Digital Commons Network^™

Dielectric Characterization Of Coastal Cartilage Chondrocytes, Michael W. Stacey, Ahmet C. Sabuncu, Ali Beskok

Bioelectrics Publications

BACKGROUND: Chondrocytes respond to biomechanical and bioelectrochemical stimuli by secreting appropriate extracellular matrix proteins that enable the tissue to withstand the large forces it experiences. Although biomechanical aspects of cartilage are well described, little is known of the bioelectrochemical responses. The focus of this study is to identify bioelectrical characteristics of human costal cartilage cells using dielectric spectroscopy.

METHODS: Dielectric spectroscopy allows non-invasive probing of biological cells. An in house computer program is developed to extract dielectric properties of human costal cartilage cells from raw cell suspension impedance data measured by a microfluidic device. The dielectric properties of chondrocytes are …

Characterization Of Rift Valley Fever Virus Nucleocapsid Protein-Rna Binding Interactions And Development Of A High-Throughput Screening Assay For Identification Of N-Rna Binding Inhibitors, Mary Lee Ellenbecker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is an emerging infectious pathogen that causes severe disease in humans and livestock and has the potential for global spread. Currently, there is no treatment for RVFV infection and there is no proven safe and effective vaccine. Inhibition of RNA binding to RVFV nucleocapsid (N) protein represents an innovative antiviral therapeutic strategy because several essential steps in the RVFV replication cycle involve N binding to viral RNA. The overall goals of our research are to better understand how RVFV N protein interacts with RNA, to develop a high-throughput drug screening assay for identification of compounds …

Glutamate Transporter Modulation Of Ambient And Synaptic Glutamate Levels, Weinan Sun

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. An accurate spatial and temporal glutamate concentration profile during signaling is crucial for reliable neural computation. In these studies, we investigated the roles of glutamate transporters in controlling both ambient glutamate levels and dynamic glutamate concentrations profiles during synaptic transmission. Using the Xenopus oocyte expression system, we demonstrated that glutamate transporters act as an effective sink and are capable of maintaining >200 fold glutamate concentration gradient between the bath and cell surface when expressed at levels corresponding to physiological transporter densities in the CNS. We also characterized the …

The Development And Study Of Surface Bound Ruthenium Organometallic Complexes, Geoffrey Reuben Abbott

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The focus of this project has been on the use of mono-diimine ruthenium organometallic complexes, of the general structure [H(Ru)(CO)(L)2(L’)2][PF6] (L=PPh3, DPPENE and L’=Bpy, DcBpy, MBpyC, Phen, AminoPhen) bound to surfaces as luminescent probes. Both biological and inorganic/organic hybrid surfaces have been studied. The complexes were characterized both bound and unbound using standard analytical techniques such as NMR, IR and X-ray crystallography, as well as through several photophysical methods as well.

Initially the study focused on how the photophyscial properties of the complexes were affected by incorporation into biological membranes. It was found that by conjugating the probes to a …

The Identity Of Upholding Indigenous Lifeways, Sean Falcon Chandler

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This qualitative study examined the role of Native Lifeways in tribal colleges as perceived by their presidents and other influential leaders on the campuses of three tribal colleges. Tribal colleges were founded in part to support and promote Native Lifeways, as demonstrated within their respective mission statements. Given the fact that TCUs are at the forefront of the defense of Native Lifeways, they continue to be in a state of endangerment as a result of the history of U.S. Indian Policy.

Data was acquired from the face-to-face interviews of 15 leaders within the three tribal colleges located in northwest United …

Consequences Of Color Vision Variation On Performance And Fitness In Capuchin Monkeys, Andrea Theresa Green

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The origin and maintenance of variation in natural populations are central to the study of evolution. When alternative alleles have obvious effects on phenotype and are common in a population, the maintenance of these alleles requires some form of balancing selection. Understanding how selection maintains multiple phenotypes in a population requires integration of genetic analyses of phenotypic differences with field studies on the performance consequences of these differences within an ecological context.

The color vision polymorphism characterizing most diurnal platyrrhine and strepsirrhine primates provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the maintenance of variation in natural populations. The polymorphism leads to …

Demographic And Epidemiological Changes On The Flathead Reservation 1887-1935, Christina Joy Heiner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation examines the patterns of health among the Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai tribes living on the Flathead Reservation in the late 19th and early 20th century. Previous research on early Native American demographic and epidemiological patterns has essentially focused on patterns following European contact to the pre-reservation era, ignoring that Native populations continued to struggle with ill-health and disease under the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This research found while large infectious disease epidemics did not occur after the 1900s, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia were the leading causes of death for all ages …

Microscopic Examination Of Rib Heads: A Useful Adjunct In The Investigation Of Infant Deaths, Walter Loren Kemp

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to examine infant rib heads microscopically, document clefts in the anterior portion of the metaphysis and other findings including metaphyseal lesions, and statistically analyze these clefts and various features about the child, including circumstances of death (e.g., SIDS, bed sharing, or suspicious for abuse), whether or not CPR was performed, birth method, age in months at death, estimated gestational age at birth, and various socioeconomic factors (e.g., married or unmarried mother, biological father or boyfriend involved with care of child). The glass slides with microscopic sections of rib head, neck and variable amounts of …

The Relationship Between Intergenerational Educational Experiences, School Culture/Climate, And Racial Identity Among American Indian High School Students, Sandra Lee Boham

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This research focused on the whether or not there was a relationship between (a) school culture and climate, (b) racial identity, and (c) inter-generational educational experiences of American Indian students in urban/off-reservation AA high schools in Montana as perceived by American Indian students, American Indian parents, administrators, teachers, and staff. Data were collected at four schools located in two school districts in different geographical locations in Montana. The data were collected using the (a) School as a Caring Community Profile (SCCP-II) survey, (b) People of Color Racial Identity Attitude Scale (PRIAS) survey, (c) demographic survey data, (d) academic achievement data, …

Cellular Regulation Of Extension And Retraction Of Pseudopod-Like Blebs Produced By Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Field, Mikhail A. Rassokhin, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Recently we described a new phenomenon of anodotropic pseudopod-like blebbing in U937 cells exposed to nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF). In Ca²⁺ -free buffer such exposure initiates formation of pseudopod-like blebs (PLBs), protrusive cylindrical cell extensions that are distinct from apoptotic and necrotic blebs. PLBs nucleate predominantly on anode-facing cell pole and extend toward anode during nsPEF exposure. Bleb extension depends on actin polymerization and availability of actin monomers. Inhibition of intracellular Ca²⁺ , cell contractility, and RhoA produced no effect on PLB initiation. Meanwhile, inhibition of WASP by wiskostatin causes dose-dependent suppression of PLB growth. Soon after …

Cancellation Of Cellular Responses To Nanoelectroporation By Reversing The Stimulus Polarity, Andrei G. Pakhomov, Iurii Semenov, Shu Xiao, Olga N. Pakhomova, Betsy Gregory, Karl H. Schoenbach

Bioelectrics Publications

Nanoelectroporation of biomembranes is an effect of high-voltage, nanosecond-duration electric pulses (nsEP). It occurs both in the plasma membrane and inside the cell, and nanoporated membranes are distinguished by ion-selective and potential-sensitive permeability. Here we report a novel phenomenon of bioeffects cancellation that puts nsEP cardinally apart from the conventional electroporation and electrostimulation by milli- and microsecond pulses. We compared the effects of 60- and 300-ns monopolar, nearly rectangular nsEP on intracellular Ca²⁺mobilization and cell survival with those of bipolar 60 + 60 and 300 + 300 ns pulses. For diverse endpoints, exposure conditions, pulse numbers (1-60), and …

Calcium-Mediated Pore Expansion And Cell Death Following Nanoelectroporation, Olga N. Pakhomova, Betsy Gregory, Iurii Semenov, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Opening of long-lived pores in the cell membrane is the principal primary effect of intense, nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF). Here we demonstrate that the evolution of pores, cell survival, the time and the mode of cell death (necrotic or apoptotic) are determined by the level of external Ca²⁺ after nsPEF. We also introduce a novel, minimally disruptive technique for nsEP exposure of adherent cells on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass coverslips, which does not require cell detachment and enables fast exchanges of bath media. Increasing the Ca²⁺ level from the nominal 2–5 μM to 2 mM for …

Introduction To Fourth Special Issue On Electroporation-Based Technologies And Treatments, Damijan Miklavčič, Lluis M. Mir, P. Thomas Vernier

Bioelectrics Publications

This fourth special electroporation-based technologies and treatments issue of the Journal of Membrane Biology contains reports on recent developments in the field of electroporation by participants in the 7th International Workshop and Postgraduate Course on electroporation based technologies and treatments (EBTT 2013) held in Ljubljana, November 17–23, 2013. The 65 participants included faculty members, invited lecturers, special guests, and young scientists, and students from 16 countries. In addition to lectures on the fundamentals, this year’s sessions included talks on microbial inactivation by pulsed electric fields, modeling of intracellular electroporation, electroporation in food processing, and electrotransfer-facilitated DNA vaccination.

Temporal Modulation Of Plasma Species In Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Discharges, Aijun Yang, Xiaohua Wang, Dingxin Liu, Mingzhe Rong, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

The atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge in helium is a pulsed discharge in nature and the moment of maximum species densities is almost consistent with peak discharge current density. In this paper, a one-dimensional fluid model is used to investigate the temporal structure of plasma species in an atmospheric He-N₂ dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). It is demonstrated that there exist microsecond delays of the moments of the maximum electron and ion densities from the peak of discharge current density. These time delays are caused by a competition between the electron impact and Penning ionizations, modulated by the N_{2 …}

Visual And Geometric Analysis Of Maxillary Sinus Region Variability For Identification Of Unknown Decedents, Kelsey Michelle Collins

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Positive identification of unknown individuals is highly important in the medicolegal field. Comparison of antemortem and postmortem radiographs is a popular and successful method of making a positive identification, but these methods are often extremely limited due to a lack of antemortem records. A positive identification method utilizing a type of radiograph that is more common in the antemortem record would be very useful for forensic anthropologists and other medicolegal professionals and could increase the likelihood of the individual in question being identified. Panoramic dental radiographs are commonly included in the standard dental exam and provide a clear view of …

"It Was My Job To Keep My Children Safe": Sandra Steingraber And The Parental Rhetoric Of Precaution, Mollie Katherine Murphy

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Advancing the environmental movement requires overcoming a number of rhetorical challenges. Rhetors must negotiate the significant dichotomies of environmental rhetoric including human/nature, public/private, and science/experience. Moreover, they face the challenge of educating and mobilizing uninformed citizens to take action. This analysis focuses on how Sandra Steingraber, an ecologist, writer, and environmental activist, negotiates these challenges. I argue that Steingraber negotiates these challenges by turning to three interrelated rhetorical strategies: the feminine style, autobiography, and synecdoche. I illustrate this through an analysis of two texts Steingraber wrote after becoming a mother: Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood, and Raising Elijah: …

Right Of Possession: A Comparative Legal Analysis Of Nagpra, Jaclyn Lee Schmidt

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Repatriation attempts to reconcile opposing values regarding human skeletal remains. Repatriation has sometimes been contentious because it raises the question of which aspect of human remains is more important, cultural or scientific values. Repatriation is also an issue of power. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) provides a procedural framework with which to negotiate power relationships between scholars, tribes, and the U.S. government. Property rights are integral to power, as the holder controls the use of and access to and interpretation of indigenous skeletal remains. Property rights concerning Native American human remains are an integral part of …

Evaluating Morphoscopic Trait Frequencies Of Southeast Asians And Pacific Islanders, Melody Dawn Ratliff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

When assessing ancestry in a forensic context, individuals are generally classified into one of four categories: belonging to European, African, Asian, or Native American ancestry. With only these four assessments, individuals from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands are usually phenotypically classified as Asian. While the oceanic regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands will most likely have trait frequencies similar to those of mainland Asia because of their shared ancestral lineages, there is still a great deal of variability in this region that could cause these trait frequencies to differ. To address this variability, sixteen morphoscopic traits were …

Between Exegesis And Homiletics: Examining The Genres At Play In An Lds Commentary, D. Jill Kirby

Studies in the Bible and Antiquity

No abstract provided.

Under The Cape Of Religion: Herder And Shamanism In The Eighteenth Century, Vera Jakoby

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

I f one were to undertake a genealogy of how Western Europe established a concept of otherness, the eighteenth century would be one of the most rewarding "information hubs" for such a study. Ethnography, ethnology, anthropology, and other new knowledge fields exploring global populations and environs were founded in this century, analyzing and systematizing the waves of travel reports that had been flooding Europe since the time of Columbus and Vasco da Gama. Stories and images of paradisiacal and terrorizing spaces, peculiar humans, and wondrous animals and plants had taken root in the Western imagination beginning in the sixteenth century. …

Sentimentality In The Service Of Methodism: John Wesley's Abridgment Of Henry Brooke's The Fool Of Quality ( 17 65-1770), Mary Peace

Religion in the Age of Enlightenment

This article examines the relationship between Methodist and sentimental discourses in the second half of the eighteenth century through the lens of John Wesley's abridgment of Henry Brooke's sentimental novel The Fool of Quality (1765-70). John Wesley's abridgment was published in 1781 under the title the History of Henry Earl of Moreland. My article is driven by the question of how a worldly Enlightenment text such as Brooke's Fool might have seemed ripe for the propagation of a Methodist theology that had abandoned the possibility of any true virtue existing in the world. In considering the relationship between Brooke's …

Revelation, Reason, And Faith: Essays In Honor Of Truman G. Madsen, Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, Stephen D. Ricks

Maxwell Institute Publications

The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.

Edited by Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and Stephen D. Ricks (each of whom also author a chapter), the 800-plus-page volume contains contributions by 31 scholars, …

Light Stimulates The Mouse Adrenal Through A Retinohypothalamic Pathway Independent Of An Effect On The Clock In The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Silke Kiessling, Patricia J. Sollars, Gary E. Pickard

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

The brain’s master circadian pacemaker resides within the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). SCN clock neurons are entrained to the day/night cycle via the retinohypothalamic tract and the SCN provides temporal information to the central nervous system and to peripheral organs that function as secondary oscillators. The SCN clock-cell network is thought to be the hypothalamic link between the retina and descending autonomic circuits to peripheral organs such as the adrenal gland, thereby entraining those organs to the day/night cycle. However, there are at least three different routes or mechanisms by which retinal signals transmitted to the hypothalamus may be conveyed …

Dens Agenesis And Cervical Vertebral Malformation In A Labrador Retriever Puppy, Elisa Salas, Henry E. Cerny, Seth P. Harris

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Cervical vertebral malformations can cause acute or progressive pain, paralysis, and potentially death. Herein we present a case report of dens agenesis; cervical vertebral malformations of C1, C2, C6, and C7; subluxation of C1 and C2 and C4 and C5; and associated degenerative myelopathy in a 5-month-old female Labrador Retriever puppy. We additionally review current knowledge regarding pathogenesis and treatment.

Four Common Setaria Species Are Alternative Hosts For Clavibacter Michiganensis Subsp. Nebraskensis, Causal Agent Of Goss's Bacterial Wilt And Blight Of Corn, Craig B. Langemeier, Tamra A. Jackson-Ziems, Greg R. Kruger

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Goss’s bacterial wilt and blight, caused by Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. nebraskensis (Cmn), has reemerged as an important disease of Zea mays (corn) in the U.S. Midwest. Results from a 2011 multistate survey indicated that Setaria spp. (foxtail) were often present in corn fields with a history of Cmn. The objective of this research was to determine if Setaria spp. that are common in the Midwest are susceptible to infection by Cmn. In the greenhouse, seedlings of four Setaria spp., including S. viridis (green foxtail), S. faberi (giant foxtail), S. verticillata (bristly foxtail), and S. pumila (yellow foxtail), and Zea mays …

What’S New In Plant Pathology, Tamra A. Jackson-Ziems, Loren Giesler, Robert M. Harveson, Stephen N. Wegulo, Kevin Korus

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Disease Management Products

During the past year several new products have become available for disease management. The new products are summarized in Tables 1 and 2, as well as included in the 2014 Guide for Weed Management in Nebraska with Insecticide and Fungicide Information. In addition, fungicides labeled for use on sorghum and sunflower have also been added to the publication.

Table 1. New Foliar Fungicides

Table 2. New Seed Nematicide

Disease Identification and Management Resources

Ficotylus Laselvae N. Sp. (Tylenchomorpha: Anguinidae) Associated With Ficus Colubrinae In Costa Rica, Robin M. Giblin-Davis, Natsumi Kanzaki, Kerrie A. Davies, Weimin Ye, Yongsan Zeng, Barbara J. Center, Alejandro Esquivel, Thomas O. Powers

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Ficotylus laselvae n. sp. was recovered from under the bracts of figs (syconia) of Ficus colubrinae from La Selva, Costa Rica, during a survey of nematode rainforest biodiversity and is described herein. This is only the second report of an association between the nematode suborder Tylenchina and the sycones of figs. Previous reports of most nematode associates of the sycones of figs have been from the lumen and involved transmission by female fig wasp pollinators (Agaonidae) during pollination/oviposition (e.g., Schistonchus and Parasitodiplogaster spp.). The association between F. laselvae n. sp. and Ficus colubrinae may involve an invertebrate host, …

Pharmacokinetic And Biodistribution Assessment Of A Near Infrared-Labeled Psma-Specific Small Molecule In Tumor-Bearing Mice, Joy L. Kovar, Lael L. Cheung, Melanie A. Simpson, D. Michael Olive

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Prostate cancer is themost frequently diagnosed cancer in men and often requires surgery. Use of near infrared (NIR) technologies to perform image-guided surgery may improve accurate delineation of tumor margins. To facilitate preclinical testing of such outcomes, here we developed and characterized a PSMA-targeted small molecule, YC-27. IRDye 800CW was conjugated to YC-27 or an anti-PSMA antibody used for reference. Human 22Rv1, PC3M-LN4, and/or LNCaP prostate tumor cells were exposed to the labeled compounds. In vivo targeting and clearance properties were determined in tumor-bearing mice. Organs and tumors were excised and imaged to assess probe localization. YC-27 exhibited a dose …

Preliminary Joint X-Ray And Neutron Protein Crystallographic Studies Of Ecdhfr Complexed With Folate And Nadp+, Qun Wan, Audrey Y. Kovalevsky, Mark A. Wilson, Brad C. Bennett, Paul Langan, Chris Dealwis

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

A crystal of Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (ecDHFR) complexed with folate and NADP⁺ of 4 x 1.3 x 0.7 mm (3.6 mm³) in size was obtained by sequential application of microseeding and macroseeding. A neutron diffraction data set was collected to 2.0 A resolution using the IMAGINE diffractometer at the High Flux Isotope Reactor within Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A 1.6 A resolution X-ray data set was also collected from a smaller crystal at room temperature. The neutron and X-ray data were used together for joint refinement of the ecDHFR–folate–NADP⁺ ternary-complex structure in order to examine …

Viruses As Nanoparticles: Structure Versus Collective Dynamics, S. Sirotkin, A. Mermet, M. Bergoin, V. Ward, James L. Van Etten

James Van Etten Publications

In order to test the application of the “nanoparticle” concept to viruses in terms of low-frequency dynamics, large viruses (140–190 nm) were compared to similar-sized polymer colloids using ultra-small-angle x-ray scattering and very-low-frequency Raman or Brillouin scattering. While both viruses and polymer colloids show comparable highly defined morphologies, with comparable abilities of forming self-assembled structures, their respective abilities to confine detectable acoustic vibrations, as expected for such monodisperse systems, differed. Possible reasons for these different behaviors are discussed.