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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Roles Of Notch1 And Pkc-Θ In Immune Mediated Bone Marrow Failure, Justine E. Roderick May 2011

The Roles Of Notch1 And Pkc-Θ In Immune Mediated Bone Marrow Failure, Justine E. Roderick

Open Access Dissertations

We sought to evaluate the individual contributions of Notch1 and PKC-ζ to disease progression in a mouse model of immune-mediated bone marrow failure and to define a mechanism for their potential cellular cooperation. We transferred parental bulk splenocytes into F1-hybrid recipients to induce a robust immune-mediated bone marrow failure (BMF) that we could partially rescue by administering a pharmacological inhibitor of Notch activation. Transferring splenocytes from PKC--ζ-/- animals did not induce disease, and treating animals with a pharmacological inhibitor of PKC-ζ also provided full protection from disease. We found that inhibiting Notch1 resulted in PKC-ζ down-regulation, and blocking PKC-ζ reduced …


Avian Ecology And Conservation In Tropical Agricultural Landscapes With Emphasis On Vermivora Chrysoptera, Richard Brooks Chandler Feb 2011

Avian Ecology And Conservation In Tropical Agricultural Landscapes With Emphasis On Vermivora Chrysoptera, Richard Brooks Chandler

Open Access Dissertations

The world's biodiversity is concentrated in tropical ecosystems, yet tropical forests are being converted for agriculture at a rapid rate. I evaluated the potential of an alternative coffee production system known as Integrated Open Canopy (IOC) to contribute to avian conservation. This study was conducted from 2005-2010 in the Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica. My results indicate that species richness of forest-dependent birds was higher in IOC farms than in shade coffee farms, and was comparable to secondary forest sites. There was no difference in species richness of Neotropical-Nearctic migrants between IOC and shade coffee farms. Overall similarity was higher …


Innate Immune Responses To B. Burgdorferi Mediated By Jnk1 And The Cochaperone, Methylation Controlled Dnaj (Mcj), Hooman Izadi Feb 2011

Innate Immune Responses To B. Burgdorferi Mediated By Jnk1 And The Cochaperone, Methylation Controlled Dnaj (Mcj), Hooman Izadi

Open Access Dissertations

The infections agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia Burgdorferi is a complex microorganism with a highly diverse genome. One of the most remarkable aspects of the B. burgdorferi genome is the large number of sequences encoding predicted or known lipoproteins, including outer-surface proteins. The B. burgdorferi genome encodes no recognizable toxins. Instead, this extracellular pathogen causes pathology by migration through tissues, adhesion to host cells, and evasion of immune clearance. Inflammation elicited by infection with B. burgdorferi depends on the ability of the spirochete to survive in the mammalian host, as well as the immune response that arises upon the interaction …