The Dna Landscape: Development And Application Of A New Framework For Visual Communication About Dna, Leslie Kate Wright, Emalee Wrightstone, Lauren Trumpore, Julia Steele, Deanna M. Abid, Dina L. Newman

Articles

Learning molecular biology involves using visual representations to communicate ideas about largely unobservable biological processes and molecules. Genes and gene expression cannot be directly visualized, but students are expected to learn and understand these and related concepts. Theoretically, textbook illustrations should help learners master such concepts, but how are genes and other DNA-linked concepts illustrated for learners? We examined all DNA-related images found in 12 undergraduate biology textbooks to better understand what biology students encounter when learning concepts related to DNA. Our analysis revealed a wide array of DNA images that were used to design a new visual framework, the …

When The Lion Learns To Write: A Counterstory About A Doctoral Student's Qualitative Research Project, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

Chicano/Latino Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay utilizes critical race theory composite counterstorytelling to tell a story about Alberto, a first-generation Xicano doctoral student who is presenting his dissertation research proposal to his qualitative research class. Through Alberto’s character, I discuss my complicated process of designing and conducting a research study. Specifically, I reflect on why I decided to study the experiences of Mexican, Mexican American, and Xicanx students in higher education, why I used critical race theory, Latinx/a/o critical race theory, and critical race spatial analysis as theoretical frameworks, why I utilized critical collaborative ethnography as my research approach, and why I chose counterstorytelling …

Reforming Local Property For An Era Of National Decline, Daniel B. Rosenbaum

Buffalo Law Review

Following a century of rapid growth, the global human population is predicted to crest and then decline in the coming generations. Some industrialized countries are already grappling with the economic and societal consequences of population loss. Others, including the United States, have only started to realize that decline might arrive on their doorsteps far sooner than originally anticipated, a prospect for which policymakers and legal scholars are presently unprepared.

Global and national demographic change threaten to cause far-reaching dislocations, and local municipalities, too, will be asked to reckon with the aftermath. Yet local governance in the United States has long …

Unh Manchester Spring 2022 Dean's List, Kassidy Taylor

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Soil Moisture Mediated Behavioral And Physiological Alterations Of Coptotermes Formosanus And Reticulitermes Flavipes (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae), Steven J. Richardson

LSU Master's Theses

Substrate moisture is a critical environmental factor for the survival and behavior of subterranean termites (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae). The invasive Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) and the native eastern subterranean termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) co-occur in the southeastern United States, but C. formosanus is predominant in subtropical and R. flavipes is more common in temperate regions. The difference in their geographic distributions is largely attributed to their different behavioral and physiological ecology. While ample research has been done on foraging behavior of the two species, there was no empirical evidence for the effects of constant soil moisture on …

The Male Treatment Of The Female Migraine: Historicizing Migraine Attacks Through A Multifaceted Framework Of Sexism, Sophie Edelstein

Sociology Between the Gaps: Forgotten and Neglected Topics

No abstract provided.

Γ-Secretase Promotes Drosophila Postsynaptic Development Through The Cleavage Of A Wnt Receptor, Lucas J Restrepo, Alison T Depew, Elizabeth R Moese, Stephen R Tymanskyj, Michael J Parisi, Michael A Aimino, Juan Carlos Duhart, Hong Fei, Timothy J Mosca

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Developing synapses mature through the recruitment of specific proteins that stabilize presynaptic and postsynaptic structure and function. Wnt ligands signaling via Frizzled (Fz) receptors play many crucial roles in neuronal and synaptic development, but whether and how Wnt and Fz influence synaptic maturation is incompletely understood. Here, we show that Fz2 receptor cleavage via the γ-secretase complex is required for postsynaptic development and maturation. In the absence of γ-secretase, Drosophila neuromuscular synapses fail to recruit postsynaptic scaffolding and cytoskeletal proteins, leading to behavioral deficits. Introducing presenilin mutations linked to familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease into flies leads to synaptic maturation phenotypes …

Understanding The Horse Fly Species And Species Relations Of The Tabanus Nigrovittatus Complex Along Coastal Louisiana, Darrius M. Davis

LSU Master's Theses

The Dipteran family Tabanidae is among the most diverse families of insects that is comprised of approximately 144 genera with 4455 described species (Pape et al. 2011). Members of the family Tabanidae have been studied for well over 100 years in Louisiana. Hine (1906, 1907) conducted the first surveys of the members of the tabanid family and noted the presence of 14 species. Jones and Bradley (1923) supplemented Hine’s observations with their own inventory of horse flies across four parishes and found an additional 14 species that were not recorded by Hine. Subsequently, Tidwell (1970, 1973) conducted a survey of …

Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling Of Hemodialysis In Patients With An Arteriovenous Fistula, Maximilian Roth

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

With the advent of using an arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis, the anastomosis built for such use has become a central point of study to help understand the flow and wall shear stresses in various parts of the hemodialysis system. Using the common creation site of an anastomosis and connecting the radial artery to the cephalic vein, a model is created to determine the wall shear stresses across various components of the system since wall shear stresses play an important role in evaluating the efficacy of the system. The model also includes the insertion of needles to simulate the hemodialysis procedure. …

Intouch July 11, 2022, New York Medical College

InTouch

• GSBMS Officially Renamed to Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
• Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy Welcomes New Faculty Members
• Golfers Gather to Honor Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery David E. Asprinio, M.D, and Raise More than $185,000
• The Latest Issue of Chironian is Now Available
• NYMC and TU to Host 20th COVID-19 Symposium on July 14
• Tetyana Cheairs, M.D., M.S.P.H., Stepped Up for Her Native Ukraine During a Time of Great Need

End Matter, Vol. 82 No. 2

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Validity Of Remission Criteria In Rheumatoid Arthritis Compared To Ultrasound-Defined Remission, Kawther Ben Abdelghani, Saoussen Miladi, Yasmine Makhlouf, Alia Fazaa, Mariem Sallemi, Leila Souebni, Kmar Ouenniche, Selma Kassab, Selma Chekili, Kamel Ben Salem, Leith Zakraoui, Ahmed Laatar

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: Remission is the ultimate purpose of treatment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, even when the most stringent composite scores are used, structural damages can occur; hence, ultrasonography (US) appears to be the best way to assess real remission. This study aimed to investigate the validity of different RA remission scores using US as a reference. Methods: An analytic diagnostic study, of 30 RA patients in remission (according to the Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints [DAS28]) and a control group with active RA, was conducted between January and October 2018 at Mongi Slim Hospital in Tunis, Tunisia. Among them, …

Prediction Of Cultivation Areas For The Commercial And An Early Flowering Wild Accession Of Salvia Hispanica L. In The United States, Mohammad Hassani, Thomas Piechota, Hagop S. Atamian

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Salvia hispanica L., commonly known as chia, is a plant-based alternative to seafood and is rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acid, protein, fiber, and antioxidants. In the Northern Hemisphere, chia flowering is triggered by the fall equinox (12-h light and dark, early October) and the seeds mature after approximately three months. Chia is sensitive to frost and end of season moisture which limits its cultivation to small areas in regions with temperate climate. The U.S. chia import has increased considerably over the years; however, chia is not widely cultivated in the United States. This study used the historical U.S. temperature …

Simulation And Localization Of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Leveraging Lie Group Structure, Easton Robert Potokar

Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have the potential to dramatically improve safety, quality of life and general scientific knowledge. Our coasts, lakes and rivers are filled with various forms of marine infrastructure including dams, bridges, ship hulls, communication lines, and oil rigs. Each of these structures requires regular inspection, and current methods utilize divers, which is dangerous, expensive, and time consuming. AUVs have the potential to alleviate these difficulties and enable more regular inspection of these structures. Furthermore, there are significant scientific discoveries in the fields of geology, marine biology and medicine that AUV exploration of our oceans will enable. Since …

Genetic Risk, Midlife Life's Simple 7, And Incident Dementia In The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study, Adrienne Tin, Jan Bressler, Jeannette Simino, Kevin J Sullivan, Hao Mei, B Gwen Windham, Michael Griswold, Rebecca F Gottesman, Eric Boerwinkle, Myriam Fornage, Thomas H Mosley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Higher scores in Life's Simple 7 (LS7), a metric for cardiovascular and brain health, have been associated with lower risk of dementia. It is uncertain whether this association holds among those with high genetic risk of dementia. Our objective is to evaluate the extent that LS7 may offset dementia risk across the range of genetic risk.

METHODS: Participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study were followed from 1987-1989 to 2019. We derived midlife LS7 scores and generated genetic risk scores (GRS) using genome-wide summary statistics of Alzheimer disease, which have been used to study the …

Urinary Metabolites Of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons In Firefighters: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Jooyeon Hwang, Chao Xu, Paul Grunsted, Robert J Agnew, Tara R Malone, Shari Clifton, Krista Thompson, Xin Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Firefighters are intermittently exposed to complex, mixed pollutants in random settings. Of those pollutants, PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are the most commonly studied and best understood. PAH exposure can occur via multiple routes; therefore, the levels of hydroxylated metabolites of PAHs in urine have been used as a biomonitoring tool for risk assessment. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to estimate the levels of urinary hydroxylated PAH (OHPAH) among firefighters, determine risk attributions, and, finally, evaluate the scope of preventive efforts and their utility as diagnostic tools. The meta-regression confirmed increases in OHPAH concentrations after fire …

Front Matter, Vol. 82 No. 2

Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Findings From The Gulf War Women’S Cohort: Reproductive And Children’S Health Outcomes Among Women Veterans, Alexa Friedman, Patricia A Janulewicz Lloyd, Jeffrey Carlson, Emily Quinn, Dylan Keating, Rosemary Toomey, Timothy Heeren, Steven S Coughlin, Glenn Markenson, Maxine Krengel, Kimberly Sullivan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Reproductive outcomes, such as preterm birth, miscarriage/stillbirth, and pre-eclampsia, are understudied in veterans, particularly among Gulf War veterans (GWVs). During deployment, women GWVs were exposed to toxicant and nontoxicant exposures that may be associated with adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes. The data come from a survey of 239 participants from northeastern and southern U.S. cohorts of women veterans. The questionnaire collected information about the service history, current and past general health, reproductive and family health, demographic information, and deployment exposures. Odds ratios were computed with 95% confidence intervals between exposures in theater and reproductive/children's health outcomes. GWVs experienced adverse reproductive …

Dual Isotopic (O & N) Approach In The Assessment Of No3- Pollution In An Urban River, Abongwa T. Pride, Walter Den, Aarin Teague

Water Resources Science and Technology Faculty Publications (Archived)

Deterioration of urban waterways has become a major environmental concern as management and recreational goals are often hampered by poor water quality. The San Antonio River (TX, USA), whose upper reaches, including its headwaters, pass through a highly urbanized community, is vulnerable to pollution from a myriad of anthropogenic activities within its initial 17-km stretch. This investigation applied a dual-isotope approach to characterize water samples collected during the wet season (May–June, 2019) in order to assess the potential sources of nitrate in the urban stretch of river. The δ¹⁵N-_NO3 and δ¹⁸O-_NO3 values ranged from …

Metabolic Requirement For Got2 In Pancreatic Cancer Depends On Environmental Context, Samuel A Kerk, Lin Lin, Amy L Myers, Damien J Sutton, Anthony Andren, Peter Sajjakulnukit, Li Zhang, Yaqing Zhang, Jennifer A Jiménez, Barbara S Nelson, Brandon Chen, Anthony Robinson, Galloway Thurston, Samantha B Kemp, Nina G Steele, Megan T Hoffman, Hui-Ju Wen, Daniel Long, Sarah E Ackenhusen, Johanna Ramos, Xiaohua Gao, Zeribe C Nwosu, Stefanie Galban, Christopher J Halbrook, David B Lombard, David R Piwnica-Worms, Haoqiang Ying, Marina Pasca Di Magliano, Howard C Crawford, Yatrik M Shah, Costas A Lyssiotis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Mitochondrial glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase 2 (GOT2) is part of the malate-aspartate shuttle, a mechanism by which cells transfer reducing equivalents from the cytosol to the mitochondria. GOT2 is a key component of mutant KRAS (KRAS*)-mediated rewiring of glutamine metabolism in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). Here, we demonstrate that the loss of GOT2 disturbs redox homeostasis and halts proliferation of PDA cells in vitro. GOT2 knockdown (KD) in PDA cell lines in vitro induced NADH accumulation, decreased Asp and α-ketoglutarate (αKG) production, stalled glycolysis, disrupted the TCA cycle, and impaired proliferation. Oxidizing NADH through chemical or genetic means resolved the redox imbalance …

Immunophenotypic And Molecular Features Of Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Differentiation Are Distinct From Blastic Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell Neoplasm, Wei Wang, Jie Xu, Joseph D Khoury, Naveen Pemmaraju, Hong Fang, Roberto N Miranda, C Cameron Yin, Siba El Hussein, Fuli Jia, Zhenya Tang, Shimin Hu, Marina Konopleva, L Jeffrey Medeiros, Sa A Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with ≥2% plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) has been recently described as AML with pDC differentiation (pDC-AML) characterized by pDC expansion with frequent RUNX1 mutations. In this study, we investigated a cohort of 53 pDC-AML cases representing about 3% of all AML cases. We characterized their immunophenotype and genetic profiles and compared these findings with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN). pDC-differentiation/expansion was preferentially observed in AML with an immature myeloid or myelomonocytic immunophenotype, where myeloblasts were frequently positive for CD34 (98%), CD117 (94%), HLA-DR (100%) and TdT (79%), with increased CD123 (89%) expression. The median number …

Integrated Persevere And Endothelial Biomarker Risk Model Predicts Death And Persistent Mods In Pediatric Septic Shock: A Secondary Analysis Of A Prospective Observational Study., Mihir R. Atreya, Natalie Z. Cvijanovich, Julie C. Fitzgerald, Scott L. Weiss, Michael T. Bigham, Parag N. Jain, Adam J. Schwarz, Riad Lutfi, Jeffrey Nowak, Geoffrey L. Allen, Neal J. Thomas, Jocelyn R. Grunwell, Torrey Baines, Michael Quasney, Bereketeab Haileselassie, Christopher J. Lindsell, Matthew N. Alder, Hector R. Wong

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is a critical driver of sepsis morbidity and mortality in children. Early identification of those at risk of death and persistent organ dysfunctions is necessary to enrich patients for future trials of sepsis therapeutics. Here, we sought to integrate endothelial and PERSEVERE biomarkers to estimate the composite risk of death or organ dysfunctions on day 7 of septic shock.

METHODS: We measured endothelial dysfunction markers from day 1 serum among those with existing PERSEVERE data. TreeNet® classification model was derived incorporating 22 clinical and biological variables to estimate risk. Based on relative variable importance, …

Characterization Of The Mucosally-Adherent Duodenal Microbiome In Children With And Without Crohn's Disease., Kenneth Schmidt, Janelle R. Noel-Macdonnell Phd, Carrie Vyhlidal, Daniel P. Heruth, Vivekanand Singh, Atif A. Ahmed, Taina Hudson, Veronica Williams, Valentina Shakhnovich

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Manipulation of the microbiome is a rational treatment strategy for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Compared to the colon and terminal ileum (TI), understanding of the microbial composition in the duodenum is sparse. This gap in knowledge is especially significant for children with Crohn's disease (CD) because the prevalence of duodenal CD is higher in children than in adults. Our aim was to characterize the bacterial composition of the mucosally-adherent duodenal microbiome in children with and without CD as a first step toward development of targeted IBD treatment strategies at this disease location. Fresh-frozen mucosal biopsies were obtained from the duodenum …

The Best Self For Whom: Agency, Action, And Capacity In Ted Talk Motivational Speeches, Bilal A. Amodu

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The contemporary United States is characterized by rising standards of productivity in pursuit of success, which James Daniel suggests has caused significant physical and mental strain for many. Self-help materials, such as motivational video lectures, often exploit this discomfort to present specific ideologies as “solutions” to an audience’s anxiety, sense of insufficiency and perceived failure. This project evaluates motivational video lectures from TED to determine how their rhetoric constructs success. This project uses Burkean cluster criticism and queer influenced methodologies to illuminate an understanding of success characterized by perceived action and sustained by stigma. The project finds that the speakers …

Field-Based Selenium Partitioning Coefficients And Trophic Transfer Factors For Cutthroat Trout Fisheries From Four Montane Lakes, Colorado, Usa, Scott J. Herrmann, Del Wayne R. Nimmo, Lynn M. Herrmann-Hoesing

Western North American Naturalist

Most studies of selenium (Se) bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in freshwater habitats have focused primarily on lotic and lentic sites in regions of elevated selenium. In contrast to previous reports, we proposed investigating Se partitioning from water to subsequent trophic levels in oligotrophic montane lakes using concentrations in water, sediment, periphyton, and filamentous algae, and also in the stomach contents and tissues of cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The indicator values for the level-one (water to particulate) partitioning coefficients (K_d values) or enrichment factors (EFs) were as high as 1,641,000 …

Trace Elements In Walleye Tissues And Dietary Components From An Impoundment Located Downstream Of The Leadville Mining District, Colorado, I: Hg And Se, Scott J. Herrmann, Del Wayne R. Nimmo, Igor V. Melnykov

Western North American Naturalist

There is a paucity of studies focusing on how total mercury (THg) and total selenium (TSe) concentrations vary in walleye tissues and prey organisms from a reservoir that is downstream from a major mining district and whose basin consists of Cretaceous sedimentary Se-bearing outcroppings. Pueblo Reservoir in Colorado is fed by water from the upper Arkansas River, which has been polluted by trace metals and metalloids since mining began in 1859. Pueblo Reservoir is the only mainstem impoundment on the Upper Arkansas River and is located about 251 km downstream from the historic Leadville Mining District. Nearly all the contaminated …

Trace Elements In Walleye Tissues And Dietary Components From An Impoundment Located Downstream Of The Leadville Mining District, Colorado, Ii: Cu, Zn, As, Cd, And Pb, Del Wayne R. Nimmo, Scott J. Herrmann, Igor V. Melnykov

Western North American Naturalist

Trace elements in 15 walleye (Sander vitreus) tissues taken from the Pueblo Reservoir in Colorado corresponded to many metals of worldwide concern and were the same as those released into the Arkansas River from decades of mining at Leadville, Colorado. Therefore, analyses of walleye stomach contents, gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum; a dietary prey item for walleye), and tissues of walleye were compared for an increase in, or a deficiency of, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb. Tissues were compared as couplets but also evaluated with tissues clustered into 6 functional groups. The trace elements were found …

Spectral Clustering Of Single-Cell Multi-Omics Data On Multilayer Graphs, Shuyi Zhang, Jacob R Leistico, Raymond J Cho, Jeffrey B Cheng, Jun S Song

Staff and Researcher Publications

Motivation: Single-cell sequencing technologies that simultaneously generate multimodal cellular profiles present opportunities for improved understanding of cell heterogeneity in tissues. How the multimodal information can be integrated to obtain a common cell type identification, however, poses a computational challenge. Multilayer graphs provide a natural representation of multi-omic single-cell sequencing datasets, and finding cell clusters may be understood as a multilayer graph partition problem.

Results: We introduce two spectral algorithms on multilayer graphs, spectral clustering on multilayer graphs and the weighted locally linear (WLL) method, to cluster cells in multi-omic single-cell sequencing datasets. We connect these algorithms through a unifying mathematical …

Coloniality And Paradoxes Of Migrancy: Experiences Of Nicaraguan Migrants In Costa Rica, Darcey Rydl

Communication ETDs

Vernacular (personal) discourses surrounding Nicaraguan immigration to Costa Rica were investigated through the lens of coloniality – a theoretical and conceptual process of understanding how the Eurocentered matrix of power and knowledge produces the subjectivity of peoples through exploitation (Mignolo & Walsh, 2019). Compared to national discourses, this study asked how vernacular discourses may challenge colonial social structures of power as well as support those same structures of power. To elicit these discourses, oral histories were conducted with nine Nicaraguans who have fled their country because of political violence. Oral histories allow for a complete account of the past by …

Development And Validation Of A Measure For Social Support: Perceived Social Support Inventory, Lindsay Marie Clark

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The literature consistently acknowledges the protective function of social support against various negative psychological and physiological outcomes (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Dunst et al., 1986; Taylor, 2011; Uchino, 2009). Further, social support can emerge from different members that comprise an individual’s social network, such as friends, family, teachers, colleagues, and members of common interest groups. Given the important role that social support plays in health outcomes, the importance of psychometrically sound measures for assessing the construct is essential for use in research and clinical settings. However, many of the current measures of social support are outdated, are limited in …