Digital Commons Network^™

Linking Nutrient Stoichiometry To Zika Virus Transmission In A Mosquito, Andrew S. Paige, Shawna K. Bellamy, Barry W. Alto, Catherine L. Dean, Donald A. Yee

Faculty Publications

Food quality and quantity serve as the basis for cycling of key chemical elements in trophic interactions; yet the role of nutrient stoichiometry in shaping host–pathogen interactions is under appreciated. Most of the emergent mosquito-borne viruses affecting human health are transmitted by mosquitoes that inhabit container systems during their immature stages, where allochthonous input of detritus serves as the basal nutrients. Quantity and type of detritus (animal and plant) were manipulated in microcosms containing newly hatched Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae. Adult mosquitoes derived from these microcosms were allowed to ingest Zika virus-infected blood and then tested for disseminated infection, transmission, …

Landscape Edges Shape Dispersal And Population Structure Of A Migratory Fish, Mark A. Kaemingk, S. E. Swearer, S. J. Bury, J. S. Shima

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Many freshwater organisms have a life-history stage that can disperse through seawater. This has obvious benefits for colonization and connectivity of fragmented sub-populations, but requires a physiologically challenging migration across a salinity boundary. We consider the role of landscape boundaries between freshwater and seawater habitats, and evaluate their potential effects on traits and developmental histories of larvae and juveniles (i.e., dispersing life-history stages) of an amphidromous fish, Galaxias maculatus. We sampled juvenile fish on their return to 20 rivers in New Zealand: 10 rivers had abrupt transitions to the sea (i.e., emptying to an open coastline); these were paired …

Paraoxonase 1, Hdl Subclasses And Post Surgery Acute Inflammation: A Pilot Study., Yasmin Bains, Russell Caccavello, Kazuhiko Kotani, Alejandro Gugliucci

Faculty Publications & Research of the TUC College of Osteopathic Medicine

High density lipoproteins (HDL) structure and function studies are needed to better understand the heterogeneous nature of the HDL particle, and its interaction with associated proteins such as apolipoprotein A-1 (ApoA-1), paraoxonase 1 (PON1) and the environment. Our study assesses the effects of acute inflammation on PON1 and HDL subclasses in post-surgical colorectal cancer patients. PON1 was measured kinetically through its arylesterase and lactonase activity and HDL sub-classes were measured using Quantimetrix Lipoprint^® System. White blood cells (WBC) counts, c-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) levels were also analyzed using standard techniques. Our findings show that baseline …

High Protein Rice Flour In The Development Of Gluten-Free Muffins And Bread, Gabriella M. Paz

LSU Master's Theses

Gluten sensitivities and intolerance disorders such as Celiac disease are being diagnosed more every day which has opened a huge market for gluten-free foods that is expected to reach nearly $7.6 billion by 2020. About 30% of the US population says they are trying to cut-down on or avoid gluten completely, with only 7% doing so for medical reasons. Although there are gluten-free alternatives available to use in cooking and baking, simple substitution of these flours for wheat does not produce acceptable texture characteristics. Gluten-free baked goods suffer from being low in nutritional value such as protein and fiber content …

The Application Of Nonverbal Prosody In Scratches, An Original Composition For Trumpet And Chamber Ensemble, Shane Courville

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project uses research in prosody (the patterns of stress and intonation in language) to inform the compositional process of an original piece of music for trumpet, piano, string quartet, and sign language entitled Scratches. In this this paper, I propose that both verbal and nonverbal prosody affects music across all cultures at both the subtle and overt levels consciousness. It shows up in chanting and rhythmic structures of folk music as well as composers who use the influence of language explicitly. In conjunction with this document, I will discuss and perform the piece I compose through the inspiration of …

Stereotypic Pacing In Two Imprinted Florida Black Bears (Ursus Americanus Floridanus), Crystal Gagne

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Stereotypic pacing is a common occurrence in captive carnivorans. Although stereotypic pacing is typically associated with poor welfare, the cause of pacing is not fully understood. In this study, two captive Florida black bears (Ursus americanus floridanus) were observed twice a week for ten weeks, along with zookeeper presence as well as the location and number of guests. Zookeeper presence was associated with a decrease in time spent pacing (P < 0.05). The male bear in the study spent a larger percent of time pacing in front of guests (average: 43.2% ± 1.0% SD) compared to the female (average: 6.2% ± 1.4% SD), P < 0.05). Male dominance is the most likely explanation for the variance seen in pacing in front of guests. Observing how guests and zookeepers impact stereotypic pacing can help provide an understanding of the cause of stereotypic pacing and improve the welfare of captive animals.

A Look Into The Activity Budgets Of Captive Cotton-Top Tamarins (S. Oedipus), Jessica Phagan

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) are a species of New World Monkey that are small in size. They live in groups that typically contain family members, including a breeding pair and their offspring. Seven related individuals were observed for this study, which was designed to ensure and evaluate the activity budgets of each tamarin. The aim of the study was to determine whether the older tamarins possessed different activity levels than the younger offspring. Each cotton-top tamarin was observed for an hour per week over a ten-week period. Each activity— playing with other tamarins, active in general, eating, grooming or being …

The Impact Of Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate (Egcg) On Ts65dn Down Syndrome Mouse Models, Nicole Santana

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

Down syndrome (DS) is caused by the trisomy 21 genetic disorder, which produces a unique craniofacial phenotype. The purpose of this research is to better understand how Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (ECGC) influences the development of DS craniofacial phenotypes. Ts65Dn DS mouse models have been genetically modified to have 3 copies of numerous genes found on human chromosome 21, including DYRK1A, which plays a role in bone and brain development. EGCG is a known inhibitor of Dyrk1a activity. For this study, pregnant Ts65Dn mice were treated with 200 mg/kg of ECGC twice daily on days 7 and 8 of pregnancy. It was …

Primo Levi’S Journey Home From Auschwitz In The Light Of Ancient Civic Pilgrimage: Levi’S The Truce As A Form Of Theōria, Robert Pirro

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Primo Levi, a Jewish-Italian chemist captured with other members of a partisan band in German-occupied northern Italy and deported to Auschwitz, survived his ordeal to write one of the more acclaimed testimonies of Nazi inhumanity, Se questo è un uomo (Survival in Auschwitz). Taking as a starting point a parallel Levi explicitly draws between the aims of postwar pilgrimages to Auschwitz commemorations and the effect he hoped his books would have on his readers, this article shows how his second book, La tregua (The Reawakening), which relates his roundabout and oft-delayed journey home to Turin after the Red Army’s liberation …

Assessing Root System Architecture Of Wheat Seedlings Using A High-Throughput Root Phenotyping System, Ekundayo Adeleke, Reneth Millas, Waymon Mcneal, Justin Faris, Ali Taheri

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Background and aims Root system architecture is a vital part of the plant that has been shown to vary between species and within species based on response to genotypic and/or environmental influences. The root traits of wheat seedlings is critical for the establishment and evidently linked to plant height and seed yield. However, plant breeders have not efficiently developed the role of RSA in wheat selection due to the difficulty of studying root traits.

Methods We set up a root phenotyping platform to characterize RSA in 34 wheat accessions. The phenotyping pipeline consists of the germination paper-based moisture replacement system, …

Stovepiped In Silence: The Growing Threat Of White Supremacy Extremism In The Pacific Northwest, Dacia J. Grayber

CUP Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this practicum proposal is to address the growing threat of White Supremacy Extremism (henceforth referred to as “WSE”) in the Portland Metro region and explore the barriers to identifying WSE and obstacles with information sharing. By understanding current conditions and leaning forward with proactive and holistic approaches to education and information sharing, on a local and regional level we may be able to interrupt the cycle of proliferation and interdict future bias and hate crimes in our communities.

The Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RDPO) is one of several local agencies that could potentially serve as a possible …

Automated Monitoring Of Behaviour In Zebrafish After Invasive Procedures, Anthony G. Deakin, Jonathan Buckley, Hamzah S. Alzu'bi, Andrew R. Cossins, Joseph W. Spencer, Waleed Al'nuaimy, Iain S. Young, Jack S. Thomson, Lynne U. Sneddon

Validation of Animal Experimentation Collection

Fish are used in a variety of experimental contexts often in high numbers. To maintain their welfare and ensure valid results during invasive procedures it is vital that we can detect subtle changes in behaviour that may allow us to intervene to provide pain-relief. Therefore, an automated method, the Fish Behaviour Index (FBI), was devised and used for testing the impact of laboratory procedures and efficacy of analgesic drugs in the model species, the zebrafish. Cameras with tracking software were used to visually track and quantify female zebrafish behaviour in real time after a number of laboratory procedures including fin …

Comparison Between Hydrogen And Halogen Bonds In Complexes Of 6-Ox-Fulvene With Pnicogen And Chalcogen Electron Donors, Mingchang Hou, Qing-Zhong Li, Steve Scheiner

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Quantum chemical calculations are applied to complexes of 6‐OX‐fulvene (X=H, Cl, Br, I) with ZH3/H2Y (Z=N, P, As, Sb; Y=O, S, Se, Te) to study the competition between the hydrogen bond and the halogen bond. The H‐bond weakens as the base atom grows in size and the associated negative electrostatic potential on the Lewis base atom diminishes. The pattern for the halogen bonds is more complicated. In most cases, the halogen bond is stronger for the heavier halogen atom, and pnicogen electron donors are more strongly bound than chalcogen. Halogen bonds to chalcogen atoms strengthen in the order O

June 20-21, 2019, Ohio University Board Of Trustees Meeting Minutes, Ohio University Board Of Trustees

Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes

Meeting minutes document the activities of Ohio University's Board of Trustees.

Tk1 As A Biomarker Of Chemosensitivity And Metastatic Potential In Breast Tumors, Eric Olsen, Kim O'Neill

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, accounting for 23% of total cancer cases and 14% of cancer deaths. Breast carcinoma is not a simple disease. It is comprised of many different biological forms with distinct phenotypes and prognoses. Hormone receptor expression, such as ER, PR, and HER2, along with more universal clinical manifestations like pathological stage, grade, and lymph node invasion are often used for patient prognosis. The heterogeneous nature of breast tumors makes prognosis and response to therapies difficult to determine, and further research is needed to classify breast tumors and their response to …

The Yeast Protein Mam33 Functions In The Assembly Of The Mitochondrial Ribosome, Gabrielle A Hillman, Michael F Henry

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Mitochondrial ribosomes are functionally specialized for the synthesis of several essential inner membrane proteins of the respiratory chain. Although remarkable progress has been made toward understanding the structure of mitoribosomes, the pathways and factors that facilitate their biogenesis remain largely unknown. The long unstructured domains of unassembled ribosomal proteins are highly prone to misfolding and often require dedicated chaperones to prevent aggregation. To date, chaperones that ensure safe delivery to the assembling ribosome have not been identified in the mitochondrion. In this study, a respiratory synthetic lethality screen revealed a role for an evolutionarily conserved mitochondrial matrix protein called Mam33 …

Nrxn1 Deletion And Exposure To Methylmercury Increase Astrocyte Differentiation By Different Notch-Dependent Transcriptional Mechanisms, Marilena Raciti, Salma Jahan, Stefan Spulber, Giulia Gaudenzi, Zahra Khalajzeyqami, Mirko Conti, Britt-Marie Anderlid, Anna Falk, Ola Hermans, Sandra Ceccatelli

Centre for Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cell Research

Controversial evidence points to a possible involvement of methylmercury (MeHg) in the etiopathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In the present study, we used human neuroepithelial stem cells from healthy donors and from an autistic patient bearing a bi-allelic deletion in the gene encoding for NRXN1 to evaluate whether MeHg would induce cellular changes comparable to those seen in cells derived from the ASD patient. In healthy cells, a subcytotoxic concentration of MeHg enhanced astroglial differentiation similarly to what observed in the diseased cells (N1), as shown by the number of GFAP positive cells and immunofluorescence signal intensity. In both …

Development Of Solid Lipid-Polymer Hybrid Nanoparticles As Potential Oral Delivery Systems For Lipophilic Bioactive Compounds, Taoran Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

Solid lipid–polymer hybrid nanoparticles (SLPN) are nanocarriers made from a combination of polymers and lipids. By integrating the advantages of biocompatible lipid-based nanoparticles and gastrointestinal (GI)-stable polymeric nanoparticles, SLPN are the ideal delivery system for delivering lipophilic compounds orally. In this project, two novel preparation strategies were proposed to fabricate GI-stable SLPN: 1) Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and dextran were first conjugated through Maillard reaction and the conjugates were exploited as macromolecular emulsifier and surface coating layer to prepare SLPN by a solvent diffusion and sonication method. In this approach, the multilayer structure was formed by self-assembly of BSA-dextran micelles …

Why Does Handedness Exist In Bilaterally Symmetrical Organisms?, Erik S. Johnson, Jerald Johnson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

I address this question in a tropical livebearing fish species that shows a unique form of morphological asymmetry and an unusual form of behavioral laterality. The livebearing fish Xenophallus umbratilis exhibits a mating morphology where the male gonopodium—a structure used to inseminate females—terminates with either a dextral of sinistral corkscrew. That is, males are either ‘left handed’ or ‘right handed’ with respect to their gonopodium. We think that this might be related to a phenomenon in which individuals show a lateral bias in eye use to approach different stimuli, a form of behavioral laterality, that in other vertebrates is linked …

Characterization Of A Non-Contact Imaging Scintillator-Based Dosimetry System For Total Skin Electron Therapy., Irwin I. Tendler, Petr Bruza, Michael Jermyn, Xu Cao, Benjamin B. Williams, Lesley A. Jarvis, Brian W. Pogue, David J. Gladstone

Dartmouth Scholarship

Surface dosimetry is required for ensuring effective administration of total skin electron therapy (TSET); however, its use is often reduced due to the time consuming and complex nature of acquisition. A new surface dose imaging technique was characterized in this study and found to provide accurate, rapid and remote measurement of surface doses without the need for post-exposure processing. Disc-shaped plastic scintillators (1 mm thick  ×  15 mm [Formula: see text]) were chosen as optimal-sized samples and designed to attach to a flat-faced phantom for irradiation using electron beams. Scintillator dosimeter response to radiation damage, dose rate, and temperature were …

Ohio First Scholars Program Provides Mentors To First-Generation Students (June 21, 2019), University Communications And Marketing

OHIO News Articles Archive

No abstract provided.

5th Grade Adaptation, Michael Carroll

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

A 10 day lesson plan for teaching students in the 5th grade about Biology; specifically on adaptation, inherited traits, and learned behaviors.

Organ-Izing The Human Body System [7th Grade], Aly Kirchhof

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

This unit is designed around 7th grade TEKS 7.7A, B, 7.12 B, C, E, 7.13 A, B, 7.14 B and focusing on the body systems of human. This unit is designed to take 5 weeks and is sandwiched between a unit on cells and heredity. Students will explore the importance of cells operating collectively to create organs and how these organs and organ systems are codependent. Students will also be exploring how internal and external stimulus impact an organism. Students will apply their knowledge of the human body systems to dissect a frog. They will identify, label and present their …

Concerns Important To Parents After Their Child's Suicide Attempt: An Interdisciplinary And International Collaboration, Kari Lynne Hickey, Jeanette Rossetti, Kathleen Musker, Siobhan Smyth

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Adolescent suicide is an international public health problem. This presentation will report a community based participatory research study on the needs and concerns of parents whose adolescent child had made a suicide attempt. Perspectives on parent and adolescent suicide research from the United States and Ireland will be presented.

Structural Basis For The Homotypic Fusion Of Chlamydial Inclusions By The Snare-Like Protein Inca., Gino Cingolani, Michael Mccauley, Anna Lobley, Alexander J Bryer, Jordan Wesolowski, Deanna L Greco, Ravi K Lokareddy, Erik Ronzone, Juan R Perilla, Fabienne Paumet

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Many intracellular bacteria, including Chlamydia, establish a parasitic membrane-bound organelle inside the host cell that is essential for the bacteria's survival. Chlamydia trachomatis forms inclusions that are decorated with poorly characterized membrane proteins known as Incs. The prototypical Inc, called IncA, enhances Chlamydia pathogenicity by promoting the homotypic fusion of inclusions and shares structural and functional similarity to eukaryotic SNAREs. Here, we present the atomic structure of the cytoplasmic domain of IncA, which reveals a non-canonical four-helix bundle. Structure-based mutagenesis, molecular dynamics simulation, and functional cellular assays identify an intramolecular clamp that is essential for IncA-mediated homotypic membrane fusion during …

20 Years Of What Ifs, Jody Record

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Student Distractibility With School-Issued Computers, Emily Mae Conaway

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this exploratory investigation were to (a) determine if students are able to identify when and how often they become off task while using computers, (b) if middle school aged students are mature enough to self-regulate their technology use, and (c) which strategies teachers could incorporate to limit students' technology distractions.

The researcher broke this study into three phases to study reward strategies designed to keep students on task while using their devices. The first step was to gather baseline data from students and teachers using two surveys. After the educator surveys were evaluated, teachers in the social …

Exploring Young Women’S Choice To Initiate Use Of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception: A Mixed Methods Approach, Helen Mahony

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: The United States has the highest rate of unintended pregnancy compared to any other developed country. Unintended pregnancy is associated with negative health outcomes for both parents and children. It is estimated that government expenditures for unintended pregnancy total $21 billion each year. Women ages 18-25 years old have the highest rate of unintended pregnancy. This age group is categorized as emerging adulthood, and this is a unique developmental period in a person’s life. Given the high rate of unintended pregnancies and the associated negative outcomes, increasing the use of more reliable methods of birth control is a public …

Use Of Amulet In Behavioral Change For Geriatric Obesity Management, John A. Batsis, Alexandra B. Zagaria, Ryan J. Halter, George G. Boateng, Patrick Proctor, Stephen J. Bartels, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: Obesity in older adults is a significant public health concern. Weight-loss interventions are known to improve physical function but risk the development of sarcopenia. Mobile health devices have the potential to augment existing interventions and, if designed accordingly, could improve one’s physical activity and strength in routine physical activity interventions.

Methods and results: We present Amulet, a mobile health device that has the capability of engaging patients in physical activity. The purpose of this article is to discuss the development of applications that are tailored to older adults with obesity, with the intention to engage and improve their health. …

A Green Gateway For The Botanic Garden, Carolyn Altman

Sustainability Showcase (2014-2022)

Carolyn Altman, Botanic Garden Director ($50,000.00)

Transformed the former parking lot into a welcoming foyer garden, an accessible promenade woven through a new tree collection, and a delightful creek that properly manages storm water. A permeable parking lot and a gateway building was also constructed from reclaimed steel.