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Development And Characterization Of Novel Monoclonal Antibodies For Studying Prion Pathogenesis, Chu-Chun Weng

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) recognizing different regions of PrP are potential tools in the study of prion diseases and immunotherapy. We used shuffled recombinant prion protein containing elk and mouse PrP as antigen to produce monoclonal antibodies in mice. We found that mAb 5C6 mapped to a discontinuous epitope comprised of amino acid 132 and 158 (mouse numbering). Monoclonal anibody 9E9 which maps to a unique N-terminal epitope at amino acid preferentially recognized cervid PrP. In contrast, the epitope of mAb 9H9 is located in the C-terminus and only reacted with mouse and hamster. The epitope for mAb 7H11 appears to …

Investigation Of The Toxicity And Efflux Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls And Hydroxylated Polychlorinated Biphenyls In Escherichia Coli, Shen Geng

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent organic pollutants. Due to their properties, PCBs accumulate in the food-chain and post a threat to the health of human beings and wildlife. Hydroxylated PCBs (OH-PCBs) are oxidative metabolites of PCBs and are more hydrophilic than their parent PCBs. One of the best approaches to break down these contaminants is through bioremediation, which is an environmental friendly process that uses microorganisms to restore natural environment.

Towards this goal, we have investigated the toxicity and accumulation of PCBs and OH-PCBs in a Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli. We have also determined the role played by a …

Course And Outcome Of Obstetric Patients Admitted To A University Hospital Intensive Care Unit, F. Githae, Vitalis Mung’Ayi, William Stones

Anaesthesiology, East Africa

Background: Obstetric Critical Care is an important service in the reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality, but few developing country data are available.

Objectives: To review all maternity patients admitted to the ICU over a seven year period to determine the causes and outcomes of these admissions and the frequency and causes of maternal morbidity and mortality.

Design: Retrospective patient file and ICU chart review.

Subjects: ICU Charts and medical files of obstetric patients admitted to the ICU at The Aga Khan University Hospital between (November 2003 – November 2010) were reviewed.

Setting: The ICU at The Aga Khan University …

Initial Response Of Invasive Exotic Plant Species To Timber Harvesting In Southeastern Kentucky Forests, Kevin Patrick Devine

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The responses of invasive exotic plant species (IES) to silvicultural treatments one growing season after timber harvesting were examined in the Cumberland Plateau region of Southeastern Kentucky. Treatments included a commercial deferment harvest and unharvested control applied to five watersheds within University of Kentucky’s Robinson Forest. The effects of harvesting were compared between treatments and between preharvest and postharvest samplings. The spatial distribution and abundance of targeted IES throughout forest sites and trail systems were calculated from several sampling schemes. Additional analyses were performed to quantify forest disturbances derived from harvest activities to determine the relationships between soil, light levels, …

Electronic Health Records; Delivering The Right Information To The Right Health Care Providers At The Right Time., William M. Tierney

Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Transdermal And Oral Dl-Methylphenidate-Ethanol Interactions In C57bl/6j Mice, Guinevere Hannah Bell

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The persistence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHO) into adulthood has been increasingly recognized over the past few decades and the stimulant drug dl-methylphenidate (MPH) has remained a first-line pharmacotherapeutic agent in the treatment of ADHD. Many adult ADHD patients who are prescribed MPH report concomitant use with ethanol. In humans, coadministration of dl-MPH and ethanol results in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug - drug interactions. Ethanol elevates biological concentrations of the pharmacologically active d-MPH isomer and yields the metabolic transesterification product ethylphenidate (EPH). EPH appears to be formed through the actions of carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) which exhibits I-MPH substrate enantioselectivity in both …

Immediate Feedback: A Means Of Reducing Distracting Filler Words During Public Speeches, Michael Hazel, Colleen Mcmahon, Nancy Schmidt

Basic Communication Course Annual

Research demonstrates that immediate feedback is effective for speech instruction (King, Young & Behnke, 2000; Smith & King, 2004). However, feedback interventions can be a double-edged sword depending on the type of feedback and performance task (see Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). Thus, given the mixed effects reported in feedback intervention research, the present studies examined an immediate feedback intervention aimed at reducing distracting filler words during public speeches in a classroom setting as well as how the intervention impacted state/trait anxiety and self-perceived communication competence.

Results from study one indicate that immediate feedback effectively reduces filler word use during speeches …

Improving The Basic Communication Course: Assessing The Core Components, Kristen Leblanc, Lori Vela, Marian L. Houser

Basic Communication Course Annual

This study seeks to examine the effective means of assessing whether goals and objectives set within a basic communication course are met. The study outlines specific techniques used to evaluate learning outcomes to ensure that the course retains its relevance and general education status. A pretest-posttest design is utilized to determine whether students’ scores on cognitive, behavioral, and affective assessment instruments improve from the beginning to the end of the semester. Results indicate students’ scores improved on each of the primary learning indicators for the course including: an assessment of communication knowledge, conflict management skills, and intercultural communication apprehension. Discussion …

Column: The Physics Of Digital Information, Fred Cohen

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Basic Communication Course Annual Vol. 23

Basic Communication Course Annual

Full issue (322 pages, 11.6 MB)

[Introduction To] For The Greater Good Of All: Perspectives On Individualism, Society, And Leadership, Donelson R. Forsyth, Crystal L. Hoyt

Bookshelf

At every turn the variations in individual perspectives on human rights and potentials, contrasting philosophies on social justice and political structure, and even debates over the best solutions to pressing social problems reflect the vital tension between the one and the many. Are humans, as a species, motivated more by selfish desires or by a commitment to helping others? Can society require that individuals contribute to a common good, even when they will not personally benefit from it? Is a commitment to a common good that will benefit generations to come more morally laudable than working diligently to achieve personal …

[Introduction To] Leadership For Transformation, Joann Danelo Barbour, Gill Robinson Hickman

Bookshelf

Leaders and participants can transform from many processes and ascribe a variety of interpretations to the meaning of a transformation, as in Kafka's Metamorphosis. In biology, we are all familiar with caterpillars turning into butterflies or tadpoles into frogs, those same frogs that, in folklore, shape shift into princes by enchantment. In folklore, additionally, once can be born a shape shifter and be transformed by natural forces, or shape shifters can be sorcerers of witches who have the ability to change at will (Yolen, 1986). In twenty-first-century reality television, for example, we see stars shape shift into dancers, "ugly ducklings" …

Computational Prediction Of Heme-Binding Residues By Exploiting Residue Interaction Network, R. Liu, Jianjun Hu

Faculty Publications

Computational identification of heme-binding residues is beneficial for predicting and designing novel heme proteins. Here we proposed a novel method for heme-binding residue prediction by exploiting topological properties of these residues in the residue interaction networks derived from three-dimensional structures. Comprehensive analysis showed that key residues located in heme-binding regions are generally associated with the nodes with higher degree, closeness and betweenness, but lower clustering coefficient in the network. HemeNet, a support vector machine (SVM) based predictor, was developed to identify heme-binding residues by combining topological features with existing sequence and structural features. The results showed that incorporation of network-based …

Analogous Mechanisms Of Resistance To Benzothiazinones And Dinitrobenzamides In Mycobacterium Smegmatis, Ana Luisa Ribeiro, Giulia Degiacomi, Fanny Ewann, Silvia Buroni, Maria Loreto Incandela, Laurent R. Chiarelli, Giorgia Mori, Jaeseung Kim, Monica Contreras-Dominguez, Young-Sam Park, Sung-Jun Han, Priscille Brodin, Giovanna Valentini, Menico Rizzi, Giovanna Riccardi, Maria Rosalia Pasca

Faculty and Staff Publications

Tuberculosis is still a leading cause of death worldwide. The selection and spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant strains (XDR-TB) is a severe public health problem. Recently, two different classes of chemical series, the benzothiazinones (BTZ) and the dinitrobenzamide (DNB) derivatives have been found to be highly active against M. tuberculosis, including XDR-TB strains. The target of BTZs is DprE1 protein which works in concert with DprE2 to form the heteromeric decaprenylphosphoryl-β-D-ribose 2'-epimerase, involved in Decaprenyl-Phospho-Arabinose (DPA) biosynthesis. Interestingly, it has been shown that the DNBs block the same pathway thus suggesting that both drugs could share …

Evaluation Of Anti-Vibration Interventions For The Hand During Sheet Metal Assembly Work, Ann Marie Dale, A E. Rohn, A Burwell, W Shannon, J Standeven, A Patton, Bradley A. Evanoff

Occupational and Health Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Possible Behavioral Avoidance Of Uv-B Radiation And Sunlight In Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus) Tadpoles, J. C. Connolly, B. L. Kress, Geoffrey R. Smith, Jessica E. Rettig

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Distribution Of Tadpoles (Hyla Arenicolor) In The Pools Associated With The Rio Salado, Puebla, Mexico, G. A. Woolrich-Pina, J. A. Lemos-Espinal, Geoffrey R. Smith, R. Montoya-Ayala, Luis Oliver-López

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Elevation On Litter-Size Variation Among Lizard Populations In The Sceloporus Grammicus Complex (Phrynosomatidae) In Mexico, A. Ramirez-Bautista, A. Leyte-Manrique, J. C. Marshall, Geoffrey R. Smith

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Surface Soil Organic Matter Using A Ground-Based Active Sensor And Aerial Imagery, D. F. Roberts, V. I. Adamchuk, J. F. Shanahan, R. B. Ferguson, J. S. Schepers

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Active canopy sensors are currently being studied as a tool to assess crop N status and direct in-season N applications. The objective of this study was to use a variety of strategies to evaluate the capability of an active sensor and a wide-band aerial image to estimate surface soil organic matter (OM). Grid soil samples, active sensor reflectance and bare soil aerial images were obtained from six fields in central Nebraska before the 2007 and 2008 growing seasons. Six different strategies to predict OM were developed and tested by dividing samples randomly into calibration and validation datasets. Strategies included uniform, …

Soil Fertility And Crop Yields In Long-Term Organic And Conventional Cropping Systems In Eastern Nebraska, Samuel E. Wortman, Tomie D. Galusha, Stephen C. Mason, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Organic agriculture aims to build soil quality and provide long-term benefits to people and the environment; however, organic practices may reduce crop yields. This long-term study near Mead, NE was conducted to determine differences in soil fertility and crop yields among conventional and organic cropping systems between 1996 and 2007. The conventional system (CR) consisted of corn (Zea mays L.) or sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench)–soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)–sorghum or corn–soybean, whereas the diversified conventional system (DIR) consisted of corn or sorghum– sorghum or corn–soybean–winter wheat (wheat, Triticum aestivum L.). The animal manure-based organic system (OAM) …

Stacking Resistance Alleles From Wild And Domestic Soybean Sources Improves Soybean Cyst Nematode Resistance, Myungsik Kim, D. L. Hyten, Terry L. Niblack, Brian W. Diers

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines Ichinohe) is the most economically important soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] pathogen in the United States. Field SCN populations are adapting to the narrowly based SCN resistance currently deployed in soybean cultivars. The objective of our research was to measure the effects of combinations of SCN resistance genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) from the wild soybean (Glycine soja Siebold & Zucc.) PI 468916 and the domesticated soybean accessions PI 88788 and PI 437654. Two populations were developed to test the combinations of QTL and genes. Both populations segregated for the …

Moving Micronutrients From The Soil To The Seeds: Genes And Physiological Processes From A Biofortification Perspective, Brian M. Waters, Renuka P. Sankaran

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The micronutrients iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) are essential for plants and the humans and animals that consume plants. Increasing the micronutrient density of staple crops, or biofortification, will greatly improve human nutrition on a global scale. This review discusses the processes and genes needed to translocate micronutrients through the plant to the developing seeds, and potential strategies for developing biofortified crops.

Developing A Drought Planning Evaluation System In The United States, Mark D. Svoboda, Zhenghong Tang

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Drought is a normal part of the climate cycle, affecting every climate regime on the planet. Drought indicates a special period in which an unusual moisture scarcity causes a serious hydrological imbalance. Drought is related to the timing and effectiveness of the rains, high temperature, high wind, and low humidity. The typical impacts of drought may include dry lands, low or empty water-supply reservoirs, low groundwater levels (dried up wells), crop damage, and ensuing environmental degradation. In the United States, drought accounts for losses in the billions of dollars. In fact, a FEMA (1995) report estimates the average annual losses …

Review: Lipid Addition To Corn Finishing Diets, Virgil R. Bremer, Galen Erickson, Terry Klopfenstein Klopfenstein

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

The fat content of distillers grains with solubles (DGS) partially accounts for DGS feeding value being greater than corn. Finishing diets containing DGS to supply up to 8% of diet DM as fat may be fed without depressing cattle performance. However, feeding diets containing 8% diet fat with corn oil depresses cattle performance. The difference in rumen metabolism of these two fats is due to physical protection of DGS fat from interaction with rumen microbes. Due to an unknown mechanism, condensed corn distillers solubles, a liquid fat source, does not limit ruminal metabolism like corn oil. Optimum dietary fat level …

Economic Analysis Of Supplementing Ddgs To Grazing Steers, Andrea K. Watson, Terry Klopfenstein, Galen Erickson Erickson, Darrell Mark, Walter H. Schacht

Nebraska Beef Cattle Reports

A five-year study from 2005-2009 was conducted to evaluate differences in three grazing management strategies for backgrounding calves on smooth bromegrass pastures. Economic budgets were used to calculate profit differences. Steers supplemented an average of 5.3 lb/day of distillers grains were 90 lb heavier than either of the unsupplemented groups, which resulted in increased revenue of $49.38 for supplemented steers. Land costs were the same per AUM for all treatments but were decreased on a per head basis for pastures with supplemented cattle because cattle were stocked at higher rates than the control. Profit was greatest for the supplemented steers, …

The Wisdom Of Solomon: We Cannot Split The Pre-Embryos, Bridget M. Fuselier

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article addresses legal challenges surrounding the status and disposition of preembryos in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) by proposing a modified tenancy by the entirety framework. This model seeks to balance the dignity of preembryos with legal practicality, preventing ownership disputes and emotional conflicts. It emphasizes nonseverable rights, restrictions on transfer, and exclusion from probate to ensure clarity and fairness in preembryo disposition. The framework also aims to honor the intent of deceased providers while avoiding fractional ownership and inheritance disputes.

"Until Death (Or Sex Change) Do Us Part": Advocating For Adoption Of The European Legal Approach To Validating Marriages Involving Post-Operative Transsexuals, Erin Bender

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article advocates for the adoption of the European legal approach to validating marriages involving post-operative transsexuals, emphasizing privacy rights and the fundamental right to marry, rather than the outdated U.S. approach that focuses on biological criteria such as chromosomes and birth sex. It argues that the current U.S. framework unduly restricts the rights of post-operative transsexuals and fails to align with modern societal views on marriage, which prioritize companionship and privacy over procreation.

Rwu Law: The Magazine Of Roger Williams University School Of Law (Issue No. 2) (Winter 2011-12), Roger Williams University School Of Law

RWU Law

No abstract provided.

Examination Of The Federal Consistency Provision Of The Coastal Zone Management Act In Rhode Island, William Yost

Sea Grant Law Fellow Publications

No abstract provided.

Observing Copepods Through A Genomic Lens, Grace Wyngaard

Selected Works

No abstract provided.