Digital Commons Network^™

Association Of Arsenic Exposure With Lung Cancer Incidence Rates In The United States, Joseph J. Putila, Nancy L. Guo

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Although strong exposure to arsenic has been shown to be carcinogenic, its contribution to lung cancer incidence in the United States is not well characterized. We sought to determine if the low-level exposures to arsenic seen in the U.S. are associated with lung cancer incidence after controlling for possible confounders, and to assess the interaction with smoking behavior.

Methodology

Measurements of arsenic stream sediment and soil concentration obtained from the USGS National Geochemical Survey were combined, respectively, with 2008 BRFSS estimates on smoking prevalence and 2000 U.S. Census county level income to determine the effects of these factors on …

Role Of Germination In Murine Airway Cd8+ T-Cell Responses To Aspergillus Conidia, Steven P. Templeton, Amanda D. Buskirk, Brandon Law, Brett J. Green, Donald H. Beezhold

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Pulmonary exposure to Aspergillus fumigatus has been associated with morbidity and mortality, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. A. fumigatus conidia produce β-glucan, proteases, and other immunostimulatory factors upon germination. Murine models have shown that the ability of A. fumigatus to germinate at physiological temperature may be an important factor that facilitates invasive disease. We observed a significant increase in IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of immunocompetent mice that repeatedly aspirated A. fumigatus conidia in contrast to mice challenged with A. versicolor, a species that is not typically associated with invasive, disseminated disease. Analysis of tissue sections indicated …

Securinine, A Myeloid Differentiation Agent With Therapeutic Potential For Aml, Kalpana Gupta, Amitabha Chakrabarti, Sonia Rana, Ritu Ramdeo, Bryan L. Roth, Munna L. Agarwal, William Tse, Mukesh K. Agarwal, David N. Wald

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

As the defining feature of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a maturation arrest, a highly desirable therapeutic strategy is to induce leukemic cell maturation. This therapeutic strategy has the potential of avoiding the significant side effects that occur with the traditional AML therapeutics. We identified a natural compound securinine, as a leukemia differentiation-inducing agent. Securinine is a plant-derived alkaloid that has previously been used clinically as a therapeutic for primarily neurological related diseases. Securinine induces monocytic differentiation of a wide range of myeloid leukemia cell lines as well as primary leukemic patient samples. Securinine's clinical potential for AML can be …

The Streptococcal Collagen-Like Protein-1 (Scl1) Is A Significant Determinant For Biofilm Formation By Group A Streptococcus, Heaven A. Oliver-Kozup, Meenal Elliott, Beth A. Bachert, Karen H. Martin, Sean D. Reid, Diane E. Schwegler-Berry, Brett J. Green, Slawomir Lukomski

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human-specific pathogen responsible for a number of diseases characterized by a wide range of clinical manifestations. During host colonization GAS-cell aggregates or microcolonies are observed in tissues. GAS biofilm, which is an in vitro equivalent of tissue microcolony, has only recently been studied and little is known about the specific surface determinants that aid biofilm formation. In this study, we demonstrate that surface-associated streptococcal collagen-like protein-1 (Scl1) plays an important role in GAS biofilm formation.

Results

Biofilm formation by M1-, M3-, M28-, and M41-type GAS strains, representing an intraspecies breadth, were analyzed spectrophotometrically …

Random Knn Feature Selection - A Fast And Stable Alternative To Random Forests, Shengqiao Li, E J. Harner, Donald A. Adjeroh

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Successfully modeling high-dimensional data involving thousands of variables is challenging. This is especially true for gene expression profiling experiments, given the large number of genes involved and the small number of samples available. Random Forests (RF) is a popular and widely used approach to feature selection for such "small n, large p problems." However, Random Forests suffers from instability, especially in the presence of noisy and/or unbalanced inputs.

Results

We present RKNN-FS, an innovative feature selection procedure for "small n, large pproblems." RKNN-FS is based on Random KNN (RKNN), a novel generalization of traditional nearest-neighbor modeling. …

Modified Expression Of Alternative Oxidase In Transgenic Tomato And Petunia Affects The Level Of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Resistance, Hao Ma, Congfeng Song, Wayne Borth, Diane Sether, Michael Melzer, John Hu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) has a very wide host range, and is transmitted in a persistent manner by several species of thrips. These characteristics make this virus difficult to control. We show here that the over-expression of the mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX) in tomato and petunia is related to TSWV resistance.

Results

The open reading frame and full-length sequence of the tomato AOX gene LeAox1au were cloned and introduced into tomato 'Healani' and petunia 'Sheer Madness' using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Highly expressed AOX transgenic tomato and petunia plants were selfed and transgenic R1 seedlings from 10 tomato lines …

Measurements Of Airborne Influenza Virus In Aerosol Particles From Human Coughs, William G. Lindsley, Francoise M. Blachere, Robert E. Thewlis, Abhishek Vishnu, Kristina A. Davis, Cang Cao, Jan E. Palmer, Karen E. Clark, Melanie A. Fisher, Rashida Khakoo, Donald H. Beezhold

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Influenza is thought to be communicated from person to person by multiple pathways. However, the relative importance of different routes of influenza transmission is unclear. To better understand the potential for the airborne spread of influenza, we measured the amount and size of aerosol particles containing influenza virus that were produced by coughing. Subjects were recruited from patients presenting at a student health clinic with influenza-like symptoms. Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from the volunteers and they were asked to cough three times into a spirometer. After each cough, the cough-generated aerosol was collected using a NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone sampler …

Microrna-196a Regulates Bovine Newborn Ovary Homeobox Gene (Nobox) Expression During Early Embryogenesis, Swamy K. Tripurani, Kyung-Bon Lee, Gabbine Wee, George W. Smith, Jianbo Yao

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Oocyte-derived maternal RNAs drive early embryogenesis when the newly formed embryo is transcriptionally inactive. Recent studies in zebrafish have identified the role of microRNAs during the maternal-to-embryonic transition (MET). MicroRNAs are short RNAs that bind to the 3' UTR of target mRNAs to repress their translation and accelerate their decay. Newborn ovary homeobox gene (NOBOX) is a transcription factor that is preferentially expressed in oocytes and essential for folliculogenesis in mice. NOBOX knockout mice are infertile and lack of NOBOX disrupts expression of many germ-cell specific genes and microRNAs. We recently reported the cloning and expression of bovine NOBOX …

Functional Mapping Of Reaction Norms To Multiple Environmental Signals Through Nonparametric Covariance Estimation, John S. Yap, Yao Li, Kiranmoy Das, Jiahan Li, Rongling Wu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

The identification of genes or quantitative trait loci that are expressed in response to different environmental factors such as temperature and light, through functional mapping, critically relies on precise modeling of the covariance structure. Previous work used separable parametric covariance structures, such as a Kronecker product of autoregressive one [AR(1)] matrices, that do not account for interaction effects of different environmental factors.

Results

We implement a more robust nonparametric covariance estimator to model these interactions within the framework of functional mapping of reaction norms to two signals. Our results from Monte Carlo simulations show that this estimator can be …

Antibiotic Resistance Of Enterococcus Species Isolated From Raw Foods Of Animal Origin In South West Part Of Slovakia, M Krocko, M Canigova, V Duckova, A Artimova, J Bezekova, J Poston

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

We determined the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of enterococci isolated from raw foods of animal origin. All samples were positive for enterococci. The lowest count of enterococci was found in pork (2.00 log CFU/cm2), while bryndza cheese contained the highest count (4.99 log CFU/g). Among the 349 Enterococcus isolates, 49% were E. faecalis, 29% E. faecium, and 13% Enterococcus spp. Tetracycline and gentamicin resistance was the most common. We found the highest tetracycline resistance levels (91%) in isolates from poultry samples. The isolates from the poultry samples also displayed multidrug resistance to all antibiotics tested. The most common …

A First Generation Integrated Map Of The Rainbow Trout Genome, Yniv Palti, Carine Genet, Ming-Cheng Luo, Guangtu Gao, Aurelie Charlet, Yuqin Hu, Cecilia Castano-Sanchez, Kamila Tabet-Canale, Francine Krieg, Jianbo Yao, Roger L. Vallejo, Caird E. Rexroad Iii

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are the most-widely cultivated cold freshwater fish in the world and an important model species for many research areas. Coupling great interest in this species as a research model with the need for genetic improvement of aquaculture production efficiency traits justifies the continued development of genomics research resources. Many quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified for production and life-history traits in rainbow trout. An integrated physical and genetic map is needed to facilitate fine mapping of QTL and the selection of positional candidate genes for incorporation in marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs for …

Use Of 16s Ribosomal Rna Gene Analyses To Characterize The Bacterial Signature Associated With Poor Oral Health In West Virginia, Joan C. Olson, Christopher F. Cuff, Slawomir Lukomski, Ewa Lukomska, Yeremi Canizales, Bei Wu, Richard J. Crout, John G. Thomas, Daniel W. Mcneil, Robert J. Weyant, Mary L. Marazita, Bruce J. Paster, Thomas Elliott

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

West Virginia has the worst oral health in the United States, but the reasons for this are unclear. This pilot study explored the etiology of this disparity using culture-independent analyses to identify bacterial species associated with oral disease.

Methods

Bacteria in subgingival plaque samples from twelve participants in two independent West Virginia dental-related studies were characterized using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray (HOMIM) analysis. Unifrac analysis was used to characterize phylogenetic differences between bacterial communities obtained from plaque of participants with low or high oral disease, which was further evaluated using clustering and Principal …

Seasonal Distribution And Abundance Of Blue Crabs (Callinectes Sapidus) In The Tampa Bay Estuary, Kerry E. Flaherty, Cameron B. Guenther

Gulf of Mexico Science

Blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus (Rathbun)) are commercially important and are an integral part of the estuarine ecosystem as both predators and prey. Although adult blue crabs have been the focus of many studies, there is little published information on immature blue crab abundances, especially on the west Florida coast. The objectives of this study were to analyze the distributions and abundances of immature and adult blue crabs in the Tampa Bay estuary, specifically as they relate to 1) monthly and yearly trends in abundance and size, 2) timing of recruitment to the estuary, 3) sex- and size-determined distribution patterns, …

Abstracts From The 6th North American Echinoderm Conference, Jim Nestler

Gulf of Mexico Science

Abstracts from the 6th North American Echinoderm Conference. Organizer: Jim Nestler. Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory. Anacortes, Washington, 14–19 August 2011

Bioassays Of Analogs Of Pleurocidin-Amide Indicate That Change At N-Terminus Is Key To Improved Efficacy, Roxanne Lacroix, Krishna Tamminedi, David E. Ryder, Jay F. Sperry, Lenore M. Martin

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Individual And Group Multiple-Choice Quizzes To Deepen Students' Learning, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

For years, I was highly skeptical about using multiple-choice questions to assess law students' learning.' Clients, after all, do not ask lawyers to solve multiple-choice problems. I have realized, however, that multiple-choice quizzes can be a highly effective technique to include in any doctrinal class. Well-designed multiple-choice quizzes can help students in any size class learn foundational doctrine, provide feedback to teachers and students, develop students' interpersonal skills, and prepare students for the bar exam. Having used multiple-choice quizzes in first year and upper-level courses for several years, I now value multiple-choice quizzes as an effective first step in preparing …

An Evaluation Study Of The Effectiveness Of Using A Reaction-Based Process For Hydrazine Waste Remediation, Cristina M. Oropeza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hydrazine (HZ) and monomethylhydrazine (MMH) are used extensively as hypergolic propellants at Kennedy Space Center. These highly reactive fuels are considered highly toxic, and potentially carcinogenic. Consequently, the transport, handling, and disposal of hydrazines is strictly regulated to protect personnel and the environment. Currently, KSC generates large volumes of hydrazine-laden wastewater for disposal. This waste is contained and shipped on public highways for subsequent disposal by incineration presenting a potentially catastrophic threat to the environment and the general public in the event of an accidental release. Other existing remediation methods include oxidative and reductive pathways as well as biodegradation in …

A Stochastic Capacitated Facility Location Model For Pre-Positioning Port Commodities During A Disaster, Jessye Leigh Bemley

Theses

As the intensity of natural disasters increases, there is a need to develop policies and procedures to assist various humanitarian relief groups, industry or government agencies with moving aid to affected areas. One of the biggest hindrances to this process is damage to transportation networks, in particular, waterways. To keep waterways safe, aids to navigation (ATONs) are placed in various areas to guide mariners and ships to their final destinations. If the ATONs are damaged, then the waterways are left unsafe and it is difficult to move supplies to repair them and recover from a disaster. A stochastic facility location …

Groundwater Remediation Using Micro And Nano-Sized Zvi And Kmno4 To Treat Trichloroethylene (Tce) Contamination, Semienawit Berhane Ghebrezadik

Theses

Liquid and gaseous oxidants for years have demonstrated the ability to reduce or destroy organic compounds that can be harmful. Using the fundamental concepts of chemical oxidation, this research investigates the ability to develop solid structured controlled release systems that are able to deliver chemical oxidants and reduce chemicals for environmental remediation. Controlled release systems have become widely used for various applications such as in medical and agricultural industries. Applying this knowledge, micro to nano-sizes of potassium permanganate (KMnO4) and zero-valent iron (ZVI) were encapsulated in two biodegradable polymers. The biodegradable polymers used were polycaprolactone (PCL) and polylactic acid (PLA). …

Fabrication Of Pd-Cu Membranes By Surfactant Induced Electroless Plating (Siep), Md. Saiful Islam

Theses

Pd-Cu composite membranes on microporous stainless steel substrate (MPSS) were fabricated by novel electroless plating (EP process. In conventional Pd-EP process, the oxidation-reduction reactions between Pd-complex and hydrazine result in evolution of NH3 and N2 gas bubbles. When adhering to a substrate surface and in the pores, these gas bubbles can hinder uniform Pd-film deposition, which results in dendrite growth leading to poor film formation. We addressed this problem by introducing cationic surfactant in the electroless plating process known as surfactant induced electroless plating (SIEP). The unique features of this innovation provide control of (1) Pd- and Cudeposition rate, and …

Evaluation Of Rice Extract As A Potential Stabilizer In Plain Yogurt, Sangeetha Nurani Viswanathan

Theses

Quality and consumer acceptability are essential parameters in dairy products The objectives of the present study were to examine the microbiological (viability of L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus, and bifidobacteria), chemical (pH, titratable acidity, and total solids), and physical(syneresis) qualities of yogurt enriched with rice extract as a stabilizer during 28 days of storage at 4°C. Additionally, viscosity measurements and consumer acceptability were determined for yogurt enriched with rice extract. Results showed that the viability of L. bulgaricus was maintained with the addition of rice extract. Population of Streptococcus thermophilus and bifidobacteria decreased significantly (p<0.05) in the control sample but the addition of rice extract at 15% concentration supported the viability of bifidobacteria in yogurt over storage. The addition of rice extract did not alter the pH or titratable acidity of yogurt. Viscosity, total solids and syneresis values slightly changed with the addition of rice extract. Yogurt prepared with rice extract ranked higher in terms of texture and appearance by the panelists. Our results indicated that the addition of rice extract could improve the quality characteristics and consumer acceptability of plain yogurt. Hence, rice extract has a promising potential to be used as an alternative stabilizer in dairy products.

Nutritional And Field Ecology Of Stink Bugs On Tomato And Cowpea Under Two Insecticide Regimens, Akamu Jude Ewunkem

Theses

A laboratory study was conducted to compare food utilization and suitability of Nezara viridula on selected varieties of tomato and cowpea. A two-year field study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of biorational pesticides (Agroneem®) and conventional pesticides (Imidacloprid or Thiamethoxam) to suppress and enhance the population of insect pests and beneficial, respectively, on both crops. In the first year both pesticide groups were applied following manufacturer’s recommendation (10-14 d cycles), and in the second year the application of the pesticides was driven by monitored thresholds of insect pests. In the laboratory study conducted on the feeding behavior, nymphs performed …

Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership Working To Keep Our Water Clean, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

Project Highlights and Future Plans

Improving The Handling Of Mentally Retarded Defendants In The Criminal Justice System, Jacqueline Gonzales

Texas Wesleyan Law Review

This Comment has four substantive sections beginning with a brief introduction about mental retardation. It will address how previous courts have handled mentally retarded defendants and identify emerging trends regarding the execution and punishment of mentally retarded individuals. This Author will then propose changes to the current system for handling mentally retarded defendants including: specialized training for judicial officers and special processing from booking and beyond. Followed by a brief discussion on the costs of implementation, how this system will help, and how the proposed system is different from the current system in place. Establishing a separate court system and …

2011 Cancer Care Annual Report, Children's Mercy Hospital

Cancer Center Annual Reports

Annual report of cancer care and oncology services at the Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City MO, a pediatric medical center.

Southern Adventist University Graduate Catalog 2011-2012, Southern Adventist University

Catalog, Graduate

Southern Adventist University's graduate catalog for the academic year 2011-2012.

Legacy 2011, Southern Adventist University

Legacy

The Legacy 2011 edition features both poetry and short stories written by Southern Adventist University students. Poetry was written by J.L. Barrow, Ashlee Chism, Alyssa Nicole Erskine, Ashley C. Miller, Tamara Naja, Olivia Nieb, Chloe A. Perez, Kimberly Joella Solis, and Brooke Wade. Short stories were written by Tyler K Barrows, K.R. Boursiquot, Alyssa Nicole Erskine, Caitlin Foster, Katherine Huddleston, Janelle Rose Jensena Sundin, and Robby Van Arsdale.

Variation In Sclerotinia Sclerotiorum Bean Isolates From Multisite Resistance Screening Locations, Lindsey Otto-Hanson, James R, Steadman, Rebecca Higgins, Kent M. Eskridge

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

There is no complete resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, cause of white mold in dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). Variable resistance expression is one problem in screening for improved white mold resistance. With no previous information in the literature, pathogen variation in multisite screening nurseries was evaluated as one cause of diverse resistance expression. In all, 10 isolates of S. sclerotiorum used in greenhouse screening and 146 isolates collected from nine white mold field screening nurseries in major bean production areas in the United States were compared using mycelial compatibility groupings (MCGs) and an aggressiveness test. These 10 greenhouse …

Development Of An Internet Based System For Modeling Biotin Metabolism Using Bayesian Networks, Jinglei Zhou, Dong Wang, Vicki L. Schlegel, Janos Zempleni

Department of Statistics: Faculty Publications

Biotin is an essential water-soluble vitamin crucial for maintaining normal body functions. The importance of biotin for human health has been under-appreciated but there is plenty of opportunity for future research with great importance for human health. Currently, carrying out predictions of biotin metabolism involves tedious manual manipulations. In this paper, we report the development of BiotinNet, an internet based program that uses Bayesian networks to integrate published data on various aspects of biotin metabolism. Users can provide a combination of values on the levels of biotin related metabolites to obtain the predictions on other metabolites that are not specified. …

Enrollment Data, Office Of Institutional Research And Effectiveness, Mississippi State University

Bulldog Basics

No abstract provided.