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Division Of Rheumatology New Frontiers, Debra Bergman, John Keenan

New Frontiers

Table of Contents

• Nebraska Arthritis Outcomes Research Center puts UNMC on cutting edge
• Medical education: A fresh perspective
• The reader
• Lupus study becomes international affair
• The puzzle of ‘the loss of self-tolerance’
• An icon in rheumatology
• Registry, research offer insights into RA risk factors
• On the RISE
• RAIN man
• A top-tier team player
• Faculty Publications & Research Awards

Investigation Of Policies, Environmental Impacts, Consumption And Fate Of Plastic Bags, Kam Lun Kwong

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Shopping with plastic bags in supermarkets is an indispensable part of life for citizens in many developed countries. There are not only 10 billion plastic bags given out in the UK but also huge amounts consumed in other countries. However, this great consumption poses adverse impacts on the environment. Due to the characteristics of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, bags deposited in landfill sites are not degraded naturally. Plastic bags are also photo permeable and highly transparent, making it easy for them to mimic jelly fish. Marine organisms may consider them as jellyfish for food, Moreover, seabirds may be trapped by …

Choice Tests: Application And Relevance In Terms Of Improving Husbandry Methods And Welfare Of Captive Animals, Emma Mellor

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Choice tests have been widely used across numerous species for a variety of reasons, including environmental enrichment preference, food and its presentation, enclosure and enclosure furniture preference, and mate choice. Choice tests can entail a cost to the animal, for example by making it work for access to a resource. The harder an animal is willing to work for a resource, or the higher the price it is willing to pay for it can reflect the importance of that particular resource to that individual. The use of choice tests can be useful in establishing what an animal wants or prefers …

The Effects Of Spatial Variance, Temperature And Ph On Bacterial Community Composition In The Sea Anemone, Anemonia Viridis., Daniel Gilbert

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Marine organisms are well known to have associations with microorganisms and little is known about the specific nature of the microorganism host interactions. This study investigates the bacterial community composition in the sea anemone Anemonia viridis using Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; bacterial community composition was assessed for spatial variance. The results show that there was no significant variation within a location or between the locations. These results are concordant with previous studies and suggest that bacterial populations are stable in Anemonia viridis.

A Review Of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Focusing On Cardiac Involvement, Sophie Wright

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a lethal x-linked recessive disorder, characterised by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, accompanied by cardiac and smooth muscle dysfunction. Although the main cause of death in DMD used to be respiratory problems caused by deterioration of the diaphragm, developments in respiratory care means that cardiac failure is now the major cause of death, despite the introduction of cardio-protective treatment such as angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers. Once affected, the heart progressively deteriorates over time, with the main problem being due to the death of cardiomyocytes. A loss of dystrophin makes the sarcolemma more susceptible to damage, leading …

Immunomodulatory Effects Of Lactobacillus Casei Shirota, Sarah Chorley

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are present in the intestine and the beneficial role played by these microorganisms in humans has been extensively reported. They are frequently used as probiotics to improve some biological functions in the host and various studies have found that probiotic bacteria provide a beneficial effect on gut mucosal function, suggesting their potential effect in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. LAB have been shown to activate both systemic and secretory immune responses via many complex interactions among the different components of the intestinal ecosystem, such as microflora, epithelial cells and other immune cells (Perdigon et al., …

Variation In Avian Egg Size And The Consequences For Offspring Fitness, Jennifer Grigg

The Plymouth Student Scientist

In oviparous species such as birds, the investment in egg size is thought to represent a strong mechanism through which maternal effects can influence components of offspring fitness. Within several avian species egg size varies significantly and is often positively correlated with hatchling phenotype, growth and survival. However, there is little direct evidence for strong positive effects of egg size on offspring quality. This review aims to evaluate the current understanding of the effects of egg size on offspring fitness and assess the factors which confound many of the studies investigating egg size effects. It is concluded that despite extensive …

Growth Rates And Climate Influences On Neonatal Eastern Box Turtles After Egress Following Their First Overwintering, Kirk Luca, Jennifer Moore

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

Eastern box turtles Terrapene carolina carolina (EBT) are uncommon in the Great Lakes region and are protected in Michigan as a species of special concern. Like many reptiles, little is known about hatchling EBTs, particularly growth and survival of neonates following egress from overwintering. We monitored growth in neonatal EBTs in Manistee National Forest using radio telemetry to locate turtles. During the neonates first overwintering they lost approximately 10% of their body weight. Each neonate had overwintering refugia of varying depths; these depths did not correlate with how much mass was lost. The mean weight for turtles alive four weeks …

Small-Molecule Probes Targeting The Viral Ppxy-Host Nedd4 Interface Block Egress Of A Broad Range Of Rna Viruses., Ziying Han, Jianhong Lu, Yuliang Liu, Benjamin Davis, Michael S Lee, Mark A Olson, Gordon Ruthel, Bruce D Freedman, Matthias J. Schnell, Jay E Wrobel, Allen B Reitz, Ronald N Harty

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Budding of filoviruses, arenaviruses, and rhabdoviruses is facilitated by subversion of host proteins, such as Nedd4 E3 ubiquitin ligase, by viral PPxY late (L) budding domains expressed within the matrix proteins of these RNA viruses. As L domains are important for budding and are highly conserved in a wide array of RNA viruses, they represent potential broad-spectrum targets for the development of antiviral drugs. To identify potential competitive blockers, we used the known Nedd4 WW domain-PPxY interaction interface as the basis of an in silico screen. Using PPxY-dependent budding of Marburg (MARV) VP40 virus-like particles (VLPs) as our model system, …

Systemic Hematogenous Maintenance Of Memory Inflation By Mcmv Infection., Corinne J Smith, Holly Turula, Christopher M. Snyder

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Several low-grade persistent viral infections induce and sustain very large numbers of virus-specific effector T cells. This was first described as a response to cytomegalovirus (CMV), a herpesvirus that establishes a life-long persistent/latent infection, and sustains the largest known effector T cell populations in healthy people. These T cells remain functional and traffic systemically, which has led to the recent exploration of CMV as a persistent vaccine vector. However, the maintenance of this remarkable response is not understood. Current models propose that reservoirs of viral antigen and/or latently infected cells in lymph nodes stimulate T cell proliferation and effector differentiation, …

Prosociality And The Military, Alexander J. Field

Economics

In this paper, I consider a body of observational evidence not commonly studied by social scientists, namely the behavior of men and women (mostly men) in the military. I focus here on two issues: first the behavioral foundations for creating an effective military unit and second, evidence that infantrymen have historically been reluctant to fire on the enemy and how this reluctance has been overcome in the last half century through changes in military training. The evidence in each of these areas reinforces the appeal of the idea of cognitive modularity, the view that thought and behavior are influenced by …

Preparing For Storms In Louisiana Student Manual, 2nd Edition, Pam Jenkins, Maggie Olivier, Race Hodges, Hazel Spaulding Parker, Monica Farris, Kim Mosby, Kyle Griffith, Jeff Rinehart, Kyle Tveten

CHART Publications

Louisiana is at risk from natural and man-made disasters. Flooding, tropical storms, and hurricanes happen. To stay safe, sometimes you and your family will need to leave home before a storm comes.

People in Louisiana need to be ready for emergencies. This guide will help you get prepared.

Preparing For Storms In Louisiana Take Home Guide, 2nd Edition (English), Pam Jenkins, Maggie Olivier, Race Hodges, Hazel Spaulding Parker, Monica Farris, Kim Mosby, Kyle Griffith, Jeff Rinehart, Kyle Tveten

CHART Publications

Louisiana is at risk from natural and man-made disasters. Flooding, tropical storms, and hurricanes happen. To stay safe, sometimes you and your family will need to leave home before a storm comes.

People in Louisiana need to be ready for emergencies. This is your take home guide. It helps you prepare for storms.

Preparing For Storms In Louisiana Take Home Guide, 2nd Edition (English/Spanish), Pam Jenkins, Maggie Olivier, Race Hodges, Hazel Spaulding Parker, Monica Farris, Kim Mosby, Kyle Griffith, Jeff Rinehart, Kyle Tveten, Alea Cot

CHART Publications

Louisiana is at risk from natural and man-made disasters. Flooding, tropical storms, and hurricanes happen. To stay safe, sometimes you and your family will need to leave home before a storm comes.

People in Louisiana need to be ready for emergencies. This take home guide will help you get prepared.

Preparing For Storms In Louisiana English/Spanish Flashcards, Pam Jenkins, Maggie Olivier, Race Hodges, Hazel Spaulding Parker, Monica Farris, Kim Mosby, Kyle Griffith, Jeff Rinehart, Kyle Tveten, Alea Cot

CHART Publications

Louisiana is at risk from natural and man-made disasters. Flooding, tropical storms, and hurricanes happen. To stay safe, sometimes you and your family will need to leave home before a storm comes.

People in Louisiana need to be ready for emergencies. These flashcards will help you get prepared.

Why Retributivism Needs Consequentialism: The Rightful Place Of Revenge In The Criminal Justice System, Ken Levy

Journal Articles

Consider the reaction of Trayvon Martin’s family to the jury verdict. They were devastated that George Zimmerman, the defendant, was found not guilty of manslaughter or murder. Whatever the merits of this outcome, what does the Martin family’s emotional reaction mean? What does it say about criminal punishment – especially the reasons why we punish? Why did the Martin family want to see George Zimmerman go to jail? And why were – and are – they so upset that he didn’t? This Article will argue for three points. First, what fuels this kind of outrage is vengeance: the desire to …

Visual Propaganda And Extremism In The Online Environment, Cori E. Dauber, Carol K. Winkler

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

Visual images have been a central component of propaganda for as long as propaganda has been produced. But recent developments in communication and information technologies have given terrorist and extremist groups options and abilities they never would have been able to come close to even 5 or 10 years ago. There are terrorist groups who, with very little initial investment, are making videos that are coming so close to the quality of BBC or CNN broadcasts that the difference is meaningless, and with access to the web they have instantaneous access to a global audience. Given the broad social science …

Gmos: Are They A Regulatory Or Food Safety Issue?, Richard E. Goodman

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Most of the genetic diversity that has improved agricultural production throughout the history of farming was developed through natural mutations and selective breeding. However, since the early 1900s plant scientists have used chemical and radiation mutagenesis to increase genetic diversity (18). We know that the majority of mutations are harmful, and plant breeders work hard to select only those that are beneficial. This process has helped feed a growing human population, which is estimated to have been 300 million 2,000 years ago and is now more than 7 billion. However, methods used in the past to improve agricultural production are …

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of The Mechanism Of Blast Wave Transmission Through A Surrogate Head, Yi Hua, Praveen Akula, Linxia Gu, Jeff Berg, Carl A. Nelson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This work is to develop an experiment-validated numerical model to elucidate the wave transmission mechanisms through a surrogate head under blast loading. Repeated shock tube tests were conducted on a surrogate head, i.e., water-filled polycarbonate shell. Surface strain on the skull simulant and pressure inside the brain simulant were recorded at multiple locations. A numerical model was developed to capture the shock wave propagation within the shock tube and the fluid-structure interaction between the shock wave and the surrogate head. The obtained numerical results were compared with the experimental measurements. The experiment-validated numerical model was then used to further understand …

Finite Element Modeling Of Long-Term Phosphorus Leaching Through Macropores In The Ozark Ecoregion, Ryan P. Freiberger, Derek M. Heeren, Garey A. Fox, Chad J. Penn, Dean E. Eisenhauer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Phosphorus (P) is a critical nutrient for plant growth in agriculture, but is also responsible for surface water enrichment that leads to toxic algal growth. While P loading to surface waters has traditionally been thought to occur from surface runoff, contributions from subsurface transport can also be significant. While P transport through many soil types is well-documented, the presence of highly conductive gravel outcrops and macropore networks can have a significant, yet poorly-documented effect on P movement to the aquifer. Floodplain soils in the Ozark ecoregion generally contain coarse chert gravel layers that exhibit macropore behavior. Previous research has evaluated …

Across-Year Social Stability Shapes Network Structure In Wintering Migrant Sparrows, Daizaburo Shizuka, Alexis S. Chaine, Jennifer Anderson, Oscar Johnson, Inger Marie Laursen, Bruce E. Lyon

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Migratory birds often form flocks on their wintering grounds, but important details of social structure such as the patterns of association between individuals are virtually unknown. We analysed networks of co-membership in short-term flocks for wintering golden-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia atricapilla) across three years and discovered social complexity unsuspected for migratory songbirds. The population was consistently clustered into distinct social communities within a relatively small area (~ 7 ha). Birds returned to the same community across years, with mortality and recruitment leading to some degree of turnover in membership. These spatiotemporal patterns were explained by the combination of space …

Explaining Research Utilization Among 4-H Faculty, Staff, And Volunteers: The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Learning Goal Orientation, Training, And Previous Experience, Julianne Tillman, Lynette H. Bikos

Journal of Youth Development

An investigation of factors that facilitate the utilization of research evidence among faculty, staff, and volunteers in the 4-H Youth Development Program is presented in this paper. Participants (N = 368; 86 4-H faculty, 153 staff, and 129 volunteers) represented 35 states; structural equation modeling was utilized in the analyses. Results of the path analysis explained 56% of variance in research utilization and 28% in research utilization self-efficacy. Among the factors impacting research utilization, self-efficacy played the most important role. In turn, self-efficacy for research utilization was positively influenced by participants’ learning goal orientation, frequency of 4-H training during the …

Transcriptome Of The Female Synganglion Of The Black-Legged Tick Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) With Comparison Between Illumina And 454 Systems, Noble Egekwu, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Brooke W. Bissinger, R. Michael Roe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Illumina and 454 pyrosequencing were used to characterize genes from the synganglion of female Ixodes scapularis. GO term searching success for biological processes was similar for samples sequenced by both methods. However, for molecular processes, it was more successful for the Illumina samples than for 454 samples. Functional assignments of transcripts predicting neuropeptides, neuropeptide receptors, neurotransmitter receptors and other genes of interest was done, supported by strong e-values (<-6), and high consensus sequence alignments. Transcripts predicting 15 putative neuropeptide prepropeptides ((allatostatin, allatotropin, bursicon α, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), CRF-binding protein, eclosion hormone, FMRFamide, glycoprotein A, insulin-like peptide, ion transport peptide, myoinhibitory peptide, inotocin ( = neurophysin-oxytocin), Neuropeptide F, sulfakinin and SIFamide)) and transcripts predicting receptors for 14 neuropeptides (allatostatin, calcitonin, cardioacceleratory peptide, corazonin, CRF, eclosion hormone, gonadotropin-releasing hormone/AKH-like, insulin-like peptide, neuropeptide F, proctolin, pyrokinin, SIFamide, sulfakinin and tachykinin) are reported. Similar to Dermacentor variabilis, we found transcripts matching pro-protein convertase, essential for converting neuropeptide hormones to their mature form. Additionally, transcripts predicting 6 neurotransmitter/neuromodulator receptors (acetylcholine, GABA, dopamine, glutamate, octopamine and …

Stream Side Science Lesson Plan: Biodiversity Debate, Nancy Mesner

All Current Publications

In this exercise, students will hold a debate about the construction of a dam in terms of the biological, aesthetic, ethical, social and economic arguments with regard to maintaining biodiversity. Students will be assigned different roles to argue either for or against the dam.

Stream Side Science Lesson Plan: Missing Macroinvertebrates, Nancy Mesner

All Current Publications

In this exercise, students will collect macroinvertebrates from a stream site, sort and identify them, and use their fi ndings to identify current and past impacts to the quality of the water. They will also make predictions of how the impacts to the water quality contributed to the localized extinction of some types of macroinvertebrates.

Stream Side Science Lesson Plan: Riparian Review, Nancy Mesner

All Current Publications

In this exercise, students will identify and observe biotic factors in a riparian ecosystem, which is the green strip of vegetation alongside a waterbody; they will measure the types of vegetation at the water’s edge, the function of plants as ground cover and canopy cover, and observe the wildlife in the area.

Stream Side Science Lesson Plan: Wetlands Versus Stream Macroinvertebrates, Nancy Mesner

All Current Publications

In this exercise, students will use their data from the activity Who Lives in the Water? or Missing Macroinvertebrates and compare it to a macroinvertebrate sample collected from a wetland site.

The Saco River Plume: A Discussion Of The Near-Field Dynamics, Barbara A. Fortier

All Theses And Dissertations

This study focused on the freshwater discharge plume from the Saco River in southwestern Maine to determine the mechanisms responsible for the largest impacts on the near-field dynamics in this region. We examined the forcing factors that tended to increase the plume's spatial extent upshelf of the river mouth. Salinity, temperature, and density data were collected during cruises from May through November 2010 and by two surface moorings deployed upshelf of the Saco River mouth. We found a distinct variation in the latitude of the upshelf boundary of the plume during and after periods of high discharge. Furthermore, we found …

Got Lost Behind The Scenes: Underexposed Television Producers In Magazines, Jordan King

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Award-winning television shows are popularly depicted through digital media and magazine coverage. However, the strenuous efforts of TV producers are hidden behind the publicity of celebrities and plotlines of the show. Using Eugene Shaw's agenda-setting theory and Robert Entman's framing theory as a basis, the author created a case study analyzing how the producers of Lost and Game of Thrones are portrayed in magazines. The research shows that reporters tend to perpetuate the anonymity of these producers, which in effect, leads an audience to deem them as unimportant.

Product Of The Past: The Struggle Between The Lakota Sioux Nation And The United States Government, Brittany Lombardo

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Many may be familiar with the national landmark that is Mount Rushmore, located in South Dakota. The heroes represent the leaders of the United States, the founding fathers. However, it shadows a rich history that is what came before the United States' invasion. The Lakota Sioux roamed freely throughout the Midwest, that is until the the US began to expand westward. The rich history of the Lakota lingers throughout their lives today, but is suppressed under a thick lair of oppression and mistreatment by the United States Government.