Life Sciences Commons^™

Α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Interaction With G Proteins In Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation, Motility, And Calcium Signaling, Murat Oz, Justin R. King, Keun-Hang Susan Yang, Sarah Khushaish, Yulia Tchugunova, Maitham A. Khajah, Yunus A. Luqmani, Nadine Kabbani

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Chronic smoking is a primary risk factor for breast cancer due to the presence of various toxins and carcinogens within tobacco products. Nicotine is the primary addictive component of tobacco products and has been shown to promote breast cancer cell proliferation and metastases. Nicotine activates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) that are expressed in cancer cell lines. Here, we examine the role of the α7 nAChR in coupling to heterotrimeric G proteins within breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Pharmacological activation of the α7 nAChR using choline or nicotine was found to increase proliferation, motility, and calcium signaling in MCF-7 cells. This effect …

The Vices Of Virtues: Making Room For Moral Testimony In The Life Of The Virtuous Person, Maria Waggoner

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation sheds light on new and unacknowledged difficulties that we face in striving to be (more) virtuous. By making use of empirical literature from moral, affective, and perceptual learning, I explore the potential cognitive and psychological relationships between having a virtue in one context and the tendency to exhibit vices in another. I do this by showing how morally good behavioral habits can also lead to morally inappropriate actions, when a virtuous moral perceptual system can give rise to moral illusions, and when our basic evaluative affective responses differ in their degree of sensitivity, leading to having some virtues …

How Enhancers Regulate Wavelike Gene Expression Patterns, Christine Mau, Heike Rudolf, Frederic Strobl, Benjamin Schmid, Timo Regensburger, Ralf Palmisano, Ernst Hk Stelzer, Leila Taher, Ezzat El-Sherif

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

A key problem in development is to understand how genes turn on or off at the right place and right time during embryogenesis. Such decisions are made by non-coding sequences called ‘enhancers.’ Much of our models of how enhancers work rely on the assumption that genes are activated de novo as stable domains across embryonic tissues. Such a view has been strengthened by the intensive landmark studies of the early patterning of the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the Drosophila embryo, where indeed gene expression domains seem to arise more or less stably. However, careful analysis of gene expression patterns in …

Dual Targeting Of Cdk4/6 And Bcl-2 Exhibits A Potent Antitumor Effect On Mantle Cell Lymphoma, Yuxuan Che, Yang Liu, Yijing Li, Joseph M Mcintosh, Alexa Jordan, Wei Wang, Heng-Huan Lee, Jingling Jin, Yixin Yao, Zhongming Zhao, Vivian Changying Jiang, Michael Wang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Agrp Neurons Are Not Indispensable For Body Weight Maintenance In Adult Mice, Jing Cai, Jing Chen, Joshua Ortiz-Guzman, Jessica Huang, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Yan Zhang, Qingchun Tong, Cheng Zhan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In addition to their role in promoting feeding and obesity development, hypothalamic arcuate agouti-related protein/neuropeptide Y (AgRP/NPY) neurons are widely perceived to be indispensable for maintaining normal feeding and body weight in adults, and consistently, acute inhibition of AgRP neurons is known to reduce short-term food intake. Here, we adopted complementary methods to achieve nearly complete ablation of arcuate AgRP/NPY neurons in adult mice and report that lesioning arcuate AgRP/NPY neurons in adult mice causes no apparent alterations in ad libitum feeding or body weight. Consistent with previous studies, loss of AgRP/NPY neurons blunts fasting refeeding. Thus, our studies show …

Impact Of Type Of Induction Therapy On Outcomes In Older Adults With Aml After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation, Nicholas J Short, Faustine Ong, Farhad Ravandi, Graciela Nogueras-Gonzalez, Tapan M Kadia, Courtney D Dinardo, Gautam Borthakur, Betul Oran, Gheath Al-Atrash, Rohtesh Mehta, Elias J Jabbour, Musa Yilmaz, Ghayas C Issa, Abhishek Maiti, Richard E Champlin, Hagop Kantarjian, Elizabeth J Shpall, Uday Popat

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Although venetoclax-based lower-intensity regimens have greatly improved outcomes for older adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are unfit for intensive chemotherapy, the optimal induction for older patients with newly diagnosed AML who are suitable candidates for hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is controversial. We retrospectively analyzed the post HSCT outcomes of 127 patients ≥60 years of age who received induction therapy at our institution with intensive chemotherapy (IC; n = 44), lower-intensity therapy (LIT) without venetoclax (n = 29), or LIT with venetoclax (n = 54) and who underwent allogeneic HSCT in the first remission. The 2-year relapse-free survival …

Deep Learning-Based Tem Image Analysis For Fully Automated Detection Of Gold Nanoparticles Internalized Within Tumor Cell, Amrit Kaphle, Sandun Jayarathna, Hem Moktan, Maureen Aliru, Subhiksha Raghuram, Sang Hyun Cho

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging can be used for detection/localization of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) within tumor cells. However, quantitative analysis of GNP-containing cellular TEM images typically relies on conventional/thresholding-based methods, which are manual, time-consuming, and prone to human errors. In this study, therefore, deep learning (DL)-based methods were developed for fully automated detection of GNPs from cellular TEM images. Several models of "you only look once (YOLO)" v5 were implemented, with a few adjustments to enhance the model's performance by applying the transfer learning approach, adjusting the size of the input image, and choosing the best optimization algorithm. Seventy-eight original …

Physical Profile Of Air Force Special Warfare Trainees, Kim A. Feeney, Bridget F. Melton, Helen W. Bland, Greg A. Ryan, Cody R. Butler

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 16(4): 924-931, 2023. Physical fitness testing in the military is commonly used to assess whether service members are physically capable of performing the diverse physical tasks that may be required for their job. Body composition can influence an individual’s ability to physically perform. This study aimed to analyze the general physical profile of U.S. Air Force (USAF) special warfare candidates by assessing body composition results and physical assessment scores collected over the past four years. Male candidates (n = 1036) were 18.2 years to 39.5 years of age (M = 23.5, SD = …

Test-Retest Reliability Of A 4-Minute All-Out Critical Force Test In Rock Climbers, Zachary J. Mcclean, Keenan Macdougall, Jared R. Fletcher, Saied J. Aboodarda, Brian R. Macintosh

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 16(4): 912-923, 2023. The purpose of this study was to assess the test-retest reliability of a 4-minute all-out critical force test in well-trained rock climbers. Thirteen rock climbers (n=4 females) completed a familiarization session and two all-out critical force tests on different days. During each trial, participants completed 24 repetitions of 7s right-handed, maximal effort hangs from a 20mm edge interspersed with 3 s rest. The end-test force (EF; i.e., critical force), impulse above EF (IEF), and peak force achieved durin g the test were analyzed with paired t-tests to determine differences between trials. Intraclass …

Disentangling Groundwater Dynamics At Oregon's Mckenzie River Headwaters, Taylor Nicole Salazar

Dissertations and Theses

Widespread mountain snowpack declines have been occurring across the western United States over the last century, and are increasing in duration and severity, with several record-breaking low-snowpack years in the last decade. In the Pacific Northwest, summer streamflow is largely a result of melting snow and groundwater discharge, as summers are typically dry and warm in this Mediterranean bioclimate, thus making spring-fed rivers critical for regional water resources. However, current trends and predictions in hydroclimate modeling indicate spring-fed rivers will experience reduced summer discharge driven by the increasingly larger impact of anthropogenic climate change (warming) on (decreased) mountain snowpack. A …

Variable Synchrony In Insect Outbreak Cycling Across A Forest Landscape Gradient: Multi-Scale Evidence From Trembling Aspen In Alberta, Barry J. Cooke, Jens Roland

Aspen Bibliography

Using multi-scale trembling aspen tree-ring width data from Alberta, we show that scaling has a profound influence on dendroecological inferencing. At all scales of sampling, there is a significant climatological signal whose strength is nevertheless superseded by the pervasive effect of insect herbivory. At the smallest spatial scale, 20 km x 20 km, we demonstrate a quasi-periodic pattern of sharp growth reductions and the existence of negative spatial correlations among successive outbreaks. At the intermediate spatial scale of 20 km x 80 km, we show that the period 1930-1963 was marked by extremely low correlations in aspen ring widths, with …

Clinical Outcomes And Tumor Microenvironment Response To Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Lauren E. Mueller, Peter P. Issa, Mohammad Hosny Hussein, Rami M. Elshazli, Muhib Haidari, Youssef Errami, Mohamed Shama, Manal S. Fawzy, Emad Kandil, Eman Toraih

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) utilizes minimally invasive high-energy current to precisely ablate tumor cells. It has been utilized in many cancer types including thyroid, lung, and liver cancer. It has been shown to provide adequate ablative margins with minimal complications; however, incomplete RFA may lead to recurrence of tumor. The underlying cellular mechanism and behavior of ablated cancer tissue is poorly understood. Methods: A systematic review was performed, searching EMBASE, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus for studies published up to July 2022 and reported following PRISMA guidelines. Collection was performed by two groups of investigators to avoid risk of …

Psychophysical Load During The Multistage Marathon Des Sables: A Case Study, Leonidas G. Ioannou, Lydia Tsoutsoubi, Georgios I. Tsianos, Andreas D. Flouris

Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments

Introduction: This study investigated the impact of the multistage ultra-marathon event ‘‘Marathon des Sables’’ (MdS) performed in the Sahara Desert on the psychophysical capacity of an athlete. Methods: We collected and analyzed environmental, physiological, and behavioral data from a 39-year-old athlete who participated in the MdS. Specifically, we collected environmental temperature (T_env), upper inguinal skin temperature (T_sk), heart rate, and running speed data. Also, we recorded blood glucose and lactate, thermal comfort, total body water, perceived exertion, and cognitive function at the start, middle, and the end of each race stage. Results: We found significant detrimental …

Role Of Short Interspersed Nuclear Elements (Sines) Of Maternally Imprinted Microrna Clusters In Hemochorial Placental Antiviral Immunity, Ishani Wickramage

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of hemochorial placentas in which the fetal trophoblast is bathed in maternal blood has vastly improved fetal development and survival in primates and rodents, due to the enhanced efficiency of nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the mother and the fetus. However, the extensive contact between the fetal tissues and maternal blood in these placentas also poses an increased risk of vertical transmission of pathogens such as viruses from the mother to the fetus. In response to this selection pressure, hemochorial placentas have evolved robust defense mechanisms to protect the immunologically naive fetus. Unlike somatic cells that require …

Are Shrubs A Necessary Component Of The Habitat For Ammospermophilus Nelsoni In The San Joaquin Desert?, David J. Germano, Larry R. Saslaw

Western North American Naturalist

The San Joaquin antelope squirrel (Ammospermophilus nelsoni; SJAS) is a state-listed Threatened species in California that evolved in the shrublands of the San Joaquin Desert. Due to livestock overgrazing and fires, much of the desert has lost its shrub cover, which would be a conservation concern if shrubs are a necessary component of the habitat for squirrels. We established two 64-trap plots on the Lokern area of Kern County, California: one covered by saltbush scrub (Atriplex spp.) and another nearby without shrubs. We trapped quarterly starting in January 2019 and ending in November 2021 (12 trap sessions). …

Puma (Puma Concolor) Sex Influences Diet In Southwest New Mexico, Kelly M.T. Bernard, Travis W. Perry, Nokubonga Mgqatsa

Western North American Naturalist

Puma (Puma concolor) is a wide-ranging, large felid species, and site-specific research on its diet is important for local management. Like the diets of other large felids, puma diets may differ between sex due to size dimorphism and between seasons due to changes in prey vulnerability and availability. We investigated the influence of sex and season on puma diet in southwest New Mexico in terms of prey species and size categories. Pumas (10 males, 6 females) were tracked with GPS collars for an average of one year per individual between February 2008 and July 2020. Puma location was …

Mexican Gartersnakes (Thamnophis Eques) Along The Gila River In Southwestern New Mexico, Keith Geluso

Western North American Naturalist

The Mexican gartersnake (Thamnophis eques) is a federally threatened species in the United States, with only a few isolated populations remaining in Arizona and New Mexico. For some populations, only limited knowledge exists regarding their status and natural history; thus, all observations are noteworthy. Along the Gila River in New Mexico, for example, only 2 observations of this species have been published, one in 1883 and one in 1973. Herein, I report on 6 additional observations of Mexican gartersnakes from along the Gila River in southwestern New Mexico. Five individuals were documented in riparian habitats close to or …

Simplified And Highly-Reliable Automated Production Of [8f]Fspg For Clinical Studies, Mai Lin, Robert T Ta, H Charles Manning

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: (S)-4-(3-18F-Fluoropropyl)-L-Glutamic Acid ([18F]FSPG) is a positron emission tomography (PET) tracer that specifically targets the cystine/glutamate antiporter (xc-), which is frequently overexpressed in cancer and several neurological disorders. Pilot studies examining the dosimetry and biodistribution of [18F]FSPG in healthy volunteers and tumor detection in patients with non-small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and brain tumors showed promising results. In particular, low background uptake in the brain, lung, liver, and bowel was observed that further leads to excellent imaging contrasts of [18F]FSPG PET. However, reliable production-scale cGMP-compliant automated procedures for [18F]FSPG production are still lacking to further increase the utility and …

Longitudinal Diffusion And Volumetric Kinetics Of Head And Neck Cancer Magnetic Resonance On A 15 T Mr-Linear Accelerator Hybrid System: A Prospective R-Ideal Stage 2a Imaging Biomarker Characterization/Pre-Qualification Study, Joint Head And Neck Radiation Therapy-Mri Development Cooperative, Mr-Linac Consortium Head And Neck Tumor Site Group

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objectives: We aim to characterize the serial quantitative apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) changes of the target disease volume using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) acquired weekly during radiation therapy (RT) on a 1.5 T MR-Linac and correlate these changes with tumor response and oncologic outcomes for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients as part of a programmatic R-IDEAL biomarker characterization effort.

Methods:Thirty patients with HNSCC who received curative-intent RT at MD Anderson Cancer Center, were included. Baseline and weekly MRI were obtained, and various ADC parameters were extracted from the regions of interest (ROIs). Baseline and weekly ADC parameters were …

Rad51c-Xrcc3 Structure And Cancer Patient Mutations Define Dna Replication Roles, Michael A Longo, Sunetra Roy, Yue Chen, Karl-Heinz Tomaszowski, Andrew S Arvai, Rebecca A Boisvert, Caezanne Keshvani, David Schild, Albino Bacolla, Gareth J Williams, John A Tainer, Katharina Schlacher

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

RAD51C is an enigmatic predisposition gene for breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer. Currently, missing structural and related functional understanding limits patient mutation interpretation to homology-directed repair (HDR) function analysis. Here we report the RAD51C-XRCC3 (CX3) X-ray co-crystal structure with bound ATP analog and define separable RAD51C replication stability roles informed by its three-dimensional structure, assembly, and unappreciated polymerization motif. Mapping of cancer patient mutations as a functional guide confirms ATP-binding matching RAD51 recombinase, yet highlights distinct CX3 interfaces. Analyses of CRISPR/Cas9-edited human cells with RAD51C mutations combined with single-molecule, single-cell and biophysics measurements uncover discrete CX3 regions for DNA replication …

Combining Host And Rumen Metagenome Profiling For Selection In Sheep: Prediction Of Methane, Feed Efficiency, Production, And Health Traits, Melanie K. Hess, Larissa Zetouni, Andrew S. Hess, Juliana Budel, Ken G. Dodds, Hannah M. Henry, Rudiger Brauning, Alan F. Mcculloch, Sharon M. Hickey, Patricia L. Johnson, Sara Elmes, Janine Wing, Brooke Bryson, Kevin Knowler, Dianne Hyndman, Hayley Baird, Kathryn M. Mcrae, Arjan Jonker, Peter H. Janssen, John C. Mcewan, Suzanne J. Rowe

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Background Rumen microbes break down complex dietary carbohydrates into energy sources for the host and are increasingly shown to be a key aspect of animal performance. Host genotypes can be combined with microbial DNA sequencing to predict performance traits or traits related to environmental impact, such as enteric methane emissions. Metagenome profiles were generated from 3139 rumen samples, collected from 1200 dual purpose ewes, using restriction enzyme-reduced representation sequencing (RE-RRS). Phenotypes were available for methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the ratio of CH4 to CH4 plus CO2 (CH4Ratio), feed efficiency (residual feed intake: RFI), liveweight at the time …

Smokejumper Obituary: Mayrand, Edward J. (Missoula 1950), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

Waterbody Size Predicts Bank- And Boat-Angler Efforts, Derek S. Kane, Kevin L. Pope, Keith D. Koupal, Mark A. Pegg, Christopher J. Chizinski, Mark A. Kaemingk

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Bank- and boat-angler efforts are logistically difficult and costly to estimate, preventing landscape-scale estimates that are required to address current and future challenges (e.g., climate change, invasive species) for inland recreational fisheries. Using a large Nebraska, USA, recreational fishery dataset (N = 67 waterbodies), we demonstrate that waterbody size can be used to predict bank- and boat-angler efforts across a heterogeneous landscape of extra small (< 104 ha) and large (> 647 ha) waterbodies. Bank and boat anglers respond to waterbody size, however these relationships appear to be unique between the two angler types. Boat-angler efforts increased as a function of waterbody size, whereas bank-angler …

Smokejumper Obituary: Stevens, Louis Wirth "Lou" (North Cascades 1951), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

The Knowns And Unknowns Of Cardiac Autoimmunity In Viral Myocarditis, Kiruthiga Mone, Jay Reddy

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Myocarditis can result from various infectious and non‐infectious causes that can lead to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and heart failure. Among the infectious causes, viruses are commonly suspected. But the challenge is our inability to demonstrate infectious viral particles during clinical presentations, partly because by that point, the viruses would have damaged the tissues and be cleared by the immune system. Therefore, viral signatures such as viral nucleic acids and virus-reactive antibodies may be the only readouts pointing to viruses as potential primary triggers of DCM. Thus, it becomes hard to explain persistent inflammatory infiltrates that might occur in individuals affected …

Correcting Calculation And Data Errors Reveals That The Original Conclusions Were Incorrect In “The Best Drug Supplement For Obesity Treatment: A Systematic Review And Network Meta-Analysis”, Xiaoxin Yu, Patrice L Capers, Roger S Zoh, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The goal of this study was to reproduce and evaluate the reliability of the network meta-analysis performed in the article "The best drug supplement for obesity treatment: A systematic review and network meta-analysis" by Salari et al. In recent years, it has become more common to employ network meta-analysis to assess the relative efficacy of treatments often used in clinical practice. To duplicate Salari et al.'s research, we pulled data directly from the original trials and used Cohen's D to determine the effect size for each treatment. We reanalyzed the data since we discovered significant differences between the data we …

A Professional Development Program For Science Adjunct Faculty: The Mentoring-Learning Community (Mlc), Linda B. Purvis, Jason D. Lang, Julie A. Luft

Georgia Journal of Science

Institutions of higher education have become increasingly dependent on adjunct faculty. These faculty members are often unfamiliar with current teaching strategies emphasizing an active learning approach. To support science adjunct faculty in learning about active learning, a professional development program was designed and implemented by the authors of this study, the Mentoring-Learning Community. The Mentoring-Learning Community program design was informed by literature regarding the use of professional development programs that focused on adjunct faculty. To determine the impact of this program, participants in the Mentoring-Learning Community were observed and interviewed over one semester. Mentoring-Learning Community participants transformed through all three …

Phylogeny And Taxonomy Of Genus Physaria In North America, Binoshi Hettihewa

Theses

Physaria is a genus of ~108 species belonging to family Brassicaceae that is predominantly distributed in Western North America, but one species occurs in Arctic Russia and Northern Canada and several species occur in South America. Regardless of the vast number of species in the genus, the genus lacks a well-resolved phylogeny representing many taxa, partially because phylogeny reconstruction is complicated by the fact that many species of Physaria vary in chromosome numbers and ploidy levels. In chapter 1, we review how polyploids are formed and become established and summarize what is known about variation in chromosome number and ploidy …

Preclinical Characterization Of The Efficacy And Safety Of Biologic N‑001 As A Novel Pain Analgesic For Post‑Operative Acute Pain Treatment, Derek Allen, Samerender Nagam Hanumantharao, Rylie Mcdonell, Karen‑Amanda Irvine, Peyman Sahbaie, David Clark, Paul H. Blum

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Inhibition of actin remodeling in nerves modulates action potential propagation and therefore could be used to treat acute pain. N-001 is a novel protein analgesic engineered from several C. Botulinum toxins. N-001 targets sensory neurons through ganglioside GT1b binding and ADP-ribosylates G-actin reducing actin remodeling. The activity and efficacy of N-001 was evaluated previously in vitro and in a mouse inflammatory pain model. To assess the relevance of N-001 for treatment of acute post-surgical pain, the current study evaluated the efficacy of N-001 in a mouse hind-paw incision model by periincisional and popliteal nerve block administration combined with mechanical …

Homeobox Transcription Factor Hbxa Influences Expression Of Over One Thousand Genes In The Model Fungus Aspergillus Nidulans, Sandesh S. Pandit, Jinfang Zheng, Yanbin Yin, Sophie Lorber, Olivier Puel, Sourabh Dhingra, Eduardo A. Espeso, Ana M. Calvo

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

In fungi, conserved homeobox-domain proteins are transcriptional regulators governing development. In Aspergillus species, several homeobox-domain transcription factor genes have been identified, among them, hbxA/hbx1. For instance, in the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus, hbxA is involved in conidial production and germination, as well as virulence and secondary metabolism, including production of fumigaclavines, fumiquinazolines, and chaetominine. In the agriculturally important fungus Aspergillus flavus, disruption of hbx1 results in fluffy aconidial colonies unable to produce sclerotia. hbx1 also regulates production of aflatoxins, cyclopiazonic acid and aflatrem. Furthermore, transcriptome studies revealed that hbx1 has a broad effect on the A. flavus …