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Chassidy Sumler Named Miss Uab At 2014 Scholarship Pageant, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Determination Of Vegetative Cover Over Urban Areas Of Huntsville, Alabama Using Satellite Imagery, Ralph Evans

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Analyzing Hexavalent Chromium (Cr Vi)-Free Paint Systems For Sls, Maria Emma Torres

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

Daily Eastern News: October 10, 2013, Eastern Illinois University

October

No abstract provided.

The Pan American (2013-10-10), Norma Gonzalez, Lea Victoria Juarez

UTPA Archives - The Pan American Newspaper

Vol. 70, No. 7

Permeability And Durability Effects Of Cellulose Polymer Variation In Polymer Inclusion Membranes, Jed Walker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) have been used as an effective means of separation of ions in solution. Due to their mechanical stability, PIMs provide a more effective method of separation than supported liquid membrane (SLM) and bulk liquid membrane (BLM) systems. PIMs also provide higher efficiency, selectivity and ease of use than the previously mentioned systems1,2. The large surface area to volume ratio that is exhibited by PIMs affords them the potential to be used in nuclear and harmful metal waste remediation on an industrial scale.

Synthesis And Characterization Of Novel Amino-Retinoid A4-Spermine, Jeffrey Swallow, Dr. Heidi Vollmer-Snarr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in developed countries. The accumulation of lipofuscin in the eye causes death of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) leading to blindness (1,2). The lipofuscin chemical A2E has been shown to have cytotoxic effect in RPE, yet much of lipofuscin has remained uncharacterized (3). We have shown that other compounds exist in lipofuscin through preliminary mass spectroscopy (MS) and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) data collected from lipofuscin samples. Our lab is working to first characterize these lipofuscin compounds and then we will also study their oxidative products in order …

Production Of A Novel Anti-Tumor Chemotherapy Agent, Jeffrey Stephens, Dr. Merrit Andrus

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Cancer is a condition unlike any other known to man. It is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. In 2000, over 500,000 deaths resulted from various cancers.1 This has led to an extensive search for improved ways to treat cancer, and has left a daunting challenge to develop new ways to treat this condition. The natural product Geldanamycin (GA), the most potent of the benzoquinone absamycin antibiotics, has shown to have great promise as an anti-tumor agent. The analog of Geldanamycin, 17-Allylanino-GA, is currently in clinical trials2, and the first total synthesis of GA was …

Isolation, Structure Identification And Cytotoxic Studies Of Biologically Active Compounds In Carica Papaya Of Ghana, Kurtis S. Staples, Dr. Steven G. Wood

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Carica papaya, commonly known as the papaya plant, is found in large abundance throughout the tropical regions of the planet. The fruit of the plant has been extensively studied with papain, a protease, being the center of research. Preliminary studies showed that compounds found in the leaves of the plant possessed anti-cancer properties. As alternatives for cancer treatment are constantly being sought, plant extracts have risen to the forefront in this hunt.1 An understanding of the structure and mode of activity of the compounds in this plant will further knowledge of how to develop chemotherapeutic agents.

Synthesis Of Hiv Integrase Inhibitors, Carl Jones, Dr. Matt A. Peterson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

We have made significant progress toward the synthesis of one branch of the library of compounds that we plan to synthesize. The scheme we have followed is shown below. Once synthesized, we plan to have the compounds tested by expert collaborators to see how well they bind HTLV integrase. In addition, they will be tested against many viruses and cancers, as well as HIV. Because they are nucleoside based, it is impossible to predict exactly what type of biological activity these compounds will have. They could possibly treat a variety of diseases.

Preferential Infection Of Germinal Center T Cells By X4 Tropic Hiv, Christopher M. Cherry, Dr. Gregory F. Burton

Journal of Undergraduate Research

HIV infects CD4 T cells through binding to CD4 and an appropriate co-receptor. Two co-receptors of concern in HIV biology are CXCR4 and CCR5 because of their affect on disease progression. The majority of transmittable HIV strains use CCR5 as a co-receptor. However, during the latter stages of disease the virus may shift from using CCR5 to using CXCR4 as its co-receptor. This change is referred to as a shift in tropism, and it is of major concern because it leads to rapid disease progression (3). The site and mechanism by which this shift occurs still elude scientists. Recent findings …

Day-Night Differences In Neural Activation In Histaminergic And Serotonergic Areas With Putative Projections To The Cerebrospinal Fluid In A Diurnal Brain, Alexandra Castillo-Ruiz, Andrew J. Gall, Laura Smale, Antonio A. Nunez

Faculty Publications

In nocturnal rodents, brain areas that promote wakefulness have a circadian pattern of neural activation that mirrors the sleep/wake cycle, with more neural activation during the active phase than during the rest phase. To investigate whether differences in temporal patterns of neural activity in wake-promoting regions contribute to differences in daily patterns of wakefulness between nocturnal and diurnal species, we assessed Fos expression patterns in the tuberomammillary (TMM), supramammillary (SUM), and raphe nuclei of male grass rats maintained in a 12:12 h light-dark cycle. Day-night profiles of Fos expression were observed in the ventral and dorsal TMM, in the SUM, …

Remote Sensing Of Aquatic Vegetation And Agricultural Activity In Lake Guntersville, Casey Calamaio, Kel Markert

Von Braun Symposium Student Posters

No abstract provided.

The Daily Egyptian, October 10, 2013, Daily Egyptian Staff

October 2013

No abstract provided.

The George-Anne, Georgia Southern University

The George-Anne

• New Golf Course Opens
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October 10, 2013, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Hawks' Herald -- Oct. 10 , 2013, Roger Williams University

Hawk's Herald

No abstract provided.

The Alestle - Vol. 66 No. 9 - 10/10/2013, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

The Alestle

Vol. 66 No. 9

Antibacterial Mechanisms Identified Through Structural Systems Pharmacology, Roger L. Chang, Lei Xie, Philip E. Bourne, Bernhard O. Palsson

Publications and Research

Background The growing discipline of structural systems pharmacology is applied prospectively in this study to predict pharmacological outcomes of antibacterial compounds in Escherichia coli K12. This work builds upon previously established methods for structural prediction of ligand binding pockets on protein molecules and utilizes and expands upon the previously developed genome scale model of metabolism integrated with protein structures (GEM-PRO) for E. coli, structurally accounting for protein complexes. Carefully selected case studies are demonstrated to display the potential for this structural systems pharmacology framework in discovery and development of antibacterial compounds. Results The prediction framework for antibacterial activity of compounds …

Marijuana: Current Concepts, Donald E. Greydanus, Elizabeth K. Hawver, Megan M. Greydanus, Joav Merrick

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Marijuana (cannabis) remains a controversial drug in the twenty-first century. This paper considers current research on use of Cannabis sativa and its constituents such as the cannabinoids. Topics reviewed include prevalence of cannabis (pot) use, other drugs consumed with pot, the endocannabinoid system, use of medicinal marijuana, medical adverse effects of cannabis, and psychiatric adverse effects of cannabis use. Treatment of cannabis withdrawal and dependence is difficult and remains mainly based on psychological therapy; current research on pharmacologic management of problems related to cannabis consumption is also considered. The potential role of specific cannabinoids for medical benefit will be revealed …

A Preliminary Report Of Percutaneous Craniofacial Osteoplasty In A Rat Calvarium., William Parkes, Jewel Greywoode, Brian J O'Hara, Ryan N. Heffelfinger, Howard Krein

Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Faculty Papers

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential for injectable, permanent bone augmentation by assessing the biocompatability and bioactivity of subperiosteal hydroxylapatite (Radiesse) deposition in a rat model.

STUDY DESIGN: Randomized controlled animal model METHODS: Fourteen adult Sprague Dawley rats were injected in the parietal skull with 0.2 ml of hydroxylapatite (10 animals) or a carrier gel control (4 animals), using a subperiosteal injection technique on the right and a subcutaneous injection technique on the left. At 1, 3, and 6 months, 3 rats (1 negative control, 2 variables) were sacrificed and calvaria were harvested. At 12 months, the remaining 5 rats were …

Is Dna A Good Model Polymer?, Douglas R. Tree, Abhiram Muralidhar, Patrick S. Doyle, Kevin D. Dorfman

Faculty Publications

The details surrounding the crossover from wormlike-specific to universal polymeric behavior has been the subject of debate and confusion even for the simple case of a dilute, unconfined wormlike chain. We have directly computed the polymer size, form factor, free energy, and Kirkwood diffusivity for unconfined wormlike chains as a function of molecular weight, focusing on persistence lengths and effective widths that represent single-stranded and double-stranded DNA in a high ionic strength buffer. To do so, we use a chain-growth Monte Carlo algorithm, the pruned-enriched Rosenbluth method (PERM), which allows us to estimate equilibrium and near-equilibrium dynamic properties of wormlike …

Flexiterm: A Flexible Term Recognition Method, Irena Spasić, Mark Greenwood, Alun Preece, Nick Francis, Glyn Elwyn

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: The increasing amount of textual information in biomedicine requires effective term recognition methods to identify textual representations of domain-specific concepts as the first step toward automating its semantic interpretation. The dictionary look-up approaches may not always be suitable for dynamic domains such as biomedicine or the newly emerging types of media such as patient blogs, the main obstacles being the use of non-standardised terminology and high degree of term variation.

The Cowl - V.78 - N.6 - Oct 10, 2013

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 78 - No. 6 - October 10, 2013. 28 pages.

Snapin, Positive Regulator Of Stimulation- Induced Ca(2+) Release Through Ryr, Is Necessary For Hiv-1 Replication In T Cells., Shigemi M Kinoshita, Amane Kogure, Shizuka Taguchi, Garry P Nolan

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

To identify critical host factors necessary for human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) replication, large libraries of short-peptide-aptamers were expressed retrovirally. The target of one inhibitor peptide, Pep80, identified in this screen was determined to be Snapin, a protein associated with the soluble N-ethyl maleimide sensitive factor adaptor protein receptor (SNARE) complex that is critical for calcium-dependent exocytosis during neurotransmission. Pep80 inhibited Ca(2+) release from intracellular stores and blocked downstream signaling by direct interruption of the association between Snapin and an intracellular calcium release channel, the ryanodine receptor (RyR). NFAT signaling was preferentially abolished by Pep80. Expression of Snapin overcame Pep80-mediated …

Inter- And Intra-Specific Pan-Genomes Of Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato: Genome Stability And Adaptive Radiation, Emmanuel F. Mongodin, Sherwood R. Casjens, John F. Bruno, Yun Xu, Elliott Franco Drabek, David R. Riley, Brandi L. Cantarel, Pedro E. Pagan, Yozen A. Hernandez, Levy C. Vargas, John J. Dunn, Steven E. Schutzer, Claire M. Fraser, Wei-Gang Qiu, Benjamin J. Luft

Publications and Research

Background Lyme disease is caused by spirochete bacteria from the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (B. burgdorferi s.l.) species complex. To reconstruct the evolution of B. burgdorferi s.l. and identify the genomic basis of its human virulence, we compared the genomes of 23 B. burgdorferi s.l. isolates from Europe and the United States, including B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (B. burgdorferi s.s., 14 isolates), B. afzelii (2), B. garinii (2), B. “bavariensis” (1), B. spielmanii (1), B. valaisiana (1), B. bissettii (1), and B. “finlandensis” (1). Results Robust B. burgdorferi s.s. and B. burgdorferi s.l. phylogenies were obtained using genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms, …

State V. Frandsen Respondent's Brief Dckt. 40270

Not Reported

No abstract provided.

Use Of Cationic Steroid Antibiotics To Fight Drug Resistance In Gram-Positive And Gram-Negative Bacteria, Thomas Orsak, Dr. Paul Savage

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Drug resistance has become an increasing problem for clinical anti-bacterial needs and a major human health threat. Drug resistance emerges through structural or biochemical pathway changes that antibacterial drugs specifically target. Bacteria have the ability to rapidly mutate and gain resistance to antibacterial drugs because of their ability to reproduce rapidly. However some parts of bacterial cells need to stay consistent. The need for consistency for these parts arises from their complexity and their essential biological activities. One of these parts is the bacterial membrane.

A2e-Dna Interaction: A Possible Mechanism For Dna Damage, Sierra Evelyn Dabell, Dr. Heidi R. Vollmer-Snarr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A2E, a common fluorophore found in the retinal pigment epithelial cells of the eye has been shown to have phototoxic properties. For this reason A2E has been implicated in the progressive etiology of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). If the mechanism of cell death can be understood, a possible intervention can be produced. Moreover, the benefits of researching A2E are two-fold. An understanding of bisoxirane-DNA interactions holds the possibility of revealing information about the pathology of AMD and presents itself as a possible chemotherapy through photo-dynamic therapy.

The Role Of A2e In Amd And Chemotherapy, D. Joshua Cameron, Dr. Heidi Vollmer-Snarr

Journal of Undergraduate Research

A2E is implicated in the etiology of AMD. We have found significant concentrations of A2E present in both lipofuscin and melanolipofuscin of human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, meaning that A2E is likely more involved in AMD than originally thought. Evidence shows that A2E, in small concentrations, is not cytotoxic alone, but becomes toxic when exposed to blue light. The light mechanism involved in A2E toxicity can be controlled and used to trigger cytotoxicity in cancer cell lines. The implications of A2E in AMD and the applications of A2E’s light triggered cytotoxicity as a possible chemotherapeutic treatment were further elucidated …