Digital Commons Network^™

Evidence For Minimal Cardiogenic Potential Of Stem Cell Antigen 1-Positive Cells In The Adult Mouse Heart., Lauren E Neidig, Florian Weinberger, Nathan J Palpant, John Mignone, Amy M Martinson, Daniel W Sorensen, Ingrid Bender, Natsumi Nemoto, Hans Reinecke, Lil Pabon, Jeffery D Molkentin, Charles E Murry, Jop H Van Berlo

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Analyzed Sequence Length On Parameters In Laryngeal High-Speed Videoendoscopy, Patrick Schlegel, Marion Semmler, Melda Kunduk, Michael Döllinger, Christopher Bohr, Anne Schützenberger

Faculty Publications

Laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) allows objective quantification of vocal fold vibratory characteristics. However, it is unknown how the analyzed sequence length affects some of the computed parameters. To examine if varying sequence lengths influence parameter calculation, 20 HSV recordings of healthy females during sustained phonation were investigated. The clinical prevalent Photron Fastcam MC2 camera with a frame rate of 4000 fps and a spatial resolution of 512 × 256 pixels was used to collect HSV data. The glottal area waveform (GAW), describing the increase and decrease of the area between the vocal folds during phonation, was extracted. Based on the …

Methods, Antibodies, And Vaccines Utilizing Epitopes Of Alpha Synuclein For Treatment Of Parkinsons Disease, Chuanhai Cao, Xiaoyang Lin

USF Patents

The present invention pertains to a dendritic cell-based vaccine against rh-α-Syn, α-synuclein specific peptide antibodies and related vaccines, and methods of treating, preventing, and/or vaccinating against Parkinson's Disease (PD), or symptoms thereof.

Uncovering The Voices That Have Been Silenced: How The Cherokee Young Women Are Continuing The Traditions Of Their Ancestors Through Literature And Rhetoric, Carly L. Callister

Student Works

When the Cherokee women, back in 1817, first heard the news that they were being stripped of their lands and being forced to journey through the Trail of Tears, they decided to fight for what was right by speaking up and using their voices to be heard around the world. They created petitions and speeches, explaining their love for their people, motherhood, and the land, and how it was “their duty as mothers” to fight for the right to stay in the southeastern part of the United States (Lauter 2399). Though the Cherokee women’s voices were silenced when their petitions …

Magnetic Field-Driven Convection For Directed Surface Patterning Of Colloids, Jin Gyun Lee, Vanel Porter, William A. Shelton, Bhuvnesh Bharti

Faculty Publications

Drying sessile droplets is a promising route to transform colloidal dispersions into surface coatings, which are widely used in material design and biochemical detection. However, directing the assembly of the particles within drying droplets and achieving surface patterns beyond the well-known coffee-ring formation remain a challenge. Here, we present a new principle of directing the assembly of nonmagnetic colloidal particles dispersed in a magnetic fluid and generating unusual surface patterns. We use the ability of ferrofluids to change phases with the application of magnetic fields to program the assembly of nonmagnetic microparticles present in drying sessile droplets. We show that …

Does Channel Island Acmispon (Fabaceae) Form Cohesive Evolutionary Groups?, Mitchell E. Mcglaughlin, Lynn Riley, Kaius Helenurm, Lisa E. Wallace

Western North American Naturalist

The California Channel Islands are unique relative to other island chains due to their close proximity to the California mainland and the fact that individual islands, or groups of islands, vary in their distance to the mainland and other islands. This orientation raises questions about whether island taxa with widespread distributions form cohesive evolutionary units, or if they are actually composed of several distinct evolutionary entities, either derived from independent mainland-to-island colonization events or divergence due to prolonged allopatric isolation. The 4 northern islands are clustered in a line (6–8 km separation among islands), while the 4 southern islands are …

Mrna, Rrna And Dna Quantitative Stable Isotope Probing With H218o Indicates Use Of Old Rrna Among Soil Thaumarchaeota, Katrina Papp, Bruce A. Hungate, Egbert Schwartz

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

RNA is considered to be a short-lived molecule, indicative of cellular metabolic activity, whereas DNA is thoughtto turn over more slowly because living cells do not always grow and divide. To explore differences in the ratesof synthesis of these nucleic acids, we used H218O quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) to measure theincorporation of18O into 16S rRNA, the 16S rDNA,amoAmRNA and theamoAgene of soil Thaumarchaeota.Incorporation of18O into the thaumarchaealamoAmRNA pool was faster than into the 16S rRNA pool,suggesting that Thaumarchaea were metabolically active while using rRNA molecules that were likely synthe-tized prior to H218O addition. Assimilation rates of18O into 16S rDNA …

Meditation On The Soles Of The Feet Practice Provides Some Control Of Aggression For Individuals With Alzheimer’S Disease, Nirbhay N. Singh, Giulio E. Lancioni, Oleg N. Medvedev, Rachel E. Myers

Faculty Articles

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects cognition, mental and physical health, and functionality of older people. As the disease progresses from the mild to moderate stage, there is a concomitant increase in several behavioral variables, chiefly agitation, anger, and aggression. Currently, there are no evidence-based treatments for these behaviors in this population. Three individuals with moderate Alzheimer’s disease were taught an informal mindfulness practice, meditation on the Soles of the Feet (SoF), as a self-management strategy within a multiple-baseline design across participants. All three were able to learn and use the SoF practice to manage their verbal …

Using Federal Nondiscrimination Laws To Avoid Erisa: Securing Protection From Transgender Discrimination In Employee Health Benefit Plans, Bridget Schaaff

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

Recent attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the potential rollback of the interpretation of the protections the Act affords transgender people put transgender people at risk of being denied services and coverage for gender-affirming care. This Article provides advocates with alternative legal arguments to help employees bring claims when their employer provides a health benefit plan that discriminates on the basis of gender identity. These arguments can avoid the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s broad preemption scheme and lack of nondiscrimination provisions. This Article proposes that, based on a narrow exception to preemption regarding the Employee Retirement Income …

Repeats Of Unusual Size In Plant Mitochondrial Genomes: Identification, Incidence And Evolution, Emily L. Wynn, Alan C. Christensen

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Plant mitochondrial genomes have excessive size relative to coding capacity, a low mutation rate in genes and a high rearrangement rate. They also have abundant non-tandem repeats often including pairs of large repeats which cause isomerization of the genome by recombination, and numerous repeats of up to several hundred base pairs that recombine only when the genome is stressed by DNA damaging agents or mutations in DNA repair pathway genes. Early work on mitochondrial genomes led to the suggestion that repeats in the size range from several hundred to a few thousand base pair are underrepresented. The repeats themselves are …

Side Chain Modifications To Improve Peptide Structure–Activity Relations, Neelam Lahankar

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

While natural peptides, are ideal starting points for peptide-based drug design and development, they suffer from high conformational instability, which results in susceptibility to proteolytic degradation and poor bioavailability. Peptidomimetics in recent years has helped circumvent these shortcomings by improving the pharmacological properties of polypeptides. Peptidomimetics contain essential elements (pharmacophores) that mimic a natural peptide or protein in 3D space and retain the ability to interact with the biological target producing the same biological effect. In contrast, they offer conformationally restricted structures, potentially minimizing cross-target interactions, which leads to better transport properties through biologic membranes and resistance to immune responses. …

The Evolution Of Diet Breadth In Melissodes Bees (Apidae: Eucerini), Karen W. Wright

Biology ETDs

The relationship between phytophagous insects and their host plants has interested scientists since Darwinian times. Using modern phylogenetic inference, we are able to investigate these patterns using, not only the phylogenies of the insects, but the evolutionary relationships among the plants they feed on as well. The relationships between bees and the plants they pollinate were traditionally seen as mutualistic and were treated separately from the research investigating the antagonistic relationships between phytophagous insects and their host plants. However, recent phylogenetic studies have made great progress including bee-host relationships in with the larger body of work on phytophagous insects.

The …

Transgenic Mice Overexpressing Human Tnf-Α Experience Early Onset Spontaneous Intervertebral Disc Herniation In The Absence Of Overt Degeneration., Deborah J. Gorth, Irving M. Shapiro, Makarand V. Risbud

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

There is a well-established link between cytokine expression and the progression of intervertebral disc degeneration. Among these cytokines, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) are the most commonly studied. To investigate whether systemic hTNF-α overexpression affects intervertebral disc health, we studied the spine phenotype of Tg197 mice, a widely used hTNF-α transgenic line. These mice were studied at 12-16 weeks of age using comprehensive histochemical and immunohistological analysis of the spinal motion segment. Micro-CT analysis was performed to quantify vertebral trabecular bone architecture. The Tg197 mice evidenced spontaneous annular tears and herniation with increased vascularity in subchondral bone and …

Carbon-13 Kinetic Isotope Effects Of Catalytic Co2 Reduction By Polypyridyl Transition Metal Complexes, Taylor William Schneider

Doctoral Dissertations

Herein, we have used carbon-13 kinetic isotope effects (¹³C KIEs) to probe the catalytic CO₂ reduction mechanisms of two different polypyridyl transition metal complexes, Re(bpy)(CO)₃Cl (1), which will convert CO₂ to CO, and [Ru(tpy)(bpy)Cl]PF₆ (2) (bpy = 2,2’‑bipyridine; tpy = 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine), which will convert CO₂ to a mixture of CO and formic acid. We used several sets of reaction conditions to drive CO₂ reduction. These included sodium mercury (Na(Hg)) amalgam as a sacrificial reducing agent, photocatalytic conditions in which triethanolamine (TEOA) was a sacrificial electron donor, and …

Trypanosoma Brucei Prmt1 Is A Nucleic Acid Binding Protein With A Role In Energy Metabolism And The Starvation Stress Response., Lucie Kafková, Chengjian Tu, Kyle L. Pazzo, Kyle P. Smith, Erik W. Debler, Kimberly S. Paul, Jun Qu, Laurie K. Read

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

In Trypanosoma brucei and related kinetoplastid parasites, transcription of protein coding genes is largely unregulated. Rather, mRNA binding proteins, which impact processes such as transcript stability and translation efficiency, are the predominant regulators of gene expression. Arginine methylation is a posttranslational modification that preferentially targets RNA binding proteins and is, therefore, likely to have a substantial impact on T. brucei biology. The data presented here demonstrate that cells depleted of T. brucei PRMT1 (TbPRMT1), a major type I protein arginine methyltransferase, exhibit decreased virulence in an animal model. To understand the basis of this phenotype, quantitative global proteomics was employed …

Proteomic Profile Of Carbonylated Proteins Screen Regulation Of Apoptosis Via Camk Signaling In Response To Regular Aerobic Exercise, Wenfeng Liu, Li Li, Heyu Kuang, Yan Xia, Zhiyuan Wang, Shaopeng Liu, Dazhong Yin

Health Sciences & Kinesiology: Faculty Publications

To research carbonylated proteins and screen molecular targets in the rat striatum on regular aerobic exercise, male SpragueDawley rats (13 months old, n = 24) were randomly divided into middle-aged sedentary control (M-SED) and aerobic exercise (M-EX) groups (n = 12 each). Maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) gradually increased from 50%–55% to 65%–70% for a total of 10 weeks. A total of 36 carbonylated proteins with modifed oxidative sites were identifed by Electrospray IonizationQuadrupole-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometer (ESI-Q-TOF-MS), including 17 carbonylated proteins unique to the M-SED group, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase type II subunit beta (CaMKII�), and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (Hnrnpa2b1), …

Predator Cues Increase Silkmoth Mortality, Alex K. Baranowski, Evan L. Preisser

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

While prey responses to predators reduce the threat of consumption, the physiological costs of these responses can be considerable. This is especially true for organisms that lack effective anti-predator defenses and must rely on camouflage or mimicry for protection. The luna moth, Actias luna, is a large saturniid native to Eastern North America that is preyed on and parasitized by a wide variety of predators and parasitoids. We report the results of two separate experiments assessing the responses of Actias larvae to predatory wasps (Vespula maculifrons) that were rendered non-lethal but remained able to move freely, as …

Rapid Detection Of Extra-Intestinal Pathogenic Escherichia Coli Multi-Locus Sequence Type 127 Using A Specific Pcr Assay., Rw O'Hara, Peter J. Jenks, Matthew Emery, Mathew Upton

School of Biomedical Sciences

PURPOSE: Members of the ST127 uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) clone have a high virulence potential and are also highly virulent in insect infection models. However, strains of this lineage are reported in relatively low numbers in many studies. ST127 strains are also usually widely susceptible to antibiotics and, consequently, their true prevalence may be under-recognized as they will be eradicated during empirical therapy. A genuine concern is the possibility that members of this highly virulent lineage will acquire resistance, leading to a more serious threat. The aim of this study was to design and validate a PCR assay specific to …

Revision Of The Central Asian Scorpion Genus Anomalobuthus Kraepelin, 1900, With Descriptions Of Three New Species And A Generic Synonymy (Scorpiones: Buthidae), Rolando Teruel, František Kovařík, Victor Fet

Euscorpius

We revise the Central Asian endemic genus Anomalobuthus Kraepelin, 1900, which was considered monotypic for more than 100 years until the recent addition of a second species from Iran (Teruel et al., 2014). We redefine the generic diagnosis of Anomalobuthus and reveal that it is composed of no less than six species, three of which are described as new: A. krivochatskyi, sp. n. (central Uzbekistan and extreme southern Kazakhstan), A. lowei, sp. n. (southeastern Kazakhstan), and A. pavlovskyi, sp. n. (south-central Kazakhstan and extreme northern Turkmenistan). The monotypic genus Psammobuthus Birula, 1911 (described from the Ferghana Valley …

Zoom In On Science Concepts: Living And Nonliving, Ariel Woodbury

Children's Book and Media Review

Living and Nonliving is a great book to introduce the concept that somethings (even inanimate objects) can be living things. Things that have never been alive are nonliving. They are things like rocks and sand. Living things are or have been alive. Things like plants and animals are living things. Living things all need energy, reproduce, grow and breathe.

Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals, Jamie Greenwood

Children's Book and Media Review

Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals includes an introduction and four chapters, titled “Meet the Platypus,” “What Do Platypuses Look Like,” “Where Do Platypuses Live,” “Platypus Hunting Behavior,” and “The Life Cycle of Platypuses.” Each chapter opens with factual information on the chapter’s individual subject. The information is brief, to the point, easy to understand, and captivating. In each chapter the author compares a platypus with a similar animal and with a dissimilar animal. The end of the book provides a chart that lists the similar and dissimilar traits between platypuses and all the other animals with which it was previously compared.

A History Of Civilization In 50 Disasters, Emilee Bell

Children's Book and Media Review

A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters throws together the fates of a variety of countries through the light of massive global disasters. The book explores the effects of volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and more, halfway around the world from where they occurred and months after the initial damage was done. Readers will dive a little deeper into the small yet impactful disasters that inevitably occur when human society clashes with nature, from famine to plague epidemics. 50 Disasters even includes zany episodes like a tank of molasses exploding in tenement neighborhoods in the dead heat of summer. From BC to …

Human Breast Cancer Xenograft Model Implicates Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Signaling As Driver Of Cancer-Induced Muscle Fatigue, Hannah E. Wilson, Kacey K. Rhodes, Daniel Rodriguez, Ikttesh Chahal, David A. Stanton, Joseph Bohlen, Mary Davis, Aniello M. Infante, Hannah Hazard-Jenkins, David J. Klinke, Elena N. Pugacheva, Emidio E. Pistilli

Clinical and Translational Science Institute

Purpose: This study tested the hypothesis that a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) model would recapitulate the common clinical phenomenon of breast cancer–induced skeletal muscle (SkM) fatigue in the absence of muscle wasting. This study additionally sought to identify drivers of this condition to facilitate the development of therapeutic agents for patients with breast cancer experiencing muscle fatigue. Experimental Design: Eight female BC-PDOX–bearing mice were produced via transplantation of tumor tissue from 8 female patients with breast cancer. Individual hind limb muscles from BC-PDOX mice were isolated at euthanasia for RNA-sequencing, gene and protein analyses, and an ex vivo muscle contraction …

Narrating The Collapse: The Use And Limits Of A Phenomenology Of Depression, James Bodington

Philosophy ETDs

This project is an attempt to apply certain of the insights of phenomenological philosophy to the analysis of the lived experience of depression. I argue that the centering of experience in phenomenology can, and should, motivate its use in the context of the philosophical analysis of mental health, and may contribute to therapeutic aims as well. While this has been remarked upon in recent and current literature, this project motivates, engages with, augments, and challenges existing philosophical approaches to mental health and depression. I begin by surveying the existing literature, and bringing the critiques of classical phenomenology suggested by Guenther’s …

Fighting For Their Lives: Why The Marginalized Irish From The 1840s-1910 Dominated American Prizefighting, Owen Marshall

Honors Program Theses and Projects

One of the most recognizable figures in the world during his lifetime, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, previously Cassius Clay and Cassius X, put his self-esteem on display with the simple declaration “I am the greatest.” This was a phrase he told himself long before he truly was the greatest, but he proved it to the world in 1964 when he defeated defending champion Sonny Liston. Upon knocking out his dangerous, violent, and cheating opponent, Ali whipped himself into a frenzy, as onlookers saw him fall over the ropes, scream at the ringside reporters who had previously doubted him, and …

Dependence Of Aspen Stands On A Subsurface Water Subsidy: Implications For Climate Change Impacts, D. M. Love, M. D. Venturas, J. S. Sperry, P. D. Brooks, Joseph L. Pettit, Y. Wang, W. R.L. Anderegg, X. Tai, D. S. Mackay

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The reliance of 10 Utah (USA) aspen forests on direct infiltration of growing season rain versus an additional subsurface water subsidy was determined from a trait‐ and process‐based model of stomatal control. The model simulated the relationship between water supply to the root zone versus canopy transpiration and assimilation over a growing season. Canopy flux thresholds were identified that distinguished nonstressed, stressed, and dying stands. We found growing season rain and local soil moisture were insufficient for the survival of 5 of 10 stands. Six stands required a substantial subsidy (31–80% of potential seasonal transpiration) to avoid water stress and …

Minimum Information About An Uncultivated Virus Genome (Miuvig), Simon Roux, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Bas E. Dutilh, Eugene V. Koonin, Andrew M. Kropinski, Mart Krupovic, Jens H. Kuhn, Rob Lavigne, J Rodney Brister, Arvind Varsani, Clara Amid, Ramy K. Aziz, Seth R. Bordenstein, Peer Bork, Mya Breitbart, Guy R. Cochrane, Rebecca A. Daly, Christelle Desnues, Melissa B. Duhaime, Joanne B. Emerson, François Enault, Jed A. Fuhrman, Pascal Hingamp, Philip Hugenholtz, Bonnie L. Hurwitz, Natalie N. Ivanova, Jessica M. Labonté, Kyung-Bum Lee, Rex R. Malmstrom, Manuel Martinez-Garcia, Ilene Karsch Mizrachi, Hiroyuki Ogata, David Páez-Espino, Marie-Agnès Petit, Catherine Putonti, Thomas Rattei, Alejandro Reyes, Francisco Rodriguez-Valera, Karyna Rosario, Lynn Schriml, Frederik Schulz, Grieg F. Steward, Matthew B. Sullivan, Shinichi Sunagawa, Curtis A. Suttle, Ben Temperton, Susannah G. Tringe, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Nicole S. Webster, Katrine L. Whiteson, Steven W. Whilhelm, K Eric Wommack, Tanja Woyke, Kelly C. Wrighton, Pelin Yilmaz, Takashi Yoshida, Mark J. Young, Natalya Yutin, Lisa Zeigler Allen, Nikos C. Kyrpides, Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

We present an extension of the Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence (MIxS) standard for reporting sequences of uncultivated virus genomes. Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG) standards were developed within the Genomic Standards Consortium framework and include virus origin, genome quality, genome annotation, taxonomic classification, biogeographic distribution and in silico host prediction. Community-wide adoption of MIUViG standards, which complement the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG) standards for uncultivated bacteria and archaea, will improve the reporting of uncultivated virus genomes in public databases. In turn, this should enable more robust comparative …

Brackeen V. Zinke, Bradley E. Tinker

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1978, Congress enacted the Indian Child Welfare Act to counter practices of removing Indian children from their homes, and to ensure the continued existence of Indian tribes through their children. The law created a framework establishing how Indian children are adopted as a way to protect those children and their relationship with their tribe. ICWA also established federal standards for Indian children being placed into non-Indian adoptive homes. Brackeen v. Zinke made an important distinction for the placement preferences of the Indian children adopted by non-Indian plaintiffs; rather than viewing the placement preferences in ICWA as based upon Indians’ …

Multiresolution Digital Soil Mapping Of Permafrost Soils Using A Random Forest Classifier: An Investigation Along The Dalton Highway Corridor, Alaska, Joshua D. Paul

Natural Resources

In order to complete soil inventories in the remote permafrost zones of Alaska, there is a need to develop efficient digital soil mapping tools that can be applied over large areas using a minimum of ground truth data. This investigation first used a random forest classifier to test combinations of environmental input data at multiple resolutions (10m, 30m, and 100m). Five tiers of soil taxonomic units were predicted: Order, Suborder, Great Group, "Series Concept", and Particle Size Class. Model outputs are compared quantitatively via estimated out-of-bag accuracy, and qualitatively via visual inspection by soil scientists. Estimated out-of-bag accuracy ranged from …

Distribution Of Hunter Groups And Environmental Effects On Moose Harvest In Interior Alaska, Tessa R. Hasbrouck

Biological Sciences

Moose (Alces alces) is one of the most valuable wild game resources in Interior Alaska. In recent years, residents of rural indigenous communities have expressed concern that climate change and competition from non-local hunters are challenging local moose harvest opportunities. I collaborated with wildlife agencies and village tribal councils to co-design two studies to address rural community hunter concerns. The first study assessed the spatial and temporal distribution of local and non-local hunter groups to examine areas of potential competition. The second study addressed changing environmental factors and their impacts on moose harvest. Although competition among local hunters or among …