Life Sciences Commons^™

The Rim And The Ancient Mariner: The Nautical Horizon Affects Postural Sway In Older Adults, Justin Munafo, Michael G. Wade, Nikolas Stergiou, Thomas A. Stoffregen

Journal Articles

On land, the spatial magnitude of postural sway (i.e., the amount of sway) tends to be greater when participants look at the horizon than when they look at nearby targets. By contrast, on ships at sea, the spatial magnitude of postural sway in young adults has been greater when looking at nearby targets and less when looking at the horizon. Healthy aging is associated with changes in the movement patterns of the standing body sway, and these changes typically are interpreted in terms of age-related declines in the ability to control posture. To further elucidate the mechanisms associated with these …

Chapter 9: Biomechanics, Nicholas Stergiou, Daniel Blanke, Sara A. Myers, Ka-Chun Siu

Journal Articles

Biomechanics is a discipline. A discipline deals with understanding, predicting, and explaining phenomena within a content domain, and biomechanics is the study of the human body in motion. By applying

principles from mechanics and engineering, biomechanists are able to study the forces that act on the body and the effects they produce (Bates, 1991). Hay (1973) describes biomechanics as the science that examines forces acting on and within a biological structure and the effects produced by such forces, whereas Alt (1967) describes biomechanics as the science that investigates the effect of internal and external forces on human and animal bodies …

Vascular Flora Of The Rocky Fork Tract, Tennessee, Usa, And Its Use In Conservation And Management, Foster Levy, Elaine S. Walker

ETSU Faculty Works

A flora of the 3800 ha Rocky Fork Tract in northeast Tennessee produced 749 species of which 19 were on the Tennessee Rare Plant List and 34 were on the Cherokee National Forest Species Viability List with 87 county records from Greene County and 217 from Unicoi County. Rare species were particularly numerous in the Cyperaceae and Orchidaceae. The tract serves as a refuge for several regionally uncommon species by supporting either large populations or metapopulations of these species. Exotic species comprised 15% of the flora and were most common in the Fabaceae and Poaceae. The most unique habitat was …

Salvinia Molesta: An Assessment Of The Effects And Methods Of Eradication, Arti Lal

Master's Projects and Capstones

Salvinia molesta is an invasive aquatic fern. It is now the second worse aquatic invader in the world. Since the 1930s, it has invaded most tropical and some temperate countries. S. molesta plants grow vegetatively and can increase in size rapidly. S. molesta can form thick mats of up to 1-meter-thick. There are a number of ways these thick mats negatively affect the environment: 1) reduce light to benthic organisms, 2) reduce oxygen in the water column for other organisms, 3) accumulate as organic matter at the bottom of the water column, 4) decrease nutrients for other organisms, and 5) …

Review Of Northwestern African Buthacus, With Description Of Buthacus Stockmanni Sp. N. From Morocco And Western Sahara (Scorpiones, Buthidae), František Kovařík, Graeme Lowe, František Šťáhlavský

Euscorpius

Northwestern African Buthacus species are revised. Buthacus stockmanni sp. n. from Morocco and Western Sahara is described and fully complemented with color photos of live and preserved specimens, as well as their habitat. The hemispermatophore of B. stockmanni sp. n. is illustrated and described. In addition to morphology and hemi-spermatophores, we also describe the karyotypes of B. stockmanni sp. n. (2n=20). B. stockmanni sp. n. is compared with B. occidentalis Vachon, 1953 and B. ziegleri Lourenço, 2000. Both these species are differentiated from B. stockmanni sp. n. geographically and morphologically. The male of B. stockmanni sp. n. has fingers of …

First Report Of Lissothus Occidentalis Vachon, 1950 (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From Morocco And Western Sahara, With Notes On Ecology And Captive Breeding, Mark Stockmann, Carlos Turiel, Felix Althoff, Graeme Lowe, František Kovařík

Euscorpius

Genus Lissothus Vachon, 1948 represented by L. occidentalis Vachon, 1950 is reported for the first time from four localities in Morocco and the Western Sahara. We provide a revised diagnosis of L. occidentalis, fully complemented with color photos of live and preserved specimens. Hemispermatophore is also illustrated and described in detail. Furthermore, we describe aspects of the ecology of this species, and provide photos of collection sites and habitats. We also report on the reproductive biology of this species based on captive breeding and rearing. and provide the first envenomation report for the species.

Effect Of Maternal Age On Recombination Rate In Drosophila Melanogaster, Christopher Schimmoeller

Honors Projects

Recombination is vital because it adds genetic diversity to a species and has the potential to influence fitness, the relative reproductive success of an organism in passing genes to the next generation (Roeder, 1997). Multiple aspects of recombination have been studied, including its mechanisms of production and the role of recombination events in evolution (Hudson & Kaplan, 1985). In this study we examined how maternal age affects the rate of recombination. Our hypothesis states that recombination rate is positively correlated with maternal age. If this is true we would expect to see recombination rate, in progeny, increase as the parental …

Improved Genome-Scale Multitarget Virtual Screening Via A Novel Collaborative Filtering Approach To Cold-Start Problem, Hansaim Lim, Paul Gray, Lei Xie, Aleksandar Poleksic

Publications and Research

Conventional one-drug-one-gene approach has been of limited success in modern drug discovery. Polypharmacology, which focuses on searching for multi-targeted drugs to perturb disease-causing networks instead of designing selective ligands to target individual proteins, has emerged as a new drug discovery paradigm. Although many methods for single-target virtual screening have been developed to improve the efficiency of drug discovery, few of these algorithms are designed for polypharmacology. Here, we present a novel theoretical framework and a corresponding algorithm for genome-scale multitarget virtual screening based on the one-class collaborative filtering technique. Our method overcomes the sparseness of the protein-chemical interaction data by …

Biophysical And Functional Characterization Of Rhesus Macaque Igg Subclasses, Austin W. Boesch, Nana Yaw Osei-Owusu, Andrew R. Crowley, Thach H. Chu, Ying Chan, Joshua Weiner, Pranay Bharadwaj, Rufus Hards, Mark Adamo, Scott Gerber, Sarah Cocklin, Joern Schmitz, Adam Miles, Joshua Eckman, Aaron J. Belli, Keith Reimann, Margaret E. Ackerman

Dartmouth Scholarship

Antibodies raised in Indian rhesus macaques [Macaca mulatta (MM)] in many preclinical vaccine studies are often evaluated in vitro for titer, antigen-recognition breadth, neu- tralization potency, and/or effector function, and in vivo for potential associations with protection. However, despite reliance on this key animal model in translation of promising candidate vaccines for evaluation in first in man studies, little is known about the proper- ties of MM immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses and how they may compare to human IgG subclasses. Here, we evaluate the binding of MM IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 to human Fc gamma receptors (FcγR) and their …

Stability Of Peatland Carbon To Rising Temperatures, R. M. Wilson, A. M. Hopple, M. M. Tfaily, S. D. Sebestyen, C. W. Schadt, L. Pfeifer-Meister, Cassandra Medvedeff, K. J. Mcfarlane, J. E. Kostka, M. Kolton, R. K. Kolka, L. A. Kluber, Jason K. Keller, T. P. Guilderson, N. A. Griffiths, J. P. Chanton, S. D. Brigham, P. J. Hanson

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Peatlands contain one-third of soil carbon (C), mostly buried in deep, saturated anoxic zones (catotelm). The response of catotelm C to climate forcing is uncertain, because prior experiments have focused on surface warming. We show that deep peat heating of a 2 m-thick peat column results in an exponential increase in CH4 emissions. However, this response is due solely to surface processes and not degradation of catotelm peat. Incubations show that only the top 20–30 cm of peat from experimental plots have higher CH4 production rates at elevated temperatures. Radiocarbon analyses demonstrate that CH4 and CO2 are produced primarily from …

The Evolution Of Zero-Tolerance Policies, Stephanie D. Stahl

CrissCross

Most Americans today have a largely negative image of zero-tolerance policies (ZTP) enacted to stop and prevent violence in the United States school system. According to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement, zero-tolerance procedures are policies that mandate predetermined consequences or punishments for specific offenses (Walker). These policies specifically targeted actions considered violent and threatening, such as possession of a firearm or weapon. The concept of zero-tolerance policies was introduced into the education system during the 1980s as part of the failed War on Drugs as an attack on drug usage and violence in schools. …

The Labyrinth Of The Mind: The Psychology Of War Stories In Tim O’Brien’S Going After Cacciato, Rebekah Smith

CrissCross

This paper explores and analyzes the psychological reasons for storytelling by soldiers and veterans both during and after their deployments in war. It brings in multiple works by author-veterans as well as critical writing about these books with a specific focus on Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. Paul Berlin, the novel's protagonist, imagines a fictional quest leaving Vietnam and going all the way to Paris following the desertion of a fellow soldier gone AWOL. He creates this journey to create order, find meaning, generate understanding, and focus on the good rather than the bad. This paper also explores the …

American Spring, Sam Mullooly, Tom Mullooly

CrissCross

Composer's Notes

I composed American Spring during the 2015-2016 school year, my final year as an undergraduate at Illinois Wesleyan University, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. This opera takes place mostly in April 1865, the year Richmond burned and Lincoln died, and deals with America’s feelings of pride and shame in war. The opera’s main character is Varina Davis, the wife of confederate President Jefferson Davis. Varina offers the 1860’s Southern perspective on slavery and the war, one glossed over in most readings of our history because it is so obviously repugnant …

Birthing Center Versus Hospitalized Birth, Nicolette Larsen

CrissCross

There are many risks and benefits of giving birth at a birthing center versus a hospital. Determining the location of birth is an important decision, as women in the world today have many options of where to have their child. Hospitals and birthing centers are two places where medical professionals provide prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum care for the mother and fetus during this memorable time. While hospital nurses and physicians provide advanced medical care, birthing centers focus on holistic care of the family unit emphasizing mental, spiritual, and physical health. Doctors often perform cesarean sections (C-sections) for non-medical …

A Park Story, David Flowers, Evan Dolan

CrissCross

Composer's Note

A Park Story was written to be an honest and objective portrayal of the struggles that both characters experience throughout their collective story. Christopher and his mother both end up fighting two dominating perspectives of their identity: their family roles, and how they identify themselves. Their self-identities collide with each other in an irreconcilable manner; while both of them strongly desire the family bond they have, the mother’s convictions become the line that neither of them have any desire to cross.

Tracking The Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) Corridor And The Human-Wildlife Conflict In Selela Village, Nicole Chlebek, Laura Stalter

CrissCross

The beastly journey of long-distance migration for the African Elephant (Lexodonta Africana) is important for upholding their connections between diminishing protected areas, especially in northeastern Tanzania. However, human development is encroaching into these corridors, creating a human-elephant conflict, which can ruin livelihoods of villagers, depending on the extent of conflict. This study focused on exploring the hypothesized human-elephant conflict on the Selela corridor, specifically in Selela village, as well as GPS (Global Positioning System) mapping evidence of elephant travel along the projected Selela elephant corridor connecting Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), to Selela Forest Reserve (SFR), and finally to …

Anthropogenic Disturbance Modulates Mammal Community Diversity, Assembly, & Abundance: Emerging Infectious Disease Risk In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Leticia Andrea Gutiérrez Jiménez

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of mammalian biodiversity in maintaining overall ecosystem health in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). The study explores the pathways by which anthropogenic disturbance prevents or promotes the emergence of human infectious diseases. I studied two paramount research questions: Question 1: What are the direct effects of anthropogenic disturbance on rodent community assemblages and the consequent indirect effects on public health? I first surveyed the GYE rodent community and their pathogens by using land use as a measure of anthropogenic disturbance (e.g., human settlements, horseback ranches, pastures, undisturbed). I identified pathogens in rodent blood samples by …

Synthetic Ion Channels: A New Class Of Membrane Disruptor And Efflux Pump Inhibitor For The Recovery Of Antibiotic Potency, Mohit Bharatkumar Patel

Dissertations

Antibiotic resistance has become a world-wide health care crisis. In 2013 there were 50,000 deaths in U.S. and EU, associated with hospital acquired bacterial infections. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of new antibiotics in development. Here, we report that synthetic amphiphiles represent a new class of adjuvants that rescue antibiotic potency against multidrug resistant bacteria. Hydraphiles are amphiphiles, designed and synthesized in Gokel lab, that show many of the same properties as protein ion channels. Hydraphiles were previously shown to have antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here, we report that hydraphiles recover the …

Endogenous Small Interfering Rna: Insights Into Esirna Biogenesis And Their Precursors, Andrew White Harrington

Dissertations

Rarely in research is the path to an answer straightforward. Initial questions lead to more questions, many times doubling back to allow for greater insight into the original question. For example, discovery of interactions between previously unrelated pathways can lead to breakthroughs with regard to understanding of gene regulation. One such novel interaction and the subsequent discoveries this interaction spurred are discussed herein. Transposons, or “Jumping Genes” are mobile genetic elements found throughout all three major domains of life. Transposons comprise 44% of the human genome and possess the ability to move within the genome. This ability makes them an …

Color-Mediated Foraging By Pollinators: A Comparative Study Of Two Passionflower Butterflies At Lantana Camara, Gyanpriya Maharaj

Dissertations

Colorful floral signaling and resulting insect foraging behaviors have only been extensively examined in hymenopteran pollinators, especially bees, in comparison to flies, beetles, and butterflies regardless of their ecological importance. Therefore, my study provides novel information by focusing on foraging behaviors of adult passionflower butterflies, Heliconius melpomene and Dryas iulia, to the color changing flowers of Lantana camara. My dissertation which is divided into four chapters, aims to explore various aspects of color mediate foraging in passionflower butterflies by combining observations in the wild with controlled field and laboratory experiments. In the first chapter I reviewed flower color development and …

Dna Methylation Signatures Of Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation Are Associated With Complex Diseases, Symen Ligthart, Carola Marzi, Stella Aslibekyan, Michael M. Mendelson, Karen N. Conneely, Toshiko Tanaka, Elena Colicino, Lindsay L. Waite, Roby Joehanes, Weihua Guan, Jennifer A. Brody, Cathy Elks, Riccardo Marioni, Min A. Jhun, Golareh Agha, Jan Bressler, Cavin K. Ward-Caviness, Brian H. Chen, Tianxiao Huan, Kelly Bakulski, Elias L. Salfati, Whi-Empc Investigators, Giovanni Fiorito, Charge Epigenetics Of Coronary Heart Disease, Simone Wahl, Katharina Schramm, Jin Sha, Dena G. Hernandez, Allan C. Just, Jennifer A. Smith, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Background: Chronic low-grade inflammation reflects a subclinical immune response implicated in the pathogenesis of complex diseases. Identifying genetic loci where DNA methylation is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation may reveal novel pathways or therapeutic targets for inflammation.

Results: We performed a meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a sensitive marker of low-grade inflammation, in a large European population (n = 8863) and trans-ethnic replication in African Americans (n = 4111). We found differential methylation at 218 CpG sites to be associated with CRP (P < 1.15 × 10^–7) in the discovery panel …

Review Of The Cultivation Program Within The National Alliance For Advanced Biofuels And Bioproducts, Peter J. Lammers, Michael Huesemann, Wiebke Boeing, Daniel B. Anderson, Robert G. Arnold, Xuemei Bai, Manish Bhole, Yalini Brhanavan, Louis Brown, Jola Brown, Judith K. Brown, Stephen Chisholm, C. Meghan Downes, Scott Fulbright, Yufeng Ge, Jonathan E. Holladay, Balachandran Ketheesan, Avinash Khopkar, Ambica Koushik, Paul Laur, Babetta L. Marrone, John B. Mott, Nagamany Nirmalakhandan, Kimberly L. Ogden, Ronald L. Parsons, Juergen Polle, Randy D. Ryan, Tzachi Samocha, Richard T. Sayre, Mark Seger, Thinesh Selvaratnam, Ruixiu Sui, Alex Thomasson, Adrian Unc, Wayne Van Vorrhies, Peter Waller, Yao Yao, José A. Olivares

Publications and Research

The cultivation efforts within the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB)were developed to provide four major goals for the consortium, which included biomass production for downstream experimentation, development of new assessment tools for cultivation, development of new cultivation reactor technologies, and development of methods for robust cultivation. The NAABB consortium test beds produced over 1500 kg of biomass for downstream processing. The biomass production included a number of model production strains, but also took into production some of the more promising strains found through the prospecting efforts of the consortium. Cultivation efforts at large scale are intensive and …

Department For Agriculture And Food – Northern Beef Futures: Valuing Security Of Supply, Department Of Agriculture And Food Wa

Animal production and livestock published reports

The DAFWA-NBF project is committed to identifying growth and value creation opportunities for the WA Beef industry and have engaged PwC to estimate the value of increased security of supply.

A joint PwC/NBF team have developed a WA beef value chain model to better understand the industry’s potential and establish the potential value associated with changes in the security of supply.

Results indicate that, over a five to twelve year timeframe, the WA Beef industry might have the potential to grow cattle disposals, double revenue to $1.2B and increase profit by $0.5B.

A diversified market which includes Japan and China …

Behavioral Effects Of Envrionmental Enrichment Devices Of Tursiops Truncatus, Stephanie Maiorano

Honors Projects

Many studies on environmental enrichment devices have been conducted throughout the years on both terrestrial and marine animals in captivity. However, little is known on the effect that submergible enrichment devices have on cetaceans in captivity. This study examines two male Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), Kaiko’o and Nalu, at Sea Life Park, Hawai’i and their interaction with the Magic Box: a device consisting of a submergible vegetable crate weighed down with a weight, flipped upside down with fish underneath. A total of 7 trials were conducted, with data collection on their surfacing behavior before and after the …

Photoassisted Oxidation Of Sulfides Catalyzed By Artificial Metalloenzymes Using Water As An Oxygen Source, Christian Herrero, Nhung Nguyen-Thi, Fabien Hammerer, Frédéric Banse, Donald Gagne, Nicolas Doucet, Jean-Pierre Mahy, Rémy Ricoux

Advanced Science Research Center

The Mn(TpCPP)-Xln10A artificial metalloenzyme, obtained by non-covalent insertion of Mn(III)-meso-tetrakis(p-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin [Mn(TpCPP), 1-Mn] into xylanase 10A from Streptomyces lividans (Xln10A) as a host protein, was found able to catalyze the selective photo-induced oxidation of organic substrates in the presence of [RuII(bpy)3] 2+ as a photosensitizer and [CoIII(NH3)5Cl]2+ as a sacrificial electron acceptor, using water as oxygen atom source.

Synthesis Of Rhamnosylated Arginine Glycopeptides And Determination Of The Glycosidic Linkage In Bacterial Elongation Factor P, Siyao Wang, Leo Corcilius, Phillip B. Sharp, Andrei Rajkovic, Michael Ibba, Benjamin L. Parker, Richard J. Payne

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A new class of N-linked protein glycosylation – arginine rhamnosylation – has recently been discovered as a critical modification for the function of bacterial elongation factor P (EF-P). Herein, we describe the synthesis of suitably protected α- and β-rhamnosylated arginine amino acid “cassettes” that can be directly installed into rhamnosylated peptides. Preparation of a proteolytic fragment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa EF-P bearing both α- and β-rhamnosylated arginine enabled the unequivocal determination of the native glycosidic linkage to be α through 2D NMR and nano-UHPLC-tandem mass spectrometry studies.

Genomic Description And Annotation Of A New Colivirus; Kb1, Maggie Caswell

Honors Projects

KB1 is a bacteriophage with relatively few established characteristics. However, it is thought to be similar to the novel environmental isolate bacteriophage, JK5. The aim of this study was to describe and annotate the genome of this new colivirus, relative to the genome of JK5. This comparison confirms the hypothesis that these are similar, but distinct viruses, and provides a foundation for the further understanding of both of these novel environmental isolates.

Time-Series Analysis Of Embodied Interaction: Movement Variability And Complexity Matching As Dyadic Properties, Leonardo Zapata-Fonseca, Dobromir Dotov, Ruben Fossion, Tom Froese

Journal Articles

There is a growing consensus that a fuller understanding of social cognition depends on more systematic studies of real-time social interaction. Such studies require methods that can deal with the complex dynamics taking place at multiple interdependent temporal and spatial scales, spanning sub-personal, personal, and dyadic levels of analysis. We demonstrate the value of adopting an extended multi-scale approach by re-analyzing movement time-series generated in a study of embodied dyadic interaction in a minimal virtual reality environment (a perceptual crossing experiment). Reduced movement variability revealed an interdependence between social awareness and social coordination that cannot be accounted for by either …

Siddhartha Mukherjee. The Gene. An Intimate History. New York: Scribner, 2016. 593 Pp. $32.00 Cloth (Isbn 978-1-4767-3350-0), Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Heredity has always been, in one form or another, at the center of biological

research. There is little doubt that the first scientific experimentation took place

about fifteen thousand years ago, when humans started breeding plants and

animals in order to domesticate them. Today the science of genetics seems to

advance at such a pace that even the experts have trouble keeping up with all the

developments. Now we are witnessing the expansion of our understanding of this

realm of science to levels unimaginable just a few decades ago.

Uric Acid Levels In Relation To Progression Of Multiple Sclerosis, Alexander A. Gosch, Mary F. Davis, Joshua C. Denny

Library/Life Sciences Undergraduate Poster Competition 2017

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by demyelination in the central nervous system. In previous studies, serum uric acid (UA) levels have been implied as a useful biomarker in understanding MS disease progression and development. The majority of previous studies have found MS patients have a lower UA level than healthy controls, however some studies have found higher UA levels with MS patients. Previous studies have compared UA levels between subtypes of MS, but have not produced conclusive data. To better understand the correlation between UA levels and MS patients, we compared UA levels between our set of …