Life Sciences Commons^™

Writing For Sciences, Michael Coppola

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Validity Evaluation Of The Genetics And Genomics In Nursing Practice Survey, Alexandra Plavskin, William E. Samuels, Kathleen A. Calzone

Publications and Research

Aim: To psychometrically test the Genetics and Genomics Nursing Practice Survey (GGNPS) for evidence of content, face and construct validity.

Design:This study was a secondary data analysis.

Method: Data collected from the Method for Introducing a New Competency into Nursing Practice (MINC) study were used to evaluate the GGNPS for evidence of construct validity via structural equation modelling and confirmatory factor analysis. Face validity was evaluated via feedback from practicing RNs without specific experience with or knowledge of genetics/genomics. Content validity was evaluated via content expert feedback and assessment of a content validity index.

Results: The thresholds …

Comparison Of Play Frequency In Four Sympatric Monkey Species In Kibale National Park, Uganda, Sara G. Lucci

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes play in red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus), grey-cheeked mangabeys (Lophocebus albigena), black-and-white colobus (Colobus guereza), and redtail monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) to test Instinct-Practice Theory. Solitary locomotor play was different among the species. Rough-and-tumble play was different between male and female redtail monkeys. These results partially support Instinct-Practice Theory.

Endothelial Iqgap1 Regulates Leukocyte Transmigration By Directing The Lbrc To The Site Of Diapedesis, David P. Sullivan, Prarthana J. Dalal, Fanny Jaulin, David B. Sacks, Geri Kreitzer, William A. Muller

Publications and Research

Transendothelial migration (TEM) of leukocytes across the endothelium is critical for inflammation. In the endothelium, TEM requires the coordination of membrane movements and cytoskeletal interactions, including, prominently, recruitment of the lateral border recycling compartment (LBRC). The scaffold protein IQGAP1 was recently identified in a screen for LBRC-interacting proteins. Knockdown of endothelial IQGAP1 disrupted the directed movement of the LBRC and substantially reduced leukocyte TEM. Expression of truncated IQGAP1 constructs demonstrated that the calponin homology domain is required for IQGAP1 localization to endothelial borders and that the IQ domain, on the same IQGAP1 polypeptide, is required for its function in TEM. …

Choline: Exploring The Growing Science On Its Benefits For Moms And Babies, Hunter W. Korsmo, Xinyin Jiang, Marie A. Caudill

Publications and Research

The importance of ensuring adequate choline intakes during pregnancy is increasingly recognized. Choline is critical for a number of physiological processes during the prenatal period with roles in membrane biosynthesis and tissue expansion, neurotransmission and brain development, and methyl group donation and gene expression. Studies in animals and humans have shown that supplementing the maternal diet with additional choline improves several pregnancy outcomes and protects against certain neural and metabolic insults. Most pregnant women in the U.S. are not achieving choline intake recommendations of 450 mg/day and would likely benefit from boosting their choline intakes through dietary and/or supplemental approaches.

Synthesis And Evaluations Of “1,4-Triazolyl Combretacoumarins” And Desmethoxy Analogs, Tashrique A. Khandaker, Jessica D. Hess, Renato Aguilera, Graciela Andrei, Robert Snoeck, Dominique Schols, Padmanava Pradhan, Mahesh K. Lakshman

Publications and Research

1,4-Triazolyl combretacoumarins have been prepared by linking the trimethoxyarene unit of combretastatin A4 with coumarins, via a 1,2,3-triazole. For this, 4-azidocoumarins were accessed by a sequential two-step, one-pot reaction of 4-hydroxycoumarins with (benzotriazol-1-yloxy)tris(dimethylamino)phosphonium hexafluorophosphate (BOP), followed by reaction with NaN₃. In the reaction with BOP, a coumarin-derived phosphonium ion intermediate seems to form, leading to an O⁴-(benzotriazolyl)coumarin derivative. For the CuAAC reaction of azidocoumarins with 5-ethynyl-1,2,3-trimethoxybenzene, catalytic [(MeCN)₄Cu]PF₆ in CH₂Cl₂/MeOH with 2,6-lutidine, at 50 ^oC, was suitable. The 4-azidocoumarins were less reactive as compared to PhN₃ and …

Scavenger Hunt Reflection Lab Report, Angela Padilla

Open Educational Resources

A. Scavenger Hunt Description

❏ This Scavenger Hunt Assignment is designed for the First Year Seminar for Natural Sciences (NSF 101) and the First Year Seminar for Liberal Arts: Math and Science (LMF 101) (STEM majors).

❏ The main objective of this assignment is to familiarize students with their campus and its resources, to encourage students to collaborate with each other, and to be aware that the scientific method is applied to solve any problem, not just scientific issues. It is meant to address the Integrative Learning Core Competency.

❏ Students are given the entire class time (at least two …

Reduced Alphabet Of Prebiotic Amino Acids Optimally Encodes The Conformational Space Of Diverse Extant Protein Folds, Armando D. Solis

Publications and Research

Background

There is wide agreement that only a subset of the twenty standard amino acids existed prebiotically in sufficient concentrations to form functional polypeptides. We ask how this subset, postulated as {A,D,E,G,I,L,P,S,T,V}, could have formed structures stable enough to found metabolic pathways. Inspired by alphabet reduction experiments, we undertook a computational analysis to measure the structural coding behavior of sequences simplified by reduced alphabets. We sought to discern characteristics of the prebiotic set that would endow it with unique properties relevant to structure, stability, and folding.

Results

Drawing on a large dataset of single-domain proteins, we employed an information-theoretic measure …

An Early Modern Human Outside Africa, Eric Delson

Publications and Research

Analysis of two fossils from a Greek cave has shed light on early hominins in Eurasia. One fossil is the earliest known specimen of Homo sapiens found outside Africa; the other is a Neanderthal who lived 40,000 years later.

Alpha Oscillations And Feedback Processing In Visual Cortex For Conscious Perception, Tony Ro

Publications and Research

Variability in perception between individuals may be a consequence of different inherent neural processing speeds. To assess whether alpha oscillations systematically reflect a feedback pacing mechanism for cortical processing during visual perception, comparisons were made between alpha oscillations, visual suppression from TMS, visual evoked responses, and metacontrast masking. Peak alpha oscillation frequencies, measured through scalp EEG recordings, significantly correlated with the optimum latencies for visual suppression from TMS of early visual cortex. Individuals with shorter alpha periods (i.e., higher peak alpha frequencies) processed visual information faster than those with longer alpha periods (i.e., lower peak alpha frequencies). Moreover, peak alpha …

Neuromuscular Factors Contributing To Reductions In Muscle Force After Repeated, High-Intensity Muscular Efforts, Benjamin J.C. Kirk, Gabriel S. Trajano, Timothy S. Pulverenti, Grant Rowe, Anthony J. Blazevich

Publications and Research

Multiple neuromuscular processes contribute to the loss of force production following repeated, high-intensity muscular efforts; however, the relative contribution of each process is unclear. In Experiment 1, 16 resistance trained men performed six sets of unilateral isometric plantar flexor contractions of the right leg (3 s contraction/2 s rest; 85% maximal voluntary contraction torque; 90-s inter-set rest) until failure with and without caffeine ingestion (3 mg kg-1) on two separate days. Corticospinal excitability and cortical silent period (cSP) were assessed before and immediately, 10 and 20 min after the exercise. In Experiment 2, electrically evoked tetanic force and persistent inward …

A Mendelian Randomization Study Of Coronary Artery Disease And Three Amino Acids: Alanine, Glycine, And Glutamine, Allan Uribe

Dissertations and Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) accounts for the majority of those deaths. Observational studies have identified risk factors that have been helpful in lowering the death rate, including hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, physical inactivity and poor diet. The effects of these risk factors on CAD remain unclear. To clarify the effect of three amino acids, alanine, glutamine, and glycine on CAD I applied a two sample Mendelian randomization analysis to extensively genotyped observational data. In a sample with up to 184,000 individuals and approximately 60,000 controls, SNPs that reached genome wide …

Evidence-Based Library Instruction For Nutrition Research: Librarian And Faculty Collaboration, Lee Ann Fullington, Melissa Fuster, Margrethe Horlyck-Romanovsky, Susan Jakuboski

Publications and Research

Aim Undergraduate nutrition and dietetics students need to develop research skills and professional competencies to identify evidence-based nutrition and food studies research. Research skills are essential for student success in dietetic internships, graduate school, and future professional practice as nutrition and dietetics professionals. In a collaborative effort to improve student research skills, teaching faculty, the program director, and the liaison librarian developed a series of research skills one-shot sessions for an accredited undergraduate program in Foods and Nutrition at a public liberal arts college. Using a scaffolded approach, the library sessions were designed to help students build research skills essential …

Method Development And Validation For The Determination Of Designer Benzodiazepines In Blood By Lc-Ms/Ms, Victoria Mei

Student Theses

The misuse of designer benzodiazepines, as an alternative to prescription benzodiazepines and for drug-facilitated sexual assaults, has emerged as a growing threat, due in part to the ease of purchasing these drugs on the internet at low prices. Causing concern for safety, is the lack of dosage information resulting in users self-medicating, often leading to unintended overdoses, coma, or death at higher doses. With limited published data regarding quantification of designer benzodiazepines in forensic cases, a method was validated for the determination of thirteen and screening for two designer benzodiazepines in blood, in addition to a limited number of common …

Development And Validation Of A Lc-Ms/Ms Method For Detection And Quantification Of 18 Antidepressants In Whole Blood, Linda Kim

Student Theses

Antidepressants are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in America, with researchers reporting one in six Americans take some form of psychiatric drugs-mostly antidepressants (NBC News, 2016). Antidepressants are often present in combination with other drugs in suicides and drug-related deaths, so a sensitive and specific method to detect and quantify antidepressants is necessary. We developed a method for the detection and quantification of 18 different antidepressants in whole blood, with a range of 2.5-900 ng/mL and LOQ of 2.5 ng/mL. Three hundred uL of blood was used and the analytes were extracted using solid-phase extraction and analyzed by …

A Qualitative Analysis To Identify The Elements That Support Department Level Change In The Life Sciences: The Pulse Vision & Change Recognition Program, Mary Peteroy-Kelly, Loretta Brancaccio-Taras, Judy Awong-Taylor, Teresa Balser, Thomas Jack, Sara Lindsay, Kate Marley, Sandra Romano, J. Akif Uzman, Pamela Pape-Lindstrom

Publications and Research

The 2011 report, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action, provided the impetus to mobilize the undergraduate life sciences education community to affect change in order to enhance the educational experiences of life sciences majors. The work of the appointed Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) Vision and Change (V&C) Leadership Fellows has focused on the development of programs and resources to support departmental change. In this report, we present a qualitative assessment of several documents generated from the PULSE V&C Leadership Fellow Recognition Team. The Recognition Team developed two initiatives to provide …

Sensory Perception, Adrian Rodriguez-Contreras

Open Educational Resources

Different types of sensory systems with their functional modalities will be presented. The biological bases for how these functions are generated and modified will then be described. As vision is the principal means of perception, we will focus in this course most on visual processing. Scientific data will be integrated into the lectures, such that students develop critical skills in analyzing data and proposing hypotheses.

Enclosures And Dichotomies: Coexistence Vs. Distance In The Poems Of John Clare, Jordan P. Finn

Theses and Dissertations

John Clare’s poetry emphasizes an affinity with environment by suspending the distinction between the inside (subject) and the outside (object). Clare’s identification with objects and perception rather than subjects and aesthetics renders his work as a prescient and radical example of ecological poetry in the Romantic period. Raymond Williams’ “green language” and Timothy Morton’s ambient poetics both cite Clare as an ideal figure for their above theories and evoke Clare as a writer who positions the environment as governing thought rather than thought governing the environment. This thesis especially relates Clare to Morton’s Ecology without Nature, a study of …

Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe

Student Theses

Anti-psychotic drugs are commonly prescribed to patients to treat several mental conditions, such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and manic-depressive disorder. The analysis of anti-psychotic drugs in blood is a common practice in clinical and forensic toxicology, to monitor drug treatment (therapeutic drug monitoring) or to explain the cause of the impairment or intoxication in human performance and in postmortem cases. However, most of the current studies have been performed in plasma, and a limited number in blood. We developed and validated a method to confirm and quantify a panel of commonly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in whole blood using solid phase extraction …

Green Infrastructure Design Influences Communities Of Urban Soil Bacteria, Jessica Lee Joyner, Jordan Kerwin, Maha Deeb, George Lozefski, Bharath Prithiviraj, Anna Paitseva, John Mclaughin, Peter M. Groffman, Zhongqi Cheng, Theodore R. Muth

Publications and Research

The importance of natural ecosystem processes is often overlooked in urban areas. Green Infrastructure (GI) features have been constructed in urban areas as elements to capture and treat excess urban runoff while providing a range of ancillary benefits, e.g., ecosystem processes mediated by microorganisms that improve air and water quality, in addition to the associations with plant and tree rhizospheres. The objective of this study was to characterize the bacterial community and diversity in engineered soils (Technosols) of five types of GI in New York City; vegetated swales, right of way bioswales (ROWB; including street-side infiltration systems and enhanced tree …

Microdamage As A Bone Quality Component: Practical Guidelines For The Two‐Dimensional Analysis Of Linear Microcracks In Human Cortical Bone, Victoria M. Dominguez, Amanda M. Agnew

Publications and Research

Microdamage is a component of bone quality believed to play an integral role in bone health. However, comparability between existing studies is fraught with issues due to highly variable methods of sample preparation and poorly defined quantification criteria. To address these issues, this article has two aims. First, detailed methods for preparation and analysis of linear microcracks in human ribs, specifically addressing troubleshooting issues cited in previous studies, are laid out. Second, new, partially validated criteria are proposed in an effort to reduce subjective differences in microcrack counts and measures, ensuring more comparable results between studies. Revised definitions based on …

Epigenetic Modifications In Alzheimer’S Neuropathology And Therapeutics, Michelle Esposito, Goldie Libby Sherr

Publications and Research

Transcriptional activation is a highly synchronized process in eukaryotes that requires a series of cis- and trans-acting elements at promoter regions. Epigenetic modifications, such as chromatin remodeling, histone acetylation/deacetylation, and methylation, have frequently been studied with regard to transcriptional regulation/dysregulation. Recently however, it has been determined that implications in epigenetic modification seem to expand into various neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. Impaired learning and memory deterioration are cognitive dysfunctions often associated with a plethora of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Through better understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms underlying these dysfunctions, new epigenomic therapeutic targets, such as histone deacetylases, are being explored. Here …

Probing The Formation Of Reactive Oxygen Species By A Porous Self- Assembled Benzophenone Bis-Urea Host, Baillie A. Dehaven, Hannah K. Liberatore, Alexander Greer, Susan D. Richardson, Linda S. Shimizu

Publications and Research

Herein, we examine the photochemical formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by a porous benzophenone-containing bis-urea host (1) to investigate the mechanism of photooxidations that occur within the confines of its nanochannels. UV irradiation of the self-assembled host in the presence of molecular oxygen generates both singlet oxygen and superoxide when suspended in solution. The efficiency of ROS generation by the host is lower than that of benzophenone (BP), which could be beneficial for reactions carried out catalytically, as ROS species react quickly and often unselectively. Superoxide formation was detected through reaction with 5,5- dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide in the presence of …

Genetic Diversity Of Local Canines Assessed By Derived Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequences, Nicole Benmoshe, Jeremy Seto

Publications and Research

Breeding of the dog, Canis Iupus familiaris, over centuries has given rise to the selection of certain traits including size, shape, coat length, color and many behavioral traits. Inbreeding within dog breeds has resulted in the increase of genetic diseases, many of which are similar to human diseases making the dog an exemplary model organism to study. Using dCAPS (Derived Cleaved Amplified Polymorphic Sequences) we can identify SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) in the dog genome using buccal samples collected from four local dogs of different breeds, both large and small. After performing DNA extractions, PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), restriction enzyme …

Contagious Yawning In The Domestic Cat (Felis Catus), Ariel M. Lombardo Aghishian

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates contagious yawning in domestic cats towards their owners, looking at potential links with empathy. Results showed no significant difference in yawning between conditions. The solitary nature of wildcats and their shared ancestor, and the unique social behavior in domesticated cats may explain these findings.

Observation Of Visitors At A Chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes Schweinfurthii) Ecotourism Site Reveals Opportunity For Multiple Modes Of Pathogen Transmission, Darcey Glasser

Theses and Dissertations

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) tracking is a popular ecotourism activity across Sub-Saharan Africa, offering visitors a personal wildlife experience. However, chimpanzee ecotourism may increase the risk of disease transmission between chimpanzees and people. This study assessed how tourist behaviors might facilitate cross-species disease transmission in Kibale National Park, Uganda.

Receptor-Mediated Maturation Of Olfactory Sensory Neurons: A Time Course Evaluation Of Neuronal Maturation In Neomorphic Mutants, Elizabeth Miller

Theses and Dissertations

How expression of odorant receptors affects the maturation of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) is not known. In a time course experiment, we show that wild type OSNs mature significantly more than those expressing Neomorphic mutant receptors. We conclude that functional receptors are critical to the differentiation and survival of OSNs.

Designing Computational Biology Workflows With Perl - Part 1, Esma Yildirim

Open Educational Resources

This material introduces Linux File System structures and demonstrates how to use commands to communicate with the operating system through a Terminal program. Basic program structures and system() function of Perl are discussed. A brief introduction to gene-sequencing terminology and file formats are given.

Designing Computational Biology Workflows With Perl - Part 1, Esma Yildirim

Open Educational Resources

This material introduces the AWS console interface, describes how to create an instance on AWS with the VMI provided, connect to that machine instance using the SSH protocol. Once connected, it requires the students to write a script to enter the data folder, which includes gene-sequencing input files and print the first five line of each file remotely. The same exercise can be applied if the VMI is installed on a local machine using virtualization software (e.g. Oracle VirtualBox). In this case, the Terminal program of the VMI can be used to do the exercise.

Designing Computational Biology Workflows With Perl - Part 2, Esma Yildirim

Open Educational Resources

This material introduces the AWS console interface, describes how to create an instance on AWS with the VMI provided and connect to that machine instance using the SSH protocol. Once connected, it requires the students to write a script to automate the tasks to create VCF files from two different sample genomes belonging to E.coli microorganisms by using the FASTA and FASTQ files in the input folder of the virtual machine. The same exercise can be applied if the VMI is installed on a local machine using virtualization software (e.g. Oracle VirtualBox). In this case, the Terminal program of the …