Life Sciences Commons^™

Dousing The Flame: Reviewing The Mechanisms Of Inflammatory Programming During Stress-Induced Intrauterine Growth Restriction And The Potential For Ω-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intervention, Melanie White, Dustin T. Yates

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) arises when maternal stressors coincide with peak placental development, leading to placental insufficiency. When the expanding nutrient demands of the growing fetus subsequently exceed the capacity of the stunted placenta, fetal hypoxemia and hypoglycemia result. Poor fetal nutrient status stimulates greater release of inflammatory cytokines and catecholamines, which in turn lead to thrifty growth and metabolic programming that benefits fetal survival but is maladaptive after birth. Specifically, some IUGR fetal tissues develop enriched expression of inflammatory cytokine receptors and other signaling cascade components, which increases inflammatory sensitivity even when circulating inflammatory cytokines are no longer elevated …

The Nebraska Bird Review (September 2023) 91(3), Whole Issue

Nebraska Bird Review

Summer Field Report, June–July 2023, by W. Ross Silcock

2023 Limpkin at Crystal Cove Park, Dakota County, NE, by Bill Huser

2022 (34th) Report of the NOU Records Committee, by Mark A. Brogie

Subscription and Organization Information

2022 (34th) Report Of The Nou Records Committee, Mark A. Brogie

Nebraska Bird Review

The functions and methods of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (NOURC) are described in its bylaws (NOURC 2010). The committee’s purpose is to provide a procedure for documenting unusual bird sightings and to establish a list of all documented birds for Nebraska. Species for which the NOURC seeks documentation (NOURC Review List) can be found at the NOU website www.NOUbirds.org. Starting in 2020, the NOURC decided to deal mainly with those species deemed as Accidental on the “Official List of the Birds of Nebraska.” Casual species and out-of-range species are now summarized in the “Seasonal Reports” of the …

2023 Limpkin At Crystal Cove Park, Dakota County, Ne, Bill Huser

Nebraska Bird Review

On the morning of October 7, 2023, I observed Nebraska’s second Limpkin (Aramus guarauna) at Crystal Cove Park in South Sioux City, and the bird was subsequently seen by several other observers throughout that afternoon. Photo and video records were obtained (https://ebird.org/checklist/S151656716). The summer and fall of 2023 brought fourteen sightings to Iowa, though it is impossible to determine how many birds were involved (eBird, 2023). One of those sightings occurred in the northwestern part of the state at Bacon Creek Park in Sioux City when a single Limpkin was independently reported by two observers on …

Summer Field Report, June–July 2023, W. Ross Silcock

Nebraska Bird Review

There were no new species for Nebraska. This was also a lean season for records of species with few Nebraska records. Probably most significant were continuing Common Ravens in two Sioux Co locations, and possibly the first summer records of Baird’s Sparrow, a recording of the latter currently under NOURC review.

Within-state breeders nesting at new locations. There were several instances of nesting reported away from known breeding areas. These include documented records of first nesting Black-necked Stilts in Cherry Co, Least Terns off river at Offutt Base Lake in Sarpy Co, Mississippi Kite in Adams Co, Yellow-throated Vireo in …

Disease-Reducing Effect Of Calcium Salts Against Postharvest Diseases Of Mango (Mangifera Indica L. Cv. Carabao) Fruits, Melissa P. Montecalvo, Mary Joy C. Mendoza, Teresita U. Dalisay

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Mango fruits (Mangifera indica L. cv. Carabao) are susceptible to fungal infection, resulting in postharvest diseases. Chemical pesticides are used for disease management but may have a health impact and are costly. Therefore, alternatives to chemical control are necessary to minimize health risks and losses due to postharvest diseases. This research presented the disease-reducing effect of calcium salts, calcium chloride (CaCl₂) and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), against mango stem end rot (SER) (sometimes caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae) and anthracnose (caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides sensu lato). In in vitro assays, mycelial growth of both pathogens …

Digestible And Metabolizable Energy In Ground Yellow Corn, Rice Bran, And Copra Meal Fed To 10 To 15 Kg Philippine Native Pigs (Benguet Strain), Mary Arnel D. Garcia

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

The experiment was conducted to determine the digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy in ground yellow corn, rice bran, and copra meal when fed to Philippine native pigs. Nine barrows with an average initial bodyweight of 10 kg and ages ranging from 60 to 75 d old were housed individually in metabolism crates and randomly allotted to a triplicated incomplete 3 × 2 Latin square design with three diets and two periods. A corn-based diet containing 94.89% yellow corn and two diets containing 66.42% yellow corn and 30% rice bran or …

Allelopathy Of Faba Bean Cover Crop To Durum Wheat Under A Semi-Arid Environment, Oussama Oueslati, Arwa Zammali, Raed Hamdi, Ahlem Dhahri, Chaima Melliti, Moncef Ben Hammouda, Robert Kremer

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Problems facing farmers practicing conservation agriculture in the semi-arid zone of Tunisia include appropriate cover crop selection, management of allelopathic effects affecting subsequent crop performance, and influence of seasonal variation on allelopathy expression. Allelopathy expressed by faba bean (Vicia faba L.) toward durum wheat [Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (Desf.) Husn.] was studied using bioassays during three growing seasons. The role of phenols in the expression of such potential was also investigated. Analyses of plant samples at three phenological stages (flowering, fruiting, senescence) revealed that leaves were most inhibitory. Allelopathic potential differed among plant components and phenological stages, with …

Development And Characterization Of Rice Lines Carrying Both Sub1 And Anaerobic Germination Tolerance: Sub1a Does Not Inhibit Ag [Research Note], Georgina V. Vergara, Abdelbagi M. Ismail

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Accelerated coleoptile elongation in flooded soils allowed seedling shoots to reach the water surface to maintain gas exchange and CO₂ fixation. Rice genotypes with tolerance of flooding during germination (anaerobic germination, AG) exhibited fast coleoptile elongation as an escape mechanism. On the other hand, tolerance of complete submergence during the vegetative stage, conferred by SUB1A, involved growth retardation to conserve energy for maintenance metabolism, with resumption of growth upon de-submergence. Combining genes controlling flood tolerance at these two stages with contrasting mechanisms was necessary in flood-prone areas for protection during germination under direct seeding and during vegetative stage. …

Monarch Science Observer, Volume 17, College Of Sciences, Old Dominion University

College of Sciences Newsletter

Fall 2023, issue of Monarch Science Observer, ODU Colleges of Sciences Newsletter.

Influence Of Capacity Building On Nutrition Sensitivity Of The Municipal Agriculture Development Plan In Calabarzon, Philippines, Kim Leonard G. Dela Luna, Maria Theresa M. Talavera, Leila S. Africa, Clarissa B. Juanico, Nancy A. Tandang, Marison Felicidad R. Dy

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

To improve the nutrition sensitivity of the Municipal Agriculture Development Plan (MADP) of Calabarzon, a one-group pre-test post-test design quasi-experimental study was conducted involving the Local Agriculture Planners (LAP) of 57 municipalities in the region from March to December 2021. Wilcoxon Paired Signed Rank was used to determine significant differences in the nutrition sensitivity of the MADP and level of knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of the LAP before and after the intervention. Binary logistic regression analysis was also performed to model the change in the level of the nutrition sensitivity of the MADP. The LAP's level of knowledge, attitude, and …

Antiviral Susceptibility Of Clade 2.3.4.4b Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5n1) Viruses Isolated From Birds And Mammals In The United States, 2022, Ha T. Nguyen, Anton Chesnokov, Juan De La Cruz, Philippe Noriel Q. Pascua, Vasiliy P. Mishin, Yunho Jang, Joyce Jones, Han Di, Andrei A. Ivashchenko, Mary Lea Killian, Mia K. Torchetti, Kristina Lantz, David E. Wentworth, Charles T. Davis, Alexandre V. Ivachtchenko, Larisa V. Gubareva

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Clade 2.3.4.4b highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) viruses that are responsible for devastating outbreaks in birds and mammals pose a potential threat to public health. Here, we evaluated their susceptibility to influenza antivirals. Of 1,015 sequences of HPAI A(H5N1) viruses collected in the United States during 2022, eight viruses (∼0.8%) had a molecular marker of drug resistance to an FDA-approved antiviral: three adamantane-resistant (M2-V27A), four oseltamivir-resistant (NA-H275Y), and one baloxavir-resistant (PA-I38T). Additionally, 31 viruses contained mutations that may reduce susceptibility to inhibitors of neuraminidase (NA) (n = 20) or cap-dependent endonuclease (CEN) (n = 11). A panel of 22 …

Density And Occupancy Of Mammals Along An Urban To Rural Gradient In Northwest Arkansas, Leah E. Mctigue

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human development is a rapidly expanding phenomenon impacting wildlife communities globally. As the human footprint expands, natural greenspace and nature reserves become fragmented and isolated. Wildlife species and communities respond to these changes in different ways. Urban exploiters persist in more urban areas and are able to take advantage of anthropogenic subsidies (food, shelter, etc). Urban avoiders, however, are species that may be pushed out of developed areas or occur in lower densities relative to undisturbed areas. Northwest Arkansas is an optimal location to study the impacts of urbanization on wildlife communities, as the current human population is expected to …

Yield Component Compensation As Affected By Seeding Rates In Dry Direct Seeded Rice, Crisanta S. Bueno, Rene B. Carandang, John Kenneth L. Motilla, Pompe C. Sta Cruz

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Sustainability of the transplanted and flooded rice system is threatened by water and labor availability in many Asian countries including the Philippines. Dry direct seeding instead of transplanting is evolving as a viable crop establishment option to deal with labor and water shortages. Two experiments from July 2020 to June 2021 were conducted to determine the effect of different seeding rates [20 kg ha^-1 (SR20), 40 kg ha^-1 (SR40), 60 kg ha^-1 (SR60), and 120 kg ha^-1 (SR120)] on the growth, grain yield, and yield components of 2 rice varieties that were established through direct seeding …

Alternate Day Feeding As A Cost-Effective Strategy For Tank Culture Of The Pacific Shortfin Eel Anguilla Bicolor Pacifica, Frolan A. Aya, John Carlo L. Unida, Maria Rowena R. Romana-Eguia, Nerissa D. Salayo

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

There is a growing interest in the aquaculture of tropical anguillid eels as an export commodity. However, studies on feeding strategies, and the present demand to reduce feed costs need to be addressed to ensure the economic viability of eel farming. In this study, the effects of daily (DF) and alternate day (ADF) feeding on growth, feed utilization, body composition, blood chemistry, liver and intestinal morphology, and economic viability in the Pacific shortfin eel Anguilla bicolor pacifica were examined. Each feeding group of 30 elvers (166.25 ± 16.23 g mean initial wt) were randomly stocked in triplicate 4 m^{3 …}

Effects Of Polishing And Cooking On The Phytochemical Properties And Antioxidant Activities Of Selected Philippine Rice Cultivars [Research Note], Rodel M. Bulatao, Charleo S. Zapanta, Maricar B. Castillo, Reniel P. Tubera, Joel R. Salazar

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

This paper evaluated the effects of different polishing times and regular cooking on the phytochemical properties and antioxidant activities of black rice Brillante, red rice Minaangan, and white rice NSIC Rc 160. Rice samples were polished for 0, 15, 30, and 45 s, and were cooked using their optimum cooking water ratio. The samples were then characterized for their phytochemical properties [total anthocyanin content (TAC), total phenolic content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC)] and antioxidant activities [DPPH-radical scavenging activity (DPPH-RSA) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)]. Pearson’s correlation analysis (PCA) was employed to determine the strength of …

Molecular Mimicry Of Noda Genes By An N-Acetylmuramoyl-L-Alanine Amidases Gene In A Nodule Forming Staphylococcus Cohnii [Research Note], Aberathne Herath Mudiyanselage Nadeeshani Ruwandika Aberathne, Wedage Methsala Madurangi Wedage, Dilantha Gunawardana

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

A rare, nodule-forming, Gram-positive bacterium (Sub4) was isolated from the forage and cover crop Pueraria phaseoloides, which aligned at 99.26% sequence identity to a partial 16S rDNA sequence of Staphylococcus cohnii sp. This was the first record of a strain/species of Staphylococcus capable of independent, unassisted nodule formation in a legume host. When a nodA gene was sought by PCR using a pair of gene-specific primers synthesized using a related (Firmicutes) Paenibacillus sp. nodA gene, the reaction yielded a PCR product of similar size but a distinct identity. The resulting ~400bp PCR product coded for a likely N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase …

The Influence Of Temperature, Prey Availability, And Population Of Origin On Ectotherm Energetics, Allison R. Litmer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Climate change poses threats to organisms regarding direct and indirect effects of warming temperatures. Laboratory studies and predictive models are useful for understanding how temperature influences organisms, and the future of species’ life history and persistence. This dissertation expands upon current approaches to thermal studies and climate models, while investigating effects of warming nighttime temperature and altered prey availability on individuals and populations. Lizards in the genus Sceloporus were used as model organisms, as they are broadly distributed with thermally sensitive physiologies. The first dissertation chapter conducted meta-analyses to examine temperature-induced changes in food consumption, activity, and life history. Prominent …

Decrypting The Processes Of Policy Evolution: Comparing Québec And Ontario’S Evolution Of Risk Management Policies, Frederick Clerson Guicherd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Through policies or programs, states can influence industries to align with their vision of what a sector should become. However, this vision is subject to influence from actors of the industries which emphasize the importance of the relationship between the state and interest groups. In this dissertation, we observe the evolution of 9 Canadian agriculture risk management programs implemented by two provincial governments between 1990 and 2020 to understand how such programs coped with the new trends in agriculture. Through a review of parliamentary discussions and official documents, we evaluate the factors that justified program evolution based on the combination …

Mineral Licks As A Potential Nidus For Parasite Transmission, William J. Severud, Todd M. Kautz, Jerrold L. Belant, Seth A. Moore

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Discrete landscape features can concentrate animals in time and space, leading to non-random interspecific encounters. These encounters have implications for predator-prey interactions, habitat selection, intraspecific competition, and transmission of parasites and other pathogens. The lifecycle of the parasitic nematode Parelaphostrongylus tenuis requires an intermediate host of a terrestrial gastropod. Natural hosts of P. tenuis are whitetailed deer, and an aberrant host of conservation concern is moose, which are susceptible to high levels of mortality as a naive host to the parasite. Intermediate hosts become infected when P. tenuis larvae are shed in deer feces, then consumed or enter the gastropod …

Summaries Of Arkansas Cotton Research 2022, Fred Bourland

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

The current economic environment continues to drive the need to produce record or near-record yields to be profitable. Price volatility in 2022 added another level of difficulty in the quest for being profitable. The cotton market saw significant movement after reaching a $1.5802 per pound high in May 2022, cotton prices corrected and more than halved in value at the October 2022 low, and then consolidated around the 80 cents per pound level in December 2022 (Cotton is Consolidating). Great uncertainties still exist for the upcoming season, most of which are outside of our control. These include, but are not …

The Future Of Public And Private Plant Breeding According To Plant Scientists, Lexie Burris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plant breeding has been effective in addressing food insecurity by increasing agricultural yields and productivity. Historically, public plant breeding programs have long-term, integrated approaches to plant breeding research, germplasm enhancement, and variety development, but as funding is reduced the future is less certain as to areas of focus. This survey builds off those before it and asks the next logical question, if a divergence between private and public breeding is taking place, what aspects should each sector focus on? The impetus of this study was to ask opinions of plant breeders globally regarding the direction they believe the public and …

Low-Cost Pm2.5 Sensors Can Help Identify Driving Factors Of Poor Air Quality And Benefit Communities, Tim Keyes, Rea Domingo, Samantha Dynowski, Royal Graves, Martha Klein, Melissa Leonard, John Pilgrim, Alison Sanchirico, Kate Trinkaus

WCBT Faculty Publications

Air quality is critical for public health. Residents rely chiefly on government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States to establish standards for the measurement of harmful contaminants including ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), and fine particulate matter at or below 2.5 μm. According to the California Air Resources Board [1], “short-term PM2.5 exposure (up to 24-h duration) has been associated with premature mortality, increased hospital admissions for heart or lung causes, acute and chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks, emergency room visits, respiratory symptoms, and restricted activity days”. While public agency resources …

Population Genomics, Ecology And Conservation Of Asterias Sea Stars In The North Atlantic, Melenia I. Giakoumis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Uncovering how species respond to environmental change is a central question in biology (Ehrlén & Morris 2015; Habibullah et al. 2022). It is the key to elucidating the past, understanding the present and predicting the future of species’ population dynamics. This dissertation investigates the influence of environmental change on intertidal species’ distributions and genomics at several timescales, with implications for conservation.

Environmental changes have occurred throughout history, on a geological scale, and have shaped the global patterns of species’ distributions and population sizes. Biologists have long studied how geological history has shaped species distributions (Sanmartín 2012) in both terrestrial (Liu …

Characterization Of Pathological Tau Mutants, Charles J. Mcdonald

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Tau is a protein expressed exclusively in glia and neurons in the central nervous system and implicated in several neurogenerative diseases called “tauopathies”. Among all the tauopathies, one third is characterized by the presence of genetic mutations leading to the synthesis of tau proteins with single amino acid substitutions at specific locations and affecting protein function. While most of the initial studies have emphasize the functional role of tau as modulator of the axonal cytoskeleton, it has recently been well accepted that tau is also an intrinsically disordered protein that tends to form membraneless organelles called coacervates, due to a …

You Hurt My Feelings: Autonomic And Behavioral Responses To Social Exclusion And The Moderating Effect Of Psychopathic Traits, Liat Kofler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Humans have a fundamental need to form and maintain social connections, and thus experiencing social exclusion is extremely distressing as it threatens this basic human need. Individuals who are socially excluded often respond aggressively, not only towards their ostracizers but also towards innocent bystanders, with ostracism being implicated in extreme acts of violence such as school shootings. However, individual differences in behavior exist within the context of social exclusion as not everyone responds aggressively after being ostracized. Identifying risk factors for retaliatory aggressive behavior following experiences of social exclusion may facilitate the development of targeted interventions aimed at mitigating such …

The Influence Of Athletic Identity, Passion, And Perceptions Of Severity Of Concussions On Athletes’ Willingness To Report Concussion Symptoms, Eric M. Martin, Megan Byrd, Adriana Amador, Emma Ridenhour, Carolena Charalambous

Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Context: The influence of several psychological characteristics on the willingness of athletes to report concussion behaviors has not been well explored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand how athletic identity and sport passion predicted participants’ willingness to report symptoms above what was explained by athlete demographics, concussion knowledge, and perceived seriousness of concussions. Design: The study was cross-sectional. Methods: Three-hundred and twenty-two male and female high school and club sport athletes completed survey measures of concussion knowledge, athletic identity, harmonious and obsessive passion, and degree to which athletes indicated they would report concussions and …

Once You See It, You Can’T Unsee It?: Racial Justice Activism And Articulations Of Whiteness Among White Collegiate Athlete Activists, Yannick Kluch, Emma Calow, Eric M. Martin, Travis R. Scheadler, Andrew Mac Intosh, Shannon Jolly

Kinesiology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of this study was to examine how athletes holding privileged racial identities understand their whiteness as they engage in racial justice activism. Drawing from 12 semistructured interviews with white collegiate athletes who have engaged in activism for racial justice, we identified four higher order themes which we situate within a broader discussion of how each theme either reinforces or disrupts racial power: articulations of (a) racial consciousness, (b) white privilege, (c) white empathy, and (d) white accountability. While the white accountability theme has the potential to disrupt racial power due to its relying on rigorous self-critique, the remaining …

Optimization And Application Of Graph Neural Networks, Shuo Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are widely recognized for their potential in learning from graph-structured data and solving complex problems. However, optimal performance and applicability of GNNs have been an open-ended challenge. This dissertation presents a series of substantial advances addressing this problem. First, we investigate attention-based GNNs, revealing a critical shortcoming: their ignorance of cardinality information that impacts their discriminative power. To rectify this, we propose Cardinality Preserved Attention (CPA) models that can be applied to any attention-based GNNs, which exhibit a marked improvement in performance. Next, we introduce the Directional Node Pair (DNP) descriptor and the Robust Molecular Graph …

Object-Detection From Multi-View Remote Sensing Images: A Case Study Of Fruit And Flower Detection And Counting On A Central Florida Strawberry Farm, Caiwang Zheng, Tao Liu, Amr Abd-Elrahman, Vance M. Whitaker, Benjamin Wilkinson

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 2

Object detection in remote sensing images is one of the most critical computer vision tasks for various earth observation applications. Previous studies applied object detection models to orthomosaic images generated from the SfM (Structure-from-Motion) analysis to perform object detection and counting. However, some small objects that are occluded from the vertical view but observable in raw images from the oblique views cannot be detected in the orthomosaic image, leading to an occlusion issue that cannot be resolved with the traditional orthophoto-based approach. Taking strawberry detection as a case study, the objective of this study is to detect small objects directly …