Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation Of An Alternative Protocol For The Production Of Sars-Cov-2 Antigenic Proteins, Nichole Ninaltowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, large-scale antigenic protein production is still needed for surveillance using serologic assays. From screening to vaccines to biotherapeutics, being able to produce the proteins for these assays is essential; however, the current gold standard method for producing SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins is prohibitively expensive for most research groups.

Alternative methods of transfecting mammalian cells to produce recombinant proteins that are relatively inexpensive have been used for years. Unlike the expensive, commercially available lipid-based methods, other established methods such as polyethyleneimine (PEI), are considerably easier, and cheaper to meet the needs of …

A Functional Characterization Of The Omega (Ω) Subunit Of Rna Polymerase In Staphylococcus Aureus, Shrushti B. Patil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In bacteria, RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a well-characterized and highly conserved multi-subunit enzyme complex responsible for transcription of DNA into RNA. The ω subunit (rpoZ/RpoZ), one of the smaller accessory subunits of RNAP, is often overlooked and under-studied, however, particularly in Gram-positive species. We have previously shown that deleting ω impacts the integrity of RNA polymerase in S. aureus, especially the β' subunit, and alters preference of the core enzyme for sigma factors, skewing heavily towards σB instead of the housekeeping σ factor. Consequently, this causes deregulation of myriad transcriptional processes, strongly rewiring gene expression circuits, and ultimately impairing the …

October 29, 2021 Ereporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Ptsd As An Endothelial Disease: Insights From Covid-19, Adonis Sfera, Carolina Osorio, Leah Rahman, Carlos M. Zapata Martín Del Campo, Jose Campo Maldonado, Nyla Jafri, Michael Cummings, Steve Maurer, Zisis Kozlakidis

School of Medicine Publications

SARS-CoV-2 virus, the etiologic agent of COVID-19, has affected almost every aspect of human life, precipitating stress-related pathology in vulnerable individuals. As the prevalence rate of posttraumatic stress disorder in pandemic survivors exceeds that of the general and special populations, the virus may predispose to this disorder by directly interfering with the stress-processing pathways. The SARS-CoV-2 interactome has identified several antigens that may disrupt the blood-brain-barrier by inducing premature senescence in many cell types, including the cerebral endothelial cells. This enables the stress molecules, including angiotensin II, endothelin-1 and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, to aberrantly activate the amygdala, hippocampus, and …

Multifunctionality Of Prostatic Acid Phosphatase In Prostate Cancer Pathogenesis, Evgenia Alpert, Armin Akhavan, Arie Gruzman, William J. Hansen, Joshua Lehrer-Graiwer, Steven C. Hall, Eric Johansen, Sean Mcallister, Mittul Gulati, Ming-Fong Lin, Vishwanath R Lingappa

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

The role of human prostatic acid phosphatase (PAcP, P15309|PPAP_HUMAN) in prostate cancer was investigated using a new proteomics tool termed signal sequence swapping (replacement of domains from the native cleaved amino terminal signal sequence of secretory/membrane proteins with corresponding regions of functionally distinct signal sequence subtypes). This manipulation preferentially redirects proteins to different pathways of biogenesis at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), magnifying normally difficult to detect subsets of the protein of interest. For PAcP, this technique reveals three forms identical in amino acid sequence but profoundly different in physiological functions, subcellular location, and biochemical properties. These three forms of PAcP …

Very Young Child Survivors’ Perceptions Of Their Father’S Suicide: Exploring Bibliotherapy As Postvention Support, Cortland L. Watson, Elizabeth Cutrer, Melissa A. Heath, Erica E. Miller, Terrell A. Young, Suzanne Wilson

Faculty Publications

Each year in the United States, 7000 to 30,000 children experience their parent’s suicide. Due to the stigma associated with suicide, feelings of guilt, and intense grief, surviving family members avoid talking about suicide. Over time, children struggle with confusion and intense emotions associated with their parent’s suicide. In this study, seven adults, who reported being younger than six years old at the time of their father’s suicide, participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Participants’ responses highlight the challenges that young children face due to limited memories of their deceased parent. Interviews concluded with an opportunity for participants to review and …

Stress-Testing And Credit Risk Revisited: A Shipping Sector Application, Anna Merika, Ioannis Negkakis, Henry Penikas

Plymouth Business School

Conventional stress-testing in credit risk management may considerably underestimate economic losses associated with the most negative scenarios. In this paper, we show that in order to properly stress-test credit risk, we need to derive initially the default correlation among assets or companies. Then a risk measure needs to be applied to the stressed default rate distribution, in order to obtain default rates attached to the most negative scenarios. We find that the application of both the stressed default correlation and the risk measure deliver considerable deviations from the conventional approach. To illustrate our approach we use 192 publicly listed shipping …

Section Editorial: Innovations In Teaching And Course Delivery, A Syska

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Maris: Scalable Online Scenario Development Tool For Rangeland Conservancy Managers Using High Spatial-Temporal Resolution Carrying Capacity Maps And Livestock Market Data, L. G. J. Boerboom, R. O. Ohuru, A. G. Toxopeus, W. Nieuwenhuis, C. A. J. M. De Bie, P. K. Mwangi, M. L. Schouwenburg, R. L. G. Lemmens

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Although the management of livestock numbers within the bounds of carrying capacity of African rangelands is a way to manage risks, both scientists and practitioners, caution against a momentary and local use of carrying capacity as a management indicator. Carrying capacity should be seen in wider spatial and temporal/seasonal context as well as in a social and economic context. Given the large numbers of conservancies across Kenya, and its Maasai Mara region in particular, with many more landowner members, it is difficult for conservancies’ managers to contextualize phenomena such as carrying capacity and market price over space and time.

We …

Assessing The Impacts Of Different Initiatives On The Rehabilitation Of Pastoral And Silvopastoral Ecosystems: Big Data Oriented Approach, Said Moukrim, Said Lahssini, Mustapha Naggar, K. Menzou, H. Mharzi-Alaoui, A. Labbaci, L. Rhazi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Moroccan forests, through the provision of goods and ecosystem services, underpins benefits to local communities and play a crucial role for rural area development. The legal framework recognizes to people, living near public forests, the right to graze their domestic livestock. Over the years, the grazing pressure is at levels far beyond the forestland’s carrying capacity throughout the country. Such pressure has been demonstrated as the main cause of forest cover loss and land degradation in Morocco and still threatening the sustainability of forests. To reduce the heavy grazing pressure on forest ecosystems and ensure their regeneration, several initiatives have …

The Role Of Indigenous Knowledge In The Effective Collective Management Of The Communal Rangelands, A. Finca, S. Linnane, D. Getty, J. H. Slinger

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Numerous scientific studies have highlighted the complexities associated with the collective management of communal rangelands. To date, policy interventions in rangelands have largely ignored people’s traditional ways of managing, with adverse effects on rangeland productivity. Thus, local knowledge has not been considered in spatial planning, despite the fact that local rural communities are often repositories of key indigenous knowledge. Hence this study set out to evaluate the role of indigenous knowledge in the management of the communal rangeland in Cata and Guquka, now and in the future. This was achieved through the use of Participatory GIS (PGIS), specifically participatory mapping …

Land Users – Land Watchers, J. H. Stefánsson, B. Marteinsdóttir

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

GróLind is a collaborative project with the aim of monitoring Icelandic vegetation and soil resources. It was founded in 2017 by the Icelandic National Associations of Sheep Farmers, the Farmers Association of Iceland, Ministry of Industries and Innovation, and the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland. GróLind is a collaborative project and cooperation with stakeholders, such as the science community, landowners, and others, is a fundamental concept in the project.

In this project, the state of vegetation and soils are evaluated. Currently, a citizen science project is being developed within GróLind, in which land-users will annually monitor, using a mobile app, …

Silvopastoral Strategy And Sustainable Management Of Forests In Morocco, Mustapha Naggar, Said Lahssini, Said Moukrim, Anass Legdou

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In Morocco, forests act as a grazing reserve all year long and in a normal year produce 1.5 billion feed units, i.e. 17 % of the national forage assessment. The pastoral question is one of the factors involved in the desertification of forested areas against a bioclimatic background where more than 93% of the national territory is arid. In 2016, the Water and Forestry Department in cooperation with its partners, devised a nation-wide sylvo-pastoral strategy. The approach adopted consists in sustainably managing sylvo-pastoral resources over the long term based on good governance of all goods and services offered by forested …

Predicting Lis Scholarly Research Directions In The Era Of Data Science, Nazia Ismail Chohdary Mphil, Mahe Bushra Asghar Phd, Muhammad Ahmad Al Shaheer

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to present the quantitative analysis of scholarly literature published worldwide on Data Science in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS).

Design/methodology/approach –The Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database was used as the main source for extracting data from the published documents during the period 2010-2019. The analysis of the published documents was based on the following important trends: Number of Data Science publications in all fields, Number of Data Science publications in the LIS field, the most cited document type on Data Science in LIS perspective, the …

Challenges Of Access To Post-Secondary Music Education Programs For People Of Color, C. Michael Palmer

Visions of Research in Music Education

Access to music teacher education programs in U.S. higher education is a growing concern among music educators, scholars, and critical theorists. A variety of factors can play a role in who gains access to a particular institution and program, including but not limited to (a) socioeconomic status, (b) test scores, (c) race, (d) gender, and (e) cultural expectations (i.e., “accepted” music styles). Although each of these issues is important and often related to the others, the issue of race is markedly significant in view of a field that is predominantly white and in a society where racism still plays a …

Relationships Among Music Listening, Temperament, And Cognitive Abilities Of Four-Year-Old Children, John W. Flohr, Diane C. Resellin, Daniel C. Miller, Harry Meeuwsen

Visions of Research in Music Education

The purpose of the study was twofold: (a) to investigate electrophysiological (EEG) responses in children while listening to two contrasting styles of music, and (b) to investigate the relationship between listening to recorded music and the cognitive abilities of four-year-old children. EEG data were collected on a baseline condition of eyes open. These data were then compared to EEG data produced when children listened to selections of music by Bach, while they listened to selections of rock music, and while they performed a standardized cognitive test of visual closure. Behavioral data were also collected on sex, age, home environment, and …

Difference Out Of Place: Feminist War Machines In Music Education, Elizabeth Gould

Visions of Research in Music Education

Speaking out of place in a profession where it is characterized as “extreme” and “a special interest,” feminism in music education serves as a catalyst for interrogating the profession’s philosophies, practices, and discourses. It has proven to be necessary and influential to the extent that it cannot be ignored, responding to problems like gender segregation and stereotyping of music education positions, music instruments and musical roles, exclusionary performance practices and the music canon, all as implicated by sexuality and race. Responding to the exigencies of these and related issues and self-imposed imperatives to posit alternatives, feminism has been deployed as …

The Construction Of Identity And Musical Identities: A Literature Review, Cecilia A.R. Torres

Visions of Research in Music Education

The purpose of this article is to identify the many aspects that constitute musical identity. The article discusses issues of body, cultural identity and personal identity gleaned from the literature, with an ultimate goal of understanding identity construction among female schoolteachers inside and outside of music education.

Biographies

Exile

No abstract provided.

Gender Differences In Socio-Emotional And Socio-Cultural Perspectives Of Middle School Students In Stem Learning, Danielle A. Riney, Heng-Yu Ku

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

This study investigated the socio-emotional and socio-cultural perspectives of 137 middle school students toward STEM learning in the U.S. Through a 27-item 5-point Likert scale, students’ responses were gathered to complete factor analysis, compute descriptive analysis, and calculate statistical differences found between genders. In socio-emotional learning, female participants scored higher than male participants in the grit and social-awareness factors, while both genders scored similarly in the self-efficacy factor. In socio-cultural learning, male participants scored higher than female participants in the socio-cultural influences factor while both genders scored similarly in the personal focus in STEM factor. However, a statistically significant difference …

Covid-19 Disease And Viral Characteristics In A Long-Term Care Facility, Shauna Assadzandi, Emily Crocetti, Courtney S. Pilkerton, Amie M. Ashcraft, Carl D. Shrader

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Background

Due to the combination of age, comorbidities, and close living quarters, residents at long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are at particularly high risk of severe symptoms and death due to COVID-19.

Methods

This cross-sectional study examines the relationship between demographic characteristics, symptom severity, and length of viral shedding in 49 residents testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 at a LTCF in West Virginia (WV).

Results

Over half of the residents were asymptomatic, while nearly a quarter experienced severe symptoms. Women were more likely to be asymptomatic, and age was not associated with symptom severity. While no specific medical condition was associated with …

Alpha-Gal Allergy: A New Threat To Appalachia, Adam M. Franks Md, Makala Murphy Bs, Madison Griffis Md, Rebekah Franks Ba, Cwr, Colin M. Franks, Gary Petty Md

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Abstract

Alpha-gal allergy, or mammalian meat allergy, is described as the development of IgE antibodies to the oligosaccharide galactose-a-1,3-galactose following a bite from the tick species Amblyomma americanum (Lone Star tick) or Dermacentor variabillis (Wood tick). Dermatologic or gastrointestinal symptoms are usually delayed by four to six hours after exposure, making the diagnosis difficult. Due to the use of mammalian proteins in many common medications, surgical equipment and prosthesis, unexpected reactions can occur. In the United States, this pathology is predominately seen in the southeast, but has been associated with other tick species on every continent except Antarctica. As the …

Understanding Disparities In Clinical Trials For Native Hawaiian Men, Gabriela A. Layi, Kevin Cassel, Maile Taualii, Jeffrey L. Berenberg, Erin O. Bantum

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Understanding low rates of participation by minority populations in clinical trials is critical for reducing and eliminating disparities. We examined beliefs and attitudes of Native Hawaiian men related to illness and cancer to better understand their rates of participation in clinical trials. We conducted face-to-face interviews with Native Hawaiian key informants throughout the State of Hawai‘i using quota sampling methods to obtain a range of perspectives about attitudes towards health care seeking to provide insight into low clinical trials participation. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and independently coded by researchers. Thematic analysis guided the extraction of relevant data from the discussions. …

Contributors' Notes

Exile

No abstract provided.

Efficacy Of Curcumin Supplementation In Asthma: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Tabitha M. Grow, Adam Sadowski

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Objective: Over 23 million people are affected by asthma in the United States and 262 million individuals globally. Asthma, if poorly controlled, is associated with significant morbidity as well as increased risk for mortality. Several complex inflammatory pathways and processes are involved leading to an increase in immune cell activation. Curcumin, the active constituent found in turmeric, has been studied in numerous in-vivo and in-vitro studies to generate anti-inflammatory effects in pulmonary diseases. More recently, an increase in clinical data has become available, and since the most recent review assessing the role of curcumin in pulmonary disorders, additional clinical …

"We Had To Rely On Each Other": Voices Of Latinx Foster Youth With Experiences In Care With Siblings, Isabella B. Ginsberg

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Relationships between members of sibling groups have been found to impact well-being for children who enter foster care (Herrick & Piccus, 2005). Being placed in stranger foster care is often challenging and can be traumatic with children reporting confusion, worry, and loss of identity and sense of belonging (Herrick & Piccus, 2005, Unrau et al, 2008). While there is some research that explores the experiences of siblings groups in foster care and others separately that examines Latinx children in foster care, there is very little information that looks into the potentially unique experiences of Latinx individuals who were in care …

Conquer And Prevail Issue 86 October 28 2021, Wofford College. Office Of Marketing And Communications

Conquer and Prevail Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Semi-Empirical Modeling Of Liquid Carbon's Containerless Solidification, Philip Chrostoski

Dissertations

Elemental carbon has important structural diversity, ranging from nanotubes through graphite to diamond. Previous studies of micron-size core/rim carbon spheres extracted from primitive meteorites suggest they formed around such stars via the solidification of condensed carbon-vapor droplets, followed by gas-to-solid carbon coating to form the graphite rims. Similar core/rim particles result from the slow cooling of carbon vapor in the lab. The long-range carbon bond-order potential was used to computationally study liquid-like carbon in (1.8 g/𝐜𝐦𝟑) periodic boundary (tiled-cube supercell) and containerless (isolated cluster) settings. Relaxations via conjugate-gradient and simulatedannealing nucleation and growth simulations using molecular dynamics were done to …

Vol.49 N.15 October 28th 2021, Voice Media Ventures

Black Voice News

No abstract provided.

Flock-Species Richness Influences Node Importance And Modularity In Mixed-Species Flock Networks, Priti Bangal, Hari Sridhar, Daizaburo Shizuka, Laura N. Vander Meiden, Kartik Shankar

Papers in Behavior in Biological Sciences

Interdependencies in social groups of animals are a combination of multiple pairwise interactions. Heterospecific groups are often characterized by important species that contribute more to group initiation, maintenance or function than other species. However, in large heterospecific groups, many pairwise interactions are not realised, while others may not be biologically significant, confounding inferences about species importance. Hence, in this study, we examine context dependent changes in species importance and assortment in mixed-species bird flocks from a tropical field site in Southern India using social network analysis. Specifically, we ask how the structural importance of a species and the clustering patterns …