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Aquilegia, Vol. 40 No. 3, Spring 2016: Newsletter Of The Colorado Native Plant Society, May Loechell Turner, Charlie Turner

Aquilegia - Colorado Native Plant Society

The Colorado Native Plant Society Newsletter will be published on a bimonthly basis. The contents will consist primarily of a calendar of events, notes of interest, editorials, listings of new members and conservation news. Until there is a Society journal, the Newsletter will include short articles also. The deadline for the Newsletter is one month prior to its release.

Biotic Processes In The Okanagan Highlands Floras: Possible Evidence Of Hybridization In Plants Adapting To A Temperate Forest, Melanie L. Devore, Kathleen B. Pigg

Faculty and Staff Works

Hybridization is a key mechanism for increased diversification and speciation among modern plants and is especially important in certain families such as Rosaceae and Anacardiaceae. This mechanism is found to occur most commonly in areas of ecological disturbance, distribution, and migration. Resulting hybrid individuals have characteristic intermediate or mosaic patterns that combine those of the two parents in morphologically distinct and identifiable ways. The diverse latest Early Eocene flora of Republic, Washington, USA, is among the most collected of the Okanagan Highlands floras. This fossil flora includes relatives of modern taxa that are known to hybridize and produce characteristic patterns …

Costs Of European Wolf And Human Coexistence, L. David Mech

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

In “Recovery of large carnivores in Europe’s modern human-dominated landscapes” (19 December 2014, p. 1517), G. Chapron and 75 other authors documented that large carnivores (LC), including gray wolves (Canis lupus) can “share the same landscape,” with humans. The authors distinguish between North America’s separation model of LC conservation and the European coexistence model and suggest that the latter is applicable to “other areas of the world.” The authors mention LC-caused social conflict, but the article implies a level of compatibility between humans and wolves that is debatable. Wolves have only begun to recolonize most of western Europe and are …

Factors Affecting Post-Control Reinvasion By Seed Of An Invasive Species, Phragmites Australis, In The Central Platte River, Nebraska, Susan M. Galatowitsch, Diane L. Larson, Jennifer L. Larson

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

Invasive plants, such as Phragmites australis, can profoundly affect channel environments of large rivers by stabilizing sediments and altering water flows. Invasive plant removal is considered necessary where restoration of dynamic channels is needed to provide critical habitat for species of conservation concern. However, these programs are widely reported to be inefficient. Post-control reinvasion is frequent, suggesting increased attention is needed to prevent seed regeneration. To develop more effective responses to this invader in the Central Platte River (Nebraska,USA), we investigated several aspects of Phragmites seed ecology potentially linked to post-control reinvasion, in comparison to other common species: extent …

White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) Subsidize Gray Wolves (Canis Lupus) During A Moose (Alces Americanus) Decline: A Case Of Apparent Competition?, Shannon M. Barber-Meyer, L. David Mech

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

Moose (Alces americanus) in northeastern Minnesota have declined by 55% since 2006. Although the cause is unresolved, some studies have suggested that Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) contributed to the decline. After the Moose decline, wolves could either decline or switch prey. To determine which occurred in our study area, we compared winter wolf counts and summer diet before and after the Moose decline. While wolf numbers in our study area nearly doubled from 23 in winter 2002 to an average of 41 during winters 2011–2013, calf:cow ratios (the number of calves per cow observed during winter …

Patuxent’S Long-Term Research On Wolves, L. David Mech

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

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) was one of the first species placed on the Endangered Species List in 1967. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 legally protected the wolf along with other listed species.

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (Patuxent) in Laurel, MD, began its Endangered Wildlife Program in 1966, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist Ray Erickson was assigned to lead it. In 1973, I was transferred to the program from Region 3 of the USFWS, having been employed there since 1969 to study wolves in Minnesota.

Endangered Species Act protection of the wolf fostered its quick …

Assessing Intra- And Inter-Regional Climate Effects On Douglas-Fir Biomass Dynamics In Oregon And Washington, Usa, David M. Bell, Andrew N. Gray

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

While ecological succession shapes contemporary forest structure and dynamics, other factors like forest structure (dense vs. sparse canopies) and climate may alter structural trajectories. To assess potential sources of variation in structural trajectories, we examined proportional biomass change for a regionally dominant tree species, Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), across vegetation zones representing broad gradients in precipitation and temperature with 3510 forest inventory plots in Oregon and Washington, USA. We found that P. menziesii biomass change decreased with P. menziesii biomass stocks and increased with P. menziesii density, remaining positive in older stands only in the wet and warm …

Global Synthesis Of The Classifications, Distributions, Benefits And Issues Of Terracing, Wei Wei, Die Chen, Lixin Wang, Stefani Daryanto, Liding Chen, Yang Yu, Yonglong Lu, Ge Sun, Tianjiao Feng

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

For thousands of years, humans have created different types of terraces in different sloping conditions, meant to mitigate flood risks, reduce soil erosion and conserve water. These anthropogenic landscapes can be found in tropical and subtropical rainforests, deserts, and arid and semiarid mountains across the globe. Despite the long history, the roles of and the mechanisms by which terracing improves ecosystem services (ESs) remain poorly understood. Using literature synthesis and quantitative analysis, the worldwide types, distributions, major benefits and issues of terracing are presented in this review. A key terracing indicator, defined as the ratio of different ESs under terraced …

Granular Biochar Compared With Activated Carbon For Wastewater Treatment And Resource Recovery, Tyler M. Huggins, Alexander Haeger, Justin C. Biffinger, Zhiyong Jason Ren

United States Navy: Publications

Granular wood-derived biochar (BC) was compared to granular activated carbon (GAC) for the treatment and nutrient recovery of real wastewater in both batch and column studies. Batch adsorption studies showed that BC material had a greater adsorption capacity at the high initial concentrations of total chemical oxygen demand (COD_-T) (1200 mg L^-1), PO₄ (18 mg L^-1), and NH₄ (50 mg L^-1) compared to GAC. Conversely the BC material showed a lower adsorption capacity for all concentrations of dissolved chemical oxygen demand (COD_-D) and the lower concentrations of PO …

Short Communication Reflectance-Based Detection Of Oxidizers In Ambient Air, Brandy J. Johnson, Ray Liu, Robert C. Neblett Ii, Anthony P. Malanoski, Miao Xu, Jeffrey S. Erickson, Ling Zang, David A. Stenger, Martin H. Moore

United States Navy: Publications

This study used two types of paper supported materials with a prototype, reflectance-based detector for indication of hydrogen peroxide vapor under ambient laboratory conditions. Titanyl based indicators provide detection through reaction of the indicator resulting in a dosimeter type sensor, while porphyrin based indicators provide a reversible interaction more suitable to continuous monitoring applications. These indicators provide the basis for discussion of characteristics important to design of a sensor system including the application environment and duration, desired reporting frequency, and target specificity.

New Records And Updated Checklist Of Phlebotomine Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) From Liberia, P. J. Obenauer, L. M. Rueda, S. S. El-Hossary, N. Watany, C. A. Stoops, L. S. Fakoli, F. K. Bolay, J. W. Diclaro Ii

United States Navy: Publications

Phlebotomine sand flies from three counties in Liberia were collected from January 2011 to July 2013. In total, 3,118 sand flies were collected: 18 species were identified, 13 of which represented new records for Liberia. An updated taxonomic checklist is provided with a brief note on sand fly biology, and the disease vector potential for species is discussed.

Multimodality Therapy For Limited-Stage Small-Cell Lung Cancer, Daniel Almquist, Kailash Mosalpuria, Apar Kishor Ganti

United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Publications

Limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) occurs in only one third of patients with SCLC, but it is potentially curable. Combined-modality therapy (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) has long been the main stay of therapy for this condition, but more recent data suggest a role for surgery in early-stage disease. Prophylactic cranial irradiation seems to improve outcomes in patients who have responded to initial therapy. This review addresses the practical aspects of staging and treatment of patients with limited-stage SCLC.

Methylome-Wide Analysis Of Chronic Hiv Infection Reveals Five-Year Increase In Biological Age And Epigenetic Targeting Of Hla, Andrew M. Gross, Philipp A. Jaeger, Jason F. Kreisberg, Katherine Licon, Kristen L. Jepsen, Mahdieh Khosroheidari, Brenda M. Morsey, Susan Swindells, Hui Shen, Cherie T. Ng, Ken Flagg, Daniel Chen, Kang Zhang, Howard S. Fox, Trey Ideker

United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Publications

HIV-infected individuals are living longer on antiretro-viral therapy, but many patients display signs that in some ways resemble premature aging. To investigate and quantify the impact of chronic HIV infection on aging, we report a global analysis of the whole-blood DNA methylomes of 137 HIV+ individuals under sustained therapy along with 44 matched HIV- individuals. First,we develop and validate epigenetic models of aging that are independent of blood cell composition. Using these models, we find that both chronic and recent HIV infection lead to an average aging advancement of 4.9 years, increasing expected mortality risk by 19%. In addition, sustained …

Nanoformulated Copper/Zinc Superoxide Dismutase Reduces Adipose Inflammation In Obesity, Curtis Perriotte-Olson, Nikhil Adi, Devika S. Manickam, Rachel A. Westwood, Cyrus V. Desouza, Gopalakrishnan Natarajan, Alexandra Crook, Alexander V. Kabanov, Viswanathan Saraswathi

United States Department of Veterans Affairs: Publications

Objective: An intimate association exists between oxidative stress and inflammation. Because adipose tissue (AT) inflammation is intricately linked to metabolic disorders, it was hypothesized that reducing oxidative stress would be effective in ameliorating AT inflammation in obesity.

Methods: Wild-type mice were fed a high-fat diet (HF) for 8 weeks followed by a 2-week treatment with nanoformulated copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (NanoSOD). The mice were divided into: 1) chow diet, 2) HF, and 3) HF + NanoSOD.

Results: The HF + NanoSOD-treated mice showed a significant decrease in plasma and liver triglycerides when compared with HF-fed mice. Interestingly, NanoSOD reduced the expression …

Bacterial Endotoxin Detection In Hyaluronic Acid-Based Medical Devices, Larissa F. Baeva, Srilekha Sarkar Das, Victoria M. Hitchins

United States Food and Drug Administration: Publications

A simple and rapid method has been developed for testing bacterial endotoxin in hyaluronic acid (HA)-based medical devices. High-molecular-weight HA (HMW HA) in solution or HA-based medical devices was digested by the enzyme hyaluronidase to reduce solution viscosity by truncating the long chains of HA and to test for bacterial endotoxin. The bacterial endotoxin level was detected and measured by kinetic chromogenic Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay. The method was applied to two different ophthalmic viscosurgical devices (OVDs) and one dermal filler, and may easily be adapted to use with up to 3% HA solutions and other HA-based medical devices.

Noninvasive Assessment Of Cardiac Abnormalities In Experimental Autoimmune Myocarditis By Magnetic Resonance Microscopy Imaging In The Mouse, Chandirasegaran Massilamany, Vahid Khalilzad-Sharghi, Arunakumar Gangaplara, David Steffen, Shadi F. Othman, Jay Reddy

Jay Reddy Publications

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the myocardium, but only ~10% of those affected show clinical manifestations of the disease. To study the immune events of myocardial injuries, various mouse models of myocarditis have been widely used. This study involved experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) induced with cardiac myosin heavy chain (Myhc)-α 334-352 in A/J mice; the affected animals develop lymphocytic myocarditis but with no apparent clinical signs. In this model, the utility of magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) as a non-invasive modality to determine the cardiac structural and functional changes in animals immunized with Myhc-α 334-352 is shown. EAM and healthy mice …

Evaluating Human Cell Survival And Dna Damage After Exposure To Various Amounts Of Chlorine Dioxide And Exploring Its Use As A Potential Cancer Chemotherapy Agent, Niuska Mariana Alvarez Fuenmayor

SURF - Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Projects

Chlorine Dioxide (ClO₂) is a synthetic, green-yellowish gas with a chlorine-like, irritating odor that is used for the treatment of drinking water and food preservation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxic potential of the chlorine dioxide in mammalian cells and to determine what dose of ClO₂ is tolerable by normal cells and cells with aberrant DNA repair genes. Human and mouse embryonic cells were treated with various ClO₂ dilutions ranging from 2.5 mM to 25 mM. The cell viability and metabolic activity was determined via MTT, a colorimetric assay. Human HEK293 cells …

First Record Of The Genus Lucoppia (Acari: Oribatida) From Turkey, Tunahan Bezci̇, Şule Baran

Turkish Journal of Zoology

Redescription and SEM images of Lucoppia burrowsi (Michael, 1890) are given. The genus Lucoppia is recorded for the first time in Turkey.

In Silico Identification Of Essential Proteins In Corynebacterium Pseudotuberculosis Based On Protein-Protein Interaction Networks, Edson Luiz Folador, Paulo Vinícius Sanches Daltro De Carvalho, Wanderson Marques Silva, Rafaela Salgado Ferreira, Artur Silva, Michael Gromiha, Preetam Ghosh, Debmalya Barh, Vasco Azevedo, Richard Röttger

Biology Publications

Background

Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Cp) is a gram-positive bacterium that is classified into equi and ovis serovars. The serovar ovis is the etiological agent of caseous lymphadenitis, a chronic infection affecting sheep and goats, causing economic losses due to carcass condemnation and decreased production of meat, wool, and milk. Current diagnosis or treatment protocols are not fully effective and, thus, require further research of Cp pathogenesis.

Results

Here, we mapped known protein-protein interactions (PPI) from various species to nine Cp strains to reconstruct parts of the potential Cp interactome and to identify potentially essential proteins serving as putative drug …

Researcher Studies Nervous System Development, Paige Bellamy

The Scope

Ashley Purdy, who recently finished a master’s degree in biology at VCU and is now pursuing her Ph.D., is studying nerve cells in zebrafish in hopes of unlocking secrets about the human nervous system. The research could shed light on how neurodevelopmental disorders like multiple sclerosis or epilepsy occur.

Pine Trees May Shed Light On Global Warming, Nicole Nelson

The Scope

VCU graduate student Constance Bolte has been conducting research at “the intersection of ecology and evolution,” focusing on three species of pine trees: the loblolly, the pitch pine and the table mountain pine. Using temperature and precipitation data, Bolte has been forecasting and “hindcasting” the species’ distribution across North America.

An Advocate For Minorities In Science, Paige Bellamy

The Scope

Dr. Teshell Greene, who grew up on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, moved to New York at 14 to pursue her dream of being a science researcher. Today she is an instructor in the VCU Department of Biology and a staunch advocate for underrepresented minorities in the field.

Conference Program (Gpe 2016), Franco Berruti, Cedric Briens

5th International Congress on Green Process Engineering (GPE 2016)

No abstract provided.

Whiteness, The Real Intermediary Agent: Harriet E. Wilson’S Medium For Amalgamation In Our Nig; Or, Sketches In The Life Of A Free Black, Hannah Miller

The Corinthian

I intend to present a reading of Wilson’s text that demonstrates when and how she manipulates the voice of her text, only permitting the protagonist, Frado, to speak through her intermediary agent—or medium—the white family that she works for, the Bellmonts.

Levels Of Self-Compassion Among Injured Division I Athletes, Samantha Sanderson

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

While there are numerous health benefits that result from engaging in athletics, sport participation also comes with an intrinsic risk of injury. In order to understand the injury process (i.e., injury risk factors and recovery variables), researchers have used various models to conceptualize preinjury risk factors and postinjury response. Although personality factors, stress, coping skills, emotional response, and other factors have been studied, self-compassion is a relatively new construct to the western world that has not been examined in the injured athlete population. Self-compassion requires being kind to oneself and taking a nonjudgmental approach to one's suffering. High self-compassion is …

Regulation Of Mitotic Progression By Btf And Trap150, Divya Cheedu

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Serine-arginine-rich (SR) or SR-like splicing factors interact with exon junction complex proteins during pre-mRNA processing to promote mRNA packaging into mature messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) and to dictate mRNA stability, nuclear export, and translation. In this thesis, I examined if depletion of two homologous non-classical serine-arginine-rich (SR) splicing factors, Btf (BCLAF1) and TRAP150, impacts regulation of cell cycle regulator transcripts and mitosis. Previous work showed that depletion of these proteins by RNAi causes mitotic defects including chromosome misalignment in metaphase. However, since Btf and/or TRAP150 did not co-localize with mitotic structures during mitosis, I hypothesized that Btf and/or TRAP150 depletion affect …

Determining Protein-Protein Interactions Of Als-Associated Sod1, Leah A. Shurte

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder that occurs due to the death of motor neurons and leads to paralysis and death within three to five years after symptoms present (Byrne et al., 2013). Superoxide Dismutase 1 (SOD1) was first identified to be associated with ALS in 1993. The objective of this study is to determine which proteins interact with wild type and mutant SOD1 and find any similarities or differences between them. ALS is attributed to a gain of toxicity, therefore abnormal protein interactions in mutant SOD1 are important. The results of this study will provide insight on …

A Hybrid Approach To Aerial Video Image Registration, Karol T. Salva

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Many video processing applications, such as motion detection and tracking, rely on accurate and robust alignment between consecutive video frames. Traditional approaches to video image registration, such as pyramidal Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) feature detection and tracking are fast and subpixel accurate, but are not robust to large inter-frame displacements due to rotation, scale, or translation. This thesis presents an alternative hybrid approach using normalized gradient correlation (NGC) in the frequency domain and normalized cross-correlation (NCC) in the spatial domain that is fast, accurate, and robust to large displacements. A scale space search is incorporated into NGC to enable more consistent recovery …

Identity And Antisemitism In Flux: The Psychology Of Religious Recognition In France, Joanna Marks

Psychology Honors Papers

How do individuals contend with conflicting components of identity? This thesis was a qualitative exploration of identity formation among Jews in France in a time of pronounced antisemitism. Participants included 12 French Jews interviewed in Paris, ranging in age from 23 to 78 years old. An interview protocol was devised that investigated Jewish identity, French national identity, and reactions to antisemitism. Because of the unstable nature of the political situation for Jews in France, no initial hypotheses were formulated. The interviews were transcribed and then translated into English. An in depth, bottom up analysis was conducted of each interview to …

Media And The Criminalization Of Mental Illness: The Impact Of Stigma Reduction Videos, Samantha Wilcox

Psychology Honors Papers

This research investigated the effectiveness of different stigma reduction campaigns following exposure to a newscast that depicted as criminal a mentally ill defendant in a mass shooting case. Participants included 183 individuals, 94 women and 89 men, who represented all major regions of the United States. Participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk, the online crowdsourcing marketplace. The sample was predominantly White and ages of participants ranged from 18 to 69. The study used a 2 (Newscast) x 3 (Intervention) between subjects factorial design to investigate the hypothesis that participants exposed to either cognitive or emotional anti-stigma campaign would have …