Digital Commons Network^™

Determining The Structure Of Phospholipase C Epsilon, Hannah O'Neill, Monita Sieng, Elisabeth Garland-Kuntz, Angeline Lyon

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The phospholipase C (PLC) epsilon subfamily of PLC enzymes are found at highest concentration within the cardiovascular system. Improper functioning of the enzyme, whether due to overstimulation or changes in expression, has far-reaching effects within the human body Stunted heart valve development and cardiac hypertrophy and are two such examples. The mechanisms by which PLC epsilon activity is regulated in these processes remain unknown, as does the physical structure of the enzyme. In this study, we seek to determine the structure of a PLC epsilon fragment that retains enzymatic activity and is amenable to crystallization. Mutagenesis of PLC epsilon cDNA …

Investigation Of Low Cost Solar Drying Of Apricots For Tajikistan, Huimin Wang, Richard L. Stroshine Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Dried apricots are one of Tajikistan’s major export products. The country wants to expand its production in the southern region. However, the producers don’t have the expertise needed to produce dried apricots that meet the quality requirements of the European Union and other potential export markets. Local producers in southern Tajikistan would benefit from improvements in methods of applying sulfur and drying the apricots. This would allow them to gain a share of global markets. Methods that were studied include sulfur treatment prior to drying and approaches for rapidly drying the apricots while preventing contamination. Because the project has just …

The Effects Of Road Salt On Lithobates Clamitans Tadpoles, Rachel Lim, Ximena Bernal, Spencer Siddons

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In areas that see heavy snowfall and icy roads, road salt is used to improve driving conditions. However, after snow melts, road salt does not disappear. Instead, it dissolves into melted snow and flows into bodies of water where amphibians breed and live. Altering the salinity of the environment has been seen to affect different species of frogs. It is unclear, however, whether those findings generalize to other anurans. Here, we examined how exposure to road salt affects the development of green frog tadpoles (L. clamitans). We caught 80 L. clamitans tadpoles at the Ross Biological Reserve near Purdue University. …

Bacterial Motility And Its Role In Biofilm Formation, Clayton J. Culp, Arezoo M. Ardekani, Adib Ahmadzadegan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Bacterial biofilms are known to cause millions of dollars in damage in the medical industry per year via infection of central venous catheters, urinary catheters, and mechanical heart valves. Unfortunately, there are some characteristics of biofilm formation that are yet to be fully understood. Recently much work has been done to investigate the motility characteristics of bacteria with hopes of better understanding the phenomena of biofilm formation. Still, one of the least understood stages is bacterial attachment or adhesion, a process designed to anchor bacteria in an advantageous environment. Providing a better understanding of bacterial motility near solid interfaces will …

Applying Machine Learning To Computational Chemistry: Can We Predict Molecular Properties Faster Without Compromising Accuracy?, Hanjing Xu, Pradeep Gurunathan, Lyudmila Slipchenko

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Non-covalent interactions are crucial in analyzing protein folding and structure, function of DNA and RNA, structures of molecular crystals and aggregates, and many other processes in the fields of biology and chemistry. However, it is time and resource consuming to calculate such interactions using quantum-mechanical formulations. Our group has proposed previously that the effective fragment potential (EFP) method could serve as an efficient alternative to solve this problem. However, one of the computational bottlenecks of the EFP method is obtaining parameters for each molecule/fragment in the system, before the actual EFP simulations can be carried out. Here we present a …

A Touchscreen Assay To Probe The Role Of The Serotonergic System In Learning And Visual Information Processing, Jeffrey M. Dorsch, Alexandr Pak, Alexander A. Chubykin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The neurotransmitter serotonin is involved in numerous processes in the brain such as behavior, learning, memory, mood, and neurodevelopment. Serotonin signaling is regulated by the serotonin transporter protein (SERT), which maintains normal serotonin levels. Mutations in the SERT gene are known to correlate with cognitive and behavioral deficits seen in psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety disorders, depression, and autism spectrum disorder. Researchers study these deficits using SERT knockout (KO) mice, a model that lacks functional SERT and displays changes in anxiety, learning, and motivation. We are interested in how the absence of SERT affects visual processing and learning. A popular …

Localized Blood Occlusion Generation In An In-Vitro Circulatory Catheter System, Ryan D. Harris, Qi Yang, Hyowon Lee

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hydrocephalus is a debilitating neurological disorder that involves the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in a ventricle of the brain. The implantation of a catheter commonly treats hydrocephalus with drainage. These catheters have a short lifespan due to obstruction from biological materials. Shunt systems have an extremely high failure rate of more than 40% failed within 1 year and up to 85% failed within 10 years. Previously, polymer-based flexible implantable magnetic micro-actuators were developed to clean up the catheter by mechanical vibration. We have demonstrated clearing of bacteria attachment and are proceeding to examine clearing effects on larger clotting materials, such …

The Effects Of Compaction On Reconstitution Characteristics Of Dairy Powder, Michelle P. Dixon, Rose Prabin Kingsly Ambrose, Dhananjay Ashok Pai

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Milk powders are becoming more ubiquitous within the food industry, and they offer consumers a convenient form for direct intake of dairy. The costs associated with dairy are reduced when products are converted to powder, which markedly increases shelf life at ambient temperatures. Creating compacts from powders further improves cost efficiency by reducing volume. However, milk powders typically possess poor rehydration properties, such as a slow dispersion rate and low solubility, and powder compaction additionally prolongs rehydration time, reducing consumer acceptability. Previous studies have shown that modifying dairy products before or during the drying process can improve rehydration properties, but …

The Response Of Schwann Cells To Weak Dc Electric Fields, Alexander T. Lai, Jianming Li

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Schwann cells are glial cells that serve the vital role of supporting neurons in the peripheral nervous system. While their primary function is to provide insulation (myelin) for axons, they also help regenerate injured axons by digesting severed axons and providing scaffolding to guide the regeneration process. This specific role of Schwann cells makes them highly important cellular targets following nerve injury. Although some efforts have been made to encourage Schwann cell migration after nerve damage, the use of electric fields to control cell responses remain unexplored; therefore, this experiment serves to characterize the behavior of Schwann cells to weak …

Supplemental Effects Of Ruminal Bypass Arginine And Lysine For Improving Meat Quality And Oxidative Stability Of Aged Beef Loins, Jacob Tuell, Hyun-Wook Kim, Juliana Guedes, Derico Setyabrata, Jin-Kyu Seo, Jon Schoonmaker, Yuan H. Brad Kim

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Postmortem aging is widely practiced in the beef industry to improve eating quality characteristics. However, the oxidative stability of aged beef muscle could be negatively affected by extending aging period. The use of ruminal bypass amino acids allows levels of crude protein in the diet to be lowered and may also positively impact oxidative stability of aged beef muscle. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of ruminal bypass arginine (Arg) and lysine (Lys) supplementation on meat quality and oxidative stability of beef loins (M. longissimus lumborum, LL) under two durations of postmortem aging (14 and 28 days). …

Acoustic Signatures Of Habitat Types In The Miombo Woodlands Of Western Tanzania, Sheryl Vanessa Amorocho, Dante Francomano, Kristen M. Bellisario, Ben Gottesman, Bryan C. Pijanowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania comprise several habitat types that are home to a great number of flora and fauna. Understanding their responses to increasing human disturbance is important for conservation, especially in places where people depend so directly on their local ecosystem services to survive. Soundscapes are a powerful approach to study complex biomes undergoing change. The sounds emitted by soniferous fauna characterize the acoustic profile of the landscapes they inhabit such that habitats with the highest acoustic abundance are considered as the most diverse and possibly more ecologically resilient. However, acoustic variability within similar habitat types may pose …

Fluorescent Protein Biosensor For Use In Parkinson's Research, Piper R. Miller, Keelan Trull, Mathew Tantama

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Purinergic signaling is a type of extracellular communication that occurs between cells, mediated by adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), and adenosine. In Parkinson’s Disease, purinergic signaling is disrupted, which contributes to neurodegeneration. In order to monitor this change in cell-to-cell signaling, there is a need for the development of a fluorescent protein (FP) biosensor to study the changes in the concentration of the signaling molecule ATP and its decomposition bioproduct ADP. This summer a genetically encoded ADP sensor that measures changes in ADP concentration was developed. This sensor utilizes Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) which is a sensing technique …

Gas-Based Perfusion Fmri Cerebrovascular Reactivity Maps And Time Of Arrival Maps, Jinxia Yao, Yunjie Tong, Matthew Robert Derdak

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Perfusion MRI is a promising tool used in assessing stroke, brain tumors, and patients with neurodegenerative diseases. However, common perfusion MRI techniques have several disadvantages, such as using exogenous contrast agents, low signal-to-noise ratio and long acquisition time. In this study, we used a computer-controlled gas delivery system RespirAct TM. This system provides a reliable carbon dioxide based vasoactive stimulus. This stimulus will immediately generate large and reliable functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals, which can be used for perfusion imaging. Each subject was required to have three sequential magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, which are structural scan, resting state …

Defining The Destruction Box: Understanding How The Apc Recognizes Its Substrates, Hana Maldivita Tambrin, Mark C. Hall

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cell division is the process by which mother cells give rise to two genetically identical daughter cells. All cells have protein networks to ensure that cell division is completed correctly because mistakes during cell division may cause diseases. The Anaphase-promoting complex (APC) is an important regulatory enzyme that ensures successful completion of mitosis. It acts by removing inhibitors of chromosomal segregation and cytokinesis, as well as other important cell division regulators. Existing chemotherapies, like taxol, act by indirectly inhibiting APC function. This makes APC a potential target for new cancer chemotherapies. However, designing APC inhibitors is challenging because how APC …

Assessing The Influence Of Socials Calls On Bat Mist-Netting Success In North America, Karly A. Rushmore, Laura E. D'Acunto, Cheyenne L. Gerdes, Patrick A. Zollner, Joy M. O'Keefe

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Since the introduction of the fungal disease White-Nose Syndrome in 2006, millions of North American bats have perished. For many species, the disease has caused over a 90 percent decline in abundance. With populations fluctuating as the pathogen spreads, biologists require improved methods of estimating bat demographics and abundance. Previous research indicates that mist netting success may be improved with the use of acoustic lures at mist-netting locations. Our research investigates which type of social calls improve the capture rates of North American bats, including the big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Social call types used include antagonistic buzzes, distress calls, …

Improving Biomanufacturing Production With Tunable Transcriptional Regulation Via Elastin-Like Polypeptides, Rohit Chatterjee, Logan R. Readnour, Kok Zhi Lee, Kevin V. Solomon

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The metabolism of E. coli and other microbes can be engineered to create valuable chemicals such as biofuels, medicines, etc. However, process efficiency is limited by the toxicity of intermediates in the production pathway, which induces cellular stress and killing the production in cells. By fusing elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) with sigma factors (SF), we propose a stress feedback system can be created to recognize cues of cellular health and autoregulate expression of bioproduction pathways for improved health and production. ELPs undergo a sharp, reversible, phase transition causing an aggregation above a certain temperature (Tt) based on conditions that align with …

Relative Contribution Of Porcine Reproductive And Respiratory Syndrome Virus Open Reading Frames 2–4 To The Induction Of Protective Immunity, Katherine Kimpston-Burkgren, Ignacio Correas, Fernando A. Osorio, David Steffen, Asit K. Pattnaik, Ying Fang, Hiep L. X. Vu

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

The minor glycoproteins (GPs) of PRRSV, GP2, GP3, and GP4, form a heterotrimer that is required for viral infectivity, presumably due to its interaction with the key cellular receptor CD163. These 3 GPs are encoded by open reading frames (ORFs) 2a, 3, and 4 (herein referred to as ORFs 2–4), respectively. The goal of this study was to investigate the immunogenicity of the PRRSV-2 minor GPs. Through the use of reverse genetics, a chimeric virus (designated SDFL24) was constructed by replacing ORFs 2–4 of the PRRSV-1 strain SD01-08 with the corresponding genes of the PRRSV-2 strain FL12. While the parental …

Sexual Dimorphism In Glioma Glycolysis Underlies Sex Differences In Survival, Joseph E. Ippolito, Aldrin Kay-Yuen Yim, Jingqin Luo, Prakash Chinnaiyan, Joshua B. Rubin

Open Access Publications

The molecular bases for sex differences in cancer remain undefined and how to incorporate them into risk stratification remains undetermined. Given sex differences in metabolism and the inverse correlation between fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and survival, we hypothesized that glycolytic phenotyping would improve glioma subtyping. Using retrospectively acquired lower-grade glioma (LGG) transcriptome data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we discovered male-specific decreased survival resulting from glycolytic gene overexpression. Patients within this high-glycolytic group showed significant differences in the presence of key genomic alterations (i.e., 1p/19q codeletion, CIC, EGFR, NF1, PTEN, FUBP1, and IDH mutations) compared with the low-glycolytic group. Although …

Modulation Of Cellular Energetics By Galactose And Pioglitazone., David Grimm, Leonardo Altamirano, Sudip Paudel, Leah Welker, Mary E. Konkle, Nilay Chakraborty, Michael A. Menze

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The Warburg effect is ameliorated by culturing transformed cells in the presence of galactose instead of glucose as the primary carbon source. However, metabolic consequences that are in addition to sensitizing the cells to mitochondrial toxins may occur. As such, the screening of pharmaceutical agents against transformed cells while using galactose must be carefully evaluated. Pioglitazone is used in clinical applications to treat type-2 diabetes, but clearly has other off target effects. Human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) were cultured in glucose or galactosecontaining medium to investigate the role of pioglitazone on cellular bioenergetics employing calorimetry and respirometry. Compared to cells …

Idarucizumab For Dabigatran Reversal - Full Cohort Analysis., Charles V. Pollack, Paul A. Reilly, Joanne Van Ryn, John W. Eikelboom, Stephan Glund, Richard A. Bernstein, Robert Dubiel, Menno V. Huisman, Elaine M. Hylek, Chak-Wah Kam, Pieter W. Kamphuisen, Jörg Kreuzer, Jerrold H. Levy, Gordon Royle, Frank W. Sellke, Joachim Stangier, Thorsten Steiner, Peter Verhamme, Bushi Wang, Laura Young, Jeffrey I. Weitz

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Idarucizumab, a monoclonal antibody fragment, was developed to reverse the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran.

METHODS: We performed a multicenter, prospective, open-label study to determine whether 5 g of intravenous idarucizumab would be able to reverse the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran in patients who had uncontrolled bleeding (group A) or were about to undergo an urgent procedure (group B). The primary end point was the maximum percentage reversal of the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran within 4 hours after the administration of idarucizumab, on the basis of the diluted thrombin time or ecarin clotting time. Secondary end points included the restoration …

Unearthing Childhood: The Archeology Of Children In North America, Christine S A Vigeant

Anthós

The Archaeology of Childhood is a relatively recent focus of archaeological inquiry. An interest in prehistoric childhood comes on the heels of and as a necessary extension of feminist archaeology (Baxter 2008). Archaeological research in the past has largely ignored prehistoric children, or considered them only in the context of site formation processes or child burials (Schwartzman 2006). This neglect of prehistoric children was due to a belief that children were invisible in the archaeological record, because of their unpredictable behavior and their inactivity in the world of adults. They were thought to be passive participants rather than active influencers …

Materialist And Causal Bridges Over The Explanatory Gap, Celine Geday

Anthós

The explanatory gap about the subjective nature of conscious experience is the gap in explanation between conscious experience, and available scientific explanations of conscious experience. The explanatory gap is, as Joseph Levine states, the problem that physicalism (or the physical sciences) has in describing mental terms and experiences.7 Thomas Nagel also describes the explanatory gap problem as the problem of explaining the subjective in objective terms. He states that the subjective viewpoint of the individual is inherently at odds with an objective, or physical explanation.8 Describing someone’s experience of the redness of red, for example, by describing the neural mechanisms …

Social Constructions Of Childhood: From Not-Yet-Adults To People In Their Own Right, Sophia K. Biddle

Anthós

Across the globe it is clear that children are a marginalized group. Children are not allowed to vote or be taken seriously in political circles (Sharpe, 2015), are kept away from public spaces (Valentine 2004), navigate inhospitable working conditions (Gamlin et. al., 2015), and are rapidly losing the time and space to foster their own child culture (Woolley and Griffin, 2014). Adults continue to institutionalize children’s play and restrict children’s access to public space. This serves to reinforce children’s position as second-class citizens. A mounting body of work shows that children are suffering in their physical and social development due …

Galen’S Analogy: Animal Experimentation And Anatomy In The Second Century C.E., Annastasia Conner

Anthós

Galen of Pergamum (129 – ca. 216 C.E.) is truly one of the most pivotal characters in the history of medicine, and particularly the field of anatomy. A physician in the ancient Roman Empire, he did not allow his work to be constrained by contemporary boundaries, instead delving further into the field of anatomy and physiology than any doctor had yet done. He built upon the existing work of his predecessors as well as making new discoveries through which he would shape contemporary and future understandings of anatomy, and of medicine as a whole. Although a luminary in his field, …

What Is The Nature Of The Conflict Experienced By Japanese Workers In International Companies Based In Japan And What Type Of Conflict Management Do They Access?, Tomoko Shinohara Le

Dissertations and Theses

The aim of this thesis was to identify and analyze workplace conflict by enquiring into the nature of conflict, conflict management, and human resources (HR) strategies for conflict management in international companies based in Japan (ICBIJ). This study explores one part of a conflict system comprising cultural issues, HR strategies, conflict, and its effect on retention. The research question is "What is the nature of the conflict experienced by Japanese workers in international companies based in Japan and what type of conflict management do they access?" 16 Japanese workers were surveyed yielding qualitative and qualitative data. Findings indicate that workplace …

Promoting Resilience Amongst Young People Transitioning From Care To Independent Living: Experiences Of Residential Social Care Workers, Linda Cameron, Anne Hynes, Yvonne Maycock, Eileen O'Neill, Ann Marie O'Reilly

Journal of Social Care

The capacity for a young adult to develop and overcome obstacles in life underpins the concept of resilience building (Gilligan, 1997). A key role of the social care worker is to ensure that young adults growing up in the care system are afforded the best possible outcomes. This includes social care workers helping young people build their resilience in preparation for the transition into independent living and aftercare. The research reported here examines the experiences and perspectives of two residential social care workers regarding the promotion of resilience amongst young people transitioning from residential care to independent living. From analysis …

Non-Resident Fathers: A Literature Review Of Factors Influencing Their World, David Whyte

Journal of Social Care

It has been acknowledged (McCashin, 1996; Hogan & Gilbertson, 2007) that services designed to support families tend to focus on the mother and children and little contact is generally made with fathers, even when they are resident in the family home. Considering the changes in family structure in contemporary society and the often complex range of needs held by families who avail of social care services, this paper provides some insights in the factors that impact on non-resident fathers. The paper presents a literature review on the topic of non-resident fathers covering areas such as fathers’ role in the family …

Impact Of A Pre-Professional Clinical Education Experience With Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Preparation Of Future Speech-Language Pathologists, Kaitlyn P. Wilson Ph.D., Ccc-Slp, Gregory S. Chasson Ph.D., Amanda C. Jozkowski Ph.D., Otr/L, Meghan V. Mulhern Ed.M.

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

The purpose of this study was to (1) investigate the impact of a clinical experience with adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) students’ knowledge about ASD, and (2) explore the nature of the clinical experience and its impact on students’ preparation to work with adults with ASD. This study used a mixed-methods design. Quantitative methods were used to identify statistically significant changes in student knowledge about ASD following participation in a clinical experience with adults with ASD. Qualitative methods were used to explore student narratives to uncover details of the clinical experience and its impact. …

Wagon Tracks. Volume 13, Issue 3 (May, 1999), Santa Fe Trail Association

Wagon Tracks

No abstract provided.

Georgia Southern University Fact Book, Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern Fact Books (1976-2022)

No abstract provided.