Life Sciences Commons^™

Chemical Control And Understanding Of Horizontal Gene Transfers, Drug-Resistance Development, And Filament And Biofilm Formation, Yuchen Jin

Dissertations - ALL

Biofilms formed by microbes on surfaces are the sources for persistent infectious diseases and environmental problems. The mechanism and details of how antibiotics promote biofilm formation is largely unknown. For instance, it not clear what stages of biofilm growth are promoted to proceed faster than without antibiotics, what phenotypes of bacteria form in an antibiotic-promoted biofilm, and what different biofilm compositions and structures are caused by the presence of antibiotics. Among other effects, antibiotics can cause bacteria to form filaments of living bacteria. Here, we conduct a real-time study of the adherence of bacteria and antibiotic-induced filamentous bacteria on surfaces …

Assessing Broad-Scale Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Intervention Activities In Southeast Florida, Usa, Kathryn Toth

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Reef-building corals are crucial to the long-term existence of Caribbean coral reef ecosystems, providing both direct and indirect, local and global, ecological, economic, and social benefits. Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is endemic in southeast Florida first appearing in 2014 and present in 2022. Effective in situ disease intervention treatments using antibiotic paste stop disease progression ~ 90% of the time. Between May 2019 and April 2022, 1,037 corals, >85% of which were Montastraea cavernosa, were treated during disease intervention dives in southeast Florida. This study investigated intervention activities over three years in an effort to make them more …

Urban Green Roofs Can Support A Diversity Of Parasitoid Wasps, Aramee C. Diethelm, Susan Masta

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Green roofs are often installed atop buildings to provide ecological services such as mitigating storm water runoff and cooling air within urban heat islands. We found that green roofs in Portland, Oregon, also can support biodiversity, including a diverse assemblage of parasitoid wasps, with 20 morphospecies from 10 families present on the four roofs we surveyed. The roofs with greater plant diversity and structural complexity harbored comparatively more parasitoid morphospecies than the structurally simpler Sedum-dominated roofs. The oldest green roof supported much greater diversity than the younger roofs, including a comparably planted roof three times its size. Parasitoid wasps from …

Open-Source Benchmarking Of Ibd Segment Detection Methods For Biobank-Scale Cohorts, Degui Zhi

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the recent biobank era of genetics, the problem of identical-by-descent (IBD) segment detection received renewed interest, as IBD segments in large cohorts offer unprecedented opportunities in the study of population and genealogical history, as well as genetic association of long haplotypes. While a new generation of efficient methods for IBD segment detection becomes available, direct comparison of these methods is difficult: existing benchmarks were often evaluated in different datasets, with some not openly accessible; methods benchmarked were run under suboptimal parameters; and benchmark performance metrics were not defined consistently. Here, we developed a comprehensive and completely open-source evaluation of …

Larval Ecology Of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus Thynnus): New Insights From Otolith Microstructure, Biotic, And Abiotic Analyses From The Gulf Of Mexico And Mediterranean Sea, Estrella Malca

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABT), Thunnus thynnus, spawn in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the Mediterranean Sea (MED). Spawning occurs within narrow temporal and environmental parameters. Efforts to characterize growth of ABT in wild conditions revealed a wide range of growth variability during the early life stages. This series of studies examined potential biotic and abiotic influences of larval growth from seven ABT cohorts, and identified several key drivers of growth for this commercially valuable species. A detailed investigation of larval dynamics using otolith microstructure was conducted as follows. First, companion growth curves and stable isotope analysis from the same …

Ship Groundings And Boulder Deployment: A Study On Restoration Of Ship Grounding Sites In The Kristin Jacobs Coral Reef Ecosystem Conservation Area, Shane Wever

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Coral reefs are widely regarded as one of the world’s most important ecosystems. These ecosystems have been in a state of rapid decline worldwide due to chronic stressors and acute disturbances. Ship groundings on coral reefs are one of the most destructive acute disturbances, damaging both the biological community and the underlying reef framework. Once disturbed, these reef ecosystems often require restoration to promote recovery. Southeast Florida is home to an extensive high latitude reef system located near a highly developed and densely populated coast. In 2006, two large commercial vessels, the Spar Orion and Clipper Lasco, grounded north of …

A Survey Of Speech-Language Pathologists' Academic Preparation In Craniofacial Anomalies, Francesca Myerski

Honors Theses

Craniofacial anomalies occur in 1 of 750 newborns a year with the three main types being cleft lip, cleft palate, and cleft lip and/or cleft palate. There are six main factors that affect craniofacial anomalies that are focused on in this research, including genetics, environmental factors, medications, diet, health risks, and surgical procedures/surgeons. The research found that there is a lot of information on craniofacial anomalies and speech-language pathologists need to learn about as much as possible. The lack of knowledge and academic preparations speech-language pathologists have in craniofacial anomalies has decreased their awareness in the birth defect and has …

Clove Essential Oil And Nanoclays-Based Active Food Packaging, Kalpani Y. Perera, Shubham Sharma, Amit K. Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Active food packaging materials enhance the shelf-life of food products while reducing food waste. The current study aims to develop a biodegradable active food packaging material. The food packaging material was developed with the incorporation of clove essential oil, sodium alginate, gelatin, and nanoclay films were prepared. The influences of nanoclay and clove on the surface, optical, mechanical, chemical, barrier, and pH-indicating properties were studied. The lightness and yellowness increased by 1.06 folds and 3.34 folds when compared to clove (control), respectively. The UV barrier property 0.08±0.01nm in all films, while 8.37 folds reduction in transparency has been observed as …

Eat Your Invasives: A Practical And Historical Analysis Of Foraging For Invasive Foods, Grace Hartman

Honors Projects

This paper discusses both the historical and modern role of foraging and why people may decide to forage, as well as barriers new foragers may face and how they can be overcome. Furthermore, the paper discusses how foraging for invasive species can be used as a method of conservation and how simple foraging can be encouraged for this reason.

Nanoclays And Curcumin Based Food Packaging Material For Intelligent Food Packaging Applications, Kalpani Y. Perera, Swarna Jaiswal, Amit K. Jaiswal, Shubham Sharma

Articles

Bionanocomposite packaging eco-friendly alternatives with enhanced characteristics. This study aimed to develop a bionanocomposite intelligent packaging. Sodium alginate, gelatin, Curcumin (Cur), glycerol, and Nanoclay (NC) films were prepared. The influences of nanoclay and curcumin on the surface, optical, mechanical, chemical, barrier, and pH-indicating properties were studied. The results showed that the lightness of films was reduced by 1.28 folds compared to NC (control) film, while the yellowness of films increased by 5.82 folds. Film transparency was reduced by 9.3 folds and a 3.46 folds increase in UV barrier properties was observed compared to NC (control) film. The highest tensile strength …

A Unified Model Of Age-Related Cardiovascular Disease, Michael Fossel, Joe Bean, Nina Khera, Mikhail G Kolonin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Despite progress in biomedical technologies, cardiovascular disease remains the main cause of mortality. This is at least in part because current clinical interventions do not adequately take into account aging as a driver and are hence aimed at suboptimal targets. To achieve progress, consideration needs to be given to the role of cell aging in disease pathogenesis. We propose a model unifying the fundamental processes underlying most age-associated cardiovascular pathologies. According to this model, cell aging, leading to cell senescence, is responsible for tissue changes leading to age-related cardiovascular disease. This process, occurring due to telomerase inactivation and telomere attrition, …

Author Correction: Disrupted Ca2+ Homeostasis And Immunodeficiency In Patients With Functional Ip3 Receptor Subtype 3 Defects, Julika Neumann, Erika Van Nieuwenhove, Lara E Terry, Frederik Staels, Taylor R Knebel, Kourosh Ahmadzadeh, Margaux Gerbaux, Mathijs Willemsen, John S Barber, Irina I Serysheva, Liesbeth De Waele, François Vermeulen, Susan Schlenner, Isabelle Meyts, David I Yule, Geert Bultynck, Rik Schrijvers, Stephanie Humblet-Baron, Adrian Liston

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

This corrects the article "Disrupted Ca²⁺ homeostasis and immunodeficiency in patients with functional IP₃ receptor subtype 3 defects" on page 11.

Expression Of P-Stat3 And C-Myc Correlates With P2-Hnf4Α Expression In Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (Nafld), Mamoun Younes, Lin Zhang, Baharan Fekry, Kristin Eckel-Mahan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We studied the expression of two hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α) isoforms, p-STAT3. and c-Myc in 49 consecutive liver biopsies with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) using immunohistochemistry. All 49 biopsies (100%) were positive for nuclear expression of P1-HNF4α. Twenty-eight (57%) cases were positive for P2-HNF4α, 6 (12%) were positive for p-STAT3 and 5 (10%) were positive for c-Myc. All 6 (100%) p-STAT3-positive cases were also positive for P2-HNF4α (p = 0.03). p-STAT3-positive cases were more likely to be positive for c-Myc (67% vs. 2%, p = 0.0003). Four cases were positive for P2-HNF4α, p-STAT3 and c-Myc. p-STAT3 …

The Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug Auranofin Lowers Leptin Levels And Exerts Antidiabetic Effects In Obese Mice, Aaron R Cox, Peter M Masschelin, Pradip K Saha, Jessica B Felix, Robert Sharp, Yan Xia, David A Bader, Kang Ho Kim, Xin Li, Jun Yoshino, Xin Li, Gang Li, Zheng Sun, Huaizhu Wu, Cristian Coarfa, David D Moore, Samuel Klein, Kai Sun, Sean M Hartig

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Low-grade, sustained inflammation in white adipose tissue (WAT) characterizes obesity and coincides with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, pharmacological targeting of inflammation lacks durable therapeutic effects in insulin-resistant conditions. Through a computational screen, we discovered that the FDA-approved rheumatoid arthritis drug auranofin improved insulin sensitivity and normalized obesity-associated abnormalities, including hepatic steatosis and hyperinsulinemia in mouse models of T2DM. We also discovered that auranofin accumulation in WAT depleted inflammatory responses to a high-fat diet without altering body composition in obese wild-type mice. Surprisingly, elevated leptin levels and blunted beta-adrenergic receptor activity achieved by leptin receptor deletion abolished the antidiabetic …

Data Analysis Processes And Techniques For Validation Of Wearable Technology: An Example, Bryson Carrier, James W. Navalta

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology

Topics in Exercise Science and Kinesiology Volume 3: Issue 1, Article 10, 2022. With wearable technology growing in popularity and sophistication, there remains a need to determine the validity of these devices by independent observers. Validation studies of wearable technology can involve large amounts of data, with data preparation techniques that are not always clearly established. This can make attempts to reproduce the results difficult and does not allow researchers to gain guidance in how to perform their own analyses if they wanted to perform a similar study. Therefore, this paper details the process that was utilized to prepare and …

Cervical Muscle Strength And Kinematics During An Unanticipated Perturbation In University Aged Male And Female Rugby Athletes, Abigail Ruppert, Lauren J. Lattimer

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

Introduction: Female athletes participating in contact sports demonstrate a concussion injury risk factor that is two times greater than their age-matched male counterparts. Recent literature has outlined the importance of neck muscle strength and neuromuscular characteristics in the mitigation of excessive head kinematics. Rugby is a contact sport in which tackles comprise the mechanism for concussion, which is caused by inertial impacts. Females exhibit higher measurements of acceleration and investigating potential gender differences in dynamic stabilization of the head is warranted in rugby. Methods: Twenty-three (15 female, 8 male) university-aged rugby athletes participated in kinematic analysis; and a series of …

The Effect Of Fish Oil Supplementation And A Western-Type Diet On Gut Health, Marcus Hayden

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide and has increased incidence in more developed countries (Parkin et al., 2005). Diets in more developed and Westernized countries, where CRC is more prevalent, tend to be energy-dense and nutrient deficient. Discovering which food patterns inhibit inflammation matters because the duration of colitis is a risk factor for CRC. Deficiencies in an American diet led to decreased gut microbiota diversity and increased prevalence of colitis. A key component of colon health is the microbiome. Dietary bioactive compounds change the composition of the microbiome. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is a promising …

Electrochemical Dna-Based Biosensor For The Detection Of Dnase I Activity For Potential Application For Crispr-Cas Based Biosensor, Tessa Siler

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Dioxyribonuclease I (DNase I, DC 3.1.21.1) is an enzyme that cleaves DNA at phosphodiester linkages. The deviation of DNase I activity is a significant important marker for several diseases. For example, the lower activity of DNase can cause arthritis and several other autoimmune diseases, whereas higher DNase I activities are observed in patients with breast and oral cavity cancers. This makes monitoring the DNase I activity important for clinical and point-of-care diagnostics.Several methods were developed to assay DNase I activity, such as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), fluorimetric assays, radial immunodiffusion (RID) and radial enzyme diffusion (RED) assays. These methods …

Modeling Plant Migration In A Varying Landscape, Seth Corbridge

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

It is important to predict how plants will migrate under the changing conditions associated with climate change. In particular, finding instances where plants migrate quickly will help in predicting which plant species are in danger of being outpaced by climate change. Many existing models for plant migration assume a homogeneous landscape, however this is not always fully realistic. This project considers a model incorporating landscape heterogeneity for modeling plant migration. By forming a landscape of varying patches of high and low motilities, it is shown how a varying landscape can lead to increased migration rates in some cases when compared …

Multimodel Courtship Signaling In The Family Hylidae, Addie Lloyd

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

It is becoming increasingly obvious that species' courtship is more complex than originally thought. Hundreds of studies have described courtship systems focusing on a single trait, but we know many species have multiple signaling methods (Hebets, 2005). Multimodal courtship describes a composition of signals covering different sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, and tactile. Is having multiple courtship methods better than just one? This study focused on two types of signaling- sexual dichromatism and the presence of vocal sacs- in the family Hylidae. The goal was to determine the preferred signaling methods and their evolutionary relationship. We predicted that most species …

Alzheimers Disease: The Effects It Has On Everyone Involved, Mckinlee Denson

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Alzheimers Disease is hard on everyone who is involved. With being a caregiver in my past I understand how hard it is taking care of someone with Alzheimers Disease. Family plays a big role in the life of those who have Alzheimer's Disease. On average 11 million Americans provide 15.3 billion hours of unpaid work. I believe that we need to find relief for those who give endless hours to support their loved ones with AD. Many people are impacted by Alzheimers Disease this can be friends, family, and medical caregivers. Alzheimers is especially hard on those who have the …

Mechanical Properties Of Hagfish Protein Hydrogels, Hayden Johns

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

Hagfish are ancient animals that eject a strong slime when attacked by predators. This slime is composed of intermediate filaments that contribute to its incredible strength.To defend against foes, the Navy launches plastic ropes into the propellors of enemy warships in order to decrease the thrust of motors. In an effort to find a more biodegradable solution, the utilization of hagfish slime has shown great promise in stopping propellors.We hope to understand how the slime withstands the impact of a quickly rotating propellor, while simultaneously reducing the propellor's thrust. What specific mechanical properties allow for this phenomena? From this research …

Expressing And Purifying Type Iv Crispr Accessory Proteins, Alivia Jolley

Fall Student Research Symposium 2022

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) adaptive immune systems defend bacteria and archaea against phages, plasmids, and other mobile genetic elements. Each Type IV CRISPR system contains a subtype-specific gene and is hypothesized to be essential for function. The Type IV-A system encodes ATP-dependent 5'-3' DNA helicase called CasDinG, while the Type IV-B systems encode a putative pyrophosphatase named CasCysH. Here we investigate the function of the type IV CRISPR systems by expressing, purifying, and characterizing the accessory proteins from the type IV systems. This project is a first step towards understanding the structure and mechanism of type …

Evaluating The Utah Agriculture In The Classroom Preservice Teacher Seminar, Amelia J. Miller, Zak A. Konakis, Emily Yoshikawa-Ruesch, Debra M. Spielmaker, Denise Stewardson

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

Utah Agriculture in the Classroom hosts preservice teacher seminars in partnership with five universities across the state. From 2017-2021, approximately 600 college students participated in these seminars. The preservice seminars provided agriculture-themed lessons aligned to state educational standards for future teachers to use as they build resources for their classrooms.

Demonstration Farm Provides Educational Opportunity For Ipm, Nick Volesky, Mair Murray

Outcomes and Impact Quarterly

The mission of USU Extension’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program is to increase the use of sustainable pest management practices within urban and rural landscapes to provide economic, human, and environmental health in Utah. In the spring of 2022, the IPM program established a vegetable farm to test and demonstrate IPM practices. The farm served as an experiential learning classroom for almost 50 farmers and home gardeners.

Biomechanics Associated With Tibial Stress Fracture In Runners: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Clare E. Milner, Eric Foch, Joseph M. Gonzales, Drew Peterson

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

Background

Tibial stress fracture (TSF) is an overuse running injury with a long recovery period. While many running studies refer to biomechanical risk factors for TSF, only a few have compared biomechanics in runners with TSF to controls. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate biomechanics in runners with TSF compared to controls.

Methods

Electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, Scopus, Cochrane, and CINAHL were searched. Risk of bias was assessed and meta-analysis conducted for variables reported in 3 or more studies.

Results

The search retrieved 359 unique records, but only the 14 that compared …

Caribbean Reef-Building Coral-Symbiodiniaceae Network: Identifying Symbioses Critical For System Stability In A Changing Climate, Shaman Patel

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Increasing global ocean temperatures and frequency of marine heatwaves pose dire consequences for coral reefs. High temperatures often lead to disruptions in coral symbiosis resulting in coral bleaching, increasing the mortality of corals. However, corals can potentially avoid bleaching peril by associating with thermally tolerant symbionts. Here we provide a tool for understanding symbiosis network stability of Caribbean reef-building corals. We created a network of Caribbean hermatypic corals and their associated Symbiodiniaceae phylotypes. A bleaching model was applied to this network to test for resilience and robustness (R50) to thermal stress. It was also layered with trait data for coral …

Poisson Hurdle Model-Based Method For Clustering Microbiome Features, Zhili Qiao, Elle Barnes, Susannah Tringe, Daniel P. Schachtman, Peng Liu

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Motivation: High-throughput sequencing technologies have greatly facilitated microbiome research and have generated a large volume of microbiome data with the potential to answer key questions regarding microbiome assembly, structure and function. Cluster analysis aims to group features that behave similarly across treatments, and such grouping helps to highlight the functional relationships among features and may provide biological insights into microbiome networks. However, clustering microbiome data are challenging due to the sparsity and high dimensionality.

Results: We propose a model-based clustering method based on Poisson hurdle models for sparse microbiome count data. We describe an expectation–maximization algorithm and a …

Exposure Of Egyptian Rousette Bats (Rousettus Aegyptiacus) And A Little Free-Tailed Bat (Chaerephon Pumilus) To Alphaviruses In Uganda, Rebekah C. Kading, Erin M. Borland, Eric C. Mossel, Teddy Nakayiki, Betty Nalikka, Jeremy P. Ledermann, Mary B. Crabtree, Nicholas A. Panella, Luke Nyakarahuka, Amy T. Gilbert, Julian C. Kerbis-Peterhans, Jonathan S. Towner, Brian R. Amman, Tara K. Sealy, Barry R. Miller, Julius J. Lutwama, Robert M. Kityo, Ann M. Powers

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The reservoir for zoonotic o’nyong-nyong virus (ONNV) has remained unknown since this virus was first recognized in Uganda in 1959. Building on existing evidence for mosquito bloodfeeding on various frugivorous bat species in Uganda, and seroprevalence for arboviruses among bats in Uganda, we sought to assess if serum samples collected from bats in Uganda demonstrated evidence of exposure to ONNV or the closely related zoonotic chikungunya virus (CHIKV). In total, 652 serum samples collected from six bat species were tested by plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) for neutralizing antibodies against ONNV and CHIKV. Forty out of 303 (13.2%) Egyptian rousettes …

Are Changes In Muscle Blood Flow Associated With The Age-Related Decrease In Critical Power?, Abigail Dorff

Theses and Dissertations

Aging results in lower exercise tolerance, manifested as decreased Critical Power (PCRIT). Aging is also associated with reduced physical activity, decreased muscle mass, and altered muscle blood flow, all of which may contribute to the age-related decrease in PCRIT. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if the age-related decrease in PCRIT occurs independently of changes in physical activity and muscle mass and if it is related to impaired muscle blood flow. Methods: 10 Old (63.1 ± 2.5 years, 5 female and 5 male) and 10 Young (24.4 ± 4.0 years, 5 female and 5 male) physically active …