Digital Commons Network^™

Stress-Induced Switch In Numb Isoforms Enhances Notch-Dependent Expression Of Subtype-Specific Transient Receptor Potential Channel, George A. Kyriazis, Cherine Belal, Meenu Madan, David G. Taylor, Jang Wang, Zelan Wei, Jogi V. Pattisapu, Sic L. Chan

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The Notch signaling pathway plays an essential role in the regulation of cell specification by controlling differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Numb is an intrinsic regulator of the Notch pathway and exists in four alternative splice variants that differ in the length of their phosphotyrosine-binding domain (PTB) and proline-rich region domains. The physiological relevance of the existence of the Numb splice variants and their exact regulation are still poorly understood. We previously reported that Numb switches from isoforms containing the insertion in PTB to isoforms lacking this insertion in neuronal cells subjected to trophic factor withdrawal (TFW). The functional relevance of …

Dna Methyltransferase 1-Associated Protein (Dmap1) Is A Co-Repressor That Stimulates Dna Methylation Globally And Locally At Sites Of Double Strand Break Repair, Gun E. Lee, Joo Hee Kim, Michael Taylor, Mark T. Muller

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Correction of double strand DNA breaks proceeds in an error-free pathway of homologous recombination (HR), which can result in gene silencing of half of the DNA molecules caused by action by DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) (Cuozzo, C., Porcellini, A., Angrisano, T., Morano, A., Lee, B., Di Pardo, A., Messina, S., Iuliano, R., Fusco, A., Santillo, M. R., Muller, M. T., Chiariotti, L., Gottesman, M. E., and Avvedimento, E. V. (2007) PLoS Genet. 3, e110). To explore the mechanism that leads to HR-induced silencing, a genetic screen was carried out based on the silencing of a GFP reporter to identify potential …

Mcp-Induced Protein 1 Deubiquitinates Traf Proteins And Negatively Regulates Jnk And Nf-Kappa B Signaling, Jian Liang, Yasser Saad, Tianhua Lei, Jing Wang, Dongfei Qi, Qinglin Yang, Pappachan E. Kolattukudy, Mingui Fu

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The intensity and duration of macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses are controlled by proteins that modulate inflammatory signaling pathways. MCPIP1 (monocyte chemotactic protein-induced protein 1), a recently identified CCCH Zn finger-containing protein, plays an essential role in controlling macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses. However, its mechanism of action is poorly understood. In this study, we show that MCPIP1 negatively regulates c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and NF-kappa B activity by removing ubiquitin moieties from proteins, including TRAF2, TRAF3, and TRAF6. MCPIP1-deficient mice spontaneously developed fatal inflammatory syndrome. Macrophages and splenocytes from MCPIP1(-/-) mice showed elevated expression of inflammatory gene expression, increased JNK and I. B …

Phylogenetic Analysis Of Chlamydia Trachomatis Tarp And Correlation With Clinical Phenotype, Erika I. Lutter, Christine Bonner, Martin J. Holland, Robert J. Suchland, Walter E. Stamm, Travis J. Jewett, Grant Mcclarty, Ted Hackstadt

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide and is the most commonly reported pathogen causing sexually transmitted infections. Tarp (translocated actin recruiting phosphoprotein), a type III secreted effector that mediates actin nucleation, is central to C. trachomatis infection. The phylogenetic analysis of tarP from reference strains as well as ocular, genital, and lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) clinical isolates demonstrated an evolutionary relationship with disease phenotype, with LGV and ocular isolates branched into clades that were separate from the urogenital isolates. The sequence analysis of Tarp indicated a high degree of variability and identified trends within clinical groupings. Tarps …

Reentrant Processing In Intuitive Perception, Phan Luu, Alexandra Geyer, Cali Fidopiastis, Gwendolyn Campbell, Tracey Wheeler, Joseph Cohn, Don M. Tucker

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The process of perception requires not only the brain's receipt of sensory data but also the meaningful organization of that data in relation to the perceptual experience held in memory. Although it typically results in a conscious percept, the process of perception is not fully conscious. Research on the neural substrates of human visual perception has suggested that regions of limbic cortex, including the medial orbital frontal cortex (mOFC), may contribute to intuitive judgments about perceptual events, such as guessing whether an object might be present in a briefly presented fragmented drawing. Examining dense array measures of cortical electrical activity …

Reduction Of Sympathetic Activity Via Adrenal-Targeted Grk2 Gene Deletion Attenuates Heart Failure Progression And Improves Cardiac Function After Myocardial Infarction, Anastasios Lymperopoulos, Giuseppe Rengo, Erhe Gao, Steven N. Ebert, Gerald W. Dorn Ii, Walter J. Koch

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Chronic heart failure (HF) is characterized by sympathetic over-activity and enhanced circulating catecholamines (CAs), which significantly increase HF morbidity and mortality. We recently reported that adrenal G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) is up-regulated in chronic HF, leading to enhanced CA release via desensitization/down-regulation of the chromaffin cell alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors that normally inhibit CA secretion. We also showed that adrenal GRK2 inhibition decreases circulating CAs and improves cardiac inotropic reserve and function. Herein, we hypothesized that adrenal-targeted GRK2 gene deletion before the onset of HF might be beneficial by reducing sympathetic activation. To specifically delete GRK2 in the chromaffin cells …

Doppler Imaging With Dual-Detection Full-Range Frequency Domain Optical Coherence Tomography, Panomsak Meemon, Kye-Sung Lee, Jannick P. Rolland

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Most of full-range techniques for Frequency Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (FD-OCT) reported to date utilize the phase relation between consecutive axial lines to reconstruct a complex interference signal and hence may exhibit degradation in either mirror image suppression performance or detectable velocity dynamic range or both when monitoring a moving sample such as flow activity. We have previously reported a technique of mirror image removal by simultaneous detection of the quadrature components of a complex spectral interference called a Dual-Detection Frequency Domain OCT (DD-FD-OCT) [Opt. Lett. 35, 1058-1060 (2010)]. The technique enables full range imaging without any loss of acquisition …

Swept-Source Based, Single-Shot, Multi-Detectable Velocity Range Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography, Panomsak Meemon, Jannick P. Rolland

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Phase-Resolved Doppler Optical Coherence Tomography (PR-DOCT) allows visualization and characterization of the location, direction, velocity, and profile of flow activity embedded in a static sample structure. The detectable Velocity Dynamic Range (VDR) of each particular PR-DOCT system is governed by a detectable Doppler phase shift, a flow angle, and an acquisition time interval used to determine the Doppler phase shift. In general, the lower boundary of the detectable Doppler phase shift is limited by the phase stability of the system, while the upper boundary is limited by the pi phase ambiguity. For a given range of detectable Doppler phase shift, …

Grifonin-1: A Small Hiv-1 Entry Inhibitor Derived From The Algal Lectin, Griffithsin, Ewa D. Micewicz, Amy L. Cole, Chun-Ling Jung, Hai Luong, Martin L. Phillips, Pratikhya Pratikhya, Shantanu Sharma, Alan J. Waring, Alexander M. Cole, Piotr Ruchala

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Background: Griffithsin, a 121-residue protein isolated from a red algal Griffithsia sp., binds high mannose N-linked glycans of virus surface glycoproteins with extremely high affinity, a property that allows it to prevent the entry of primary isolates and laboratory strains of T-and M-tropic HIV-1. We used the sequence of a portion of griffithsin's sequence as a design template to create smaller peptides with antiviral and carbohydrate-binding properties. Methodology/Results: The new peptides derived from a trio of homologous beta-sheet repeats that comprise the motifs responsible for its biological activity. Our most active antiviral peptide, grifonin-1 (GRFN-1), had an EC50 of 190.8 …

Reconstruction Of Planar Conductivities In Subdomains From Incomplete Data, Adrian Nachman, Alexandru Tamasan, Alexandre Timonov

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

We consider the problem of recovering a sufficiently smooth isotropic conductivity from interior knowledge of the magnitude of the current density field vertical bar J vertical bar generated by an imposed voltage potential f on the boundary. In any dimension n > = 2, we show that equipotential sets are global area minimizers in the conformal metric determined by vertical bar J vertical bar. In two dimensions, assuming the boundary voltage is almost two-to-one, we prove uniqueness of the minimization problem. This yields two results on reconstruction from incomplete data. In the first case, vertical bar J vertical bar is known …

Host-Toxin Interactions Involving Espc And Pet, Two Serine Protease Autotransporters Of The Enterobacteriaceae, Fernando Navarro-Garcia, Michael Sonnested, Ken Teter

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

EspC and Pet are toxins secreted by the diarrheagenic enteropathogenic and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli pathotypes, respectively. Both toxins have a molecular mass around 110 kDa and belong to the same protein family called Serine Protease Autotransporters of the Enterobacteriaceae (SPATE). Furthermore, both toxins act within the cytosol of intoxicated epithelial cells to disrupt the architecture of the actin cytoskeleton. This cytopathic and enterotoxic effect results from toxin cleavage of the actin-binding protein fodrin, although the two toxins recognize different cleavage sites on fodrin. EspC and Pet also have dramatically different mechanisms of entering the target cell which appear dependent upon …

Thermally Controlled Preferential Molecular Aggregation State In A Thiacarbocyanine Dye, Rémy Passier, James P. Ritchie, Carlos Toro, Carlos Diaz, Artëm E. Masunov, Kevin D. Belfield, Florencio E. Hernandez

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Herein we report the experimental and theoretical study of the temperature dependence of a thiacarbocyanine dye in its monomer, H- and J-aggregates states. We demonstrate the ability to control the ratio of monomer, H- and/or J-aggregates with heat. We link such a control to the conformation dependence of the molecule. An alternative way to gain access to the dominating species without changing the concentration as a complete switching mechanism between all the present species is proposed. The results presented in this work lead to a better understanding of thiacarbocyanine dye's behavior.

Unidirectional Nonlinear Pt-Symmetric Optical Structures, Hamidreza Ramezani, Tsampikos Kottos, Ramy El-Ganainy, Demetrios N. Christodoulides

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

We show that nonlinear optical structures involving a balanced gain-loss profile can act as unidirectional optical valves. This is made possible by exploiting the interplay between the fundamental symmetries of parity (P) and time (T), with optical nonlinear effects. This unidirectional dynamics is specifically demonstrated for the case of an integrable PT-symmetric nonlinear system.

Gabor-Based Fusion Technique For Optical Coherence Microscopy, Jannick P. Rolland, Panomsak Meemon, Supraka Murali, Kevin P. Thompson, Kye-Sung Lee

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

We recently reported on an Optical Coherence Microscopy technique, whose innovation intrinsically builds on a recently reported - 2 mu m invariant lateral resolution by design throughout a 2 mm cubic full-field of view - liquid-lens-based dynamic focusing optical probe [Murali et al., Optics Letters 34, 145-147, 2009]. We shall report in this paper on the image acquisition enabled by this optical probe when combined with an automatic data fusion method developed and described here to produce an in-focus high resolution image throughout the imaging depth of the sample. An African frog tadpole (Xenopus laevis) was imaged with the novel …

A Novel Multiprotein Complex Is Required To Generate The Prechylomicron Transport Vesicle From Intestinal Er, Shahzad Siddiqi, Umair Saleem, Nada A. Abumrad, Nicholas O. Davidson, Judith Storch, Shadab A. Siddiqi, Charles M. Mansbach Ii

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Dietary lipid absorption is dependent on chylomicron production whose rate-limiting step across the intestinal absorptive cell is the exit of chylomicrons from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in its ER-to-Golgi transport vesicle, the prechylomicron transport vesicle (PCTV). This study addresses the composition of the budding complex for PCTV. Immunoprecipitation (IP) studies from rat intestinal ER solubilized in Triton X-100 suggested that vesicle-associated membrane protein 7 (VAMP7), apolipoprotein B48 (apoB48), liver fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP), CD36, and the COPII proteins were associated on incubation of the ER with cytosol and ATP. This association was confirmed by chromatography of the solubilized ER over …

Sec24c Is Required For Docking The Prechylomicron Transport Vesicle With The Golgi, Shahzad Siddiqi, Shadab A. Siddiqi, Charles M. Mansbach Ii

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The rate-limiting step in the transit of dietary fat across the intestinal absorptive cell is its exit from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in a specialized ER-to-Golgi transport vesicle, the prechylomicron transport vesicle (PCTV). PCTV bud off from the ER membranes and have unique features; they are the largest ER-derived vesicles (average diameter 250 nm), do not require GTP and COPII proteins for their formation, and utilize VAMP7 as a v-N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE). However, PCTV require COPII proteins for their fusion with the Golgi, suggesting a role for them in Golgi target recognition. In support of this, …

Middle-Term Metropolitan Water Availability Index Assessment Based On Synergistic Potential Of Multi-Sensor Data, Ni-Bin Chang, Y. Jeffrey Yang, Ammarin Daranpob

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The impact of recent drought and water pollution episodes results in an acute need to project future water availability to assist water managers in water utility infrastructure management within many metropolitan regions. Separate drought and water quality indices previously developed might not be sufficient for the purpose of such an assessment. This paper describes the development of the "Metropolitan Water Availability Index (MWAI)" and its potential applications in assessing the middle-term water availability at the watershed scale in a fast growing metropolitan region - the Manatee County near Tampa Bay, Florida, U. S. A. The MWAI framework is based on …

Regulation Of The Matriptase-Prostasin Cell Surface Proteolytic Cascade By Hepatocyte Growth Factor Activator Inhibitor-1 During Epidermal Differentiation, Ya-Wen Chen, Jehng-Kang Wang, Feng-Pai Chou, Chiu-Yuan Chen, Ellen A. Rorke, Li-Mei Chen, Karl X. Chai, Richard L. Eckert, Michael D. Johnson, Chen-Yong Lin

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Matriptase, a membrane-tethered serine protease, plays essential roles in epidermal differentiation and barrier function, largely mediated via its activation of prostasin, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored serine protease. Matriptase activity is tightly regulated by its inhibitor hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-1 (HAI-1) such that free active matriptase is only briefly available to act on its substrates. In the current study we provide evidence for how matriptase activates prostasin under this tight control by HAI-1. When primary human keratinocytes are induced to differentiate in a skin organotypic culture model, both matriptase and prostasin are constitutively activated and then inhibited by HAI-1. These processes also …

A Synthetic Uric Acid Analog Accelerates Cutaneous Wound Healing In Mice, Srinivasulu Chigurupati, Mohamed R. Mughal, Sic L. Chan, Thiruma V. Arumugam, Akanksha Baharani, Sung-Chun Tang, Qian-Sheng Yu, Harold W. Holloway, Ross Wheeler, Suresh Poosala, Nigel H. Greig, Mark P. Mattson

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Wound healing is a complex process involving intrinsic dermal and epidermal cells, and infiltrating macrophages and leukocytes. Excessive oxidative stress and associated inflammatory processes can impair wound healing, and antioxidants have been reported to improve wound healing in animal models and human subjects. Uric acid (UA) is an efficient free radical scavenger, but has a very low solubility and poor tissue penetrability. We recently developed novel UA analogs with increased solubility and excellent free radical-scavenging properties and demonstrated their ability to protect neural cells against oxidative damage. Here we show that the uric acid analog (6, 8 dithio-UA, but not …

Vibrational Dynamics Of A C(2x2) Phase Induced By Nitrogen Adsorption On Cu(001), E. Z. Ciftlikli, L. V. Goncharova, B. J. Hinch, Marisol Alcántara Ortigoza, Sampyo Hong, Talat S. Rahman

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Helium-atom scattering and density-functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations invoking the linear-response approximation and the pseudopotential approach have been used to study the vibrational dynamics of c(2x2)-like phases produced by nitrogen-ion implantation and subsequent annealing of Cu(001) surfaces. We find that, while the c(2x2) phonon dispersion relations are different from those of clean Cu(001), neither the acoustic nor the optical surface phonon mode energies measured along both [100] and [110] directions are dependent on N coverage once the c(2x2) pattern is formed. We show that the dispersion of the surface phonon modes is well reproduced with an analysis of the DFPT …

The Formulated Microbicide Rc-101 Was Safe And Antivirally Active Following Intravaginal Application In Pigtailed Macaques, Alexander M. Cole, Dorothy L. Patton, Lisa C. Rohan, Amy L. Cole, Yvonne Cosgrove-Sweeney, Nicole A. Rogers, Deena Ratner, Alexandra B. Sassi, Carol Lackman-Smith, Patrick Tarwater, Bharat Ramratnam, Piotr Ruchala, Robert I. Lehrer, Alan J. Waring, Phalguni Gupta

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Background: RC-101 is a congener of the antiretroviral peptide retrocyclin, which we and others have reported is active against clinical HIV-1 isolates from all major clades, does not hemagglutinate, and is non-toxic and non-inflammatory in cervicovaginal cell culture. Herein, film-formulated RC-101 was assessed for its antiviral activity in vitro, safety in vivo, retention in the cervix and vagina, and ability to remain active against HIV-1 and SHIV after intravaginal application in macaques. Methodology/Principal Findings: RC-101 was formulated as a quick-dissolving film (2000 mu g/film), retained complete activity in vitro as compared to unformulated peptide, and was applied intravaginally in six …

Stem Cells For The Treatment Of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Elise Dantuma, Stephanie Merchant, Kiminobu Sugaya

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Stem cells off er an enormous pool of resources for the understanding of the human body. One proposed use of stem cells has been as an autologous therapy. The use of stem cells for neurodegenerative diseases has become of interest. Clinical applications of stem cells for Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis will increase in the coming years, and although great care will need to be taken when moving forward with prospective treatments, the application of stem cells is highly promising.

Chloroplast-Derived Vaccine Antigens Confer Dual Immunity Against Cholera And Malaria By Oral Or Injectable Delivery, Abdoreza Davoodi-Semiromi, Melissa Schreiber, Samson Nalapalli, Dheeraj Verma, Nameirakpam D. Singh, Robert K. Banks, Debopam Chakrabarti, Hnery Daniell

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Cholera and malaria are major diseases causing high mortality The only licensed cholera vaccine is expensive, immunity is lost in children within 3 years and adults are not fully protected No vaccine is yet available for malaria Therefore, in this study, the cholera toxin-B subunit (CTB) of Vibrio cholerae fused to malarial vaccine antigens apical membrane antigen-1 (AMA1) and merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP1) was expressed in lettuce and tobacco chloroplasts Southern blot analysis confirmed homoplasmy and stable integration of transgenes CTB-AMA1 and CTB-MSP1 fusion proteins accumulated up to 13 17% and 10 11% (total soluble protein, TSP) in tobacco and …

Stat3-Mediated Metabolic Switch Is Involved In Tumour Transformation And Stat3 Addiction, Marco Demaria, Carlotta Giorgi, Magdalena Lebiedzinska, Giovanna Esposito, Luca D'Angeli, Antonietta Bartoli, Daniel J. Gough, James Turkson, David E. Levy, Christine J. Watson, Mariusz R. Wieckowski, Paolo Provero, Paolo Pinton, Valeria Poli

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

The pro-oncogenic transcription factor STAT3 is constitutively activated in a wide variety of tumours that often become addicted to its activity, but no unifying view of a core function determining this widespread STAT3-dependence has yet emerged. We show here that constitutively active STAT3 acts as a master regulator of cell metabolism, inducing aerobic glycolysis and down-regulating mitochondrial activity both in primary fibroblasts and in STAT3-dependent tumour cell lines. As a result, cells are protected from apoptosis and senescence while becoming highly sensitive to glucose deprivation. We show that enhanced glycolysis is dependent on HIF-1a up-regulation, while reduced mitochondrial activity is …

Deceptive Cultural Practices That Sabotage Hiv/Aids Education In Tanzania And Kenya, Mary Oluga, Susan Kiragu, Mussa K. Mohamed, Shelina Walli

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

In spite of numerous HIV/AIDS‐prevention education efforts, the HIV infection rates in Sub‐Saharan Africa remain high. Exploring and understanding the reasons behind these infection rates is imperative in a bid to offer life skills and moral education that address the root causes of the pandemic. In a recent study concerning effective HIV/AIDS‐prevention education, conducted in Tanzania and Kenya among teacher trainees and their tutors, the notion of mila potofu (defined by educators as ‘deceptive’ cultural practices) emerged as a key reason for educators’ difficulties in teaching HIV/AIDS prevention education in schools and for high HIV infection rates. Since these cultural …

Reality Hackers: The Next Wave Of Media Revolutionaries, Aaron A. Delwiche, Evan Barnett, Andrew Coe, Patrick Crim, Kendra Doshier, Christopher Dudley, Ender Ergun, Ashley Funkhouser, Cole Gray, Sarah Hellman, John Key, Christopher Kradle, Patrick Lynch, Shepherd Mcallister, Mark Mccullough, Justin Michaelson, Alyson Miller, Robin Murdoch, Aaron Passer, Maricela Rios, Laura Schluckebier, Raelle Smiley, Andrew Truelove, Richard Bartle, Annalee Newitz, Ekaterina Sedia, Steven Shaviro, R.U. Sirius

Faculty Authored and Edited Books & CDs

Just as the printing press gave rise to the nation-state, emerging technologies are reshaping collective identities and challenging our understanding of what it means to be human.

Should citizens have the right to be truly anonymous on-line? Should we be concerned about the fact that so many people are choosing to migrate to virtual worlds? Are injectible microscopic radio-frequency ID chips a blessing or a curse? Is the use of cognitive enhancing nootropics a human right or an unforgivable transgression? Should genomic data about human beings be hidden away with commercial patents or open-sourced like software? Should hobbyists known as …

Subependymoma Of The Spine, Hussam E. Jabri, Mohammad A. Dababo, Ahmed M. Alkhani

Neurosciences

Subependymoma is a rare benign CNS tumor (WHO grade I). The common sites of origin for this type of tumor are the lateral and the fourth ventricles. A spinal intramedullary location is rare. Radiological features of intramedullary subependymoma can mimic more common and more aggressive tumor types. We report a case of a 61-year-old male who presented with a 3-year history of low back pain, associated with right lower limb progressive weakness and sensory numbness. An MRI of the lumbar spine revealed an intradural intramedullary lesion extending from the level of T10-L1. Clinical presentation, radiological, and pathological studies of this …

The Rise And Fall Of The American Institute Of Criminal Law And Criminology, Jennifer Devroye

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Learning From Error In American Criminal Justice, James M. Doyle

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Catch And Release: Procedural Unfairness On Primetime Television And The Perceived Legitimacy Of The Law, Thomas Gaeta

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.