Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of Enhanced Algae Strains And Sustainable Cultivation Processes For Production Of Algal Lipids For Biofuels And Bioproducts, Enlin Lo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The establishment of an algae industry is crucial for addressing global biofuel and bioproduct demand that meets the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) worldwide. Photosynthetic microalgae are excellent sources for food, fiber, fuel, feed, and fertilizer, which are the 5Fs of the SDG. However, at present, algae-based materials are not cost-competitive or sufficiently sustainable. Improved productivity, lower cultivation cost, and reduced use of resources are required to transition from lab to industry, necessitating the development of superior strains that have high productivity and can tolerate environmental stress, such as temperature and salinity, so they can be cultivated at large scale outdoors …

Defining The Role Of Oxidized Mitochondrial Dna In Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Grace Anne Ward

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) are heterogeneous bone marrow (BM) failure malignancies characterized by constitutive innate immune activation, NLRP3 inflammasome (IFM) driven pyroptotic cell death, and the induction of interferon-stimulated genes (ISG). MDS often diagnostically resembles other hematologic disorders, as such, additional tools are needed for the discrimination from overlapping disorders. We observed that oxidized mitochondrial DNA (ox-mtDNA) is released upon cytolysis. We hypothesize that levels of ox-mtDNA are high in MDS, allowing us to use it as a diagnostic biomarker; and that cell free ox-mtDNA is contributing to feedforward BM failure.

ROC/AUC analysis demonstrated that ox-mtDNA is a sensitive and specific …

Exploring The Structure And Activity Of Metallo-Tetracyclines, Shahedul Islam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Copper as a key component of electron transport chain of eukaryotes is an essential transition metal ion. Copper homeostasis in mammals complex and tightly regulated. Its strong reactivity together with binding with biologically important chemicals can have important repercussions in human health and overall environment. Tetracycline as one of most abundantly used antibiotic of the world has become abundant in the environment as well. Herein in this dissertation we take the journey to explore the complexation of tetracycline with metals in the environment and the intricate interaction between copper and tetracycline by investigating their oxidative behavior once they are complexed. …

Individual Differences In Response To Hostile And Benevolent Sexism In A Stem Interview Context: The Moderating Role Of Behavioral Activation, Elizabeth Kiebel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women continue to face sexism in workplace contexts, especially those that are male dominated, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, women often fail to confront the sexism they experience, despite confrontation being an effective way to cope with and prevent future harassment (Fitzgerald et al., 1995; Magley, 2002). To date, no one has assessed the potential moderating role of personality differences related to approach motivation on women’s confrontation of sexism. In this study, women were exposed to either a hostilely sexist or benevolently sexist question during a mock job interview that was purportedly being conducted as part …

Small Heat Shock Protein 22 Preserves Neuronal Function In A Murine Model Of Tauopathy, Santiago Rodriguez Ospina

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Proteinopathies is a family of diseases associated with the pathological aggregation of protein. There are a multitude of proteinopathies, like tauopathy and synucleinopathy that contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Creutzfeldt-Jakob, Pick’s disease, Frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Currently, one focus of research in the field is mitigating aggregation-prone proteins contributing to disease state. One method of targeting aggregation is the use of chaperones. Chaperones are molecular machinery that help maintain homeostasis in the cells, through various roles and mechanisms, one of those methods is to regulate protein aggregation. Chaperones can achieve this by affecting protein-protein interactions, …

Scientific Societies Fostering Inclusivity In The Life Sciences Through Engagement Of Undergraduate Scientists, Clara Primus, Alexandra N. Zimmerman, Avanthia K. Terovolas, Kirsten F. Block, Christopher G. Brown, Michael D. Burton, Ashanti Edwards, Candice M. Etson, Sonia C. Flores, Catherine Fry, Ashley N. Guillory, Susan L. Ingram, Richard Mcgee, Deborah L. Neely-Fisher, Stephanie Paxson, Laura Phelan, Kirsta Suggs, Leticia R. Vega, Elizabeth Vuong, J. Luis Lujan, Marina Ramirez-Alvarado, Verónica A. Segarra

Physics: Faculty Publications

Scientific societies serve as communities of practice in which scientists develop many of the skills and connections required for the progression of their careers. For example, scientific societies offer their members opportunities to attend career development programs, gain experience in communicating science, and receive recognition for achievements within their discipline. Programming for undergraduate student members has recently been increasing, both in prevalence and in its range of offerings. The Alliance to Catalyze Change for Equity in STEM Success, ACCESS, a meta-organization seeking equity and inclusivity in life sciences fields, has examined programs and opportunities focused on undergraduates across its member …

Demystifying Entrepreneurial Name Choice: Insights From The Us Biotech Industry, Irina Stoyneva, Veselina P. Vracheva

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

Drawing from legitimacy and institutional entrepreneurship theory, this study assesses the naming patterns of entrepreneurial firms in the US biotechnology industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a mixed-methods design of content analysis and regression to analyze a sample of 441 entrepreneurial biotechnology firms, for which data were obtained from Net Advantage. The authors track changes to the proportion of firms with naming attributes, such as name length and type of name. The authors also examine variability in those characteristics during the industry's evolution, comparing freestanding to acquired start-ups.

Findings

Start-ups select names that are longer, more descriptive, begin with rare …

A Tribute To The Man Who Found ‘High Dilutions Right’, Praveen Oberai, Harleen Kaur, Tania Chatterjee, Daisy Katarmal

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

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The Use Of Nucleotide Salvage Pathway Enzymes As Suitable Tumor Targets For Antibody-Based And Adoptive Cell Therapies, Edwin J. Velazquez

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the progress made in cancer research, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Although the development of new cancer treatments has improved cancer patients' survival rate, a significant number of patients experience refractory and recurrence events with serious side effects. It is known that the immune system actively participates in eliminating cancer. However, cancer cells can develop mechanisms to evade the immune system resulting in immunotolerance. Immunotherapy aids the patient's immune system's ability to recognize and eliminate cancer cells. During the last three decades, immunotherapy has gradually emerged as an effective and more specific approach to …

The Inhibition Of Valproic Acid-Induced Negative Neurodevelopmental Outcomes Through Nrf2-Mediated Redox Regulation, Ted Brenton Piorczynski

Theses and Dissertations

Valproic acid (VPA) is a commonly prescribed antiepileptic drug that causes negative neurodevelopmental outcomes, including neural tube defects (NTDs) and neurodevelopmental disorders, in fetuses exposed to it. While the exact mechanism by which VPA causes defects is unknown, research has shown that VPA increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that lead to redox dysregulation. We hypothesize that VPA causes negative neurodevelopmental outcomes through the disruption of redox-sensitive signaling pathways that are critical for proper embryonic development, and that protection from the VPA-induced redox disruption may decrease the prevalence of the observed defects. Time-bred mice were treated with 3H-1,2-dithiole-3-thione …

Executive Committee - Minutes, 3/29/2022, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Ohio Anuran Gut Microbiomes, Serena Hoffman

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Recent studies focusing on the skin and gut microbiome of vertebrates have found how important microbiomes are to maintaining host health. Understanding the role the gut microbiome plays to host health is of great importance for conservation. Less is known about the gut microbiome than the skin microbiome for amphibians. Literature is especially lacking for local Ohio anuran species. The purpose of this study was to establish the baseline composition of the gut microbiome for local Ohio anurans and to determine whether host species or habitat is the best predictor of gut microbiome composition. Tadpoles were collected from seven different …

Oleic Acid Is An Endogenous Ligand Of Tlx/Nr2e1 That Triggers Hippocampal Neurogenesis, William Choi, Aleksandar Bajic, Dodge Baluya, Lihua Ma, Kevin Chen, Austin C Cao, Tipwarin Phongmekhin, Nick Matinyan, Alba Jiménez-Panizo, Srinivas Chamakuri, Idris O Raji, Lyra Chang, Pablo Fuentes-Prior, Kevin R Mackenzie, Caroline L Benn, Eva Estébanez-Perpiñá, Koen Venken, David D Moore, Damian W Young, Mirjana Maletic-Savatic

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Neural stem cells, the source of newborn neurons in the adult hippocampus, are intimately involved in learning and memory, mood, and stress response. Despite considerable progress in understanding the biology of neural stem cells and neurogenesis, regulating the neural stem cell population precisely has remained elusive because we have lacked the specific targets to stimulate their proliferation and neurogenesis. The orphan nuclear receptor TLX/NR2E1 governs neural stem and progenitor cell self-renewal and proliferation, but the precise mechanism by which it accomplishes this is not well understood because its endogenous ligand is not known. Here, we identify oleic acid (18:1ω9 monounsaturated …

Adolescents Accessing School-Based Versus Family Planning Clinics: Chlamydia And Gonorrhea Testing And Treatment Outcomes, Mariam R Chacko

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The prevalence and treatment of chlamydia (CT) and gonorrhea (GC) at school-based clinics (SBCs) requires revisiting. To assess whether clinic type influences CT/GC testing and treatment for minors (individuals 13–17 years of age), our study compared four SBCs with five family planning clinics (FPCs) in the Houston, Harris County metropolitan area of Texas, USA for: (1) the prevalence of CT/GC infection (pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19); (2) treatment rates at the last positive diagnosis; and (3) the time, in days, from testing-to-diagnosis and testing-to-treatment. Between January 2019 and December 2020, 2439 unique patients (1579 at SBCs, 860 at FPCs) were seen. …

Diel Activity Patterns Of Two Distinct Populations Of Aedes Aegypti In Miami, Fl And Brownsville, Tx, John-Paul Mutebi, André Barretto Bruno Wilke, Erik Ostrum, Chalmers Vasquez, Gabriel Cardenas, Augusto Carvajal, Maday Moreno, William D. Petrie, Arturo Rodriguez, Henry Presas, Jesus Rodriguez, Fred Barnes, Christopher Vitek, Xochitl Estrada, Thalia Rios, Jeremy Marshall

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

The diel biting activity of Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti (L) populations was extensively investigated in the early 1900s to gain more information on the biology of Ae. aegypti, and this information was used to devise effective approaches to controlling populations of this species and protect the human population from widespread arbovirus outbreaks. However, few contemporary studies are available regarding the diel activity patterns of Ae. aegypti. To assess the diel activity patterns of Ae. aegypti in southern Florida and Texas, we conducted 96-h uninterrupted mosquito collections once each month from May through November 2019 in Miami, Florida, and Brownsville, Texas, using …

Stronger Microstructural Damage Revealed In Multiple Sclerosis Lesions With Central Vein Sign By Quantitative Gradient Echo Mri, Victoria A Levasseur, Biao Xiang, Amber Salter, Dmitriy A Yablonskiy, Anne H Cross

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions typically form around a central vein that can be visualized with FLAIR* MRI, creating the central vein sign (CVS) which may reflect lesion pathophysiology. Herein we used gradient echo plural contrast imaging (GEPCI) MRI to simultaneously visualize CVS and measure tissue damage in MS lesions. We examined CVS in relation to tissue integrity in white matter (WM) lesions and among MS subtypes.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine if CVS positive lesions were specific to MS subtype, if CVS can be detected consistently among readers using the GEPCI method, and if there were differences in tissue …

Prmt7 Ablation Stimulates Anti-Tumor Immunity And Sensitizes Melanoma To Immune Checkpoint Blockade, Nivine Srour, Oscar D Villarreal, Swanand Hardikar, Zhenbao Yu, Samuel Preston, Magdelena M Szewczyk, Han Xu, Taiping Chen, Sonia V Del Rincón, Stéphane Richard

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite the success of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy for cancer, resistance and relapse are frequent. Combination therapies are expected to enhance response rates and overcome this resistance. Herein, we report that combining PRMT7 inhibition with ICI therapy induces a strong anti-tumor T cell immunity and restrains tumor growth in vivo by increasing immune cell infiltration. PRMT7-deficient B16.F10 melanoma exhibits increased expression of genes in the interferon pathway, antigen presentation, and chemokine signaling. PRMT7 deficiency or inhibition with SGC3027 in B16.F10 melanoma results in reduced DNMT expression, loss of DNA methylation in the regulatory regions of endogenous retroviral elements (ERVs) …

Understanding How Offending Prevalence And Frequency Change With Age In The Cambridge Study In Delinquent Development Using Bayesian Statistical Models, Julian Stander, David P. Farrington, Caroline Lubert

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

ObjectivesTo provide a detailed understanding of how the prevalence and frequency of offending vary with age in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) and to quantify the influence of early childhood risk factors such as high troublesomeness on this variation.MethodsWe develop a statistical model for the prevalence and frequency of offending based on the hurdle model and curves called splines that allow smooth variation with age. We use the Bayesian framework to quantify estimation uncertainty. We also test a model that assumes that frequency is constant across all ages.ResultsFor 346 males from the CSDD for whom the number of …

Unraveling Ecological Signals From A Global Warming Event Of The Past, Tracy Aze

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Infective Endocarditis: An Old Problem With A Changing Face, Kin-Lam Tsui

Journal of the Hong Kong College of Cardiology

No abstract provided.

What It Means To Be A Fulbright Scholar: A Life-Changing Experience, Marife Celebre Aczon-Armstrong, Manas Mandal

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Thinking Creatively About Functional Diversity And Functional Traits (Bef), Shahid Naeem

Sustainability Seminar Series

Understanding the impacts of biodiversity loss on ecosystem functions and services represents a major focus of contemporary environmental biology, but its progress hinges on advances in the study of functional diversity. Traditional approaches to functional diversity, however, have centered on taking virtually any measure of an organism’s biology, or an organism’s functional traits (OFTs), often assuming that variation in OFTs among species reflects ecological and evolutionary tradeoffs. Contemporary issues, however, require more creative approaches to the quantification and analysis of OFTs. Here, I present results from four of our group’s research that illustrate the value of more creative approaches to …

Efforts To Increase The Ketamine-Like Activity Of The Rapid-Acting Antidepressant Ro-25-6981 (Mi-4) By Increasing Ampa Potentiation, Nathan Heger

Annual Research Symposium

The small molecule ketamine has generated much interest due to its rapid antidepressant effects. Despite having a rapid onset, ketamine has poor bioavailability, short duration of action, toxicities with long-term use, and a high potential for abuse. The molecule MI-4 (RO 25-6981) has also been shown to have both a rapid and sustained antidepressant effect. Most of the research into the mechanism of the rapid onset of MI-4 and ketamine has focused on their interaction with the NMDA receptor in addition to some monoamine transporters. Some recent publications have shown a significant role of AMPA receptors in the ketamine antidepressant …

Early Patient Care And Biomedical Science Integration Increases Predoctoral Dental Student Competence And Confidence, Edgar Tilley

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Meta-Analysis Of Two Rnaseq Datasets To Determine Diagnostic Biomarkers And Drug Target Candidates For Periodontitis, Carlos Moreno

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Rna Broccoli Aptamer To Track Transcription Rates In Vitro, Sarah Hodson

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Blocking Ctla-4 For T Cell Activation, Rachel Morris

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Periodontitis & Increased Cognitive Decline In Alzheimer's Disease, Nomikos Klonaris

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Prediction Of Human Transcriptional Biomarkers For Severe Infection With Sars-Cov-2, Jeffrey Clancy, Brett Pickett

Annual Research Symposium

Defining the human host factors associated with severe vs mild COVID-19 cases in infected individuals has become of increasing interest. Mining large numbers of public gene expression datasets is an effective way to identify genes that contribute to a given phenotype. Combining RNA-sequencing data with the associated clinical metadata describing disease severity can enable earlier identification of those patients who are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease. We consequently identified 356 public RNA-seq human transcriptome samples from the Gene Expression Omnibus database that had disease severity metadata. We then subjected these samples to a robust RNA-seq data processing …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Efficacy Of Various Essential Oils Against The Sars Cov-2 Virus, Elizabeth Wagstaff, Chandrelyn Kraczek, Jack Brandon Lopez

Annual Research Symposium

A poster presentation and abstract for the Roseman Symposium. The project focuses on testing 3 essential oil blends and two disinfectants containing an essential oil blend against SARS CoV-2 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project procedure involves plaque assays, disinfection, and neutralization techniques.