Life Sciences Commons^™

Nebline, January/February 2024

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

2023 Extension Highlights

4-H Programs Engaged 39,421 Youth

Nebraska Extension’s Strategic Direction

Enjoy a Comforting Bowl of Soup in January & Beyond by Kayla Colgrove

Recipe of the Month: Multi-Cooker Tuscan Soup by Kayla Colgrove

Garden Guide: Things to Do This Month

Extension’s 2024 Master Gardener Volunteer Training Begins Soon

Upcoming Green Industry Conferences

ProHort Lawn & Landscape Update

2024 Pesticide Applicator Trainings

Crop Production Clinics

Extension Workshop Planned on Managing Farmland and Transition Planning

Water Quality: Nebraska On-Farm Research by John Nelson

House Centipedes by Kait Chapman

Early Childhood Prep Academy: Leaders Today, Learners Tomorrow by Hayley Jackson

Heart …

Use Of Otolith Microchemistry To Determine Natal Origins For Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix In The Lower Mississippi River Basin, C. Barshinger, M. Eggleton, J. Spurgeon

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Two Otolith Processing Methods For Silver Carp Age Estimation, J. N. Stevens, C. E. Barshinger, J. J. Spurgeon, M. A. Eggleton, S. E. Lochmann

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Seed Focus, June 2024, Nebraska Crop Improvement Association

Nebraska Seed Focus

Nebraska Seed Focus, June 2024

Nebraska Seed Focus, September 2024, Nebraska Crop Improvement Association

Nebraska Seed Focus

Nebraska Seed Focus, September 2024

Nebraska Seed Focus, December 2024, Nebraska Crop Improvement Association

Nebraska Seed Focus

Nebraska Seed Focus, December 2024

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 2, June 2024

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 2, June 2024

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 3, September 2024

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Timber Talk, Vol. 62, No. 3, September 2024

Arctic Report Card 2024, United States National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration: Technical Reports and Related Materials

The Arctic Report Card from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 2024.

23 Extinct Redwork Quilt Project: Repairing Relationships With Our More-Than-Human Kin, Stitch By Stich, Heather Kerley

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In 2021, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed 23 species for delisting from the Endangered Species Act due to extinction. I would like to present my redwork quilt, Mourning Lost Kin (23 Extinct), which honors each of these species. I plan to share my process from researching and sketching each species to the embroidering of each block and the over-all construction of the quilt. But most importantly, I would love to share the stories of these species, the layers of meaning in this quilt, and the many questions it raised for me over the course of two years. …

Occupancy Of The Little Grass Frog (Pseudacris Ocularis), An Overlooked Longleaf Endemic, In A Managed Landscape, Anna M. Humphrey

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Amphibians are declining globally, with many declines associated with habitat loss. The longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) ecosystem historically covered most of the southeastern United States and supports a host of endemic amphibians. This ecosystem has declined by over 97% in the last two hundred years and many associated species have declined with it. The Little Grass Frog (Pseudacris ocularis) is a longleaf pine endemic anuran that has been understudied and under-surveyed; almost no information is known on the ecology of this species and no population studies have been conducted. My goals were to create an acoustic …

9s1r Nullomer Peptide Induces Mitochondrial Pathology, Metabolic Suppression, And Enhanced Immune Cell Infiltration, In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Mouse Model, Nilufar Ali, Cody Wolf, Swarna Kanchan, Shivakumar R. Veerabhadraiah, Laura Bond, Matthew W. Turner, Cheryl L. Jorcyk, Greg Hampikian

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nullomers are the shortest strings of absent amino acid (aa) sequences in a species or group of species. Primes are those nullomers that have not been detected in the genome of any species. 9S1R is a 5-aa peptide prime sequence attached to 5-arginine aa, used to treat triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in an in vivo mouse model. This unique peptide, administered with a trehalose carrier (9S1R-NulloPT), offers enhanced solubility and exhibits distinct anti-cancer effects against TNBC. In our study, we investigated the effect of 9S1R-NulloPT on tumor growth, metabolism, metastatic burden, tumor immune-microenvironment (TME), and transcriptome of aggressive mouse …

Applied Soft Classes And Fuzzy Confusion In A Patchwork Semi-Arid Ecosystem: Stitching Together Classification Techniques To Preserve Ecologically-Meaningful Information, Josh Enterkine, T. Trevor Caughlin, Hamid Dashti, Nancy F. Glenn

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dryland ecosystems have complex vegetation communities, including subtle transitions between communities and heterogeneous coverage of key functional groups. This complexity challenges the capacity of remote sensing to represent land cover in a meaningful way. Many remote sensing methods to map vegetation in drylands simplify fractional cover into a small number of functional groups that may overlook key ecological communities. Here, we investigate a remote sensing process that further advances our understanding of the link between remote sensing and ecologic community types in drylands. We propose a method using k-means clustering to establish soft classes of vegetation cover communities from detailed …

Genomic Surveillance Of Sars-Cov-2 Sequence Variants At Universities In Southwest Idaho, Jennifer R. Chase, Laura Bond, Daniel J. Vail, Milan Sengthep, Adriana Rodriguez, Joe Christianson, Stephanie F. Hudon, Julia Thom Oxford

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on major metropolitan areas is broadly reported and readily available, regions with lower populations and more remote areas in the United States are understudied. The objective of this study is to determine the progression of SARS-CoV-2 sequence variants in a frontier and remote intermountain west state among university-associated communities. This study was conducted at two intermountain west universities from 2020 to 2022. Positive SARS-CoV-2 samples were confirmed by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and variants were identified by the next-generation sequencing of viral genomes. Positive results were obtained for 5355 samples, representing …

A Cotyledon-Based Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (Cotyledon-Vigs) Approach To Study Specialized Metabolism In Medicinal Plants, Yongliang Liu, Ruiqing Lyu, Joshua Singleton, Barunava Patra, Sitakanta Pattanaik, Ling Yuan

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Background Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is widely used in plant functional genomics. However, the efficiency of VIGS in young plantlets varies across plant species. Additionally, VIGS is not optimized for many plant species, especially medicinal plants that produce valuable specialized metabolites.

Results We evaluated the efficacy of five-day-old, etiolated seedlings of Catharanthus roseus (periwinkle) for VIGS. The seedlings were vacuum-infiltrated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens GV3101 cells carrying the tobacco rattle virus (TRV) vectors. The protoporphyrin IX magnesium chelatase subunit H (ChlH) gene, a key gene in chlorophyll biosynthesis, was used as the target for VIGS, and we observed yellow cotyledons 6 …

Braving The Elements: Loss Of Metals From Mardi Gras Beads Due To Handling And Weathering, Thomas O. Carmichael, Ruth H. Carmichael

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The largest Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. are found along the Gulf of Mexico coast. With increasing awareness of and concern for environmental and human health risks due to pollution from Mardi Gras celebrations, there is a need for studies to quantify potential harms. We conducted a 2—part study to determine whether use—related handling and weathering of common Mardi Gras beaded necklaces results in loss of potentially harmful metals to the environment at levels of ecological or human health concern. Our data indicate that weathering and use—related handling can cause metals to be shed from the metallic coating of …

An Aggregation Of The Pandalid Shrimp, Heterocarpus Ensifer, On Deep Reef Habitats Of The West Florida Slope, Eastern Gulf Of Mexico, Steve W. Ross

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Heterocarpus ensifer A. Milne—Edwards (1881) (Crustacea: Pandalidae), armed nylon shrimp, is widely distributed in the western and eastern North Atlantic Ocean. In the western Atlantic this shrimp occurs from off North Carolina to Brazil and in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), western Bahamas, and Caribbean Sea at depths of 170—885 m. Despite its widespread occurrence, ecology or biology information for this species are sparse, and in situ observations of abundance, behavior and habitat preferences are particularly lacking. During extensive submersible and ROV observations on and near deep—reefs in the north—central and eastern GOM, a remarkably large aggregation of H. ensifer …

Dynamics Of Cell Membrane Lesions And Adaptive Conductance Under The Electrical Stress, Mantas Silkunas, Olga N. Pakhomova, Giedre Silkuniene, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Exceeding physiological limits of the cell membrane potential compromises structural integrity, enabling the passage of normally impermeant solutes and disrupting cell function. Electropermeabilization has been studied extensively at the cellular scale, but not at the individual membrane lesion level. We employed fast total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) imaging of Ca(2+) entry transients to discern individual lesions in a hyperpolarized cell membrane and characterize their focality, thresholds, electrical conductance, and the lifecycle. A diffuse and momentary membrane permeabilization without a distinct pore formation was observed already at a -100 mV threshold. Polarizing down to -200 mV created focal pores with a …

"Hunter-Killer" Peptoid-Peptide Conjugate To Target And Eliminate Cancer Stem Cells, Breanne F. Mcelderry

Chemistry Theses

In the contemporary paradigm concerning the emergence of therapy-resistant recurrent cancer, recent studies posit the existence of a limited population of self-renewing malignant progenitors known as cancer stem cells (CSCs). The presence of CSCs explains why tumors often relapse despite clinical remission with initial therapeutic interventions. Consequently, the development of innovative therapeutic modalities specifically tailored to target and eliminate CSCs represents a highly promising strategy for eradicating cancer without the risk of recurrence. In previous research, we successfully developed a synthetic peptoid-based ligand CL-1-19-1 that selectively binds to CSC over non-CSC. However, CL-1-19-1 did not exhibit any significant inhibitory effect …

Summer Research Fellowship Project Descriptions 2024, Clark Science Center's Summer Research Fellows Program

SURF Abstracts (Women in Science)

A summary of research done by Smith College’s 2024 Summer Research Fellowship (SURF) Program participants. Ever since its 1967 start, SURF has been a cornerstone of Smith’s science education. Supervised by faculty mentor-advisors drawn from the Clark Science Center and connected to its eighteen science, mathematics, and engineering departments and programs and associated centers and units. At summer’s end, SURF participants were asked to summarize their research experiences for this publication.

The Influence Of Habitual Physical Activity And Sedentary Behavior On Objective And Subjective Hot Flashes At Midlife, Sarah Witkowski, Quinn White, Sofiya Shreyer, Daniel E. Brown, Lynette Leidy Sievert

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

The years surrounding the transition to menopause are marked by multiple challenges to health. Hot flashes are a commonly reported symptom of women at this time and their frequency has been associated with disease risk. Regular physical activity and reduced sedentary time are recommended for health and wellbeing. However, the effect of physical activity and sedentary behavior on hot flashes remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate relationships between physical activity, sedentary time and hot flashes during both waking and sleeping periods using concurrent objective and subjective measures of hot flashes in midlife women. METHODS: Women …

Acute Increases In Physical Activity And Temperature Are Associated With Hot Flash Experience In Midlife Women, Sarah Witkowski, Quinn White, Sofiya Shreyer, Randi L. Garcia, Daniel E. Brown, Lynnette Leidy Sievert

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: This study determined the association between acute changes in physical activity, temperature and humidity and 24-hour subjective and objective hot flash experience.

Methods: Data collection occurred during the cooler months of the year in Western Massachusetts (October-April). Women aged 45-55 across 3 menopause stages (n=270) were instrumented with ambulatory monitors to continuously measure hot flashes, physical activity, temperature and humidity for 24-hours. Objective hot flashes were assessed via sternal skin conductance, and subjective hot flashes were recorded by pressing an event marker and data logging. Physical activity was measured with wrist-worn accelerometers and used to define sleep and wake …

Mathematical Modeling Of Microscale Biology In Polyelectrolyte Brushes, William J. Ceely

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Biological macromolecules including nucleic acids, proteins, and glycosaminoglycans are typically anionic and can span domains of up to hundreds of nanometers and even micron length scales. The structures exist in crowded environments that are dominated by multivalent electrostatic interactions that can be modeled using mean-field continuum approaches that represent underlying molecular nanoscale biophysics. In this thesis, we develop such models for polyelectrolyte brushes using both steady state modified Poisson-Boltzmann models and transient modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck models that incorporate important ion-specific (Hofmeister) effects. The transient model enables observation of the relative physical effects as an initial non-equilibrium state relaxes to the steady …

Vascular Floristic Study Of The Piute Mountains, Kern County, California, Courtney Matzke

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This study describes the vascular flora of the Piute Mountains, located at the southern terminus of the Sierra Nevada in Kern County, California. The study area covers ca. 543 square km (210 square mi), with elevations ranging from 777 m (2,550 ft) to 2,562 m (8,406 ft) at Piute Peak. Though situated in the Sierra Nevada ecoregion, the Piute Mountains lie near the Mojave Desert, Central Valley, and southern California mountains, resulting in a highly diverse, unique flora with plant taxa from each of these regions co-occurring. The study area encompasses varied topography with an assortment of geologic features including …

Reaching Across The Divide: Tools For Bridging Structural And Viral Genomics Using A Combination Of Biophysical Principles And Machine Learning, Diana Yvette Lee

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Bacteriophages are the most ubiquitous biological entity on the planet, but most viruses found in nature cannot be cultured in the laboratory and encode genes whose sequences lack similarity with current nucleotide and protein databases. New predictive methods are thus necessary to determine the phenotype of viruses. In this work, we leverage the physical geometrical constraints of viruses to quantify the correlation between the geometric and genomic characteristics of tailed phages, and predict physical features such as architecture and genome length of uncultured viruses using allometric models and machine learning algorithms. Here, we present a model to predict the T-number …

Calliphoridae Of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Andrew Meeds

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

This project aimed to establish a baseline understanding of the blow fly fauna of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM). Blow flies are the most commonly used insect in criminal investigations due to their tendency to be the earliest to locate and colonize remains. By understanding their distributions and patterns of seasonality, forensic entomologists can determine which species are most likely to colonize remains and identify which species may require further study. An 11-month comparison between fresh and aged chicken liver-baited traps improves understanding of primary and secondary colonizers in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and offers insights into effective …

Cultivating Curiosity: Encouraging An Entomology Interest In Preschoolers, Macey Keith

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

This qualitative experiment encourages the integration of entomology-based activities into a preschool curriculum. The researcher aligns her children's preschool experience with tailored art projects and hands-on activities centered around the tomato hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata, and Madagascar hissing cockroaches, Gromphadorhina portentosa. Following the activity, surveys were administered to parents and teachers to evaluate their perceived value of the lesson. Additionally, questions were asked to ascertain if the child recalled the activities participated in and to capture their emotional responses to the experience. The intention of this study was to create a clear lesson plan that can be easily implemented …

Evolution Of The Largest Insect Orders: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Jason Thompson

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

Introduction

Insects are regarded by many to be among the most successful organisms on earth, displaying remarkable diversity, resilience, and adaptations, allowing them the ability to inhabit and exploit a wide array of niche environments. If sheer numbers are utilized as a yardstick by which to measure success, it has been estimated that there may be as many as 10 quintillion insects alive and active at any given time (Sabrosky, 1952). In terms of species diversity, estimates have ranged from as many as 30 million based on research and collections in tropical forest canopies (Erwin, 1982) to more recent, conservative …

Field Guide To Common Forensically Important Insects Of Oregon, Dakota Hufford

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

Purpose, Scope and Structure of the Guide

This guide aims to serve as a semi-comprehensive resource for anyone interested in forensic entomology within the state of Oregon in the United States. This resource is intended to fill a gap in existing available forensic entomology educational materials by providing identifying information on the primary groups of insects involved in decomposition processes and forensic investigations in Oregon. It is useful for a diverse group of people including students, educators, forensic professionals, and laypeople with an interest in entomology. Therefore, the intended audience ranges from interested amateurs and curious observers, to educators and …

Assessment Of Spruce Beetle ([Coleoptera]:[Curculionidae]) Populations In Red Spruce Stands Of The Southern Appalachians, Kyle Finis Cavender

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

A series of traps was deployed in four red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) stands in the Southern Appalachians to evaluate the presence of, and trap lure efficacy for, the spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby, 1837). Although no spruce beetles were collected, more than 14,000 Polygraphus rufipennis (Kirby) were captured. Traps were baited with a variety of lure combinations that demonstrated a strong attraction of P. rufipennis to frontalin, a relationship not previously reported. The results suggest that the role of frontalin in the chemical ecology of P. rufipennis, including possible regional differences in the biology of the …