Digital Commons Network^™

Ecology Of Musk Thistle (Carduus Nutans) Seed Germination For Grasslands Of Temperate Climates, Chengchou Han, Stephen L. Young

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Musk thistle is an invasive weed that is widely distributed throughout much of North America, including grasslands in temperate climates of the midwest USA. A series of laboratory and greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the effect of various environmental factors on germination of musk thistle seeds. In temperature-fluctuation experiments, seed germination was greater than 65% in both alternating (30/20 C) and constant (20 or 25 C) temperature regimes with an 8-h day but less (33%) in warmer regimes (35/20 C). Germination of musk thistle seeds was 37% in alternating temperature regimes of 30/20 C in total darkness, but less …

Altered Cholesterol Metabolism In Human Cancers Unraveled By Label-Free Spectroscopic Imaging, Shuhua Yue

Open Access Dissertations

Despite tremendous scientific achievements, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. Metabolic reprogramming has been increasingly recognized as a core hallmark of cancer. My dissertation work identified novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for human cancers through the study of cholesterol in cancer cells.

Enabled by label-free Raman spectromicroscopy, we performed the first quantitative analysis of lipogenesis at single cell level in human patient cancerous tissues. Our imaging data revealed an unexpected, aberrant accumulation of esterified cholesterol in lipid droplets of high-grade prostate cancer and metastases, but not in normal prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia, or …

Small Molecule Antagonists Of Melanopsin-Mediated Phototransduction, Kenneth A. Jones, Megumi Hatori, Ludovic S. Mure, Jayne R. Bramley, Roman Artymyshyn, Sang-Phyo Hong, Mohammad Marzabadi, Huailing Zhong, Jeffrey Sprouse, Quansheng Zhu, Andrew T. E. Hartwick, Patricia J. Sollars, Gary E. Pickard, Satchidananda Panda

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Melanopsin, expressed in a subset of retinal ganglion cells, mediates behavioral adaptation to ambient light and other non-image forming photic responses. This has raised the possibility that pharmacological manipulation of melanopsin can modulate several CNS responses including photophobia, sleep, circadian rhythms and neuroendocrine function. Here we describe the identification of a potent synthetic melanopsin antagonist with in vivo activity. Novel sulfonamide compounds inhibiting melanopsin (opsinamides) compete with retinal binding to melanopsin and inhibit its function without affecting rod/cone mediated responses. In vivo administration of opsinamides to mice specifically and reversibly modified melanopsin-dependent light responses including the pupillary light reflex and …

Solvent Dependency Of The Uv-Vis Spectrum Of Indenoisoquinolines: Role Of Keto-Oxygens As Polarity Interaction Probes., Andrea Coletta, Silvia Castelli, Giovanni Chillemi, Nico Sanna, Mark S. Cushman, Yves Pommier, Alessandro Desideri

Borch Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Faculty Publications

Indenoisoquinolines are the most promising non-campthotecins topoisomerase IB inhibitors. We present an integrated experimental/computational investigation of the UV-Vis spectra of the IQNs parental compound (NSC314622) and two of its derivatives (NSC724998 and NSC725776) currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials. In all the three compounds a similar dependence of the relative absorption intensities at 270 nm and 290 nm on solvent polarity is found. The keto-oxygens in positions 5 and 11 of the molecular scaffold of the molecule are the principal chromophores involved in this dependence. Protic interactions on these sites are also found to give rise to absorptions at wavelengthsolution, …

Biology And Control Of Common Purslane (Portulaca Oleracea L.), Christopher A. Proctor

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is a summer annual with wide geographic and environmental distribution. Purslane is typically regarded as a weed in North America, but it is consumed as a vegetable in many parts of the world. One of the characteristics that make purslane difficult to control as a weed is its ability to vegetatively reproduce. Severed sections of purslane stem containing a node will produce adventitious roots from the cut end of the stem. Isoxaben and simazine were the only two effective preemergence herbicides for controlling purslane in our studies when applied at maximum or one-half maximum …

Development Of Novel Reaction-Based Fluorescent Probes, Weimin Xuan

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Fluorescent probes have been proved to be very valuable tools in chemical and biological applications, and extensive exploration has been made. Recently, reaction-based fluorescent probes became a new design trend and displayed great potential with remarkable implementation to the conventional design method. However, this field is still underdeveloped, and a lot of problems remain to be solved. As part of our groups research interest, my Ph.D. study centered on the development of new reaction-based fluorescent probes. Firstly, our previous research on Hg²⁺ was continued. In this work, we developed a novel ratiometric fluorescent probe for Hg²⁺ with impressive …

Preparation Of New Complexes Of Ligand 2-(2-Butyl) Thio-5-Phenyl –1,3,4 –Oxadiazolewith Studying Their Biological Activities, A.M. Mohammed, A.J. Ahmed

Baghdad Science Journal

This paper deals with the preparation and investigation studies of a number of new complexes of Cu(II), Zn(II), Hg(II), Ag(I), Pt(IV), and Pb(II). The complexes were formed by the reaction of the mentioned metal ions with the ligand which is derived from oxadiazole (OXB), 2-(2-butyl) thio-5-phenyl–1,3,4–oxadiazole in the mole ratio (1:1), (1:2) and (1:3) (metal to ligand). The result complexes having general formulae: [M(OXB)Cl2], [M(OXB)X2]H2O [M = Cu(II), Zn(II), M = Hg(II), Pb(II)] [M(OXB)2X2] X = Cl– M = Cu(II), Zn(II), Hg(II), Pb(II) X = Cl–, NO3-, CH3COO- [Pt(OXB)3]Cl4, [Ag(OXB)]NO3^2– (2-thio-5-phenyl–4,3,1–oxadiazole) OXB = These complexes have been characterized by a …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Methyl 2-(1,7,7-Tri Methylbicyclo[2.2.1]Hept-2-Yieldene)Hydrazinecarbodithioate Schiff Bases Derived From Methylhydrazine Carbodithioate And Their Bi(Iii) And Ag(Ii) Complexes, Isam Hussain T. Al-Karkhi, Abeer Khalid Yaseen, Hamsa Thamer Sadeq

Baghdad Science Journal

Novel bidentate Schiff bases having nitrogen-sulphur donor sequence was synthesized from condensation of racemate camphor, (R)-camphor and (S)-camphor with Methyl hydrazinecarbodithioate (SMDTC). Its metal complexes were also prepared through the reaction of these ligands with silver and bismuth salts. All complexes were characterized by elemental analyses and various physico-chemical techniques. These Schiff bases behaved as uninegatively charged bidentate ligands and coordinated to the metal ions via β-nitrogen and thiolate sulphur atoms. The NS Schiff bases formed complexes of general formula, [M(NS)2] or [M(NS)2.H2O] where M is BiIII or AgI, the expected geometry is octahedral for Bi(III) complexes while Ag(I) is …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of Antimicrobial Activity Of Several New Maleimides To Benzothiazole Moiety, Ahlam Marouf Al- Azzawi, Suroor Abdul Rhahman Mahdi

Baghdad Science Journal

In this work, a series of new maleimides linked to substituted benzothiazole moiety were synthesized. Synthesis of these new cyclic imides were performed via three steps, the first one involved preparation of a series of 2-aminobenzothiazole substituted with different substituents via reaction of different primary aromatic amines with ammonium thiocyanate and bromine in glacial acetic acid. The prepared 2- amino benzothiozoles were introduced in the second step in reaction with maleic anhydride producing a series of N-(substituted benzothiazole-2-yl) maleamic acids.The resulted maleamic acids were dehydrated in the third step via treatment with acetic anhydride and anhydrous sodium acetate to afford …

Automated Methods To Determine Electrospun Fiber Alignment And Diameter Using The Radon Transform, Nicholas J. Schaub, Sean J. Kirkpatrick, Ryan J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent evidence demonstrates the ability to change cell function by altering the physical properties of electro spun scaffolds, but many studies still do not characterize electro spun fiber alignment and diameter. To aid in the reporting of these crucial properties, we demonstrate two methods of quantifying electro spun fiber alignment with one method capable of determining electro spun fiber diameter. The first method assesses fiber alignment in a scanning electron microscopy image using the Radon Transform (RT) to calculate the entropy of the fibers in the image. The RT entropy method was more sensitive than a commonly used Fast Fourier …

Synthesis And Biological Studies For Some Heterocyclic Compounds Derived From 2-Morpholino-1,8- Naphthyridine-4-Carboxylic Acid, Ala I. Ayoob

Baghdad Science Journal

New heterocyclic compounds derived from 2-Morpholino-1,8-naphthyridine-4-carboxylic acid such as oxadiazolo, thiadiazolo – thione and triazolo-thione have been prepared and characterized on the basis of IR and 1H NMR spectra data. The hydrizide compound was utilized as a starting material for preparing of these compounds. The second part of this study involves the biological studies of some of these naphthyridine derivatives by using three different kinds of bacteria namely: Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruglnosa and Escherichia coli. The data indicated that some of these compounds have a good activity against the tested bacteria in comparison to antibiotics.

Synthesis And Characterization Of Five, Sevene Heterocyclic Membered Rings, Muhaned J Mahmoud, Ibtisam K. Jassim, Muhanned A Mahmoud

Baghdad Science Journal

New compounds containing heterocyclic units have been synthesized. These compounds include 2-amino 5- phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (1) as starting material to prepare the Schiff bases 2N[3-nitrobenzylidene -2 hydroxy benzylidene and 4-N,N-dimethyl aminobenzylidene] -5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (2abc) , 2N[3-nitrophenyl, 2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl] 3-]2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole]-2,3-dihydro-[1,3]oxazepine-benzo-4,7-dione] (3abc), 2N[3-nitrophenyl,2-hydroxyphenyl,4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl]-3-[2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl]-2,3-dihydro-[1,3]oxazepine-4,7-dione[(4abc), 2-N-[3-nitrophenyl, 2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl]-3-[2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2yl]-1,2,3-trihydro-benzo-[1,2-e][1,3] diazepine-4,7-dione (5abc) ,2N[2-(3-nitrophenyl,2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)]-4-oxo-1,3-thiazolidine-3-yl]-2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (6abc), 2-N-[5-(3-nitrophenyl,2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-tetrazolo-1-yl]-2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole (7abc) , 2-N-[5-(3-nitrophenyl,2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-[2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl]-2,3-dihydro-[1,3]oxazepine-benzo-4,7-dithione (8abc) , 2-N-[5-(3-nitrophenyl,2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-[2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl]-2,3-dihydro-[1,3]oxazepine -4,7-dithione -5-ene (9abc) and 2-N-[5-(3-nitrophenyl,2-hydroxyphenyl or 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-3-[2-amino-5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-yl] -1,2,3-trihydro-benzo-[1,2-e][1,3] diazepine -4,7-dithione - (10abc) . the structures of these compounds were characterized by FT-IR, 1H,13C-NMR,Uv/vis spectroscopy and the melting points were determined besides the evaluation of its biological activity.

Dissecting The Mechanisms And The Nutritional Requirements Of The Expansion Of Normal And Tumorigenic Intestinal Stem Cell Lineages In Drosophila Melanogaster, Wen-Chih Lee

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Organisms are constantly challenged by injury and senescence. To replenish lost cells, adult tissue must contain a cellular reserve to maintain homeostasis. For example, adult stem cells exhibit two unique properties, self-renewal and potency, that make them well suited for this role. Tight regulatory control of stem cell properties is critical to maintain homeostatic balance; misregulation often leads to tumors or diseases. Recently, homeostasis of the intestinal epithelium has been shown to depend on a population of molecular defined intestinal stem cells: ISCs) in both Drosophila and mammals. However, the regulatory mechanisms controlling ISC behaviors remain poorly defined. We took …

Subset Of Heat-Shock Transcription Factors Required For The Early Response Of Arabidopsis To Excess Light, Hou-Sung Jung, Peter A. Crisp, Gonzalo M. Estavillo, Benjamin Cole

Dartmouth Scholarship

Sunlight provides energy for photosynthesis and is essential for nearly all life on earth. However, too much or too little light or rapidly fluctuating light conditions cause stress to plants. Rapid changes in the amount of light are perceived as a change in the reduced/oxidized (redox) state of photosynthetic electron transport components in chloroplasts. However, how this generates a signal that is relayed to changes in nuclear gene expression is not well understood. We modified redox state in the reference plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, using either excess light or low light plus the herbicide DBMIB (2,5-dibromo-3-methyl-6-isopropyl-p-benzoquinone), a well-known inhibitor of photosynthetic …

Comparative Gene Analysis And Prediction Of Innate Immunity And Apoptosis Machinery In Hydrothermal Vent Tubeworms, Corey M. Bunce

Master's Theses

Siboglinid tubeworms are an emerging model system for symbiosis in extreme conditions. At deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, they harbor a chemoautotrophic symbiont in a specialized organ, the trophosome, where the bacteria carry out primary production via oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds. The trophosome of siboglinid worms is suggested to be tightly regulated, symbiont-responsive, and developmentally homeostatic. The purported mechanism involves a cellular proliferative or apoptotic response to bacterial signals, environmental cues, or nutrition. Though these processes are well understood in more amenable model systems, there has been little work uncovering the tubeworm’s genetic potential for sensing and …

Bcl-2 Promoter Sequence G-Quadruplex Interactions With Three Planar And Non-Planar Cationic Porphyrins: Tmpyp4, Tmpyp3, And Tmpyp2., Vu H. Le, Narayana Nagesh, Edwin A. Lewis

CAS Publications

The interactions of three related cationic porphyrins, TMPyP4, TMPyP3 and TMPyP2, with a WT 39-mer Bcl-2 promoter sequence G-quadruplex were studied using Circular Dichroism, ESI mass spectrometry, Isothermal Titration Calorimetry, and Fluorescence spectroscopy. The planar cationic porphyrin TMPyP4 (5, 10, 15, 20-meso-tetra (N-methyl-4-pyridyl) porphine) is shown to bind to a WT Bcl-2 G-quadruplex via two different binding modes, an end binding mode and a weaker mode attributed to intercalation. The related non-planar ligands, TMPyP3 and TMPyP2, are shown to bind to the Bcl-2 G-quadruplex by a single mode. ESI mass spectrometry experiments confirmed that the saturation stoichiometry is 4:1 for …

Forty Years Of Epikarst: What Biology Have We Learned?, Tanja Pipan, David Culver

International Journal of Speleology

Epikarst is not only an important component of the hydrogeology of karst and an active site of speleogenesis, it is habitat for a number of species adapted to subterranean life. Water in epikarst, with a residence time of days to months, is a highly heterogeneous habitat, and the animals are primarily sampled from continuously sampling dripping water or collecting from residual drip pools. While the subterranean fauna of cracks and crevices has been known for over 100 years, it is only in the past several decades that epikarst has been recognized as a distinct habitat, with reproducing populations of stygobionts. …

Responsive Website Design For First Unitarian Church And Louis Kahn, Chen Zhang

Theses

Responsive Website Design for First Unitarian Church and Louis Kahn is a thesis project for Master Degree of Fine Arts in Computer Graphics Design program at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This thesis project is to design a responsive website for the First Unitarian Church, a website which has three user experiences: a desktop site, tablet site and a mobile site. The website audience is architecture or design students, professors, and enthusiasts. There are three objectives in this thesis project: first, to design a responsive website for cross-platform experience for users; second, to provide users a real digital visiting experience …

Ecomorphology And Mating Behavior Of Two Species Of Night-Stalking Tiger Beetles, Omus Audouini And O. Dejeanii, Robert Kent Richardson

Dissertations and Theses

Night-stalking tiger beetles (Cicindelinae: Omus) are among the least studied members of the highly diverse Carabid sub-family Cicindelinae, the tiger beetles. Despite populations of Omus being common in the forest floor habitats of the west coast of North America and their conspicuous predatory role within terrestrial arthropod communities, little is known about the biology and ecology of Omus.

Field studies showed that two species of Omus existed in the forested areas of Powell Butte Nature Park, Portland, Oregon, USA: Omus audouiniand O. dejeanii. The co-occurrence of sympatric, and likely syntopic, species allowed for a comparative approach in examining and analyzing …

Design, Synthesis, And Application Of Photoactive Complexes Of Biologically Relevant Metals, Celina Gwizdala

Doctoral Dissertations

Photo-labile organic molecules have been broadly utilized as photoprotective groups (PPGs) in “caging compounds”. Inactive caged analyte can be easily introduced in its active form to the system under investigation by photolysis of the PPG. This light induced manipulation permits release of the analyte and allows for spatial and temporal control of its concentration. Photocages presented within utilize specific strategy of metal release that relies on decrease in metal-ligand interaction triggered by delocalization of lone pair of electrons on the metal coordinating nitrogen(s). Synthesis and photochemical properties of nitrobenzhydrol based photocages of Zn²⁺ and Ni²⁺ are presented and …

Adoptive T Cell Therapy For Metastatic Colorectal Cancer, Shauna Ebanks

Summer Training Program in Cancer Immunotherapy

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in US (1). Most of the mortality reflects local, regional and distant metastatic tumors. Cancers that are confined within the wall of the colon are often curable with surgery while tumor cells that have spread into other organs like liver and lung has low curable possibility, even though the chemotherapies and monoclonal antibodies can extend the person's life and improve quality of life(2, 3). Surgery is the main treatment for primary colorectal tumors but recurrence can happen and develop into metastasis. In addition, colorectal cancer …

Direct Observation Of Self-Assembled Chain-Like Water Structures In A Nanoscopic Water Meniscus, Byung I. Kim, Ryan D. Boehm, Jeremy R. Bonander

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sawtooth-like oscillatory forces generated by water molecules confined between two oxidized silicon surfaces were observed using a cantilever-based optical interfacial force microscope when the two surfaces approached each other in ambient environments. The humidity-dependent oscillatory amplitude and periodicity were 3-12 nN and 3-4 water diameters, respectively. Half of each period was matched with a freely jointed chain model, possibly suggesting that the confined water behaved like a bundle of water chains. The analysis also indicated that water molecules self-assembled to form chain-like structures in a nanoscopic meniscus between two hydrophilic surfaces in air. From the friction force data measured simultaneously, …

Systems Of Accountability For Abusive Men In A Domestic Violence Context: The Nature Of Abuse, Limited Effectiveness And Intervention Strategy Improvement, Carla Cezario

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The domestic violence movement had extraordinary success in enlightening society on the scope, predominance, and consequences of battering, but more limited ability in successfully intervening and preventing the abuse of women by their intimate male partners. Taking this perspective, the present study offers four main goals: 1) describe the theories of domestic violence causation and the evolution of the current strategies for intervening with abusive men and why men are abusive; 2) evaluate current domestic violence interventions to understand the rationale has produce the development of these strategies; 3) Describe and critically analyze the limitations of current domestic violence intervention …

Learning, Remembering And Forgetting In The Mammalian Brain, Pankaj Sah

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Concurrent Session Block 3

Jellyfish Identification And Quantification In The San Francisco Estuary, Amalia Borson, Lindsay L. Sullivan, Wim Kimmerer

STAR Program Research Presentations

As potential predators and competitors of plankton-eating fish, jellyfish have the potential to negatively impact fish populations. Jellyfish were collected weekly with plankton tows from the RombergTiburonCenterpier in Tiburon, CA. Since some jellyfish were too small to identify, one tow was collected and preserved to record abundances, and a second tow was collected to rear jellyfish until distinguishing characteristics were visible enough for identification. Jellyfish in the preserved tows were then identified, measured, and counted, and their abundance (number m^-3) was calculated. Jellyfish from the second tows were reared in plastic buckets that were lightly bubbled using aquarium …

Evidence For A Novel Mechanism Of The Pak1 Interaction With The Rho-Gtpases Cdc42 And Rac, Yong Jae Shin, Eun Hye Kim, Adhiraj Roy, Jeong-Ho Kim

Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

P21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) is activated by binding to GTP-bound Rho GTPases Cdc42 and Rac via its CRIB domain. Here, we provide evidence that S79 in the CRIB domain of PAK1 is not directly involved in this binding but is crucial for PAK1 activation. S79A mutation reduces the binding affinity of PAK1 for the GTPases and inhibits autophosphorylation and kinase activity of PAK1. Thus, this mutation abrogates the ability of PAK1 to induce changes in cell morphology and motility and to promote malignant transformation of prostate epithelial cells. We also show that growth of the prostate cancer cell line PC3 …

Enhanced Nicotine Self-Administration And Suppressed Dopaminergic Systems In A Rat Model Of Diabetes, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

Patients with diabetes display a heightened propensity to use tobacco; however, it is unclear whether they experience enhanced rewarding effects of nicotine. Thus, this study examined the reinforcing effects of nicotine in a rodent model of diabetes involving administration of streptozotocin (STZ), a drug that is toxic to pancreatic insulin-producing cells. The first study compared STZ- and vehicle-treated rats that had 23-hour access to intravenous self-administration (IVSA) of nicotine or saline and concomitant access to food and water. In order to examine the contribution of dopamine to our behavioral effects, dopamine transporter (DAT), D1 and D2 receptor levels were compared …

Scitech Book News Reviews, Susan Fingerman

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of Post-Cranial Traits For The Assessment Of Biological Distance Among Temporally Distinct New World Populations Of African Descent, Claire Marie Dansereau

Master's Theses

This investigation examines change in post-cranial osteometric markers in temporally distinct New World populations of African ancestry: Newton Plantation series (17th-19th century Barbados; N = 16); two subsamples from the Hamann-Todd (HT) series (U.S.) based on birth year, 1865-1900 (N = 66) and 1901-1915 (N = 62); and the Forensic Databank Collection (FDB) (20th century U.S.; N = 137). It was anticipated that individuals from Newton would exhibit less admixture than those from H-T or FDB. They were also predicted to demonstrate greater skeletal robusticity due to mechanical loading. Additionally, it was expected that stature would increase over time due …

Conformational Dynamics Of K-Ras And H-Ras Proteins: Is There Functional Specificity At The Catalytic Domain?, Nandini Rambahal

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Ras proteins serve as crucial signaling modulators in cell proliferation through their ability to hydrolyze GTP and exist in a GTP “on” state and GTP “off” state. There are three different human Ras isoforms: H-ras, N-ras and K-ras (4A and 4B). Although their sequence identity is very high at the catalytic domain, these isoforms differ in their ability to activate different effectors and hence different signaling pathways. Much of the previous work on this topic has attributed this difference to the hyper variable region of Ras proteins, which contains most of the sequence variance among the isoforms and encodes specificity …