Life Sciences Commons^™

Forest Composition Change And Biophysical Climate Feedbacks Across Boreal North America, Richard Massey, Brendan M. Rogers, Logan T. Berner, Sol Cooperdock, Michelle C. Mack, Xanthe J. Walker, Scott J. Goetz

Aspen Bibliography

Deciduous tree cover is expected to increase in North American boreal forests with climate warming and wildfire. This shift in composition has the potential to generate biophysical cooling via increased land surface albedo. Here we use Landsat-derived maps of continuous tree canopy cover and deciduous fractional composition to assess albedo change over recent decades. We find, on average, a small net decrease in deciduous fraction from 2000 to 2015 across boreal North America and from 1992 to 2015 across Canada, despite extensive fire disturbance that locally increased deciduous vegetation. We further find near-neutral net biophysical change in radiative forcing associated …

Oregon State Rank Assessment For Slender Sculpin (Cottus Tenuis), Misty Nelson

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Oregon state conservation status assessment for slender sculpin (Cottus tenuis) using NatureServe methodology, 2023.

Re‑Using Food Resources From Failed Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera L.) Colonies And Their Impact On Colony Queen Rearing Capacity, Rogan Tokach, Autumn H. Smart, Judy Wu-Smart

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

For over a decade, beekeepers have experienced high losses of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies due to a variety of stressors including pesticide exposure. Some of these chemical stressors may residually remain in the colony comb and food resources (pollen and nectar) of failed colonies and be later re-used by beekeepers when splitting and building back new colonies. The practice of re-using comb from previously perished colonies (termed “deadout”) is common in beekeeping practice, but its role in affecting colony health is not well understood. Here, we evaluate the impact of reused, pesticide-contaminated “deadout” combs on colony function …

Older Adult Falls In The Community: Does Unsafe Home Environment Have A Risk Role Through The Mediating Effect Of Functional Limitations?, Debasree Das Gupta, Uma Kelekar, Sidney C. Turner

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Fall incidents from unsafe home environment are frequent in older-adult homes but the literature is ambiguous whether it is the presence/absence, or the interplay of such conditions and physical functioning that is of salience. We therefore estimated whether unsafe home environment adversely associated with subsequent falls among older adults and what proportion of this association was mediated through limitations in daily and instrumental activities of daily living (ADL/IADL).

Research Design and Methods: Using a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries (≥65 years) in the 2018-2019 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS; n=2,599), we conducted bivariate …

3d Musculoskeletal Analysis Of The Rhea Americana Forelimb And Implications For The Evolution Of Avian Flight, Sarah Elizabeth Guzinski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To understand the evolutionary gain, and loss, of avian powered flight, attention must be paid to the wing morphology of species across these transitions. However, paleognaths, while being the most well-known flightless birds, have greatly understudied forelimbs. Additionally, current literature regarding their forelimb anatomy generally lacks a three-dimensional (3D), biomechanical approach. Among the flightless paleognaths, the rhea is notable in having the least reduced forelimb. Though not used for flight, the wings of rheas are used in other behaviors such as courtship and threat display, as well as nest defense. In this study, I investigate the forelimb anatomy of an …

Ecosystem Structure And Function Across Western Dryland Ecosystems: A Cross-Site Comparison Of Semiarid Ecosystem Types In Colorado And Wyoming, Christopher W. Beltz, William K. Lauenroth, Ingrid C. Burke

Western North American Naturalist

Drylands extend over large portions of the globe, including a significant share of the western United States, yet they remain understudied. We examined ecosystem structure and function at 3 semiarid dryland sites in Colorado and Wyoming, each of which was dominated by a different ecosystem type and plant community—shortgrass steppe, mixed-grass prairie, and sagebrush steppe. This initial study was conducted to fill gaps in knowledge about how sagebrush steppe compares to dryland grasslands in the western United States. Soil respiration was higher at the sagebrush steppe than at the 2 grassland sites (P = 0.001). Aboveground biomass, microbial abundance, …

White Matter Integrity Abnormalities In Healthy Overweight Individuals Revealed By Whole Brain Meta-Analysis Of Diffusion Tensor Imaging Studies, Xiaodong Cheng, Wenchang Wang, Chen Sun, Yana Sun, Cong Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to conduct a coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA) to investigate white matter (WM) abnormalities in healthy individuals with overweight or obesity.

METHODS: A systematic literature search using Web of Science and PubMed datasets was performed. Original investigations that used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to explore fractional anisotropy (FA) differences between healthy overweight/obese individuals and normal weight controls were collected. The meta-analysis was conducted using the seed-based

RESULTS: The analysis included five studies comprising 232 overweight/obese individuals and 219 healthy normal weight controls. The findings showed that overweight/obese individuals exhibited reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in specific regions, namely, the …

Smokejumper Obituary: Rolfs, Donald Arden "Don" (North Cascades 1959), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Causal Models And Causal Modelling In Obesity: Foundations, Methods And Evidence, Roger S Zoh, Xiaoxin Yu, Philip Dawid, George Davey Smith, Stephen J French, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Discussing causes in science, if we are to do so in a way that is sensible, begins at the root. All too often, we jump to discussing specific postulated causes but do not first consider what we mean by, for example, causes of obesity or how we discern whether something is a cause. In this paper, we address what we mean by a cause, discuss what might and might not constitute a reasonable causal model in the abstract, speculate about what the causal structure of obesity might be like overall and the types of things we should be looking …

Quality And Consumer Acceptance Of Shrimp Nuggets As Affected By Shrimp Shell Powder Addition, Jorge Ortega

LSU Master's Theses

Approximately 6 million tons of shrimp are produced annually. However, about 45% of shrimp is discarded as waste (shell/head portions). This waste represents both environmental and economic challenges. This study was performed to explore the potential of utilizing shrimp shell powder (SSP) as a sustainable ingredient in shrimp nuggets. To determine the optimal SSP inclusion levels, a preliminary study involving 35 panelists who participated in two sessions was conducted to determine a Consumer Rejection-Tolerance-Threshold (RTT) using a probit-regression model (α=0.05, GENMOD procedure, SAS software). Rejection-Range (RR) was determined at 95% fiducial limits, which yielded the maximum acceptable %SSP. Subsequently, 105 …

Mutual-Information Based Optimal Experimental Design For Hyperpolarized [Formula: See Text]C-Pyruvate Mri, Prashant K Jha, Christopher Walker, Drew Mitchell, J Tinsley Oden, Dawid Schellingerhout, David T Fuentes

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A key parameter of interest recovered from hyperpolarized (HP) MRI measurements is the apparent pyruvate-to-lactate exchange rate, [Formula: see text], for measuring tumor metabolism. This manuscript presents an information-theory-based optimal experimental design approach that minimizes the uncertainty in the rate parameter, [Formula: see text], recovered from HP-MRI measurements. Mutual information is employed to measure the information content of the HP measurements with respect to the first-order exchange kinetics of the pyruvate conversion to lactate. Flip angles of the pulse sequence acquisition are optimized with respect to the mutual information. A time-varying flip angle scheme leads to a higher parameter optimization …

Dual Targeted Extracellular Vesicles Regulate Oncogenic Genes In Advanced Pancreatic Cancer, Chi-Ling Chiang, Yifan Ma, Ya-Chin Hou, Junjie Pan, Sin-Yu Chen, Zhi-Xuan Zhang, Xinyu Wang, Jingjing Zhang, Hong Li, Lili Sun, Shannon Fallen, Inyoul Lee, Xing-Yu Chen, Yeh-Shiu Chu, Chi Zhang, Tai-Shan Cheng, Wen Jiang, Betty Y S Kim, Eduardo Reategui, Robert Lee, Yuan Yuan, Hsiao-Chun Liu, Kai Wang, Michael Hsiao, Chi-Ying F Huang, Yan-Shen Shan, Andrew S Lee, L James Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumours carry multiple gene mutations and respond poorly to treatments. There is currently an unmet need for drug carriers that can deliver multiple gene cargoes to target high solid tumour burden like PDAC. Here, we report a dual targeted extracellular vesicle (dtEV) carrying high loads of therapeutic RNA that effectively suppresses large PDAC tumours in mice. The EV surface contains a CD64 protein that has a tissue targeting peptide and a humanized monoclonal antibody. Cells sequentially transfected with plasmid DNAs encoding for the RNA and protein of interest by Transwell®-based asymmetric cell electroporation release abundant targeted …

Program, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia, Fisheries Research And Development Corporation, Western Rock Lobster Council

International Conference on Lobster (and Crab) Biology and Management (ICWL)

No abstract provided.

Developing A Point-Of-Care Detection Kit For Parkinson’S Disease Using Gold Nanoparticle-Based Lateral Flow Assay, Ali Aljassabi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease and the fastest-growing neurodegenerative disorder in the world. The major issue with PD is that it takes several years of biological changes until the patient starts to experience physiological symptoms that could affect their daily lives. The major hallmark of PD is the appearance of Lewy body inclusions in the neuron’s cytoplasm, which is rich in a protein called α-Synuclein (α-Syn). Several studies have shown that the levels of α-Syn in blood increase because the excess α-Syn is released from neurons into the bloodstream through extracellular vesicles. …

Spatial Structure Of Germination And Seed-Associated Fungi In Tropical Pioneer Seeds, Daniela Varon Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Negative density-dependent regulation is the process by which host-specific natural enemies reduce the survival of seeds and seedlings of conspecifics near adult trees, favoring heterospecific recruitment, and ultimately increasing local diversity. Negative density-dependent regulation by fungal pathogens has been consistently reported to promote plant diversity in the tropics, even though they tend to be multi-host and host-specificity is rarely reported. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that host-generalist fungi can have host-specific effects that produce disproportionate negative effects on some plant species but not others, promoting regional diversity. However, such studies have not tested for both host-specificity and distance-dependent effects in fully replicated …

Substrate Specificity In Abc Transporters Using The E. Coli Methionine Import System, John H. Guardado

Featured Student Work

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters use the energy of ATP to move substrates across membranes against a concentration gradient. The role of ABC transporters is crucial in several essential cellular functions and mutations in ABC transporters in humans have been linked to several conditions, including cystic fibrosis, liver disease, and diabetes. Despite their central roles in homeostasis, the mechanism of ABC transporters remains poorly understood. Our research is focused on studying an ABC importer in E. coli, as a model system, to examine the mechanism of substrate specificity and transport. The bacterial methionine import system consists of a membrane-embedded transporter, MetNI, …

Identification Of Lipids And Cytokines In Plasma And Follicular Fluid Before And After Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Stimulation As Potential Markers For Follicular Maturation In Cattle, Alexandria P. Snider, Renata S. Gomes, Adam F. Summers, Sarah C. Tenley, Mohamed A. Abedal-Majed, Renee M. Mcfee, Jennifer R. Wood, John S. Davis, Andrea S. Cupp

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

The process of follicle maturation leading to ovulation is a key milestone in female fertility. It is known that circulating lipids and cytokines play a role in the follicle’s ability to go through follicular maturation and the ovulatory processes. However, the specific mechanisms are not well understood. We posit that dysregulation of granulosa cells influences the ovarian environment, which tries to adapt by changing released lipids and cytokines to achieve follicular maturation. Eleven non-lactating adult females underwent estrus synchronization with two injections of PGF2 14 days apart. Daily blood samples were collected for 28 days to monitor steroid hormone production …

Suppressing A Blocked Balance Recovery Step: A Novel Method To Assess An Inhibitory Postural Response, David A. E. Bolton, Charlie C. Baggett Iv, Chase A. Mitton, Sara A. Harper, James K. Richardson

Kinesiology and Health Science Faculty Publications

Stepping to recover balance is an important way we avoid falling. However, when faced with obstacles in the step path, we must adapt such reactions. Physical obstructions are typically detected through vision, which then cues step modification. The present study describes a novel method to assess visually prompted step inhibition in a reactive balance context. In our task, participants recovered balance by quickly stepping after being released from a supported forward lean. On rare trials, however, an obstacle blocked the stepping path. The timing of vision relative to postural perturbation was controlled using occlusion goggles to regulate task difficulty. Furthermore, …

Re-Stratification Of Patients With Copy-Number Low Endometrial Cancer By Clinicopathological Characteristics, Li Liwei, Li He, Dai Yibo, Zhao Luyang, Shen Zhihui, Shen Danhua, Wang Zhiqi, Wang Jianliu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: To stratify patients with copy-number low (CNL) endometrial cancer (EC) by clinicopathological characteristics.

Methods: EC patients who underwent surgery between June 2018 and June 2022 at Peking University People's Hospital were included and further classified according to TCGA molecular subtyping: POLE ultramutated, microsatellite instability high (MSI-H), CNL, and copy-number high (CNH). Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of CNL patients were retrospectively reviewed. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was applied to perform univariate and multivariate analysis, and independent risk factors were identified. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) according to overall survival (OS) were screened based on the transcriptome of CNL cases …

Simultaneous Determination Of 6 Pesticide Residues In Tea By Quechers-Gs-Ms/Ms, Wu Han-Bin

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to establish a method by using QuEChERS-gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS), to determine six pesticide residues in tea, including: hydroprene, kinoprene, genite, fluronitrofen, cycloprate, and chlornitrofen. Methods: The samples were pretreated by QuEChERS method. They were separated by gas chromatographic, detected by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and quantified by the external method. Results: All the pesticide residues showed good linearity with correlation coefficients above 0.999 when the concentration falls in the range 0.025~2.000 mg/kg, and the limits of quantitation were in the range of 0.000 6 ~0.007 2 mg/kg. In the recovery experiment of …

Simultaneous Determination Of 80 Veterinary Drug Residues In Chicken By Quechers-Uplc-Ms/Ms, Li Hong, Xiang Jun, Li Dan, Li Li-Juan, He Qing-Ke

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to establish a method for the simultaneous determination of 80 veterinary drugs including quinolones, sulfonamides, receptor agonists, glucocorticoids, macrolides, tetracyclines, antiviral drugs in chicken by QuEChERS - ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS）. Methods: The samples were extracted by 1% formic acid acetonitrile aqueous solution, purified by QuEChERS multi-veterinary drug residue purification column, detected by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS） multi-reaction monitoring mode, and quantified by matrix standard curve external standard method. Results: The results showed that 80 kinds of veterinary drugs were highly responsive under specific mass spectrometry conditions, and the …

Optimization Approaches To Legal Supervision Of Import And Export Food Safety In China, Chen He-Fang

Food and Machinery

At present, China has preliminarily established a food safety supervision system for imports and exports, with the current 21 year Food Safety Law as the basic law and the inspection and quarantine department as the main regulatory body. However, there are still problems such as low food safety standards, low management and technical level of regulatory departments, and lack of necessary coordination with major trading partners. In this regard, we can optimize and construct the legal supervision of China's import and export food safety from the dimensions of building scientific food safety standards that are in line with international standards, …

Effect Of Water Content On The Growth Of A. Flavus And Aflatoxin M1 Accumulation During Storage Of Fresh Walnut In Xinjiang, Wang Yuan-Meng, Bai Yu-Jia, Feng Zuo-Shan, Cheng Huan

Food and Machinery

Objective: To improve the storage safety of Xinjiang fresh walnut. Methods: Xinjiang "Xin 2" thin-skinned walnut was used as material, sterile water was inoculated as a control group, and Aspergillus flavus was inoculated as an experimental group. The Aspergillus flavus isolated and purified from naturally moldy walnut was artificially inoculated into Xinjiang thin-skinned fresh walnut with different water content （10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%） to investigate the growth and toxicity of Aspergillus flavus. Results: The water content of walnut which was suitable for the growth of Aspergillus flavus and the secretion of Aflatoxin M₁ was 15%. With the …

Research On Apple Defect Detection Method Based On Improved Cnn, Du Guo-Zhen, Lu Ming-Xing, Ji Ze-Xu, Liu Ji-Chao

Food and Machinery

Objective: To solve the problems of low accuracy and poor efficiency in existing apple defect detection methods. Methods: Based on a fruit image acquisition system, an improved convolutional neural network was proposed for detecting surface defects in apples. Deep separable convolution was Introduced to replace the original network standard convolution, to improve the speed of feature extraction. The Leaky ReLU activation function was introduced to replace the ReLU activation function to improve the calculation efficiency and accuracy. Global average pooling was introduced to replace the fully connected layer, to reduce the computational complexity of the network model. After each layer …

Inhibition Of Psoriasis-Like Inflammation In Mice By Sesamol, Chen Xue, Liu Xue-Bo, Wang Yu-Xuan

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to explore the improvement effect of sesamol on skin lesions caused by psoriasis. Methods: The psoriasis model was constructed by using 5% imiquimod cream applied to the backs of mice for seven consecutive days, with sesamol intervention used from one week before to the end of modelling to explore the protective effect of sesamol on the skin. Then, observed and measured skin thickness, PASI score, spleen index, pathological tissue sections, cytokines (IL-17, IL-23, TNF-α and other inflammatory factors and chemokines like CXCL1 and CCL20), and inflammatory factors (IL-17, TNF-α) in plasma of mice …

Research Progress On Physicochemical Properties And Biological Activity Of Theabrownin, Dai Li-Feng, Jiang Jie-Lin, Guan Xing-Li, Zou Xiao-Lin, Fu Zong-Lin, Luo Sai, Yang Zhi

Food and Machinery

Theabrownin, a kind of water-soluble, non-dialysable, highly polymerised brown substance, mainly composed of polyphenol, polysaccharide, protein and nucleic acid, which is closely related to the color and functional activity of fermented tea. Due to the complexity of the formation mechanism, its chemical structure is still unclear. In this review, the structural characteristics, formation mechanism, extraction and detection methods, and functional activity of theophylcin were discussed, and the future research direction was also prospected.

Research On The Characteristics And Application Of Food Materials In Food 3d Printing, Tong Qiang, Jiang Yu, Tong Yao, Meng Yu-Xiang, Dong Xiu-Ping

Food and Machinery

Food material is the key factor of food 3D printing. This review summarized the characteristics of food materials (protein, starch, hydrogel and fat) commonly used in food 3D printing at present, analyzed the influence of different material combinations on the forming performance. Moreover, suggestions on how to improve the printing effect of difficult printing materials were also provided, and the technical bottleneck of food materials development faced in food 3D printing nowadays were noticed. Finally, the direction of food 3D printing technology in the future was prospected.

Effects Of Dynamic High-Pressure Processing On Bioactive Components Of Milk, Ai Zheng-Wen, Xu Zhi-Yuan, Ye Jing-Jin

Food and Machinery

Milk contains a variety of bioactive ingredients, such as lactoferrin and immunoglobulin, which are beneficial to health. Reducing the loss of these proteins during processing has always been the focus of attention. Dynamic high-pressure processing technology, also known as ultra-high-pressure homogenization (UHPH), is one of the relatively novel processing technology means. In this review, the research progress of the heat load intensity and the retention of key nutrients in the processing of dairy products were summarized from the aspects of Maillard reaction products, lactoferrin, immunoglobulin and other bioactive ingredients and vitamin loss. Moreover, the development direction of ultra-high-pressure homogenization in …

Effects Of Addition Amounts Of Crosslinker And Etherifying Agent On Properties Of Modified Waxy Corn Starch, Zhao Hai-Bo, Sun Chun-Rui, Wang Jin-Peng, Cui Bo, Cheng Yun-Hui, Chen Ling, Zhang Gui-Ming, Xu Ning

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to control the degree of crosslinking and etherification in the preparation process of crosslinked hydroxypropyl starch and improve the product performance. Methods: Waxy corn starch was used as a raw material to prepare the composite modified starch （hydroxypropyl distarch phosphate, HDP） under alkaline conditions, during which process sodium trimetaphosphate （STMP） and propylene oxide （PO） was used as the cross-linker and etherifying agent, respectively. The effects of the addition level of STMP and PO on the properties of the Brabender viscosity behavior, transparency and freeze-thaw stability of waxy corn starch were investigated. Results: Combined with the preliminary …

Preparation Of Losartan Loaded Starch Nanoparticles By High-Speed Shear-Inverse Miniemulsion Method, Duan Chao, Zhang Kun-Ming, Huang Yong-Chun, Zheng Jian-Bin, Tang Xiang-Yi

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to explore the feasibility of preparation of loaded losartan starch nanoparticles by high-speed shear-reverse microemulsion crosslinking. Methods: Using losartan as model drug and sodium trimetaphosphate as crosslinking agent, the effects of starch solution concentration, sodium trimetaphosphate addition amount, crosslinking time and shear rate on particle size and yield of starch nanoparticles were investigated. Optical micrography, infrared spectrometer and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize losartan loaded starch nanoparticles. Results: The optimal preparation process of nanoparticles was 15% starch solution concentration, 25% sodium trimetaphosphate, 3 h crosslinking time, 5 000 r/min shear rate. Under the control of …