Digital Commons Network^™

The Echo: September 5, 2014, Taylor University

2014-2015 (Volume 102)

With a side of dissatisfaction – A mobile campus – Top five news events of the week – New places for discovery – A hire calling – In The Loop – Top five bizarre news stories of the week – A race for a cure – China rules out full democracy in Hong Kong, tempers flare – Over the Line – The Breu Crew: 1 year later – Taylor Pick-A-Mate: The 5-Step Process – The Weekly Nugget – The truth behind the gamer label – Burning Questions – Echograms #TaylorU -- #TaylorU’s Top Tweets – Belle rings and sings – …

Mobile Technology Publications Research Output As Indexed In Engineering Index: A Scientometric Analysis, Santha Kumar Ramiah Mr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The present study analysis has been taken into account in the filed of mobile technology research output using Engineering Index database for selected period of ten years from 2003 to 2012. This study also explores the trend in authorship pattern and collaborative in mobile technology publications with sample of 1, 44,567 research articles during the period from 2003 to 2012. The findings of the study shows that in the year 2011 was the most productive year with 20318 articles (14.05%) published. Among the top ten country wise authors, the highest numbers of articles (22.83%) were contributed by the authors from …

Quantitative Factors Proposed To Influence The Prevalence Of Canine Tick-Borne Disease Agents In The United States, Roger W. Stich, Byron L. Blagburn, Dwight D. Bowman, Christopher Carpenter, M. Roberto Cortinas, Sidney A. Ewing, Desmond Foley, Janet E. Foley, Holly Gaff, Graham J. Hickling, R. Ryan Lash, Susan E. Little, Catherine Lund, Robert Lund, Thomas N. Mather, Glen R. Needham, William L. Nicholson, Julia Sharp, Andrea Varela-Stokes, Dongmei Wang

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

The Companion Animal Parasite Council hosted a meeting to identify quantifiable factors that can influence the prevalence of tick-borne disease agents among dogs in North America. This report summarizes the approach used and the factors identified for further analysis with mathematical models of canine exposure to tick-borne pathogens.

Validating Tbtif2-Interacting Candidates, Fan Wu, Jennifer Berkey, Joshua Hellsing, Nisha Thaker, Bibo Li

Undergraduate Research Posters 2014

Transmitted by the tsetse fly, Trypanosoma brucei is a protozoan parasite that causes sleeping sickness in human and nagana in cattle. While infecting the bloodstream and central nervous system, T. brucei evades the immune system by altering its major surface antigen, Variant Surface Glycoproteins (VSGs), which forms a thick coat on its cell membrane. The expression sites for VSGs are at the sub-telomeric regions of T. brucei chromosomes. Telomeres, DNA-protein complexes located at the end of chromosomes, provide chromosome stability by preventing degradation of the chromosome ends. The telomere complex also regulates the sub-telomeric VSG expression and switching in T. …

Enhanced Expression Of Codon Optimized Mycobacterium Avium Subsp. Paratuberculosis Antigens In Lactobacillus Salivarius, Christopher D. Johnston, John P. Bannatine, Rodney Govender, Lorraine Endersen, Daniel Pletzer, Helge Weingart, Aidan Coffey, Jim O'Mahony, Roy D. Sleator

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

It is well documented that open reading frames containing high GC content show poor expression in A+T rich hosts. Specifically, G+C-rich codon usage is a limiting factor in heterologous expression of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) proteins using Lactobacillus salivarius. However, re-engineering opening reading frames through synonymous substitutions can offset codon bias and greatly enhance MAP protein production in this host. In this report, we demonstrate that codon-usage manipulation of MAP2121c can enhance the heterologous expression of the major membrane protein (MMP), analogous to the form in which it is produced natively by MAP bacilli. When heterologously over-expressed, antigenic determinants …

Fermented Food: Putting The Power Of Good Health Back Into The Hands Of The People, Marsha L. Thadison

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Editors’ Note: At the December 2013 Professional Agricultural Workers Conference, several women were invited to share, information about their unique businesses. One such presenter was Marsha L. Thadison, owner of Yesterday’s Kitchen 4 Today, a company that focuses on promoting functional foods. Thadison shared that food is produce and consumed differently from previous generations. Today's food, she argued, involves many more agricultural inputs that aid in food preservation, extension of shelf life, and promotion of animal health. She espoused the benefits of fermented food.

Evaluation Of Natural Plant Powders With Potential Use In Antimicrobial Packaging Applications, Yujie Cheng, Changfeng Ge, Jeffrey Lodge, Ksv Santhanam, Lixing Lu

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

This study investigates the antimicrobial effects of vanillin, turmeric and curcumin in the forms of Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) solution as well as polymer packaging. Five types of common pathogens and food spoilage bacteria were used in this study: Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes representing gram-positive bacteria; Shigella sonnei, Salmonella typhimurium as well as E.coli O157:H7 representing gram- negative bacteria. Turmeric is chosen as the antimicrobial agent to be incorporated into packaging materials. In order to study the antimicrobial effect as packaging application, two types of the polymer based turmeric products were produced. They are LDPE based turmeric pellets produced by …

Modeling The Effects Of Avian Flu (H5n1) Vaccination Strategies On Poultry, Cooper J. Galvin, Adolfo Rumbos, Jessica I. Vincent, Maria Salvato

CODEE Journal

The work in this article addresses a problem posed by Dr. Maria Salvato to the CODEE community. The task was to model costs associated with varying vaccination strategies for the Avian Flu virus (H5N1) on chicken populations. The vaccination strategies proposed included vaccination varying proportions of the flock with live virus vaccine, dead virus vaccine, and no vaccination. This article encompasses the construction of a model for the problem using a modification to the SIER model and the subsequent analysis of that model. The analysis of the model revealed the most cost effective vaccination strategy to be vaccination of half …

Enhancing Immunomodulation On Innate Immunity By Shape Transition Among Rna Triangle, Square And Pentagon Nanovehicles, Emil F. Khisamutdinov, Hui Li, Daniel L. Jasinski, Jiao Chen, Jian Fu, Peixuan Guo

Center for Research on Environmental Disease Faculty Publications

Modulation of immune response is important in cancer immunotherapy, vaccine adjuvant development and inflammatory or immune disease therapy. Here we report the development of new immunomodulators via control of shape transition among RNA triangle, square and pentagon. Changing one RNA strand in polygons automatically induced the stretching of the interior angle from 60° to 90° or 108°, resulting in self-assembly of elegant RNA triangles, squares and pentagons. When immunological adjuvants were incorporated, their immunomodulation effect for cytokine TNF-α and IL-6 induction was greatly enhanced in vitro and in animals up to 100-fold, while RNA polygon controls induced unnoticeable effect. The …

Mathematical Analysis Of The Transmission Dynamics Of Hiv/Aids: Role Of Female Sex Workers, Navjot Kaur, Mini Ghosh, S. S. Bhatia

Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences

The transmission of ’Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)’ that causes the ‘Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)’ is strongly associated with un-protected sex and at the present understanding this epidemic can reach higher prevalence threshold level when there are extensive sexual contacts between the sex workers and general population. In the present work, we investigate a nonlinear model for studing the transmission dynamics of HIV/AIDS epidemic with emphasis on the role of female sex workers. Here, we consider only the heterosexual transmissions of HIV/AIDS and formulate the mathematical model by dividing the total adult population under consideration into three different classes: male, female …

Diminished Humoral Responses Against And Reduced Gene Expression Levels Of Human Endogenous Retrovirus-K (Herv-K) In Psoriasis, Rashmi Gupta, Henri-Alexandre Michaud, Xue Zeng, Maya Debbaneh, Sarah T. Arron, R. Brad Jones, Christopher E. Ormsby, Douglas F. Nixon, Wilson Liao

Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Epidemiology Of Patients Presenting To The Emergency Centre Of Princess Marina Hospital In Gaborone, Botswana, Amit Chandra, Paul C. Mullan, Ari Ho-Foster, Antanoid Langeveldt, Ngaire Caruso, Joseph Motsumi, Andrew Kestler

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Implementing Common Assessment: Lessons And Models From Amac Developed By The Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration, Daniel Edwards

Higher education research

The aim of this document is to provide insight into the implementation of common assessments in higher education in order to assist in future work on conducting these kinds of projects. The discussion here draws heavily on the AMAC experience, attempting to broaden the learning from this project for use in future collaborations. The focus of this project has been on medical education, and as such, much of the detail is related to this field. However, it is hoped that the general ideas discussed here can be seen as informative for other fields and disciplines in higher education and at …

A Study Of A Fractional-Order Cholera Model, Mohammad Javidi, Bashir Ahmad

Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences

In this work, we investigate the dynamical behavior of a fractional order cholera model. All the feasible equilibria for the system are obtained and the conditions for the existence of interior equilibrium are determined. Local stability analysis of the cholera model is studied by using the fractional Routh-Hurwitz stability conditions. Our results indicate the potential of fractional-order cholera models to cope with modern epidemics.

An Evaluation Of A Liquid Antimicrobial (Sal Curb®) For Reducing The Risk Of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Infection Of Naïve Pigs During Consumption Of Contaminated Feed, Scott Dee, Casey Neill, Travis Clement, Jane Christopher-Hennings, Eric A. Nelson

Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Since its initial detection in May 2013, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has spread rapidly throughout the US swine industry. Recently, contaminated feed was confirmed as a vehicle for PEDV infection of naïve piglets. This research provides in vivo data supporting the ability of a liquid antimicrobial product to reduce this risk.
Results: Sal CURB® (Kemin Industries, Des Moines, IA, USA) is a FDA-approved liquid antimicrobial used to control Salmonella contamination in poultry and swine diets. To test its effect against PEDV, Sal CURB®-treated feed was spiked with a stock isolate of PEDV (Ct = 25.22), which PEDV-naïve piglets …

International Organizations: An Early History, Michael Davies, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

This text provides a pioneering and comprehensive analysis of over one hundred international organizations. After introducing the broad historical and contextual settings, the book covers the full range of international organisations including those that are often overlooked or get minimal inclusion elsewhere. Each organization is analysed in a stand-alone section that consider its origins, basic mandates and evolution, the governance structure and the associated key players, current activities and future challenges. The descriptions also reflect each organization’s broader relationships with other international bodies.

Socialising Piglets In Lactation Positively Affects Their Post-Weaning Behaviour, Talia Morgan, John Pluske, David Miller, Teresa Collins, Anne L. Barnes, Françoise Wemelsfelder, Patricia A. Fleming

Sentience Collection

Although commercial farrowing sheds keep individual litters separated, previous studies have suggested that housing systems that allow socialisation of piglets pre-weaning can reduce aggression after weaning. This study tested whether pigs socialised with non-littermates pre-weaning would show less aggression during mixing at weaning (when piglets are taken from their sows and mixed in group housing), and whether socialisation influenced the time budgets or behavioural expression of piglets at weaning. In total, 353 piglets were followed from birth through to one week after weaning. Piglets from 24 sows were allowed to socialise in groups of four litters (‘socialised’ treatment group) from …

Second Bacteremia During Antibiotic Treatment In Children With Acute Myeloid Leukemia: A Report From The Canadian Infections In Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research Group, Thai Hoa Tran, Rochelle Yanofsky, Donna L. Johnston, David Dix, Biljana Gillmeister, Marie Chantal Ethier, Carol Portwine, Vicky Price, David Mitchell, Sonia Cellot, Victor Lewis, Shayna Zelcer, Mariana Silva, Bruno Michon, Lynette Bowes, Kent Stobart, Josée Brossard, Joseph Beyene, Lillian Sung

Paediatrics Publications

Background: The risk of second bacteremia during antibiotic treatment for initial bacteremia is unknown in high-risk populations. Our objectives were to describe the prevalence of second bacteremia during treatment and identify risk factors in children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Methods: We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study that included children and adolescents with de novo, non-M3 AML who were diagnosed and treated between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2004 at 15 Canadian centers. Patients were monitored for bacteremia during chemotherapy until completion of treatment, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, relapse, refractory disease, or death. Results: There were 290 episodes …

Statistical Signs Of Social Influence On Suicides, Hygor Piaget M. Melo, André A. Moreira, Élcio Batista, Hernán A. Makse, José S. Andrade

Publications and Research

By treating the suicide as a social fact, Durkheim envisaged that suicide rates should be determined by the connections between people and society. Under the same framework, he considered that crime is bound up with the fundamental conditions of all social life. The social effect on the occurrence of homicides has been previously substantiated, and confirmed here, in terms of a superlinear scaling relation: by doubling the population of a Brazilian city results in an average increment of 135% in the number of homicides, rather than the expected isometric increase of 100%, as found, for example, for the mortality due …

Biom 400.01: Medical Microbiology, Amanda J. Brinkworth

University of Montana Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Ifn-Gamma Au-Rich Element Removal Promotes Chronic Ifn-Gamma Expression And Autoimmunity In Mice, Deborah L. Hodge, Cyril Berthet, Vincenzo Coppola, Wolfgang Kastenmüller, Matthew D. Buschman, Paul M. Schaughency, Hidekazu Shirota, Anthony J. Scarzello, Jeff J. Subleski, Miriam R. Anver, John R. Ortaldo, Fanching Lin, Della A. Reynolds, Michael E. Sanford, Philipp Kaldis, Lino Tessarollo, Dennis M. Klinman, Howard A. Young

United States Public Health Resources

We generated a mouse model with a 162 nt AU-rich element (ARE) region deletion in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of the interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) gene that results in chronic circulating serum IFN-γ levels. Mice homozygous for the ARE deletion (ARE-Del) (-/-) present both serologic and cellular abnormalities typical of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). ARE-Del(-/-) mice display increased numbers of pDCs in bone marrow and spleen. Addition of IFN-γ to Flt3-ligand (Flt3L) treated in vitro bone marrow cultures results in a 2-fold increase in pDCs with concurrent increases in IRF8 expression. Marginal zone B (MZB) cells and marginal zone …

Modeling Flightless Galapagos Seabirds As Impacted By El Nino And Climate Change, Brian Seth Putman

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Noteworthy species endemic to the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador are two flightless birds, the Galapagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) and Flightless Cormorant (Phalacrocrax harrisi). Both adapted increased swimming ability at the cost of flight. This however has limited their ability to find richer feeding grounds in times of low resource availability, or to escape potential predators. Their population numbers, though small, were stable. Stress on this stability has increased since human arrival. Various invasive species from pets, farm animals and rats to even mosquito vectors of avian disease accompanied humans. . El Nino Southern Oscillation or ENSO …

Experimental Evolution Alters The Rate And Temporal Pattern Of Population Growth In Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis, A Lethal Fungal Pathogen Of Amphibians, Jamie Voyles, Leah R. Johnson, Cheryl J. Briggs, Scott D. Cashins, Ross A. Alford, Lee Berger, Lee F. Skerratt, Rick Speare, Erica Bree Rosenblum

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Virulence of infectious pathogens can be unstable and evolve rapidly depending on the evolutionary dynamics of the organism. Experimental evolution can be used to characterize pathogen evolution, often with the underlying objective of understanding evolution of virulence. We used experimental evolution techniques (serial transfer experiments) to investigate differential growth and virulence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen that causes amphibian chytridiomycosis. We tested two lineages of Bd that were derived from a single cryo-archived isolate; one lineage (P10) was passaged 10 times, whereas the second lineage (P50) was passaged 50 times. We quantified time to …

Effectiveness Of Train The Trainer Module In Delivery Of Hiv Prevention Messages For Homoeopathy And Ayurveda Practitioners, Divya Taneja, Adeline Nyamathi, Anil Khurana, N Srikanth, Chaturbhuja Nayak, M Padhi, Maya Padmanabhan, Richa Singhal

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Introduction: A 2-day training program was developed to train Homoeopathy and Ayurveda practitioners to impart HIV/AIDS prevention messages to their clients. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of this training program based on train the trainer modality. Materials and Methods: Ten primary participants were enrolled in each one day and two day training program. Both the groups were instructed to impart further training to 10 participants each. The knowledge of and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS were measured in primary participants before and immediately after training and at the end of 3 months and in secondary participants before …

Hepatitis C In Sub-Saharan Africa: Urgent Need For Attention, Jennifer E. Layden, Richard Phillips, Ohene Opare-Sem, Adegboyega Akere, Babatunde L. Salako, Kenrad Nelson, Lara Dugas, Amy Luke, Bamidele O. Tayo, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

The hepatitis C virus (HCV), which was not recognized as an infectious agent until the 1980s, is responsible for a worldwide epidemic. The World Health Organization estimates global prevalence at 2.8%, with 185 million persons infected. In contrast to hepatitis B, where successful vaccine campaigns have reduced the disease burden, much less progress has been made toward the control of HCV. Phylogenetic studies suggest that HCV originated in Africa and has been endemic in some regions for at least 500-600 years. However, little is known about the epidemiology, transmission, and clinical course of HCV in Africa. With the advent of …

Impact Of Distinct Poxvirus Infections On The Specificities And Functionalities Of Cd4+ T Cell Responses., Nicholas A Siciliano, Adam R Hersperger, Aimee M Lacuanan, Ren-Huan Xu, John Sidney, Alessandro Sette, Luis J Sigal, Laurence C. Eisenlohr

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

UNLABELLED: The factors that determine CD4+ T cell (TCD4+) specificities, functional capacity, and memory persistence in response to complex pathogens remain unclear. We explored these parameters in the C57BL/6 mouse through comparison of two highly related (>92% homology) poxviruses: ectromelia virus (ECTV), a natural mouse pathogen, and vaccinia virus (VACV), a heterologous virus that nevertheless elicits potent immune responses. In addition to elucidating several previously unidentified major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II)-restricted epitopes, we observed many qualitative and quantitative differences between the TCD4+ repertoires, including responses not elicited by VACV despite complete sequence conservation. In addition, we observed functional …

Bioo 475.00: Mammalogy Laboratory, David Paul Hendricks

University of Montana Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Seminal Vesicle Carcinoma-In-Situ In An Adult Rhesus Macaque: A Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Rawiwan Imerbsin, Kesara Chumpolkulwong, Alongkorn Hanrujirakomjohn, Mana Saithasao, Sirintra Sirivisoot, Sujitra Tayamun, Laksanee Inamnuay, Eric D. Lombardini

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

A seminal vesicle carcinoma-in-situ was diagnosed as an incidental finding during histopathological evaluation of necropsy tissues in a 9 year old intact male Indian origin Rhesus macaque. The animal had been used in a series of infectious disease studies and in a terminal renal transplantation experiment over the course of its life at the Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences. Diagnosis was proffered by a board certified (ACVP) veterinary pathologist due to the microscopic appearance of the neoplasm and confirmed using immunohistochemistry. This report represents the first description of a seminal vesicle carcinoma-in-situ in a non-human primate.

Preadvanced Japanese, Emiko Konomi

PDXOpen: Open Educational Resources

This textbook is designed for students who have intermediate competency in Japanese, roughly at Level 2 on the ILR (The Interagency Language Roundtable) proficiency scale, and are working on reaching Level 3.

This textbook can be used for self-study, as part of online course, and in a traditional classroom setting. It is comprised of four chapters, intended to be covered in one term of a quarter system.

Please see the Open Textbook Library for faculty reviews of this textbook

If you are an instructor adopting or adapting this PDXOpen textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out this …

Compiled Rabies And Trichinosis (Presence Only) Outbreak Data For Alaska, Rebekah Waltuch

Faculty

These are two data sets that were compiled during a UAF student research project, Landscape Ecology class 469/669 (eLearning). They represent a value-added data set and can easily be mapped in a Geographic Information System (GIS) etc. For rabies in Alaska, 237 confirmed cases were found of which 158 had complete information (year, coordinates and vector). The rabies cases in this database are from 1914 til 2013; vectors include Dog, Wolf, Red Fox, Coyote, Arctic Fox, Cat, Caribou, Little Brown Bat, Keen's Myotic Bat and Wolverine. The Alaskan trichinosis data cover 1976-2012 and with various details. Species covered are: Walrus …