Digital Commons Network^™

Marr Homologs With Urate-Binding Signature, Inoka C. Perera, Anne Grove

Faculty Publications

Bacteria that associate with living hosts require intricate mechanisms to detect and respond to host defenses. Part of the early host defense against invading bacteria is the production of reactive oxygen species, and xanthine oxidase is one of the main producers of such agents. The end-product of the enzymatic activity of xanthine oxidase, urate, was previously shown to be the natural ligand for Deinococcus radiodurans-encoded HucR and it was shown to attenuate DNA binding by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-encoded PecS and Burkholderia thailandensis-encoded MftR, all members of the multiple antibiotic resistance regulator (MarR) family. We here show that residues involved in binding …

Faculty Senate Newsletter, March 2011, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from President: Few would doubt that LSU and Louisiana higher education have made enormous progress over the last thirty-odd years. The notion that history progresses and that institutions advance has been out-of-fashion for aeons, yet it does seem that the onetime Old War Skule and its cohort campuses are doing a lot more in a much better way than they did at their inceptions. Sustaining the linear if not altogether teleological progress of Louisiana higher education, however, is the boom-and-bust cycle of the Louisiana economy, a cycle driven by the price of and demand for natural resources and related …

The Utility Of Geometrical And Chemical Restraint Information Extracted From Predicted Ligand-Binding Sites In Protein Structure Refinement, Michal Brylinski, Seung Yup Lee, Hongyi Zhou, Jeffrey Skolnick

Faculty Publications

Exhaustive exploration of molecular interactions at the level of complete proteomes requires efficient and reliable computational approaches to protein function inference. Ligand docking and ranking techniques show considerable promise in their ability to quantify the interactions between proteins and small molecules. Despite the advances in the development of docking approaches and scoring functions, the genome-wide application of many ligand docking/screening algorithms is limited by the quality of the binding sites in theoretical receptor models constructed by protein structure prediction. In this study, we describe a new template-based method for the local refinement of ligand-binding regions in protein models using remotely …

Findsite-Metal: Integrating Evolutionary Information And Machine Learning For Structure-Based Metal-Binding Site Prediction At The Proteome Level, Michal Brylinski, Jeffrey Skolnick

Faculty Publications

The rapid accumulation of gene sequences, many of which are hypothetical proteins with unknown function, has stimulated the development of accurate computational tools for protein function prediction with evolution/structure-based approaches showing considerable promise. In this article, we present FINDSITE-metal, a new threading-based method designed specifically to detect metal-binding sites in modeled protein structures. Comprehensive benchmarks using different quality protein structures show that weakly homologous protein models provide sufficient structural information for quite accurate annotation by FINDSITE-metal. Combining structure/evolutionary information with machine learning results in highly accurate metal-binding annotations; for protein models constructed by TASSER, whose average Cα RMSD from the …

Economists As Worldly Philosophers, Robert J. Shiller, Virginia M. Shiller

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

While leading figures in the early history of economics conceived of it as inseparable from philosophy and other humanities, there has been movement, especially in recent decades, towards its becoming an essentially technical field with narrowly specialized areas of inquiry. Certainly, specialization has allowed for great progress in economic science. However, recent events surrounding the financial crisis support the arguments of some that economics needs to develop forums for interdisciplinary interaction and to aspire to broader vision.

A Literary Analysis And Case Study Evaluation Of The Environmental, Cultural, And Economic Impacts Of Ecotourism, Ashley M. Driver

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Rape As A Weapon Of War In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Carly Brown

Social Sciences

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been appropriately acknowledged as "the rape capital of the world." While the country has been trapped in conflict, the use of rape as a weapon of war has been rampant and unyielding. The sexual violence inflicted upon women has been nothing less than brutal and destructive, physically, socially, and psychologically. This paper analyzes the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Congo, taking into context the ongoing war, cultural and social situations that facilitate its existence, and the many consequences the victims are forced to endure.

Environmental Refugees, Katie L. Peters

Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Hardy Diagnostics Facility Redesign, Jamie W. Lam

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

This senior project is a facilities design for the plate production room at Hardy Diagnostics. This project was completed using a systematic layout planning approach. The main reason for this redesign was to consolidate all plate line production into one room. This would ensure better visability for the managers. After the project was defined, the different departments were established and the relationships between those departments were found. The space requirements needed for those departments were then measured out to also include the aisle widths and any machinery or carts needed to complete each function. Having determined all requirements for this …

Routes Of Learning: Highways, Pathways, And Byways In The History Of Mathematics (Book Review), Calvin Jongsma

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Reviewed Title: Routes of Learning: Highways, Pathways, and Byways in the History of Mathematics by Ivor Grattan-Guinness. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. xii + 372 pages, with index. ISBN: 9780801892486.

Crystal Structure Of A Charge Engineered Human Lysozyme Having Enhanced Bactericidal Activity, Avinash Gill, Thomas C. Scanlon, Daniel C. Osipovitch, Dean R. Madden, Karl E. Griswold

Dartmouth Scholarship

Human lysozyme is a key component of the innate immune system, and recombinant forms of the enzyme represent promising leads in the search for therapeutic agents able to treat drug-resistant infections. The wild type protein, however, fails to participate effectively in clearance of certain infections due to inherent functional limitations. For example, wild type lysozymes are subject to electrostatic sequestration and inactivation by anionic biopolymers in the infected airway. A charge engineered variant of human lysozyme has recently been shown to possess improved antibacterial activity in the presence of disease associated inhibitory molecules. Here, the 2.04 A ̊ crystal structure …

Does The Automatic Stay Of The Bankruptcy Code Trigger The Illinois Savings Statute?: Why The Illinois Supreme Court Needs To Address The Issue, Seth Howard

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

In 1983, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a plaintiff’s state court statute of limitations period is tolled by the automatic stay provision of the Bankruptcy Code when a defendant debtor claims bankruptcy.  Thus in an Illinois State Court, a plaintiff will have the total number of days that the automatic stay was in place added to the regular statute of limitations to file a claim.  However, in the decades since Illinois’s interpretation of the automatic stay provision, a vast majority of other jurisdictions have held that Bankruptcy Code compels no such modification to a state statute of limitations period. …

Generation Of Trophoblast Stem Cells From Rabbit Embryonic Stem Cells With Bmp4, Tao Tan, Xianghui Tang, Jing Zhang, Yuyu Niu, Hongwei Chen, Bin Li, Qiang Wei, Weizhi Ji

Faculty Publications

Trophoblast stem (TS) cells are ideal models to investigate trophectoderm differentiation and placental development. Herein, we describe the derivation of rabbit trophoblast stem cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells. Rabbit ES cells generated in our laboratory were induced to differentiate in the presence of BMP4 and TS-like cell colonies were isolated and expanded. These cells expressed the molecular markers of mouse TS cells, were able to invade, give rise to derivatives of TS cells, and chimerize placental tissues when injected into blastocysts. The rabbit TS-like cells maintained self-renewal in culture medium with serum but without growth factors or feeder cells, …

Adjustment For Local Ancestry In Genetic Association Analysis Of Admixed Populations, Xuexia Wang, Xiaofeng Zhu, Huaizhen Qin, Richard S. Cooper, Warren J. Ewens, Chun Li, Mingyao Li

Faculty Publications

Motivation: Admixed populations offer a unique opportunity for mapping diseases that have large disease allele frequency differences between ancestral populations. However, association analysis in such populations is challenging because population stratification may lead to association with loci unlinked to the disease locus. Methods and results: We show that local ancestry at a test single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) may confound with the association signal and ignoring it can lead to spurious association. We demonstrate theoretically that adjustment for local ancestry at the test SNP is sufficient to remove the spurious association regardless of the mechanism of population stratification, whether due to …

On Local Times Of Anisotropic Gaussian Random Fields, Dongsheng Wu, Yimin Xiao

Communications on Stochastic Analysis

No abstract provided.

Quantitative Environmental Benchmarking In A Hydrologically Driven Hawaiian Coastal System, Paul Bienfang, Suzanne De Felice, Edward A. Laws

Faculty Publications

The spatial and temporal variability of water quality within aquatic habitats in the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park was examined over a 2-year period to quantitatively establish water quality benchmarks against which future data might be compared to test for evidence of anthropogenic impacts. Throughput of lowsalinity, high-nutrient groundwater and mixing with high-salinity, low-nutrient seawater caused significant temporal and spatial water quality variability in wells, anchialine pools, and fishponds within the study area. Variable mixing of seawater and freshwater was shown to be the primary determinant of changes in nutrient concentrations in these aquatic habitats, although leaching of basaltic rocks (Si) …

Stressing The Defenses, Winston J. Craig

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

University Students Receive Gift Of The Andrews Study Bible, Ashleigh Jardine

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Resources For Diverse Women In Science, Technology, And Math, Kirstin Duffin

Faculty & Staff Research & Creative Activity

This handout highlights library resources for women in the fields of science, technology, and mathematics.

Resilience: Building Better Users And Fair Trade Practices In Information, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

Federal Communications Law Journal

Symposium: Rough Consensus and Running Code: Integrating Engineering Principles into Internet Policy Debates, held at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Technology Innovation and Competition on May 6-7, 2010.

In the discourse on communications and new media policy, the average consumer-the user-is frequently eliminated from the equation. This Article presents an argument rooted in developmental psychology theory regarding the ways that users interact with technology and the resulting implications for data privacy law. Arguing in favor of a user-centric construction of policy and law, the Author introduces the concept of resilience. The concept of resilience has long been discussed in …

Lochner, Lawrence, And Liberty, Joseph F. Morrissey

Georgia State University Law Review

Many of the states of the United States have statutes, constitutional provisions, and court decisions that deny individuals the right to have a family, specifically a spouse and children, based on sexual orientation.

Advocates have made a wide variety of arguments attacking such restrictions. Scholars and litigants frequently argue that such acts violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection or invade a constitutional right to privacy. However, such arguments are often defeated by counter arguments presented with religious, moral, and even emotional fervor.

This article presents and defends a new analytical framework based on liberty of contract to advance gay rights. …

How To Claim A Gene: Application Of The Patent Disclosure Requirements To Genetic Sequences, Patrick Brian Giles

Georgia State University Law Review

Prior to 1980, the only source of insulin for diabetics was the pancreas of animals, such as cows or pigs. While supply was not a problem, this source did carry the risk of infection and allergic reaction. Other therapeutic proteins, such as growth hormone, were previously only available in minuscule amounts from the pituitary glands of human cadavers. However, by 1980 the emerging field of biotechnology provided methods for producing mass quantities of human proteins such as insulin and growth hormone using the science of genetic engineering. These laboratory methods generally involve inserting a gene that encodes the desired therapeutic …

Social Network Analysis Plugin (Snap) For Mesh Networks, Soumendra Nanda, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

In a network, bridging nodes are those nodes that from a topological perspective, are strategically located between highly connected regions of nodes. Thus, they have high values of the Bridging Centrality (BC) metric. We recently introduced the Localized Bridging Centrality (LBC) metric, which can identify such nodes via distributed computation, yet has an accuracy equal to that of the centralized BC metric. The LBC and BC metrics are based on the Social Network Analysis (SNA) metric "betweenness centrality". We now introduce a new SNA metric that is more suitable for use in wireless mesh networks: the Localized Load-aware Bridging Centrality …

Electrocardiography May Be A Useful Tool In The Diagnosis Of Early Mild Canine Heartworm Disease, Edward M. Onyango

ETSU Faculty Works

This study was carried out to determine the usefulness of standard electrocardiography for the diagnosis of early canine heartworm disease. Baseline electrocardiograms were recorded in 12 dogs. Thirty artificial Dirofilaria immitis worms were inserted in the pulmonary artery of each dog. New electrocardiograms were recorded on days 1-4, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 after insertion of worms. A significant attenuation of amplitude of Q wave in lead I was recorded on days 1-4, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35; of R wave in lead II on days 21, 28 and 35; and of S wave in lead aVR on …

Animal Rights As A Mainstream Phenomenon, Bernard E. Rollin

Animal Rights Movement Collection

Businesses and professions must stay in accord with social ethics, or risk losing their autonomy. A major social ethical issue that has emerged in the past four decades is the treatment of animals in various areas of human use. Society’s moral concern has outgrown the traditional ethic of animal cruelty that began in biblical times and is encoded in the laws of all civilized societies. There are five major reasons for this new social concern, most importantly, the replacement of husbandry-based agriculture with industrial agriculture. This loss of husbandry to industry has threatened the traditional fair contract between humans and …

Oncolog, Volume 56, Number 03, March 2011, Bryan Tutt, Joe Munch

OncoLog MD Anderson's Report to Physicians (All issues) Archives

• Glioblastoma Cure Remains Elusive Despite Treatment Advances: Aggressive surgery followed by radiation therapy and chemo-therapy offers hope of long-term survival for some patients with glioblastoma, but for most glioblastoma patients, the prognosis is poor
• Assessing and Addressing the Biological Effects of Stress in Cancer Patients: Stress has long been linked to cancer progression. But the precise mechanisms by which stress exacts its pro-tumor effects are not fully understood
• MD Anderson One of Four Centers to Test Cancer Cell Detection Chip: A new test that could monitor the effectiveness of cancer treatment
• HOUSE CALL: Yoga and Tai Chi: Two distinct disciplines …

Access To Media All A-Twitter: Revisiting Gertz And The Access To Media Test In The Age Of Social Networking, Ann E. O'Connor

Federal Communications Law Journal

Plaintiffs' access to media has long been a factor in defamation cases, enabling courts to determine whether that plaintiff is a public figure who must meet the actual malice standard, or whether that plaintiff is a private figure worthy of greater protection from defamation. This component of the public-private distinction can no longer be applied with clear precision, given the advent of social networking and today's world of widespread media access. In light of the massive changes that have taken place in the media world, the access to media test must be revisited and appropriately retailored to avoid an inappropriate …

Chronic Toxicity Study Of Garcinia Mangostana Linn. Pericarp Extract, Songpol Chivapat, Pranee Chavalittumrong, Prapai Wongsinkongman, Chada Phisalpong, Anudep Rungsipipat

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

Ethanolic extracts from fruit pericarp of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L.) possess many biological andpharmacological activities. However, chronic toxicity study of ethanolic extract has never been investigated. Theobjective of this study was to evaluate the safety of 95% ethanolic extract from mangosteen pericarp in animal model.The oral administration of the extract was performed in 180 Wistar rats randomly allocated to six groups, each of15/sex. Group 1 was control group receiving distilled water. Group 2 to 6 were treatment groups receiving the extractat the doses of 10, 100, 500, 1000 and 1000 mg/kg/day for six months respectively. The last group was assigned …

Distinguished Service Awards: Chris Welsh, Tennessee Ornithological Society

The Migrant - Tennessee Ornithological Society

No abstract provided.

Distinguished Service Awards: Melinda Welton, Tennessee Ornithological Society

The Migrant - Tennessee Ornithological Society

No abstract provided.