Life Sciences Commons^™

Co-Infection And Co-Localization Of Kaposi Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus And Epstein-Barr Virus In Hiv-Associated Kaposi Sarcoma: A Case Report, Peter Julius, Guobin Guobin, Stepfanie Siyumbwa, Jane Musumali, For Yue Tso, Owen Ngalamika, Trevor Kaile, Fred Maate, Phyllis Moonga, John T. West, Peter Angeletti, Charles Wood

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Kaposi sarcoma (KS), a multifocal vascular neoplasm frequently observed in HIVpositive individuals, primarily affects the skin, mucous membranes, visceral organs, and lymph nodes. KS is associated primarily with Kaposi sarcomaassociated herpesvirus (KSHV) infection. In this case report, we present a rare occurrence of co-infection and co-localization of KSHV and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in KS arising from the conjunctiva, which, to our knowledge, has not been reported previously. Immunohistochemistry (IHC), DNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and EBV-encoded RNA in situ hybridization (EBER-ISH) were utilized to demonstrate the presence of KSHV and EBV infection in the ocular KS lesion. Nearly all KSHV-positive …

Statistical Modeling Of Extracellular Vesicle Cargo To Predict Clinical Trial Outcomes For Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Joshua M Hare, Dejian Lai, Timothy C Slesnick, William T Mahle, Michael E Davis

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cardiac-derived c-kit+ progenitor cells (CPCs) are under investigation in the CHILD phase I clinical trial (NCT03406884) for the treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). The therapeutic efficacy of CPCs can be attributed to the release of extracellular vesicles (EVs). to understand sources of cell therapy variability we took a machine learning approach: combining bulk CPC-derived EV (CPC-EV) RNA sequencing and cardiac-relevant

Evaluating The Impact Of An Mhealth Platform For Managing Acute Postoperative Dental Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial, Kristen Simmons, Nicholas Skourtes, Urvi Mehta, Sayali Tungare, David Holmes, Joel White, Muhammad Walji, Elsbeth Kalenderian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Postoperative dental pain is pervasive and can affect a patient's quality of life. Adopting a patient-centric approach to pain management involves having contemporaneous information about the patient's experience of pain and using it to personalize care.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we evaluated the use of a mobile health (mHealth) platform to collect pain-related patient-reported outcomes over 7 days after the patients underwent pain-inducing dental procedures; we then relayed the information to the dentist and determined its impact on the patient's pain experience.

METHODS: The study used a cluster-randomized experimental study design with an intervention arm where patients were prompted …

Rutin Detection By Electrochemical Sensor Based On Fe3O4@Tio2@Au, Zhou Hong-Yan, Song Yun

Food and Machinery

Objective: A novel electrochemical sensor with high sensitivity was developed for the quantitative analysis of rutin in tartary buckwheat. Methods: A layer of titanium dioxide was loaded on the surface of ferric oxide nano materials (Fe₃O₄) to prepare core-shell Fe₃O₄@titanium dioxide (Fe₃O₄@TiO₂) nano composites, and nano gold (Au) was loaded on its surface for preparing a new type of Fe₃O₄@TiO₂@Au nanocomposites. Then an electrochemical sensor was constructed for quantitative analysis of rutin. The optimal working conditions of the sensor were …

Purification Of Polyphenols From Wormwood By Macroporous Resin And Inhibitory Activity Of Its Against Α-Glucosidase, Wu Ping-Xiang, Wei Ming, Ding Kai-Li, Nie Feng

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to purify crude polyphenols from wormwood and to study inhibitory activity of its against α-glucosidase. Methods: The adsorption-desorption properties of wormwood polyphenols by seven kinds of macroporous resins were studied. The suitable resin for separating and purifying Wormwood polyphenols was obtained and the purification parameters were optimized. Using different concentration ethanol solution for dynamic elution, the inhibitory activity of different elution fractions on α-glucosidase was investigated. Results: The results indicated that D101 resin was a suitable material for purifying wormwood polyphenols and the macroporous resin reached equilibrium within 120 min. The optimal conditions for …

Determination Of Cadmium In Milk Samples Using Deep Eutectic Solvent Based Liquid-Liquid Microextraction-Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry System, Wang Su-Li, Cao Jun, Ding Wei, Pan Xin-Liang, Shi Qing-Dong, Li Zhi

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to improve the safety supervision of cadmium in milk samples. Methods: A liquid-liquid microextraction method based on hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent （DES） was developed for the determination of cadmium in milk samples by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. The types of deep eutectic solvents were selected for high extraction efficiencies and it was found that DES composed of thymol and lactic acid at the molar ratio of 1∶1 provided higher extraction efficiency. In addition, several important experimental conditions including the volume of DES, sample pH value, the pretreatment methods of samples were optimized. Results: Under the …

Structure, Working Principle And Application Of Mechanical Shell Breaker, He Ting, Zhang Rui, Ren Guang-Yue, Duan Xu, Li Cai-Yun, Li Ya-Chun

Food and Machinery

Shelling rate and kernel breaking rate are the two key indicators of shelled materials, and mechanical shelling is one of the important methods to improve these key indicators. In this paper, the common mechanical shelling methods, mechanical shelling types, mechanical shelling principles and development status of shelling materials were analyzed. The advantages and disadvantages of mechanical hulling equipment were summarized, and suggestions were made for the problems existing in the current application of mechanical hulling.

The Bitterness Inhibition Effect Of Ferulic Acid And Its Phenyl Ring Substituted Derivatives On Branched Chain Amino Acids, Wang Hao, Li Jiaxing, Zheng Jianxian

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to explore the effect of group changes at the third position of the benzene ring of ferulic acid （FA） on the bitterness inhibition effect of branched chain amino acids and their flavor characteristics. Methods: FA and its phenyl ring substituted derivatives were synthesized and their structures were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The electronic tongue test was used to evaluate the improvement in the bitter taste of branched-chain amino acids by FA and its derivatives, including bitterness inhibition rate, self-flavor, and the effect on other tastes. Results: The …

Effects Of Alkali-Heat-Modified Rice Residue Glutenin On Stability Of W/O/W Double Emulsions, Guo Yuanbo, Xue Jing, Zhang Cheng, Wang Zhixiao, Fu Xiangjin, Long Zhao

Food and Machinery

Objective: To achieve the application of rice dreg glutelin in emulsions system. Methods: This paper selected alkali-heat modified rice dregs glutenin and span80 as emulsifiers to prepare W/O/W double emulsions by one-step emulsification method, and investigated the effect of protein concentration on the stability of double emulsions to provide the theoretical reference for the preparation of stable double emulsions by one-step emulsification. Results: When the protein mass fraction increased from 0.5% to 2.5%, the large particle size peak disappears in emulsion, the apparent viscosity and viscoelasticity of emulsions were improved, the centrifugal stability and storage stability were enhanced, enhanced dual …

Determination Of Four Arsenic Species In Aquatic Products By Liquid Chromatography-Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry, Liu Zhenghua, Li Zhonghai

Food and Machinery

Objective: Four arsenic species of arsenic in aquatic products were analyzed using ultrasonic-assisted extraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography-atomic fluorescence spectrometry （HPLC-AFS）. Methods: Four arsenic compounds were extracted ultrasonically from the samples using 50%（v/v） methanol-aqueous solution as extraction solvent. The chromatographic separation was performed on Hamilton PRP-X100 anion exchange column using a mixture of 15 mmol/L ammonium dihydrogen phosphate solution with the pH adjust to 6.0 as the mobile phase. Results: Under the optimized conditions, there were good linear relationships in the range of 0～100 μg/L for four arsenic compounds, with correlation coefficients all above 0.998. The limit of …

Analysis Of Green Walnut Peeling Mechanism And Device Design And Experiment, Li Kang, Li Changhe, Liu Mingzheng, Wang Leyi, Fan Linzheng, Ye Xiangrui, Wang Ziwen, Wang Renkun, Cao Chengmao, Wu Jiankang

Food and Machinery

Objective: To improve the mechanization of the initial processing of walnuts, and to solve the problems such as low stripping rate and high crushing rate in the process of green walnut peeling. Methods: A green walnut peeling device was designed which was integrated scraping and squeezing, rolling and cleaning. The mechanical and kinematic analysis of the peeling process of green walnuts, was made to establish a spatial force model of green walnuts combined with theoretical mechanics theory, and the key structural of system devices was designed. Based on the single-factor test, a three-factor, three-level orthogonal test was conducted with Design-Expert …

Effect Of Ultra-High Pressure Treatment On The Texture, Flavor And Shelf Life Of Cream Cheese, Zhang Yuanyuan, Liu Zhenmin, Zheng Yuanrong

Food and Machinery

Objective: This study aimed to determine the optimal conditions for ultra-high pressure (HHP) cream cheese. Methods: The influence of non-thermal processing pressure on the texture, flavor and shelf life of homemade cream cheese were explored. By using the texture profile analysis (TPA), solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS), and colony counting method, the texture, flavor substances, and microorganisms of cheese were identified and evaluated. Results: After HHP treatment, the hardness, adhesiveness, and resilience of cream cheese decreased. The springiness of cheese reached the highest at 300 MPa, significantly increasing by 14.0% (P<0.05). When the pressure is more than or equal to 400 MPa, the content and species of volatile substances in cheese are significantly reduced. Principal component analysis showed that 200 and 300 MPa treated cheese and unpressurized cheese were both in the first principal component area. After HHP treatment of artificially dyed cream cheese, the number of bacterial colonies decreased significantly (P<0.05), and the greater the treatment pressure, the better the bactericidal effect. When the HHP treatment pressure is greater than or equal to 300 MPa, the shelf life of cheese was effectively extended from 7 days to 21 days. Conclusion: The cream cheese treated by HHP has a good texture and original flavor while effectively extending the shelf life.

Fruit Identification Using Improved Faster R-Cnn Model, Jian Yanping, Sang Yanli, Li Yueru

Food and Machinery

Objective: To improve the identification accuracy of fruit categories. Methods: An identification method for fruit categories was established based on an improved Faster regional convolutional neural network （Faster R-CNN） model. Firstly, the regularization method was used to attenuate the weight of some high-dimensional parameters to effectively solve the over-fitting problem that may occur in the training process. Then, two loss functions, a likelihood function and a regularization function, were added to the Faster R-CNN framework to optimize the convolution layer and the pooling layer. Additionally, the least square method was utilized to solve the objective function of fruit recognition. Finally, …

Research Status And Prospect Of Mechanized Hulling Device For Camellia Oleifera Fruit, Wu Junyi, Wang Yi, Xiong Pingyuan, Ruan Jieying, Liao Zhiqiang

Food and Machinery

The traditional hulling of Camellia oleifera fruit is mainly manual, with high work intensity, high labor cost and low production efficiency. Mechanized hulling is the inevitable trend of modernization of Camellia oleifera industry. The existing hulling device of Camellia oleifera fruit has poor universality, low hulling rate and high seed kernel breakage rate, which affects the popularization of mechanized hulling technology of Camellia oleifera. By comparing the existing hulling methods of Camellia oleifera, the structure and working principle of each hulling device were analyzed, their advantages and disadvantages were summarized, and their development direction was prospected.

Fast Traceability Detection Of Astragalus Membranaceus Based On The Combination Of Electronic Tongue And Electronic Eye To Improve Mobilenetv3, Jin Xin-Ning, Liu Ming, Sang Heng-Liang, Ma Yun-Xia, Wang Zhi-Qiang

Food and Machinery

Objective: To realize the rapid traceability detection of Astragalus membranaceus from different origins. Methods: This study proposed a rapid detection method for the origin of Astragalus membranaceus based on the improved MobileNetv3 network based on the combination of electronic tongue and electronic eye. The electronic tongue and electronic eye were used to collect the one-dimensional fingerprint and two-dimensional appearance image information of different samples of Astragalus membranaceus. The Gramian Angular Field (GAF) was used to convert the one-dimensional electronic tongue signal into two-dimensional image information, retain the time series related features in the electronic tongue signal, and then fused …

Impacts Of Forest Fire Carbon Emission And Mitigation Strategies, Zhihua Liu, Hongshi He, Wenru Xu, Yu Liang, Jiaojun Zhu, Geoff G. Wang, Wei Wei, Zifa Wang, Yongming Han

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Between 2000 and 2020, global wildfires contributed to approximately 7.32 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, accounting for about 18.5% of CO2 emissions released from fossil fuels. Forest fires alone contributed to around 20% of these wildfire emissions, approximately 1.5 billion metric tons of CO2. Due to climate change and human activities, carbon emissions from forest fires are on the rise. For example, the 2023 Canadian fires have emitted 1.268 billion metric tons of CO2 up to August 29th. Despite the simultaneous increase in forest area and volume, the frequency and extent of forest fires have significantly decreased …

Restructuring And Serving Web-Accessible Streamflow Data From The Noaa National Water Model Historic Simulations, J Michael Johnson, David L Blodgett, Keith C Clarke, Jon Pollak

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed the first iteration of an operational National Water Model (NWM) to forecast the water cycle in the continental United States. With many versions, an hourly, multi-decadal historic simulation is made available to the public. In all released to date, the files containing simulated streamflow contain a snapshot of model conditions across the entire domain for a single timestep which makes accessing time series a technical and resource-intensive challenge. In the most recent release, extracting a complete streamflow time series for a single location requires managing 367,920 files (~16.2 TB). In this …

Age-Associated Spinal Stenosis In The Turquoise Killifish, Su-Hyeon Cho, Seongsin Lee, Jae-Il Park, Yoon La Yang, Song-Rae Kim, Hoibin Jeong, Nayoung Gwak, Kil-Nam Kim, Yumi Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Aging triggers spinal degeneration, including common spinal stenosis, which causes back and leg pain in older individuals, significantly impacting their quality of life. Here, we explored aging traits in turquoise killifish spines, potentially offering a model for age-linked spinal stenosis in humans. Aged turquoise killifish exhibited body shape deformation and increased vertebral collapse, which was further accelerated by spawning. High-resolution CT scans revealed suppressed cortical bone thickness and hemal arch area in vertebrae due to spawning, and osteophyte formation was observed in both aged and breeding fish populations. Scale mineralization mirrored these changes, increasing with age but being suppressed by …

Focalizing Regions Of Biomarker Relevance Facilitates Biomarker Prediction On Histopathological Images, Jiefeng Gan, Hanchen Wang, Hui Yu, Zitong He, Wenjuan Zhang, Lianghui Zhu, Zongwei Zhou, Alan Yullie, Xiang Bai, Mingwei Wang, Dehua Yang, Yanyan Chen, Guoan Chen, Joan Lasenby, Chao Cheng, Jia Wu, Jianjun Zhang, Xinggang Wang, Yaobing Chen, Guoping Wang, Tian Xia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Image-based AI has thrived as a potentially revolutionary tool for predicting molecular biomarker statuses, which aids in categorizing patients for appropriate medical treatments. However, many methods using hematoxylin and eosin-stained (H&E) whole-slide images (WSIs) have been found to be inefficient because of the presence of numerous uninformative or irrelevant image patches. In this study, we introduced the region of biomarker relevance (ROB) concept to identify the morphological areas most closely associated with biomarkers for accurate status prediction. We actualized this concept within a framework called saliency ROB search (SRS) to enable efficient and effective predictions. By evaluating various lung adenocarcinoma …

Actinide-Lanthanide Single Electron Metal-Metal Bond Formed In Mixed-Valence Di-Metallofullerenes, Yingjing Yan, Laura Abella, Rong Sun, Yu-Hui Fang, Yannick Roselló, Meihe Jin, Coen De Graaf, Qingyu Meng, Yang-Rong Yao, Luis Echegoyen, Bing-Wu Wang, Song Gao, Josep M Poblet, Ning Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Understanding metal-metal bonding involving f-block elements has been a challenging goal in chemistry. Here we report a series of mixed-valence di-metallofullerenes, ThDy@C2n (2n = 72, 76, 78, and 80) and ThY@C2n (2n = 72 and 78), which feature single electron actinide-lanthanide metal-metal bonds, characterized by structural, spectroscopic and computational methods. Crystallographic characterization unambiguously confirmed that Th and Y or Dy are encapsulated inside variably sized fullerene carbon cages. The ESR study of ThY@D3h(5)-C78 shows a doublet as expected for an unpaired electron interacting with Y, and a SQUID magnetometric study of ThDy@ …

Determining The Ideal Concentrations Of Ethanol And Propylene Glycol In Ethosomes For Transdermal Delivery Of Vitamin D3, Rebecca Conner

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

Vitamin D₃ is an important chemical in the human body, however, many Americans have low levels of this vitamin. There are plenty of oral supplementations for Vitamin D₃ deficiency, but those of older age and busy schedules may struggle to meet the minimum requirement. A recently developed ethosomal transmembrane delivery system (Touitou, 2000), similar to liposomes but also containing ethanol, allows users to apply a gel dermally and have the desired drug or active ingredient reach the bloodstream faster. However, there is considerable variation in the concentration of ethanol and permeation enhancers used. Using an affordable method to …

Biofilm Formation In Bath Toys, Kelsey Daniels

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

Biofilms are a collective of microorganisms and matrixes that can grow on a variety of surfaces. Depending on the environment, the growth of biofilm formation can vary. These environmental factors may include temperature or access to nutrients. Overtime unkept bath toys can form a biofilm layer, which can be hard to remove and hazardous to children. It is important to understand biofilms so that a variety of methods can be successfully used against them.

The Effects Of Vaping Coil Temperature On The Viability Of Veillonella Parvula And Streptococcus Mutans, Marvelous O. Aluko

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Novel Serum Formulation For The Treatment Of C. Acnes, Ariana G. Ngue

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

Acne impacts 85% of people between 12-24 years of age. Even after puberty, acne continues to impact a large portion of the population. The treatments are diverse and include prescription drugs. Through this research, a novel formulation was created for the skin to treat acne. This formulation incorporates salicylic acid, a non-prescription acne treatment, as well as a polymeric carbohydrate (hyaluronic acid) known to be a component of skin and involved in the healing of skin. Through an internship with Island Lux Essentials, a company devoted to making all natural body care products, a novel serum formulation was created to …

Effects Of Micro-Plastic Exposure On Growth Rate Of Lactuca Sativa Var. Capitata, Cassie Morris

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

No abstract provided.

Using Hyperosmotic Shock To Study The Cell Wall Of Myxococcus Xanthus, Ian Sabol

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

No abstract provided.

Liposome Synthesis And Evaluation In The Hek-293 Cell Line, Christine Skibinski

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

Liposomes were synthesized using the thin film method. A lyophilized power of egg-derived phosphatidylcholine, stearylamine, and cholesterol were added to ethanol and dried under argon to form a lipid cake. The lipid cake was rehydrated with dPBS and sonicated at 60°C forming a heterogenous batch of liposomes. Our results revealed the average size of the liposomes, determined by Dynamic Light Scattering, was approximately 223.1nm, while demonstrating a weakly positive zeta-potential of 1.9± 8.07mv. Next, we tested the antitumor action of the liposomes in the HEK-293 cell line via an MTT assay. We observed that the liposomes were able to inhibit …

Effects Of Growth Rate On Peptidoglycan Crosslink Density Of E. Coli Using Fluorescent Labeling, Morgan Olszewski

Harrisburg University Research Symposium: Highlighting Research, Innovation, & Creativity

Peptidoglycan (PG) is a polymer composed of polysaccharides and crosslinked peptide chains found in bacterial cell walls. It helps to protect the cell from environmental stress and maintain cell morphology throughout its life cycle and further generations. The PG is made up of two sugars, N-acetyl muramic acid (NAM) and N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG). NAM and NAG are connected by glycosidic linkages to form repeated chains. The chains are formed in layers, which are interconnected via a polypeptide stem linked by a peptide bridge. During cell growth, continuous turnover of existing PG occurs by severing existing crosslinks, inserting new PG into …

Southern California Marine Protected Areas Promote Bolder Fish Populations, Lucian Himes, Florybeth F. La Valle

Summer Undergraduate Research in Biology Program

Marine protected areas (MPAs) aim to protect habitats and ecosystems to promote the diversity and health of marine populations. To evaluate the health of fish populations within and outside of MPAs in Southern California, we used flight initiation distance (FID). FID is the distance at which an individual will flee from a perceived predator and is a direct measure of boldness. Lower FIDs are indicative of bolder populations. Lower FID values indicate that fish will have the opportunity to dedicate less energy to fleeing from predators which could then be used for increased foraging. Data was collected from eight locations …

Southern California Marine Protected Areas Promote Bolder Fish Populations, Lucian Himes, Florybeth F. La Valle

Summer Undergraduate Research in Biology Program

Marine protected areas (MPAs) aim to protect habitats and ecosystems to promote the diversity and health of marine populations. To evaluate the health of fish populations within and outside of MPAs in Southern California, we used flight initiation distance (FID). FID is the distance at which an individual will flee from a perceived predator and is a direct measure of boldness. Lower FIDs are indicative of bolder populations. Lower FID values indicate that fish will have the opportunity to dedicate less energy to fleeing from predators which could then be used for increased foraging. Data was collected from eight locations …