Life Sciences Commons^™

Propranolol Sensitizes Vascular Sarcoma Cells To Doxorubicin By Altering Lysosomal Drug Sequestration And Drug Efflux, Jhuma Saha, Jong Hyuk Kim, Clarissa N. Amaya, Caleb M. Witcher, Ali Khammanivong, Derek M. Korpela, David R. Brown, Josephine Taylor, Brad A. Bryan, Erin B. Dickerson

Faculty Publications

Angiosarcoma is a rare cancer of blood vessel–forming cells with a high patient mortality and few treatment options. Although chemotherapy often produces initial clinical responses, outcomes remain poor, largely due to the development of drug resistance. We previously identified a subset of doxorubicin-resistant cells in human angiosarcoma and canine hemangiosarcoma cell lines that exhibit high lysosomal accumulation of doxorubicin. Hydrophobic, weak base chemotherapeutics, like doxorubicin, are known to sequester within lysosomes, promoting resistance by limiting drug accessibility to cellular targets. Drug synergy between the beta adrenergic receptor (β-AR) antagonist, propranolol, and multiple chemotherapeutics has been documented in vitro, and …

Hurricane Irma Induces Divergent Behavioral And Hormonal Impacts On An Urban And Forest Population Of Invasive Anolis Lizards: Evidence For An Urban Resilience Hypothesis, Haralambos Fokidis, Taylor Brock

Faculty Publications

Hurricanes can have both profound short-term effects on animal populations and serve as long-term drivers of evolutionary change. Animals inhabiting varying habitats may differ in their response to hurricane impacts. Increasing evidence sug- gests that animals from urban areas exhibit different behavioral and physiological traits compared to rural counterparts, in- cluding attenuated hormonal stress responses and a lowered propensity for flight behavior. A unique opportunity was pre- sented when Hurricane Irma hit Florida on 10 September 2017 and interrupted a study of invasive brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) at an urban and a forest. Using data collected before and after Hurricane …

Identification And Functional Analysis Of Thadh1 And Thadh4 Genes Involved In Tolerance To Waterlogging Stress In Taxodium Hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 406’, Lei Xuan, Jianfeng Hua, Fan Zhang, Zhiquan Wang, Xiaoxiao Pei, Ying Yang, Yunlong Yin, David Creech

Faculty Publications

The Taxodium hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 406’ (T. hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 406’) [Taxodium mucronatum Tenore × Taxodium distichum (L.). Rich] has an outstanding advantage in flooding tolerance and thus has been widely used in wetland afforestation in China. Alcohol dehydrogenase genes (ADHs) played key roles in ethanol metabolism to maintain energy supply for plants in low-oxygen conditions. Two ADH genes were isolated and characterized—ThADH1 and ThADH4 (GenBank ID: AWL83216 and AWL83217—basing on the transcriptome data of T. hybrid ‘Zhongshanshan 406’ grown under waterlogging stress. Then the functions of these two genes were investigated through transient expression and overexpression. The results showed that the …

Payment For Ecosystem Services: Rewarding The Landowner Who Conserves The Public Good, Steven H. Bullard, Sarah Fuller

Faculty Publications

It has been said that money doesn’t grow on trees, but any forest landowner or manager will tell you that’s not exactly true— especially when observing a harvesting operation or managing dues from your hunting lease. While timber production and recreation are the most frequently monetized services provided by forests, what about the other goods and services they provide on a continuing basis? Are you or other forest landowners in your area being monetarily rewarded for soil stability, flood control, water filtration, air quality, and the other critical services—known as ecosystem services—provided by forests?

Measuring Building Height Using Point Cloud Data Derived From Unmanned Aerial System Imagery In An Undergraduate Geospatial Science Course, David L. Kulhavy, I-Kuai Hung, Daniel R. Unger, Reid Viegut, Yanli Zhang

Faculty Publications

The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), also known as drones is increasing in geospatial science curricula within the United States. Within the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) at Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas, seniors in the geospatial science program complete capstone projects to evaluate current geospatial technology to investigate complex ecological, social and environmental issues. Under the umbrella of a student initiated and designed senior project, students designed a study to estimate height of buildings with UAS data incorporating UAS data, LP360 and ArcScene programs, and Pictometry web-based interface. Results from a statistical analysis of …

Progress On Research Regarding Ecology And Biodiversity Of Coastal Fisheries And Nektonic Species And Their Habitats Within Coastal Landscapes, Mark S. Peterson, Michael J. Andres

Faculty Publications

This paper aims to highlight the new research and significant advances in our understanding of links between coastal habitat quality/quantity/diversity and the diversity of fisheries species and other mobile aquatic species (hereafter nekton) that use them within coastal landscapes. This topic is quite diverse owing to the myriad of habitat types found in coastal marine waters and the va-riety of life history strategies fisheries species and nekton use in these environments. Thus, we focus our mini-review on five selective but relevant topics, habitat templates, essential fish habitat, habitat mosaics/habitat connectivity, transitory/ephemeral habitat, and the emerging/maturing approaches to the study of …

Implementation Of Brain Breaks(R) In The Classroom And Its Effects On Attitudes Towards Physical Activity In A Chinese School Setting, Ke Zhou, Sensen He, Yanli Zhou, Biljana Popeska, Garry Kuan, Li Chen, Ming-Kai Chin, Magdalena Mo Ching Mok, Christopher R. Edginton, Ian Culpan, J. Larry Durstine

Faculty Publications

This study aimed to examine the effects of three-months of classroom-based Brain Breaks Physical Activity Solution (Brain Breaks®) on attitudes toward physical activity levels of primary school children in Henan Province, China. The participants were 704 children enrolled in grades 3–5 who were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. The experimental group participated in Brain Breaks® video intervention for 3–5 min daily, at low-to-moderate intensity for three consecutive months. The control group resumed their normal routine. The children’s attitudes in both groups towards physical activity (PA) were evaluated using the self-reported Attitudes toward Physical Activity Scale …

Photoreceptor Phosphodiesterase (Pde6): Activation And Inactivation Mechanisms During Visual Transduction In Rods And Cones, Rick H. Cote

Faculty Publications

Rod and cone photoreceptors of the vertebrate retina utilize cGMP as the primary

intracellular messenger for the visual signaling pathway that converts a light stimulus into an electrical response. cGMP metabolism in the signal-transducing photoreceptor outer segment reflects the balance of cGMP synthesis (catalyzed by guanylyl cyclase) and degradation (catalyzed by the photoreceptor phosphodiesterase, PDE6). Upon light stimulation, rapid activation of PDE6 by the heterotrimeric G-protein (transducin) triggers a dramatic drop in cGMP levels that lead to cell hyperpolarization. Following cessation of the light stimulus, the lifetime of activated PDE6 is also precisely regulated by additional processes. This review summarizes …

The Iron-Responsive Genome Of The Chiton Acanthopleura Granulata, Rebecca M. Varney, Daniel Isaac Speiser, Carmel Mcdougall, Bernard M. Degnan, Kevin M. Kocot

Faculty Publications

Molluscs biomineralize structures that vary in composition, form, and function, prompting questions about the genetic mechanisms responsible for their production and the evolution of these mechanisms. Chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) are a promising system for studies of biomineralization because they build a range of calcified structures including shell plates and spine- or scale-like sclerites. Chitons also harden the calcified teeth of their rasp-like radula with a coat of iron (as magnetite). Here we present the genome of the West Indian fuzzy chiton Acanthopleura granulata, the first from any aculiferan mollusc. The A. granulata genome contains homologs of many genes associated …

Examination Of Athlete Triad Symptoms Among Endurance-Trained Male Athletes: A Field Study, Erin M. Moore, Clemens Drenowatz, David F. Stodden, Kelly Pritchett, Thaddus C. Brodrick, Brittany T. Williams, Justin M. Goins, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

Studies examining the physiological consequences associated with deficits in energy availability (EA) for male athletes are sparse. To examine male athlete triad components; low energy availability (LEA) with or without an eating disorder risk (ED), reproductive hormone [testosterone (T)], and bone mineral density (BMD) in endurance-trained male athletes during different training periods. A cross-sectional design with 14 participants (age: 26.4 ± 4.2 years; weight: 70.6 ± 6.4 kg; height: 179.5 ± 4.3 cm; BMI: 21.9 ± 1.8 kg/m2) were recruited from the local community. Two separate training weeks [low (LV) and high (HV) training volumes] were used to collect the …

Examining Eating Attitudes And Behaviors In Collegiate Athletes, The Association Between Orthorexia Nervosa And Eating Disorders, Nancy A. Uriegas, Zachary K. Winkelmann, Kelly Pritchett, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

Orthorexia nervosa (Orthorexia) is an eating attitude and behavior associated with a fixation on healthy eating, while eating disorders (EDs) are clinically diagnosed psychiatric disorders associated with marked disturbances in eating that may cause impairment to psychosocial and physical health. The purpose of this study was to examine risk for Orthorexia and EDs in student-athletes across sex and sport type and determine the association between the two. Student-athletes ( = 1,090; age: 19.6 ± 1.4 years; females = 756; males = 334) completed a survey including demographics, the ORTO-15 test (values), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26; >20 score), and additional …

Photoreceptor Phosphodiesterase (Pde6): Structure, Regulatory Mechanisms, And Implications For Treatment Of Retinal Diseases, Rick H. Cote, Richa Gupta, Michael J. Irwin, Xin Wang

Faculty Publications

The photoreceptor phosphodiesterase (PDE6) is a member of large family of Class I phosphodiesterases responsible for hydrolyzing the second messengers cAMP and cGMP. PDE6 consists of two catalytic subunits and two inhibitory subunits that form a tetrameric protein. PDE6 is a peripheral membrane protein that is localized to the signaling-transducing compartment of rod and cone photoreceptors. As the central effector enzyme of the G-protein coupled visual transduction pathway, activation of PDE6 catalysis causes in a rapid decrease in cGMP levels that results in closure of cGMP-gated ion channels in the photoreceptor plasma membrane. Because of its importance in the phototransduction …

Swimming Against The Flow: Environmental Dna Can Detect Bull Sharks (Carcharhinus Leucas) Across A Dynamic Deltaic Interface, James Marcus Drymon, Katherine E. Schweiss, Emily A. Seubert, Ryan N. Lehman, Toby S. Daly-Engel, Mariah Pfleger, Nicole M. Phillips

Faculty Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Human activities in coastal areas are accelerating ecosystem changes at an unprecedented pace, resulting in habitat loss, hydrological modifications, and predatory species declines. Understanding how these changes potentially cascade across marine and freshwater ecosystems requires knowing how mobile euryhaline species link these seemingly disparate systems. As upper trophic level predators, bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) play a crucial role in marine and freshwater ecosystem health. Telemetry studies in Mobile Bay, Alabama, suggest that bull sharks extensively use the northern portions of the bay, an estuarine–freshwater interface known …

Toward Uncharted Territory Of Cellular Heterogeneity: Advances And Applications Of Single-Cell Rna-Seq, Brandon Lieberman, Meena Kusi, Chia Nung Hung, Chih Wei Chou, Ning He, Yen Yi Ho, Josephine A. Taverna, Tim H.M. Huang, Chun Liang Chen

Faculty Publications

Among single-cell analysis technologies, single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) has been one of the front runners in technical inventions. Since its induction, scRNA-seq has been well received and undergone many fast-paced technical improvements in cDNA synthesis and amplification, processing and alignment of next generation sequencing reads, differentially expressed gene calling, cell clustering, subpopulation identification, and developmental trajectory prediction. scRNA-seq has been exponentially applied to study global transcriptional profiles in all cell types in humans and animal models, healthy or with diseases, including cancer. Accumulative novel subtypes and rare subpopulations have been discovered as potential underlying mechanisms of stochasticity, differentiation, proliferation, tumorigenesis, and …

A Case Study Of Avocado, Berry, And Apple Trade Through Nafta, Jose A. Lopez, Hovhannes Mnatsakanyan

Faculty Publications

A Source-Differentiated Almost Ideal Demand System (SDAIDS) model was estimated for berries, apples, and avocadoes imported through NAFTA prior to the new USMCA. Elasticity estimates are useful for measuring consumers’ responsiveness to changes in fresh-fruit prices or expenditures. This study found the demands for berries, apples, and avocadoes were price inelastic; and that cases of substitute fresh-fruit imports were more frequent than complements. The study also assessed expected changes in US fresh-fruit imports through NAFTA in the wake of a tariff on Mexican fresh fruits as frequently propagated by politicians in the news. The combined direct and indirect impacts from …

Effects Of Body Temperature On Initial Bite Force In Three Species Of Rock- And Crevice-Dwelling Lizards From Mexico, Guillermo A. Woolrich-Piña, Geoffrey R. Smith, Norberto Martínez-Méndez, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal, Héctor Gadsden-Esparz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Exertional Heat Illness Risk Factors And Physiological Responses Of Youth Football Players, Susan W. Yeargin, John J. Dickinson, Dawn M. Emerson, Jessica Koller, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee, Zachary Y. Kerr

Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE: To determine which intrinsic and extrinsic exertional heat illness (EHI) risk factors exist in youth American football players and observe perceptual and physiological responses of players during events (games and practices). METHODS: Cross-sectional cohort study observing 63 youth football players, varying in position. Independent variables were league (weight-restricted (WR, n = 27) and age-restricted (AR, n = 36)) and event type. Dependent variables were anthropometrics, work-to-rest ratio, and wet bulb globe temperature. Descriptive variables included preparticipation examination and uniform configuration. A subset of 16 players participated in physiological variables (heart rate and gastrointestinal temperature). Data collection occurred on 7 …

Reply To “Programming May Matter Most.” Response To “Metabolic Effects Of Two High-Intensity Circuit Training Protocols: Does Sequence Matter?”, Tony P. Nuñez, Fabiano T. Amorim, Nicholas M. Beltz, Christine M. Mermier, Terence A. Moriarty, Roberto C. Nava, Trisha A. Vandusseldorp, Len Kravitz

Faculty Publications

We appreciate the interest that our study elicited and the comments from a reader. We commend the reader of our paper for critically evaluating the protocol and results of the study. Here, we would like to respond to the statement made in the letter. Indeed, the rest intervals were longer and time at VO2max was lower in our study than recommended by Bucheit and Larsen.1 However, because the reader is interested in the practical implications of our study, we ask that they consider the following:

Lower Socioeconomic Status Neighborhoods In Puerto Rico Have More Diverse Mosquito Communities And Higher Aedes Aegypti Abundance, Nicole A. Scavo, Roberto Barrera, Limarie J. Reyes-Torres, Donald A. Yee

Faculty Publications

Mosquito community dynamics in urban areas are influenced by an array of both social and ecological factors. Human socioeconomic factors (SEF) can be related to mosquito abundance and diversity as urban mosquito development sites are modified by varying human activity, e.g., level of abandoned structures or amount of accumulated trash. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships among mosquito diversity, populations of Aedes aegypti, and SEF in a tropical urban setting. Mosquitoes were collected using BG Sentinel 2 traps and CDC light traps during three periods between late 2018 and early 2019 in San Juan, Puerto …

Validation Of A Machine Learning Brain Electrical Activity-Based Index To Aid In Diagnosing Concussion Among Athletes, Jeffery J. Bazarian, Robert J. Elbin, Douglas J. Casa, Gillian A. Hotz, Christopher Neville, Rebecca M. Lopez, David M. Schnyer, Susan Yeargin Ph.D., Atc

Faculty Publications

Importance An objective, reliable indicator of the presence and severity of concussive brain injury and of the readiness for the return to activity has the potential to reduce concussion-related disability.

Objective To validate the classification accuracy of a previously derived, machine learning, multimodal, brain electrical activity–based Concussion Index in an independent cohort of athletes with concussion.

Design, Setting, and Participants This prospective diagnostic cohort study was conducted at 10 clinical sites (ie, US universities and high schools) between February 4, 2017, and March 20, 2019. A cohort comprising a consecutive sample of 207 athletes aged 13 to 25 years with …

High-Resolution Sampling Of A Broad Marine Life Size Spectrum Reveals Differing Size- And Composition-Based Associations With Physical Oceanographic Structure, Adam T. Greer, John C. Lehrter, Benjamin M. Binder, Aditya R. Nayak, Ranjoy Barua, Ana E. Rice, Jonathan H. Cohen, Malcolm N. Mcfarland, Alexis Hagemeyer, Nicole D. Stockley, Kevin M. Boswell, Igor Shulman, Sergio Derada, Bradley Penta

Faculty Publications

Observing multiple size classes of organisms, along with oceanographic properties and water mass origins, can improve our understanding of the drivers of aggregations, yet acquiring these measurements remains a fundamental challenge in biological oceanography. By deploying multiple biological sampling systems, from conventional bottle and net sampling to in situ imaging and acoustics, we describe the spatial patterns of different size classes of marine organisms (several microns to ∼10 cm) in relation to local and regional (m to km) physical oceanographic conditions on the Delaware continental shelf. The imaging and acoustic systems deployed included (in ascending order of target organism size) …

Juvenile Leaves Or Adult Leaves: Determinants For Vegetative Phase Change In Flowering Plants, Darren Manuela, Mingli Xu

Faculty Publications

Vegetative leaves in Arabidopsis are classified as either juvenile leaves or adult leaves based on their specific traits, such as leaf shape and the presence of abaxial trichomes. The timing of the juvenile-to-adult phase transition during vegetative development, called the vegetative phase change, is a critical decision for plants, as this transition is associated with crop yield, stress responses, and immune responses. Juvenile leaves are characterized by high levels of miR156/157, and adult leaves are characterized by high levels of miR156/157 targets, SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) transcription factors. The discovery of this miR156/157-SPL module provided a critical tool for …

The Supercam Instrument Suite On The Nasa Mars 2020 Rover: Body Unit And Combined System Tests, Roger C. Wiens, Sylvestre Maurice, Scott H. Robinson, Anthony E. Nelson, Philippe Cais, Pernelle Bernardi, Raymond T. Newell, Sam Clegg, Shiv K. Sharma, Steven Storms, Jonathan Deming, Darrel Beckman, Ann M. Ollila, Olivier Gasnault, Ryan B. Anderson, Yves André, Stanley M. Angel, Gorka Arana, Elizabeth Auden, Pierre Beck, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The SuperCam instrument suite provides the Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, with a number of versatile remote-sensing techniques that can be used at long distance as well as within the robotic-arm workspace. These include laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), remote time-resolved Raman and luminescence spectroscopies, and visible and infrared (VISIR; separately referred to as VIS and IR) reflectance spectroscopy. A remote micro-imager (RMI) provides high-resolution color context imaging, and a microphone can be used as a stand-alone tool for environmental studies or to determine physical properties of rocks and soils from shock waves of laser-produced plasmas. SuperCam is built in three parts: …

New Record Of Bacopa Egensis (Plantaginaceae) For The Flora Of Mexico, Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske, Nicholas P. Tippery, Nelly Del Carmen Jiménez Pérez, Donald H. Les

Faculty Publications

Bacopa egensis is newly reported for the flora of Mexico and an updated key is provided for the Mexican Bacopa species

The Promise Of A Multi-Disciplinary, Mixed-Methods Approach To Inform Insect Pest Management: Evidence From Wyoming Alfalfa, Randa Jabbour, Shiri Noy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Practices Of Athletic Trainers Using Weight Charts To Determine Hydration Status And Fluid-Intervention Strategies, Jeremy M. Eith, Clint R. Haggard, Dawn M. Emerson, Susan Yeargin Ph.D., Atc

Faculty Publications

Context

Determining an athlete's hydration status allows hydration-related concerns to be identified before significant medical or performance concerns arise. Weight charts are an accurate measure of hydration status changes, yet their clinical use by athletic trainers (ATs) is unknown.

Objective

To investigate ATs' use of weight charts in athletic settings and describe their subsequent clinical decisions.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

High schools and National Collegiate Athletic Association Divisions I, II, III and National Association Intercollegiate Athletics colleges.

Patients or Other Participants

A total of 354 ATs (men = 162, women = 175; 17 respondents did not answer the demographic questions) …

Practices Of Athletic Trainers Using Weight Charts To Determine Hydration Status And Fluid-Intervention Strategies, Jeremy M. Eith, Clint R. Haggard, Dawn M. Emerson, Susan W. Yeargin Ph.D., Atc

Faculty Publications

Context

Determining an athlete's hydration status allows hydration-related concerns to be identified before significant medical or performance concerns arise. Weight charts are an accurate measure of hydration status changes, yet their clinical use by athletic trainers (ATs) is unknown.

Objective

To investigate ATs' use of weight charts in athletic settings and describe their subsequent clinical decisions.

Design

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting

High schools and National Collegiate Athletic Association Divisions I, II, III and National Association Intercollegiate Athletics colleges.

Patients or Other Participants

A total of 354 ATs (men = 162, women = 175; 17 respondents did not answer the demographic questions) …

Structure–Activity Relationship-Based Chemical Classification Of Highly Imbalanced Tox21 Datasets, Gabriel Idakwo, Sundar Thangapandian, Joseph Luttrell, Yan Li, Nan Wang, Zhaoxian Zhou, Huixiao Hong, Bei Yang, Chaoyang Zhang, Ping Gong

Faculty Publications

The specificity of toxicant-target biomolecule interactions lends to the very imbalanced nature of many toxicity datasets, causing poor performance in Structure–Activity Relationship (SAR)-based chemical classification. Undersampling and oversampling are representative techniques for handling such an imbalance challenge. However, removing inactive chemical compound instances from the majority class using an undersampling technique can result in information loss, whereas increasing active toxicant instances in the minority class by interpolation tends to introduce artificial minority instances that often cross into the majority class space, giving rise to class overlapping and a higher false prediction rate. In this study, in order to improve the …

Dystonia 16 (Dyt16) Mutations In Pact Cause Dysregulated Pkr Activation And Eif2Α Signaling Leading To A Compromised Stress Response, Samuel B. Burnett, Lauren S. Vaughn, Nutan Sharma, Ronit Kulkarni, Rekha C. Patel

Faculty Publications

Dystonia 16 (DYT16) is caused by mutations in PACT, the protein activator of interferon-induced double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR). PKR regulates the integrated stress response (ISR) via phosphorylation of the translation initiation factor eIF2α. This post-translational modification attenuates general protein synthesis while concomitantly triggering enhanced translation of a few specific transcripts leading either to recovery and homeostasis or cellular apoptosis depending on the intensity and duration of stress signals. PKR plays a regulatory role in determining the cellular response to viral infections, oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and growth factor deprivation. In the absence of stress, both PACT and …

Biochemical And Genetic Analysis Of Ecm14, A Conserved Fungal Pseudopeptidase, R. Christian Mcdonald, Matthew James Schott, Temitope A. Idowu, Peter J. Lyons

Faculty Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: Like most major enzyme families, the M14 family of metallocarboxypeptidases (MCPs) contains a number of pseudoenzymes predicted to lack enzyme activity and with poorly characterized molecular function. The genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes one member of the M14 MCP family, a pseudoenzyme named Ecm14 proposed to function in the extracellular matrix. In order to better understand the function of such pseudoenzymes, we studied the structure and function of Ecm14 in S. cerevisiae. Results: A phylogenetic analysis of Ecm14 in fungi found it to be conserved throughout the ascomycete phylum, with a group of …