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Optical Redox Imaging Of Metabolic Activity, Syed Anwar Hyder Zaidi

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Fluorescence imaging can be used to determine tissue metabolism, which is an indication of the cellular functionality. Metabolic contrast is useful for the early detection of several medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, lung diseases etc. This study aims to use fluorescence imaging to quantify NADH and FAD, which are cellular metabolic indicators. A parameter known as Redox ratio, can be used to study metabolic state of several tissue types and disease states. To quantify the Redox ratio, three fluorescence imaging systems were optimized to measure the fluorescence signal from NADH and FAD. The first system was a camera based …

Patentable Subject Matter: Alice Does Not Permit The Dead To Frolic In A 3d Wonderland, Hao J. Wu

SMU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fresh Fruits, Vegetables, And Mushrooms As Transmission Vehicles For Echinococcus Multilocularis In Highly Endemic Areas Of Poland: Reply To Concerns, Anna Lass, Beata Szostakowska, Przemysław Myjak, Krzystof Korzeniewski

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Echinococcus multilocularis is a tapeworm that may cause alveolar echinococcosis (AE), one of the most dangerous parasitic zoonoses. As in the case of other foodborne diseases, unwashed fruits and vegetables, contaminated with dispersed forms of E. multilocularis, may serve as an important transmission route for this parasite. In this article, we reply to the incorrect interpretation of results of our study concerning the detection of E. multilocularis DNA in fresh fruit, vegetable and mushroom samples collected from the highly endemic areas of the Warmia-Masuria Province, Poland, to dispel any doubts. The accusations formulated by the commentators concerning …

Echinococcus Multilocularis In Foxes And Raccoon Dogs: An Increasing Concern For Baltic Countries, Guna Bagrade, Gunita Deksne, Zanda Ozoliņa, Samantha Jane Howlett, Maria Interisano, Adriano Casulli, Edoardo Pozio

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Background

In Europe, the life cycle of Echinococcus multilocularis is predominantly sylvatic, involving red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as the main definitive hosts and rodents such as muskrats and arvicolids as intermediate hosts. The parasite is the etiological agent of human alveolar echinococcosis, a malignant zoonotic disease caused by the accidental ingestion of eggs shed by definitive hosts in their feces. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of E. multilocularis in red foxes and raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and to study the environmental factors favoring the perpetuation of the parasite in Latvia. …

Sitio Web “Nombres De Especies De Garrapatas Duras”, Alberto A. Guglielmone, Marta E. Sánchez, Liliana G. Franco, Santiago Nava, Leopold M. Rueda, Richard G. Robbins

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Resumen

Con el fin de ofrecer a la comunidad científica las descripciones originales de especies de garrapatas duras (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae) se realizó un sitio web sin fin comercial y acceso irrestricto con descripciones originales de las especies (válidas e inválidas), nombres dudosos, inciertos y una selección de nomina nuda.

Pyrosequencing The Midgut Transcriptome Of The Banana Weevil Cosmopolites Sordidus (Germar) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Reveals Multiple Protease-Like Transcripts, Arnubio Valencia, Haichuan Wang, Alberto Soto, Manuel Aristizabal, Jorge W. Arboleda, Seong-Il Eyun, Daniel D. Noriega, Blair Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus is an important and serious insect pest in most banana and plantain-growing areas of the world. In spite of the economic importance of this insect pest very little genomic and transcriptomic information exists for this species. In the present study, we characterized the midgut transcriptome of C. sordidus using massive 454-pyrosequencing. We generated over 590,000 sequencing reads that assembled into 30,840 contigs with more than 400 bp, representing a significant expansion of existing sequences available for this insect pest. Among them, 16,427 contigs contained one or more GO terms. In addition, 15,263 contigs were assigned …

Carbon Dioxide Receptor Genes And Their Expression Profile In Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Thais B. Rodrigues, Etsuko N. Moriyama, Hang Wang, Chitvan Khajuria, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Background: Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. D. v. virgifera neonates crawl through the soil to locate the roots on which they feed. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the important volatile cues that attract D. v. virgifera larvae to roots.

Results: In this study, we identified three putative D. v. virgifera gustatory receptor genes (Dvv_Gr1, Dvv_Gr2, and Dvv_Gr3). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed their orthologous relationships with known insect CO₂ receptor genes from Drosophila, mosquitoes, and Tribolium. The phylogenetic reconstruction of insect CO₂ receptor proteins …

Spiders From Multiple Functional Guilds Are Exposed To Bt-Endotoxins In Transgenic Corn Fields Via Prey And Pollen Consumption, Julie A. Peterson, John J. Obrycki, James D. Harwood

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

A comprehensive assessment of risk to natural enemies from Bt-endotoxins from bioengineered crops must evaluate potential harm, as well as exposure pathways in non-target arthropod food webs. Despite being abundant generalist predators in agricultural fields, spiders (Araneae) have often been overlooked in the context of Bt crop risk assessment. Spiders and their prey were collected from transgenic corn fields expressing lepidopteran-specific Cry1Ab, coleopteran-specific Cry3Bb1, both proteins, and a non-transgenic near isoline. Spiders and prey were screened for Cry1Ab and Cry3Bb1 using qualitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Spiders from the three most common functional guilds, wandering sheet-tangle weavers, orb-weavers, and ground runners, …

Carbon Dioxide Receptor Genes And Their Expression Profile In Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Thais B. Rodrigues, Estuko N. Moriyama, Hang Wang, Chitvan Khajuria, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Background: Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. D. v. virgifera neonates crawl through the soil to locate the roots on which they feed. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is one of the important volatile cues that attract D. v. virgifera larvae to roots.

Results: In this study, we identified three putative D. v. virgifera gustatory receptor genes (Dvv_Gr1, Dvv_Gr2, and Dvv_Gr3). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed their orthologous relationships with known insect CO₂ receptor genes from Drosophila, mosquitoes, and Tribolium. The phylogenetic reconstruction of insect CO₂ receptor …

Ecology And Management Of Pemphigus Betae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) In Sugar Beet, Rudolph J. Pretorius, Gary L. Hein, Jeff Bradshaw

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Pemphigus betae Doane (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a sporadic pest of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L. var. vulgaris) in all major sugar beet production regions of North America. These oval-shaped, pale-yellowish insects, with a body length ranging from 1.9–2.4mm, secrete a waxy material, giving their subterranean colonies a moldy appearance. Poplars in the genus Populus L. are the preferred primary hosts, while sugar beet and certain weed species, such as common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album L.) and kochia (Kochia scoparia (L.)), are among the secondary hosts. Pemphigus betae has a complex and varied life cycle and is usually …

Identification Of An Orthologous Clade Of Peroxidases That Respond To Feeding By Greenbugs (Schizaphis Graminum) In C4 Grasses, Erin D. Scully, Teresa Donze-Reiner, Haichuan Wang, Thomas Eickhoff, Fred Baxendale, Paul Twigg, Frank Kovacs, Tiffany Heng-Moss, Scott E. Sattler, Gautam Sarath

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Knowledge of specific peroxidases that respond to aphid herbivory is limited in C₄ grasses, but could provide targets for improving defence against these pests. A sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) peroxidase (SbPrx-1; Sobic.002G416700) has been previously linked to biotic stress responses, and was the starting point for this study. Genomic analyses indicated that SbPrx-1 was part of a clade of five closely related peroxidase genes occurring within a ~30 kb region on chromosome 2 of the sorghum genome. Comparison of this ~30-kb region to syntenic regions in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and foxtail millet (Setaria …

Assessment Of Potential Risks Of Dietary Rnai To A Soil Micro-Arthropod, Sinella Curviseta Brook (Collembola: Entomobryidae), Huipeng Pan, Linghua Xu, Jeffrey E. Noland, Hu Li, Blair D. Siegfried, Xuguo Zhou

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

RNAi-based genetically engineered (GE) crops for the management of insect pests are likely to be commercialized by the end of this decade. Without a workable framework for conducting the ecological risk assessment (ERA) and a standardized ERA protocol, however, the utility of RNAi transgenic crops in pest management remains uncertain. The overall goal of this study is to assess the risks of RNAi-based GE crops on a non-target soil micro-arthropod, Sinella curviseta, which could be exposed to plantprotected dsRNAs deposited in crop residues. Based on the preliminary research, we hypothesized that insecticidal dsRNAs targeting at the western corn rootworm, …

Detecting Microbial Dysbiosis Associated With Pediatric Crohn Disease Despite The High Variability Of The Gut Microbiota, Feng Wang, Jess L. Kaplan, Benjamin D. Gold, Manoj K. Bhasin, Naomi L. Ward, Richard Kellermayer, Barbara S. Kirschner, Melvin B. Heyman, Scot E. Dowd, Stephen B. Cox, Haluk Dogan, Blaire Steven, George Ferry, Stanley A. Cohen, Robert N. Baldassano, Christopher J. Moran, Elizabeth A. Garnett, Lauren Drake, Hasan H. Otu, Leonid A. Mirny, Towia A. Libermann, Harland S. Winter, Kirill S. Korolev

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The relationship between the host and its microbiota is challenging to understand because both microbial communities and their environments are highly variable. We have developed a set of techniques based on population dynamics and information theory to address this challenge. These methods identify additional bacterial taxa associated with pediatric Crohn disease and can detect significant changes in microbial communities with fewer samples than previous statistical approaches required. We have also substantially improved the accuracy of the diagnosis based on the microbiota from stool samples, and we found that the ecological niche of a microbe predicts its role in Crohn disease. …

Late Glacial And Holocene History Of The Penobscot River In The Penobscot Lowland, Maine, Roger Leb. Hooke, Paul R. Hanson, Danile F. Belknap, Alice R. Kelley

Conservation and Survey Division: Faculty and Staff Publications

When the Laurentide ice sheet retreated rapidly (~150 m/a) across the Penobscot Lowland between ~16 and ~15 ka, the area was isostatically depressed and became inundated by the sea. Silt and clay were deposited, but no significant moraines or deltas were formed. The Penobscot River was reborn at ~14 ka when ice retreated onto land in the upper reaches of the river’s East Branch. As isostatic rebound exceeded sea level rise from melting ice, the river extended itself southward. Between ~13.4 and 12.8 ka, it established a course across marine clay and underlying glacial till in the Lowland. Its gradient …

The Man-Pocalpyse: Doomsday Preppers And The Rituals Of Apocalyptic Manhood, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay argues that recent male performances of disaster preparedness in reality television recuperate a preindustrial model of hegemonic masculinity by staging the plausible “real world” conditions under which manly skills appear necessary for collective survival. Representations of masculinity in uncertain times intensify the masculinity-in-crisis motif to cultivate anticipation of an apocalyptic event that promises a final resolution to male alienation. An examination of Nat Geo’s Doomsday Preppers illustrates how these staged performances of everyday life cultivate a dangerous vision of apocalyptic manhood that consummates a fantasy of national virility in the demise of feminine society.

Chastity For Democracy: Surplus Repression And The Rhetoric Of Sex Education, Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Moving from opposition to participation, the Adolescent Family Life Act (1981) and the development of abstinence education marks the conservative movement’s pivot to a rhetorical strategy of tolerance that enabled it to coopt the public culture of sex discourse. Working from Herbert Marcuse’s theory of “surplus repression,” I argue that the New Right seized the liberationist argument for open public discourse about sexuality to sublimate libidinal desires into a national project of familial (re)productivity. The AFLA is significant in the rhetorical history of sex education because it demarcates the transition to a productive form of biopolitics that sought to manage …

Camp Horror And The Gendered Politics Of Screen Violence: Subverting The Monstrous-Feminine In Teeth (2007), Casey Ryan Kelly

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This essay argues that Mitchell Lichtenstein’s film Teeth (2007) is an exemplary appropriation of the femme castratrice, a sadistic and castrating female figure that subverts the patriarchal mythologies undergirding the gendered logics of both screen violence and cultural misogyny. The film chronicles Dawn’s post-sexual assault transformation from a passive defender of women’s purity to an avenging heroine with castrating genitals. First, I illustrate how Teeth intervenes in the gendered politics of spectatorship by cultivating identification with a violent heroine who refuses to abide by the stable binary between masculine violence/feminized victimhood. This subversive iteration of rape-revenge cinema is assisted by …

The Impact Of Long-Term Dietary Pattern Of Fecal Donor On In Vitro Fecal Fermentation Properties Of Inulin, Junyi Yang, Devin J. Rose

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Although the composition of the gut microbiota is of interest, the functionality, or metabolic activity, of the gut microbiota is of equal importance: the gut microbiota can produce either harmful metabolites associated with human disease or beneficial metabolites that protect against disease. The purposes of this study were to determine the associations between dietary intake variables and fecal short and branched chain fatty acid (S/BCFA) concentrations; to determine the associations between dietary intake variables and inulin degradation, short and branched chain fatty acid (S/BCFA) production, and ammonia production during in vitro fecal fermentation of a highly fermentable substrate (inulin); and …

Emergence Of A Potent Multidrug Efflux Pump Variant That Enhances Campylobacter Resistance To Multiple Antibiotics, Hong Yao, Zhangql Shen, Yang Wang, Fengru Deng, Dejun Liu, Gaowa Naren, Lel Dal, Chih-Chia Su, Bing Wang, Shaolin Wang, Congming Wu, Edward W. Yu, Qijing Zhang, Jianzhong Shen

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Bacterial antibiotic efflux pumps are key players in antibiotic resistance. Although their role in conferring multidrug resistance is well documented, the emergence of “super” efflux pump variants that enhance bacterial resistance to multiple drugs has not been reported. Here, we describe the emergence of a resistance-enhancing variant (named RE-CmeABC) of the predominant efflux pump CmeABC in Campylobacter, a major zoonotic pathogen whose resistance to antibiotics is considered a serious antibiotic resistance threat in the United States. Compared to the previously characterized CmeABC transporters, RECmeABC is much more potent in conferring Campylobacter resistance to antibiotics, which was shown by increased …

Battle In The New World: Helicoverpa Armigera Versus Helicoverpa Zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), José P. F. Bentivenha, Silvana L. Vieira De Paula Moraes, Edson L. L. Baldin, Alexandre Specht, Ivana F. Da Silva, Thomas E. Hunt

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The corn earworm Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) and the old world bollworm H. armigera (HuÈbner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) are allopatric species and occur in important agricultural crops. In maize, both species tend to infest the ear. The introduction of H. armigera in Brazil has created a new scenario, where these Helicoverpa species might cohabit and interact with one another, affecting the prevalence of each species in the agroecosystem, integrated pest management, and insect resistance management. In this study, larval occurrence and proportion of these species in maize was assessed in three regions of Brazil during three crop seasons. Interaction between …

Prebiotics And Synbiotics: Dietary Strategies For Improving Gut Health, Janina A. Krumbeck, Maria X. Maldonado-Gomez, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Robert W. Hutkins

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Purpose of review — A wide range of dietary carbohydrates, including prebiotic food ingredients, fermentable fibers, and milk oligosaccharides, are able to produce significant changes in the intestinal microbiota. These shifts in the microbial community are often characterized by increased levels of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. More recent studies have revealed that species of Faecalibacterium, Akkermansia, and other less well studied members may also be enriched. We review the implications of these recent studies on future design of prebiotics and synbiotics to promote gastrointestinal health.

Recent findings — Investigations assessing the clinical outcomes associated with dietary modification of the …

Adolescence In Lifespan Perspective: Review Of Laurence Steinberg, Age Of Opportunity: Lessons From The New Science Of Adolescence, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Laurence Steinberg, Age of opportunity: Lessons from the new science of adolescence. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2014, ISBN: 978-0-544-27977-3 (cloth), 264 pp., $28

Adolescence, argues Laurence Steinberg in Age of opportunity, is the new zero-to-three. Noting the extensive publicity regarding evidence of the developmental plasticity of the very young brain, Steinberg writes, “We now know that adolescence is a similarly remarkable period of brain reorganization and plasticity” (p. 22).

As indicated in the subtitle, the book's intent is to provide “lessons from the new science of adolescence.” What is the new science of adolescence? Brain science. And what are …

The Impact Of Religious Commitment On Women’S Sexual Self-Esteem, Dena Abbott, Jeff E. Harris, Debra Mollen

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Religious commitment is associated with decreased sexual activity, poor sexual satisfaction, and sexual guilt, particularly among women. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how religious commitment is related to sexual self-esteem among women. Participants included 196 female undergraduate students, 87 % of whom identified as Christian. Participants completed the Sexual Self-Esteem Inventory for Women (SSEI-W), Religious Commitment Inventory-10, Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale, Brief Sexual Attitudes Scale, and a measure of their perception of God’s view of sex. Results suggested that women with high religious commitment held more conservative sexual attitudes. Significant relationships between religious commitment and two subscales …

Research Performance Of Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Mullana-Ambala During 2007-2015: A Scientometric Study, Ashok Kumar, Ritu Gupta, Anubha Gupta

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract: This paper analyzed 648 research publications that M M University-Mullana had published during nine years (2007-15). The publications data for the study was sourced from Scopus International database. The study quantified publication data by combining a variety of indicators to present a comparative view of the University’s performance in national setting. The findings revealed that total publications output of MM University-Mullana registered 65.03% annual average growth and averaged citation impact per paper of 3.27 during 2007-15. The usage of university output has been low. For instance 51.33% publication share of the University did not get any citations and 48.77% …

In Situ Longitudinal Pre-Stretch In The Human Femoropopliteal Artery, Alexey Kamenskiy, Andreas Seas, Grant Bowen, Paul Deegan, Anastasia Desyatova, Nick Bohlim, William Poulson, Jason N. Mactaggart

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

In situ longitudinal (axial) pre-stretch (LPS) plays a fundamental role in the mechanics of the femoropopliteal artery (FPA). It conserves energy during pulsation and prevents buckling of the artery during limb movement. We investigated how LPS is affected by demographics and risk factors, and how these patient characteristics associate with the structural and physiologic features of the FPA. LPS was measured in n = 148 fresh human FPAs (14–80 years old). Mechanical properties were characterized with biaxial extension and histopathological characteristics were quantified with Verhoeff–Van Gieson Staining. Constitutive modeling was used to calculate physiological stresses and stretches which were then …

Stress-Dependent Ultrasonic Scattering In Polycrystalline Materials, Christopher M. Kube, Christopher A Turner

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Stress-dependent elastic moduli of polycrystalline materials are used in a statistically based model for the scattering of ultrasonic waves from randomly oriented grains that are members of a stressed polycrystal. The stress is assumed to be homogeneous and can be either residual or generated from external loads. The stress-dependent elastic properties are incorporated into the definition of the differential scattering cross-section, which defines how strongly an incident wave is scattered into various directions. Nine stress-dependent differential scattering cross-sections or scattering coefficients are defined to include all possibilities of incident and scattered waves, which can be either longitudinal or (two) transverse …

Development Of A Synthetic Gene Network To Modulate Gene Expression By Mechanical Forces, Zoltan Kis, Tania Rodin, Asma Zafar, Zhangxing Lai, Grace Freke, Oliver Fleck, Armando Del Rio Hernandez, Leila Towhidi, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Takayuki Homma, Rob Krams

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The majority of (mammalian) cells in our body are sensitive to mechanical forces, but little work has been done to develop assays to monitor mechanosensor activity. Furthermore, it is currently impossible to use mechanosensor activity to drive gene expression. To address these needs, we developed the first mammalian mechanosensitive synthetic gene network to monitor endothelial cell shear stress levels and directly modulate expression of an atheroprotective transcription factor by shear stress. The technique is highly modular, easily scalable and allows graded control of gene expression by mechanical stimuli in hard-to-transfect mammalian cells. We call this new approach mechanosyngenetics. To insert …

Territoriality And Inter-Pack Aggression In Gray Wolves: Shaping A Social Carnivore's Life History Rudyard Kipling's Law Of The Jungle Meets Yellowstone's Law Of The Mountains, Kira A. Cassidy, Douglas W. Smith, L. David Mech, Daniel R. Macnulty, Daniel R. Stahler, Matthew C. Metz

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

When Rudyard Kipling wrote The Jungle Book in 1894 and included the famous line "For the strength of the Wolf is the Pack, and the strength of the Pack is the Wolf," he would have had no idea that over a century later, scientific research would back up his poetic phrase. Recent studies in Yellowstone have found that both the individual wolf and the collective pack rely on each other and play important roles in territoriality. At a time when most fairy tales and fables were portraying wolves as demonic killers or, at best, slapstick gluttons, Kipling seemed to have …

Wolf (Canis Lupus) Generation Time And Proportion Of Current Breeding Females By Age, L. David Mech, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, John Erb

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Information is sparse about aspects of female wolf (Canis lupus) breeding in the wild, including age of first reproduction, mean age of primiparity, generation time, and proportion of each age that breeds in any given year. We studied these subjects in 86 wolves (113 captures) in the Superior National Forest (SNF), Minnesota (MN), during 1972–2013 where wolves were legally protected for most of the period, and in 159 harvested wolves from throughout MN wolf range during 2012–2014. Breeding status of SNF wolves were assessed via nipple measurements, and wolves from throughout MN wolf range, by placental scars. In …

Differential Wolf-Pack-Size Persistence And The Role Of Risk When Hunting Dangerous Prey, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech, Wesley E. Newton, Bridget L. Borg

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Risk to predators hunting dangerous prey is an emerging area of research and could account for possible persistent differences in gray wolf (Canis lupus) pack sizes. We documented significant differences in long-term wolf-pack-size averages and variation in the Superior National Forest (SNF), Denali National Park and Preserve, Yellowstone National Park, and Yukon, Canada (p < 0.01). The SNF differences could be related to the wolves’ risk when hunting primary prey, for those packs (N = 3) hunting moose (Alces americanus) were significantly larger than those (N = 10) hunting white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) (F_1,8 = 16.50, p = 0.004). Our data support the hypothesis that differential pack-size persistence may be …