Digital Commons Network^™

Pfas Fluidize Synthetic And Bacterial Lipid Monolayers Based On Hydrophobicity And Lipid Charge, Aleksandra Naumann, Jessica Alesio, Monika Poonia, Geoffrey D. Bothun

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are pollutants of emerging concern that persist in nature and pose environmental health and safety risks. PFAS disrupt biological membranes resulting in cellular inhibition, but the mechanism of disruption and the role of lipid composition remain unclear. We examine the role of phospholipid saturation and headgroup charge on the interactions between PFASs and phospholipid monolayers comprised of synthetic phosphocholine (PC) and phosphoglycerol (PG) lipids and prepared from bacteria membrane extracts rich in PG lipids from an environmentally relevant marine bacterium Alcanivorax borkumensis. When deposited on a buffered subphase containing PFAS, PFAS mixed within and …

Think Again:An Original Reality Competition Series, Adam Sperling

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

Screenwriting For A Visual Effects Focused Short Film: The Toll We Let It Take, Vanessa Luangaphay

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

Clinically Adjudicated Deceased Donor Acute Kidney Injury And Graft Outcomes, Sherry G. Mansour, Nadeen J. Khoury, Ravi Kodali, Sarthak Virmani, Peter P. Reese, Isaac E. Hall, Yaqi Jia, Yu Yamamoto, Heather R. Thiessen-Philbrook, Wassim Obeid, Mona D. Doshi, Enver Akalin, Jonathan S. Bromberg, Meera N. Harhay, Sumit Mohan, Thangamani Muthukumar, Pooja Singh, Francis L. Weng, Dennis G. Moledina, Jason H. Greenberg, Francis P. Wilson, Chirag R. Parikh

Nephrology Articles

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) in deceased donors is not associated with graft failure (GF). We hypothesize that hemodynamic AKI (hAKI) comprises the majority of donor AKI and may explain this lack of association.

METHODS: In this ancillary analysis of the Deceased Donor Study, 428 donors with available charts were selected to identify those with and without AKI. AKI cases were classified as hAKI, intrinsic (iAKI), or mixed (mAKI) based on majority adjudication by three nephrologists. We evaluated the associations between AKI phenotypes and delayed graft function (DGF), 1-year eGFR and GF. We also evaluated differences in urine biomarkers among …

Improving The Heat Tolerance Of Vulnerable Corals Through Their Algal Symbionts, Cathryn M. Bowling

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Tropical coral reefs are one of the most impressive and diverse ecosystems on the face of the earth. Found in warm, tropical waters around the globe, these reefs are major supporters of the immense biodiversity of the area. The health of coral reefs is highly influential on the overall health of the entire ecosystem. In recent years, intensifying climate change has resulted in an accelerated rise in seawater temperatures and the frequency and severity of coral bleaching. Coral bleaching occurs in response to harsh environmental conditions that cause corals to enter a period of extreme stress. During this time, corals …

Author Biographies

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Coral Reef Restoration Methods In The Caribbean And Florida Keys, Melissa Wagner

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

There has been a massive decline in coral population worldwide, but the Caribbean Sea has been particularly impacted. The Caribbean was once the home to millions of branching coral, Acropora, but has seen severe degradation in the past few decades due to climate change, pollution, coral disease, bleaching events, overfishing, coastal development and other disturbances. Coral reef restoration has since expanded rapidly with thousands of coral nurseries in the Caribbean alone and has become an important process in maintaining coral reefs in our oceans today. Corals help protect our shorelines, maintain biodiversity in our oceans, provide jobs for fisheries …

Toxic: A Feminist Legal Theory Approach To Guardianship, Margaret Bushko

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Budget For The Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2022, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Budget for the Fiscal Year

No abstract provided.

Men Who Conquered & The Women Who Mov'd Them, Nikita Chinamanthur

Scripps Senior Theses

Considering John Dryden’s Aureng-Zebe and Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great, this thesis examines how drama shaped popular ideas of the Indian subcontinent in Renaissance England. This thesis engages in a comparative analysis of formal choices such as doubling, tripling, and etymology to assess the efficacy of two incomplete portrayals of South Asia configured as women.

Using Land And Water Conservation Fund Money To Protect Western Migration Corridors, Travis Brammer

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Hybrid Guardian Ad Litem: Adopting Standards Of Practice To Improve The Quality Of Representation For Children In Custody Cases, Dona Playton

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

Grizzlies, Wolves, And Law In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Wildlife Management Amidst Jusidictional Complexity And Tension, Robert Keiter

Wyoming Law Review

No abstract provided.

Science Methods For Elementary Teachers, Ron Browne, David Kimori

Science Methods for Elementary Teachers

Complete Digitized Text of Science Methods for Elementary Teachers by Ron Browne and David Kimori, Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2022.

Endogenous Neurosteroid Hormone Production And Early Oligodendricyte Development, Paige Winokur

Student Theses and Dissertations

The field of neuroendocrinology grew immensely with the realization that steroid hormone production is not confined to the adrenal and reproductive glands but also occurs in the central nervous system (CNS). Steroids synthesized de novo in the brain and spinal cord are referred to as neurosteroid or neuroactive hormones and encompass estrogens, androgens, glucocorticoids, and mineralocorticoids. Though all substrates and enzymes required for neurosteroid biosynthesis exhibit CNS expression, a thorough comprehension of their functionality is lacking. In addition to mediating stress responses, neurosteroids influence CNS-specific processes known to regulate neural development and pathology. Multiple sclerosis (MS), a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder …

Integration Sites In The Persistence Of Latent Hiv-1, Amy S. Huang

Student Theses and Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), the pathogen that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), remains one of the world's most pressing health issues. Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, over 32M people have succumbed to AIDS-related illnesses. Despite remarkable advances in HIV-1 biology, neither a vaccine or cure have been achieved. While antiretroviral therapy (ART) has significantly improved disease outcomes for people with HIV-1 and reduced transmission, treatment is often accompanied by long-term side effects or stigma, or impeded by limited access to health care. Furthermore, because viral load quickly rebounds upon treatment interruption, ART is required to be a …

Structure And Mechanism Of Pcat1, A Polypeptide Processing And Secretion Transporter, Virapat Kieuvongngam

Student Theses and Dissertations

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters utilize the energy from ATP to transport substrates across biological membranes. Various ABC transporters perform diverse biological functions across all forms of life ranging from importing essential nutrients to exporting toxic drugs (Ford and Beis 2019; ter Beek, Guskov, and Slotboom 2014). Bacterial cells utilize a class of ABC transporters for exporting proteins or peptides. Unlike the Sec translocon machinery, the ABC peptide exporters are dedicated to specific peptides (Fath and Kolter 1993). These peptides function as quorum sensing peptides, biofilms, or antimicrobial peptides. Among these ABC peptide exporters are Peptidase Containing ABC Transporters (PCATs) that …

Reproductive Resilience Of Aedes Aegypti Mosquitoes, Krithika Venkataraman

Student Theses and Dissertations

Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes impose a severe global public health burden as vectors of viruses that cause dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, and Zika, and parasites that cause lymphatic filariasis. Under optimal environmental conditions, Aedes aegypti females have access to human hosts that provide blood proteins required for egg development, conspecific males that provide sperm required for fertilization, and freshwater in natural or manmade containers that serves as an egg-laying substrate suitable for offspring survival during larval and pupal stages. As global temperatures rise, Aedes aegypti females are faced with climate challenges like intense droughts and intermittent bouts of precipitation, which …

Modulation Of Prefrontal Cortex Activity And Sociability By Local Interneurons Expressing Corticotropi-Releasing Hormone, Michael Riad

Student Theses and Dissertations

The cerebral cortex is composed primarily of two neuronal cell types: excitatory pyramidal cells and inhibitory interneurons. Their neurochemical diversity and complex organization into interconnected laminar and columnar circuits imbues the cortex with countless computational and functional possibilities. At the behavioral level, changes in the molecular profile and electrophysiological activity of cortical neurons produce noticeable changes in perception, learning and memory, motor skills, and executive cognitive functions. In the initial chapter of this thesis, I briefly cover the history and progress of cell type studies in cerebral cortex and provide frameworks for understanding and interrogating interneuron diversity. We next apply …

Transcriptomic And Proteomic Studies Of Intercellular Communication Between Melanocytes And Keratinocytes In Human Skin, Gabriella Stephanne Spitz-Becker

Student Theses and Dissertations

The epidermis is a stratified epithelium composed of multiple cell types. Keratinocytes are the most prevalent cells in the epidermis and provide the barrier function of the skin. Interspersed amongst the keratinocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis are melanocytes, the pigment producing cells of the epidermis. Melanocytes produce melanin pigment which resides in melanosomes, organelles that are transferred to keratinocytes. In my thesis work, I focused on identifying downstream results of intercellular communication between melanocytes and keratinocytes for each of these cell types. I characterized the transcriptomes of human melanocytes and keratinocytes that were freshly derived from human …

Characterization Of A Novel Sensing Mechanism Governing Antigenic Variation In P. Falciparum, Victoria M. Schneider

Student Theses and Dissertations

Plasmodium falciparum expresses a multi-copy gene family called var in the intraerythroyctic stages of its life cycle in a mutually exclusive manner. var genes encode the chief antigenic and virulence determinant of P. falciparum, PfEMP1, and switching between active genes results in antigenic variation, allowing the parasite to evade the human immune system and cause chronic infections. The molecular mechanisms that control activation and silencing of individual var genes, as well as coordination of the switching process, presently remain incompletely defined. P. falciparum contains only ~60 var gene family members in its genome. Consequently, the question remains as to how …

New Roles For The Integrated Stress Response In Cancer And Proteostasis, Brian Hurwitz

Student Theses and Dissertations

The integrated stress response (ISR) is a highly conserved pathway that senses diverse stresses and responds by limiting total protein synthesis and redirecting translation to stress response transcripts. The ISR has the potential to modify a broad range of processes in cancer, but the major cancer-relevant functions of the pathway have remained elusive due to the complex and redundant nature of the upstream kinases that sense stress and activate the pathway. To overcome this challenge, we genetically targeted the central, regulatory node of the pathway, eIF2α-serine 51, directly, in primary squamous cell carcinoma cells to generate "ISR-null" SCCs. We surprisingly …

Uncovering Regulators Of Whole-Body Metabolism By Chemoproteomic Profiling Of The Adipocyte Secretome, Chan Hee J. Choi

Student Theses and Dissertations

A major threat to human health, obesity is associated with increased risk of cardiometabolic complications such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and many types of cancers. Whereas white adipocytes efficiently store energy in the form of triglycerides, thermogenic brown and beige adipocytes can dissipate energy into heat. Adipose tissue is now considered an important endocrine organ, and increasing evidence suggests that divergent metabolic effects of different types of adipocytes are in part mediated by their secretory function. In addition, dysregulation of adipose tissue's secretory function in the setting of chronic positive energy balance plays a central role in …

Multi-Modal Regualtion Of Actin Networks, Lin Mei

Student Theses and Dissertations

Eukaryotic cells employ the actin cytoskeleton to maintain cell shape, support motility, and sense and respond to external mechanical stimuli. An intricate network of actin filaments constitutes the foundation of tissue architecture by forming key cellular structures including the muscle fiber, the filopodium, the lamellipodium, and the cell cortex. Cellular and tissue level studies have shown that more than 150 actin-binding proteins regulate almost every single aspect of actin physiology, such as actin polymerization, actin severing, and actin crosslinking, but at the molecular level, the structural mechanisms by which different actin binding proteins bind, assemble, and regulate different actin networks …

Biased Constitutive Activity In The Uveal Melanoma Oncogene Cysltr2 Is Unique In Cysltr2 Germline And Pan-Cancer Human Variome, Mizuho Horioka-Duplix

Student Theses and Dissertations

Uveal melanoma is the most common eye cancer in adults and is clinically and genetically distinct from skin cutaneous melanoma. In a subset of cases, the oncogenic driver is an activating mutation in CYSLTR2, the gene encoding the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) cysteinylleukotriene receptor 2. The mutant CYSLTR2 encodes for CysLTR2-L129Q receptor, with the substitution of Leu to Gln at position 129 (3.43). The ability of CysLTR2-L129Q to cause malignant transformation has been hypothesized to result from constitutive activity, but how the receptor could escape desensitization is unknown. In this work, we characterized the functional properties of CysLTR2-L129Q. CysLTR2 signals …

Dna Methylation And Dna Methyltransferases In The Clonal Raider Ant, Ooceraea Biroi, Ivasyk Iryna

Student Theses and Dissertations

DNA methylation and DNA methyltransferase enzymes (DNMTs) are ubiquitous and predate the origin of eukaryotes. In animals, DNA methylation primarily is carried out by DNMT1, which targets hemi – methylated DNA and maintains methylation patterns through cycles of cell replication, and DNMT3, the de novo methyltransferase. These genes are essential to mammalian development, and mutations lead to embryonic (DNMT1 and DNMT3b) or post – natal (DNMT3a) lethality. Studies of DNA methylation and DNMTs in invertebrates have been limited to non – traditional model organisms because Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster lack the DNMT enzymes, and their DNA has no detectable …

Intestinal Cd4+T Cell Responses To Food, Ainsley Lockhart

Student Theses and Dissertations

During routine digestion and absorption of food, massive quantities of diet-derived polypeptides pass through the intestine. The intestinal immune system must maintain tolerance to these dietary antigens while still protecting against pathogens and noxious agents. Oral tolerance, a robust mechanism whereby oral administration of antigen results in both local and systemic tolerance to that antigen, is a key component of this critical homeostasis. Oral tolerance requires CD4⁺ T cells including specifically regulatory T cells (Tregs), however the role of intestinal CD4⁺ T cells and the T cell repertoire in a physiological response to food protein remains largely unexplored. …

Mechanistic Understanding Of The Role Of Trf1 In Telomere Replication, Zhe Yang

Student Theses and Dissertations

Mammalian telomeres are hard to replicate, and the shelterin subunit TRF1 is important for facilitating the replication of telomeric DNA. Deletion of TRF1 results in several phenotypes that are thought to be associated with telomere replication stress, including ATR signaling, fork stalling, sister telomere associations, and fragile telomeres. Fragile telomeres are structures that resemble common fragile sites (CFSs), but how they are formed is not known. TRF1 functions in part by recruiting the BLM helicase, which can resolve G-quadruplexes on the lagging-strand template. Deletion of BLM leads to lagging strand specific fragile telomere formation. In this thesis, I report that …

Tumor Suppression By A Trna Synthetase, Maria Passarelli

Student Theses and Dissertations

Despite substantial progress in treatment, breast cancer remains a leading cause of cancer mortality among women. During malignant transformation, healthy mammary cells must bypass tumor suppressive checkpoints and activate pro-growth pathways. Enhanced protein translation is one such hallmark of tumor transformation and cancer progression; many oncogenes promote translation by driving synthesis and activity of translational machinery. In the first part of this thesis, we report the surprising finding that leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LARS), a tRNA synthetase responsible for ligating leucine to corresponding leucyl-tRNAs, becomes strongly repressed during mammary cell transformation and in breast cancer. Monoallelic genetic inactivation of LARS in mouse …

Ras Drives Malignancy Through Stem Cell Crosstalk With The Microenvironment, Shaopeng Yuan

Student Theses and Dissertations

Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) are triggered by marked elevation of RAS/MAPK signaling and progression from benign papilloma to invasive malignancy. A subset of tumor-initiating basal progenitors, the cancer stem cells, obtain increased resistance to chemo and immunotherapy along this path. However, the distribution and changes in cancer stem cells during progression from a benign state to an invasive SCC remain elusive. Here we show that following HRASG12V activation, cancer stem cells rewire their gene expression program and trigger self-propelling, aberrant signaling crosstalk with their tissue microenvironment that drives their malignant progression. Surprisingly, the non-genetic, dynamic cascade of crosstalk involves pathways …