Life Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Parasitism And Mite Control Methods On European Starling Development, Aderinsola Oluwasikemi Odetunde

Theses and Dissertations

Certain developmental stressors can lead to developmental trade-offs in young organisms. Hematophagous ectoparasites are a common stressor experienced by European starlings, and we wished to explore what aspects of an ectoparasite infestation drove trade-offs. The first part of this study was to test the hypothesis that blood loss was the sole mediator of trade-offs due to hematophagous ectoparasite infestation. We used nestlings that were exposed to mites in the nests, nestlings in mite-reduced nests experiencing supplementary blood loss, and nestlings in mite reduced nests with no supplementary blood loss. We also used a new heat treatment to reduce mites in …

The North American Sea Ducks: Their Biology And Behavior, Paul A. Johnsgard

Zea E-Books Collection

The 21 species of sea ducks are one of the larger subgroups (Tribe Mergini) of the waterfowl family Anatidae, and the 16 species (one historically extinct) that are native to North America represent the largest number to be found on any continent, and also the largest number of endemic sea duck species native to any continent.

Although generally not important as game birds, the sea ducks include some economically important birds such as the eiders, the basis for the Arctic eiderdown industry and a historically important food source for some Native American cultures. They also include what is probably the …

Understanding Motivational Climate And Team Cohesion In Youth Sport, Annika M. Ewaldz

Theses and Dissertations

The effects of both peer-created and coach-created motivational climate on team cohesion was studied in a sample of 136 youth athletes. Task-involving aspects of both peer-and coach-created motivational climates were found to be positively related to team cohesion. Coach-created ego-involving climate was negatively related to team cohesion, most significantly attraction to group-task (ATG-T) cohesion. Peer-created ego-involving motivational climate was significantly, negatively related to group integration-task (GI-T) cohesion. Peer-created motivational climate accounted for variance above and beyond the influence of coach-created motivational climate on team cohesion. The results of this study suggest that a peer-created motivational climate influences team cohesion above …

Lingnan Gardeners Newsletter (No. 23) = 嶺南彩園通訊 (第23期), Lingnan Gardeners, Kwan Fong Cultural Research And Development Programme, Lingnan University

Lingnan Gardeners Newsletter 嶺南彩園通訊

Frost Descends 霜降

Volume 2, Chapter 12-9a: Terrestrial Insects: Holometabola - Coleoptera Biology And Ecology, Janice M. Glime

Bryophyte Ecology Subchapters

No abstract provided.

Great Bay Estuary Macroalgae Monitoring Program For 2016 Quality Assurance Project Plan, Kalle Matso

Quality Assurance Project Plans

No abstract provided.

Rapid And Objective Assessment Of Neural Function In Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Transient Visual Evoked Potentials, Paige M. Siper, Vance Zemon, James Gordon, Julia George-Jones, Stacey Lurie, Jessica Zweifach, Teresa Tavassoli, A. Ting Wang, Jesslyn Jamison, Joseph D. Buxbaum, Alexander Kolevzon

Publications and Research

Objective There is a critical need to identify biomarkers and objective outcome measures that can be used to understand underlying neural mechanisms in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) offer a noninvasive technique to evaluate the functional integrity of neural mechanisms, specifically visual pathways, while probing for disease pathophysiology.

Methods Transient VEPs (tVEPs) were obtained from 96 unmedicated children, including 37 children with ASD, 36 typically developing (TD) children, and 23 unaffected siblings (SIBS). A conventional contrast-reversing checkerboard condition was compared to a novel short-duration condition, which was developed to enable objective data collection from severely affected populations …

Large-Scale Off-Target Identification Using Fast And Accurate Dual Regularized One- Class Collaborative Filtering And Its Application To Drug Repurposing, Hansaim Lim, Aleksandar Poleksic, Yuan Yao, Hanghang Tong, Di He, Luke Zhuang, Patrick Meng, Lei Xie

Publications and Research

Target-based screening is one of the major approaches in drug discovery. Besides the intended target, unexpected drug off-target interactions often occur, and many of them have not been recognized and characterized. The off-target interactions can be responsible for either therapeutic or side effects. Thus, identifying the genome-wide off-targets of lead compounds or existing drugs will be critical for designing effective and safe drugs, and providing new opportunities for drug repurposing. Although many computational methods have been developed to predict drug-target interactions, they are either less accurate than the one that we are proposing here or computationally too intensive, thereby limiting …

Circnet: A Database Of Circular Rnas Derived From Transcriptome Sequencing Data, Yu-Chen Liu, Jian-Rong Li, Chuan-Hu Sun, Erik Andrews, Rou-Fang Chao, Feng-Mao Lin, Shun-Long Weng, Sheng-Da Hsu, Chieh-Chen Huang, Chao Cheng, Chun-Chi Liu, Hsien-Da Huang

Dartmouth Scholarship

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) represent a new type of regulatory noncoding RNA that only recently has been identified and cataloged. Emerging evidence indicates that circRNAs exert a new layer of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. In this study, we utilized transcriptome sequencing datasets to systematically identify the expression of circRNAs (including known and newly identified ones by our pipeline) in 464 RNA-seq samples, and then constructed the CircNet database (http://circnet.mbc.nctu.edu.tw/) that provides the following resources: (i) novel circRNAs, (ii) integrated miRNA-target networks, (iii) expression profiles of circRNA isoforms, (iv) genomic annotations of circRNA isoforms (e.g. 282 948 exon positions), …

Effect Of Cover Crops And Nitrogen Application Timing On Nutrient Loading And Concentration Through Subsurface Tile Drainage, Michael Douglas Ruffatti

Theses and Dissertations

It has been estimated that nitrate (NO3-N) leaching from artificially drained agricultural fields in the Upper Mississippi River Basin accounts for approximately 65% of nitrogen (N) delivered annually to the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the impact fertilizer application timing and cover crops (CC) adoption on the load and concentration of nutrients in subsurface drainage leachate. This experiment was conducted at the Illinois State University Nitrogen Management Field Station, in Lexington, IL. Treatments include a zero control (no N fertilizer and no cover crop), fall dominated N application (70% fall, 30% spring) with …

Incorporating The Brain Sciences Into The Teaching Of Business Psychology, Raymond L. Forbes Jr.

Learning Showcase 2016: A Celebration of Discovery, Transformation and Success

Franklin University has been at the forefront of integrating the findings of Neuroscience into its' masters degree program in Business Psychology. The teaching problem has been how to translate the often esoteric research of brain scientists into applications useful at the personal and organizational levels.

Family Based Treatment For Adults With Anorexia Nervosa Using Insights From Neurobiology, The Center For Balanced Living

Learning Showcase 2016: A Celebration of Discovery, Transformation and Success

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a biologically-based brain disorder, which has the highest death rate of all mental illnesses. No effective treatments exist for adults with severe and enduring AN (5-7+ years). Brain imaging studies at University of California San Diego on AN temperament, cognition and eating show common traits related to neural function. The temperaments are characterized by increased trait anxiety and state anxiety related to food and eating, high incidence of co-morbid anxiety disorders, high punishment sensitivity and low reward reactivity, elevated intolerance of uncertainty and exaggerated harm avoidance (HA). HA is a multifaceted temperament trait that contains elements …

Food Science Education, Research, And Professional Development, Phillip S. Tong

Dairy Science

Food science knowledge and experience obtained through education, research, and professional development are the engines for innovative solutions that have historically solved key challenges in providing food for man since ancient times, and hold the key to meeting future needs of a growing global population. The systems in place that have been used to evolve our education programs conduct research and provide continuous learning opportunities that are essential to insuring a vibrant and widely available nutritious, safe, and wholesome food supply. This article provides an overview of the topics of the hierarchy related to food science education, research, and professional …

Electro-Chemotactic Fields Induce Cooperative Movement Of Cns Cells, Shawn Mishra, Stephen Redenti, Maribel Vazquez

Publications and Research

Vision loss in adults with Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is attributed to damage of retinal photoreceptor cells that initiate vision by absorbing light. Mouse models have suggested that transplantation of precursor cells may be a novel approach to restore vision. This project uses a combination of electrotactic and chemotactic stimuli to promote and guide CNS cell migration within a microdevice model.

Identification Of Snps Located On Bta 6 And Bta 20 Significantly Associated With Bovine Respiratory Disease In Crossbred Cattle, S. L. Miller, S. Mizell, R. Walker, T. Page, Matthew D. Garcia

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The objective of the present study was to evaluate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in two quantitative trait locus (QTL) regions (BTA 6 and BTA 20) that are associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD). A population of 323 crossbred steers sired by five purebred sire breeds during 2010-2013 (Angus, Braford, Braunvieh, Charolais, and Simmental) were evaluated for BRD susceptibility during the finishing process at a commercial feedlot. A total of 21 animals representing all sire breeds were affected with BRD at some time during the finishing process over the 4-year period. Although multiple sire breeds were evaluated in the present …

In-Vivo Imaging Of Magnetic Fields Induced By Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs) In Human Brain Using Mri, Mayank V. Jog, Robert X. Smith, Kay Jann, Walter Dunn, Belen Lafon, Dennis Truong, Allan Wu, Lucas C. Parra, Marom Bikson, Danny J. J. Wang

Publications and Research

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an emerging non-invasive neuromodulation technique that applies mA currents at the scalp to modulate cortical excitability. Here, we present a novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, which detects magnetic fields induced by tDCS currents. This technique is based on Ampere’s law and exploits the linear relationship between direct current and induced magnetic fields. Following validation on a phantom with a known path of electric current and induced magnetic field, the proposed MRI technique was applied to a human limb (to demonstrate invivo feasibility using simple biological tissue) and human heads (to demonstrate feasibility in …

Cotinine Antagonizes The Behavioral Effects Of Nicotine Exposure In The Planarian Girardia Tigrina, Daniel J. Bach, Matthew Tenaglia, Debra L. Baker, Sean Deats, Erica Montgomery, Oné R. Pagán

Biology Faculty Publications

Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs abused by humans. Our laboratory and others have demonstrated that nicotine decreases motility and induces seizure-like behavior in planarians (pSLM, which are vigorous writhing and bending of the body) in a concentration-dependent manner. Nicotine also induces withdrawal-like behaviors in these worms. Cotinine is the major nicotine metabolite in humans, although it is not the final product of nicotine metabolism. Cotinine is mostly inactive in vertebrate nervous systems and is currently being explored as a molecule which possess most of nicotine’s beneficial effects and few of its undesirable ones. It is not known …

Plants Having Increased Bomass And Methods For Making The Same, Aleel K. Grennan, Donald R. Ort, Stephen Patrick Moose, Damla D. Bilgin, Thomas Clemente, Fredy Altpeter, Stephen P. Long

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The impact of plastid size change in both monocot and dicot plants has been examined. In both, when plastid size is increased there is an increase in biomass relative to the parental lines. Thus, provided herein are methods for increasing the biomass of a plant, comprising decreasing the expression of at least one plastid division protein in a plant. Optionally, the level of chlorophyll in the plant is also reduced.

Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Activation Of Egfr As A Novel Target For Meningitic Escherichia Coli Penetration Of The Blood-Brain Barrier, Xiangru Wang, Ravi Maruvada, Andrew J. Morris, Jun O. Liu, Michael J. Wolfgang, Dong Jae Baek, Robert Bittman, Kwang Sik Kim

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

Central nervous system (CNS) infection continues to be an important cause of mortality and morbidity, necessitating new approaches for investigating its pathogenesis, prevention and therapy. Escherichia coli is the most common Gram-negative bacillary organism causing meningitis, which develops following penetration of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). By chemical library screening, we identified epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as a contributor to E. coli invasion of the BBB in vitro. Here, we obtained the direct evidence that CNS-infecting E. coli exploited sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) for EGFR activation in penetration of the BBB in vitro and in vivo. We …

Functional Value Of Elytra Under Various Stresses In The Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium Castaneum, David M. Linz, Alan W. Hu, Michael I. Sitvarin, Yoshinori Tomoyasu

Entomology Faculty Publications

Coleoptera (beetles) is a massively successful order of insects, distinguished by their evolutionarily modified forewings called elytra. These structures are often presumed to have been a major driving force for the successful radiation of this taxon, by providing beetles with protection against a variety of harsh environmental factors. However, few studies have directly demonstrated the functional significance of the elytra against diverse environmental challenges. Here, we sought to empirically test the function of the elytra using Tribolium castaneum (the red flour beetle) as a model. We tested four categories of stress on the beetles: physical damage to hindwings, predation, desiccation, …

Glycoside Hydrolases Family 20 (Gh20) Represent Putative Virulence Factors That Are Shared By Animal Pathogenic Oomycetes, But Are Absent In Phytopathogens, Isabel Olivera, Katrina Fins, Sara Rodriguez, Sumayyah K. Abiff, Jaime Tartar, Aurelien Tartar

Biology Faculty Articles

Background

Although interest in animal pathogenic oomycetes is increasing, the molecular basis mediating oomycete-animal relationships remains virtually unknown. Crinkler (CRN) genes, which have been traditionally associated with the cytotoxic activity displayed by plant pathogenic oomycetes, were recently detected in transcriptome sequences from the entomopathogenic oomycete Lagenidium giganteum, suggesting that these genes may represent virulence factors conserved in both animal and plant pathogenic oomycetes. In order to further characterize the L. giganteum pathogenome, an on-going genomic survey was mined to reveal novel putative virulence factors, including canonical oomycete effectors Crinkler 13 (CRN13) orthologs. These novel sequences provided a basis to …

What’S In The Gift? Towards A Molecular Dissection Of Nuptial Feeding In A Cricket, Yannick Pauchet, Natalie Wielsch, Paul A. Wilkinson, Aleš Svatoš, Scott K. Sakaluk, Richard H. Ffrench-Constant, David G. Heckel, John Hunt

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Nuptial gifts produced by males and transferred to females during copulation are common in insects. Yet, their precise composition and subsequent physiological effects on the female recipient remain unresolved. Male decorated crickets Gryllodes sigillatus transfer a spermatophore to the female during copulation that is composed of an edible gift, the spermatophylax, and the ampulla that contains the ejaculate. After transfer of the spermatophore, the female detaches the spermatophylax and starts to eat it while sperm from the ampulla are evacuated into the female reproductive tract. When the female has finished consuming the spermatophylax, she detaches the ampulla and terminates sperm …

Insects: Still Looking Like Zombies, Christopher S. Hill

Animal Sentience

In arguing that insect brains are capable of sentience, Klein & Barron rely heavily on Bjorn Merker’s claim that activity in the human mid-brain is sufficient for conscious experience. I criticize Merker’s claim by pointing out that the behaviors supported by midbrain activity are much more primitive than the ones that appear to depend on consciousness. I raise a similar objection to Klein & Barron’s contention that insect behaviors are similar to behaviors that manifest consciousness in human beings. The similarity is weak. I also respond to the related view that integrative activity in mid-brain structures is sufficient to explain …

Vacht Overexpression Increases Acetylcholine At The Synaptic Cleft And Accelerates Aging Of Neuromuscular Junctions, Satoshi Sugita, Leland L. Fleming, Caleb Wood, Sydney K. Vaughan, Matheus P. S. M. Gomes, Wallace Camargo, Ligia A. Naves, Vania F. Prado, Marco A. M. Prado, Cristina Guatimosim, Gregorio Valdez

Anatomy and Cell Biology Publications

Background: Cholinergic dysfunction occurs during aging and in a variety of diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, it remains unknown whether changes in cholinergic transmission contributes to age-and disease-related degeneration of the motor system. Here we investigated the effect of moderately increasing levels of synaptic acetylcholine (ACh) on the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), muscle fibers, and motor neurons during development and aging and in a mouse model for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: Chat-ChR2-EYFP (VAChTHyp) mice containing multiple copies of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), mutant superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1G93A), and Chat-IRES-Cre and tdTomato transgenic mice were used in this …

Sensitivity Of Seven Diverse Species To Blue And Green Light: Interactions With Photon Flux, Michael Chase Snowden, Bruce Bugbee, Kevin R. Cope

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Despite decades of research, the effects of spectral quality on plant growth, and development are not well understood. Much of our current understanding comes from studies with daily integrated light levels that are less than 10% of summer sunlight thus making it difficult to characterize interactions between light quality and quantity. Several studies have reported that growth is increased under fluorescent lamps compared to mixtures of wavelengths from LEDs. Conclusions regarding the effect of green light fraction range from detrimental to beneficial. Here we report the effects of eight blue and green light fractions at two photosynthetic photon fluxes (PPF; …

Rna-Seq Of Borrelia Burgdorferi In Multiple Phases Of Growth Reveals Insights Into The Dynamics Of Gene Expression, Transcriptome Architecture, And Noncoding Rnas, William K. Arnold, Christina R. Savage, Catherine A. Brissette, Janakiram Seshu, Jonathan Livny, Brian Stevenson

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease, differentially expresses numerous genes and proteins as it cycles between mammalian hosts and tick vectors. Insights on regulatory mechanisms have been provided by earlier studies that examined B. burgdorferi gene expression patterns during cultivation. However, prior studies examined bacteria at only a single time point of cultivation, providing only a snapshot of what is likely a dynamic transcriptional program driving B. burgdorferi adaptations to changes during culture growth phases. To address that concern, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis of B. burgdorferi cultures at early-exponential, mid-exponential, and early-stationary phases …

The Eco-Epidemiology Of Pacific Coast Tick Fever In California, Kerry A. Padgett, Denise L. Bonilla, Marina E. Eremeeva, Carol A. Glaser, Robert S. Lane, Charsey Cole Porse, Martin B. Castro, Sharon L. Messenger, Alex Espinosa, Jill Hacker, Anne Kjemtrup, Bonnie Ryan, Jamesina J. Scott, Renjie Hu, Melissa Hardstone Yoshimizu, Gregory A. Dasch, Vicki Kramer

Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Rickettsia philipii (type strain “Rickettsia 364D”), the etiologic agent of Pacific Coast tick fever (PCTF), is transmitted to people by the Pacific Coast tick, Dermacentor occidentalis. Following the first confirmed human case of PCTF in 2008, 13 additional human cases have been reported in California, more than half of which were pediatric cases. The most common features of PCTF are the presence of at least one necrotic lesion known as an eschar (100%), fever (85%), and headache (79%); four case-patients required hospitalization and four had multiple eschars. Findings presented here implicate the nymphal or larval stages of D …

How Have Retail Sales Changed Across Nebraska Counties Since 1990?, Anil Giri, Bruce B, Johnson

Cornhusker Economics

Retailing is an important sector of our state’s economy and is watched carefully as an indicator of overall economic performance. Since the metropolitan areas serve as retail centers for larger geographic areas, the volume of retail activity generated is certainly an important metric to those places. But this is also true in the smaller towns and cities across the state, which are constantly competing against the large super stores and outlets found in the larger cities/towns within acceptable drive time. Moreover, the trend towards greater online retail sales due to offering of a wide variety of goods and services with …

Takeover On The Tallgrass Prairie: How Lespedeza Cuneata Establishes Dominance, Morgan Rae Walder

Theses and Dissertations

Invasion ecology aims to study mechanisms by which invasive species are able to enter, establish, and spread within an ecosystem. This study analyzed Darwin’s naturalization and the biotic resistance hypotheses as the most likely explanations for invasion by an exotic legume, Lespedeza cuneata, into a tallgrass prairie. Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis posits that exotic species are less able to establish in communities that have related species, because similarity in morphology and function promotes intense competition for resources. The biotic resistance hypothesis states that competitors, herbivores, and pathogens already present in the community limit the colonization, naturalization, and persistence of invaders, therefore …

Ionic Basis Of Ventricular Action Potentials, Ariel L. Escobar

Science Seminar Series

Dr. Escobar will talk about his cutting-edge approach to understanding molecular mechanisms underlying electrical activity in the heart.