have recently been discovered to form from a wide variety of substituted benzenes chemisorbed to commonly encountered oxides. Although a qualitative understanding of EPFR formation on particulate metal oxides has been achieved, a detailed understanding of the charge transfer mechanism that must accompany the creation of an unpaired radical electron is lacking. In this study, we perform photoelectron spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy on a well-defined model system-phenol chemisorbed on TiO2(110) to directly observe changes in the electronic structure of the oxide and chemisorbed phenol …

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Investigation Of The Curvature Induction And Membrane Localization Of The Influenza Virus M2 Protein Using Static And Off-Magic-Angle Spinning Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Of Oriented Bicelles, Tuo Wang, Mei Hong Apr 2015

Investigation Of The Curvature Induction And Membrane Localization Of The Influenza Virus M2 Protein Using Static And Off-Magic-Angle Spinning Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Of Oriented Bicelles, Tuo Wang, Mei Hong

Faculty Publications

© 2015 American Chemical Society. A wide variety of membrane proteins induce membrane curvature for function; thus, it is important to develop new methods to simultaneously determine membrane curvature and protein binding sites in membranes with multiple curvatures. We introduce solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods based on magnetically oriented bicelles and off-magic-angle spinning (OMAS) to measure membrane curvature and the binding site of proteins in mixed-curvature membranes. We demonstrate these methods on the influenza virus M2 protein, which not only acts as a proton channel but also mediates virus assembly and membrane scission. An M2 peptide encompassing the transmembrane …

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Beyond The Single-Atom Response In Absorption Line Shapes: Probing A Dense, Laser-Dressed Helium Gas With Attosecond Pulse Trains, Chen Ting Liao, Arvinder Sandhu, Seth Camp, Kenneth J. Schafer, Mette B. Gaarde Apr 2015

Beyond The Single-Atom Response In Absorption Line Shapes: Probing A Dense, Laser-Dressed Helium Gas With Attosecond Pulse Trains, Chen Ting Liao, Arvinder Sandhu, Seth Camp, Kenneth J. Schafer, Mette B. Gaarde

Faculty Publications

We investigate the absorption line shapes of laser-dressed atoms beyond the single-atom response, by using extreme ultraviolet (XUV) attosecond pulse trains to probe an optically thick helium target under the influence of a strong infrared (IR) field. We study the interplay between the IR-induced phase shift of the microscopic time-dependent dipole moment and the resonant-propagation-induced reshaping of the macroscopic XUV pulse. Our experimental and theoretical results show that as the optical depth increases, this interplay leads initially to a broadening of the IR-modified line shape, and subsequently, to the appearance of new, narrow features in the absorption line.

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Resin Production In Natural And Artificial Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Cavity Trees, David Kulhavy, Kimberly B. Rozelle, William G. Ross, Daniel Unger, Richard N. Conner Apr 2015

Resin Production In Natural And Artificial Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Cavity Trees, David Kulhavy, Kimberly B. Rozelle, William G. Ross, Daniel Unger, Richard N. Conner

Faculty Publications

Resin flow was measured in red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis Vieillot) clusters in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) in the southern region of the Angelina National Forest, Texas. Resin flow (ml) at 1.4 m height over 24 hrs was measured from one 2.5 cm punch through the phloem between 0700 and 1000 hrs from March 1999 to September 2000, for a total of 9 measurements per tree. Resin was sampled in naturally active cavity trees, artificial (insert) active, natural inactive, artificial inactive and control pines (84 sample trees). Resin flow pattern was significantly different during the year, but not significantly different …

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Glowing Seashells: Diversity Of Fossilized Coloration Patterns On Coral Reef-Associated Cone Snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) Shells From The Neogene Of The Dominican Republic, Jonathan R. Hendricks Apr 2015

Glowing Seashells: Diversity Of Fossilized Coloration Patterns On Coral Reef-Associated Cone Snail (Gastropoda: Conidae) Shells From The Neogene Of The Dominican Republic, Jonathan R. Hendricks

Faculty Publications

The biology of modern Conidae (cone snails)—which includes the hyperdiverse genus Conus—has been intensively studied, but the fossil record of the clade remains poorly understood, particularly within an evolutionary framework. Here, ultraviolet light is used to reveal and characterize the original shell coloration patterns of 28 species of cone snails from three Neogene coral reef-associated deposits from the Cibao Valley, northern Dominican Republic. These fossils come from the upper Miocene Cercado Fm. and lower Pliocene Gurabo Fm., and range in age from about 6.6-4.8 Ma. Comparison of the revealed coloration patterns with those of extant species allow the taxa to …

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Oxygen-Evolving Complex Of Photosystem Ii: An Analysis Of Second-Shell Residues And Hydrogen-Bonding Networks, Leslie Vogt, David J. Vinyard, Sahr Khan, Gary W. Brudvig Apr 2015

Oxygen-Evolving Complex Of Photosystem Ii: An Analysis Of Second-Shell Residues And Hydrogen-Bonding Networks, Leslie Vogt, David J. Vinyard, Sahr Khan, Gary W. Brudvig

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) is a Mn4O5Ca cluster embedded in the Photosystem II (PSII) protein complex. As the site of water oxidation, the OEC is connected to the lumen by channels that conduct water, oxygen, and/or protons during the catalytic cycle. The hydrogen-bond networks found in these channels also serve to stabilize the oxidized intermediates, known as the S states. We review recent developments in characterizing these networks via protein mutations, molecular inhibitors, and computational modeling. On the basis of these results, we highlight regions of the PSII protein in which changes have indirect effects on …

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Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Plant-Herbivore Interactions, James T. Cronin, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson Apr 2015

Biogeography Of A Plant Invasion: Plant-Herbivore Interactions, James T. Cronin, Ganesh P. Bhattarai, Warwick J. Allen, Laura A. Meyerson

Faculty Publications

© 2015 by the Ecological Society of America. Theory predicts that native plant species should exhibit latitudinal gradients in the strength of their interactions with herbivores. We hypothesize that if an invasive plant species exhibits a different latitudinal gradient in response to herbivores (e.g., a nonparallel gradient), it can create large-scale heterogeneities in community resistance/susceptibility to the invasive species. We conducted a study of latitudinal variation in the strength of herbivory and defenses of native genotypes of Phragmites australis in North America (NA) and Europe (EU) and European invasive genotypes in NA. Within NA, we tested whether (1) invasive genotypes …

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Recycling Antibiotics Into Gumbos: A New Combination Strategy To Combat Multi-Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Marsha R. Cole, Jeffery A. Hobden, Isiah M. Warner Apr 2015

Recycling Antibiotics Into Gumbos: A New Combination Strategy To Combat Multi-Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Marsha R. Cole, Jeffery A. Hobden, Isiah M. Warner

Faculty Publications

© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI. The emergence of multi-drug-resistant bacteria, coupled with the lack of new antibiotics in development, is fast evolving into a global crisis. New strategies utilizing existing antibacterial agents are urgently needed. We propose one such strategy in which four outmoded β-lactam antibiotics (ampicillin, carbenicillin, cephalothin and oxacillin) and a well-known antiseptic (chlorhexidine di-acetate) were fashioned into a group of uniform materials based on organic salts (GUMBOS) as an alternative to conventional combination drug dosing strategies. The antibacterial activity of precursor ions (e.g., chlorhexidine diacetate and β-lactam antibiotics), GUMBOS and their unreacted mixtures were studied …

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Motoneuron Axon Pathfinding Errors In Zebrafish: Differential Effects Related To Concentration And Timing Of Nicotine Exposure, Evdokia Menelaou, Latoya T. Paul, Surangi N. Perera, Kurt R. Svoboda Apr 2015

Motoneuron Axon Pathfinding Errors In Zebrafish: Differential Effects Related To Concentration And Timing Of Nicotine Exposure, Evdokia Menelaou, Latoya T. Paul, Surangi N. Perera, Kurt R. Svoboda

Faculty Publications

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Nicotine exposure during embryonic stages of development can affect many neurodevelopmental processes. In the developing zebrafish, exposure to nicotine was reported to cause axonal pathfinding errors in the later born secondary motoneurons (SMNs). These alterations in SMN axon morphology coincided with muscle degeneration at high nicotine concentrations (15-30. μM). Previous work showed that the paralytic mutant zebrafish known as sofa potato exhibited nicotine-induced effects onto SMN axons at these high concentrations but in the absence of any muscle deficits, indicating that pathfinding errors could occur independent of muscle effects.In this study, we used varying concentrations of …

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Interspecific Competition Affects Evolutionary Links Between Cavity Nesting, Migration And Clutch Size In Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapdae), Sahas Barve, Nicholas A. Mason Apr 2015

Interspecific Competition Affects Evolutionary Links Between Cavity Nesting, Migration And Clutch Size In Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapdae), Sahas Barve, Nicholas A. Mason

Faculty Publications

© 2015 British Ornithologists' Union. The ecology of cavity nesting in passerine birds has been studied extensively, yet there are no phylogenetic comparative studies that quantify differences in life history traits between cavity- and open-nesting birds within a passerine family. We test existing hypotheses regarding the evolutionary significance of cavity nesting in the Old World flycatchers (Muscicapidae). We used a multi-locus phylogeny of 252 species to reconstruct the evolutionary history of cavity nesting and to quantify correlations between nest types and life history traits. Within a phylogenetic generalized linear model framework, we found that cavity-nesting species are larger than open-nesting …

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Drivers Of Observed Biotic Homogenization In Pine Barrens Of Central Wisconsin, Daijiang Li, Donald Waller Apr 2015

Drivers Of Observed Biotic Homogenization In Pine Barrens Of Central Wisconsin, Daijiang Li, Donald Waller

Faculty Publications

© 2015 by the Ecological Society of America. Fire suppression throughout the 20th century greatly altered plant communities in fire-dominated systems across North America. Our ability to assess these effects over the long term, however, is handicapped by the paucity of baseline data. Here, we used detailed baseline data from the 1950s to track changes in the over- and understory composition of pinebarrens vegetation growing on sandy, glacial lake-bed sediments in central Wisconsin. We expected fire suppression to favor succession to closed-canopy conditions, leading to decreases in shade-intolerant and fire-Adapted species and consequent reductions in alpha and gamma diversity. We …

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Prolonged Proteasome Inhibition Cyclically Upregulates Oct3/4 And Nanog Gene Expression, But Reduces Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Colony Formation, Elizabeth Z. Floyd, Jaroslaw Staszkiewicz, Rachel A. Power, Gail Kilroy, Heather Kirk-Ballard, Christian W. Barnes, Karen L. Strickler, Jong S. Rim, Lettie L. Harkins, Ru Gao, Jeong Kim, Kenneth J. Eilertsen Apr 2015

Prolonged Proteasome Inhibition Cyclically Upregulates Oct3/4 And Nanog Gene Expression, But Reduces Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Colony Formation, Elizabeth Z. Floyd, Jaroslaw Staszkiewicz, Rachel A. Power, Gail Kilroy, Heather Kirk-Ballard, Christian W. Barnes, Karen L. Strickler, Jong S. Rim, Lettie L. Harkins, Ru Gao, Jeong Kim, Kenneth J. Eilertsen

Faculty Publications

There is ample evidence that the ubiquitin-proteasome system is an important regulator of transcription and its activity is necessary for maintaining pluripotency and promoting cellular reprogramming. Moreover, proteasome activity contributes to maintaining the open chromatin structure found in pluripotent stem cells, acting as a transcriptional inhibitor at specific gene loci generally associated with differentiation. The current study was designed to understand further the role of proteasome inhibition in reprogramming and its ability to modulate endogenous expression of pluripotency-related genes and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) colony formation. Herein, we demonstrate that acute combinatorial treatment with the proteasome inhibitors MG101 or …

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