Life Sciences Commons^™

Grassy–Herbaceous Land Moderates Regional Climate Effects On Honey Bee Colonies In The Northcentral Us, Gabriela M. Quinlan, Douglas Sponsler, Hannah R. Gaines-Day, Harper B G Mcminn-Sauder, Clint R V Otto, Autumn H. Smart, Théotime Colin, Claudio Gratton, Rufus Isaacs, Reed Johnson, Meghan O. Milbrath, Christina M. Grozinger

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The lack of seasonally sustained floral resources (i.e. pollen and nectar) is considered a primary global threat to pollinator health. However, the ability to predict the abundance of flowering resources for pollinators based upon climate, weather, and land cover is difficult due to insufficient monitoring over adequate spatial and temporal scales. Here we use spatiotemporally distributed honey bee hive scales that continuously measure hive weights as a standardized method to assess nectar intake. We analyze late summer colony weight gain as the response variable in a random forest regression model to determine the importance of climate, weather, and land cover …

Host Gut Resistome In Gulf War Chronic Multisymptom Illness Correlates With Persistent Inflammation, Dipro Bose, Somdatta Chatterjee, Ethan Older, Ratanesh Seth, Patricia Janulewicz, Punnag Saha, Ayan Mondal, Jeffrey M. Carlson, Alan W. Decho, Kimberly Sullivan, Nancy Kilmas, Stephen Lasley, Jie Li, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

Chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) affects a subsection of elderly and war Veterans and is associated with systemic inflammation. Here, using a mouse model of CMI and a group of Gulf War (GW) Veterans’ with CMI we show the presence of an altered host resistome. Results show that antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are significantly altered in the CMI group in both mice and GW Veterans when compared to control. Fecal samples from GW Veterans with persistent CMI show a significant increase of resistance to a wide class of antibiotics and exhibited an array of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) distinct from normal …

Collaborative Research: From Cooperation To Exploitation: Context-Dependent Effects Of Nectar Microbes On Pollination Mutualisms, Robert Nelson Schaeffer

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Smokejumper Obituary: Kosan, Douglas J. (Missoula 1952), National Smokejumper Association

Smokejumper Obituaries

No abstract provided.

French-Fried Potato Consumption And Energy Balance: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Daniel L Smith, Rebecca L Hanson, Stephanie L Dickinson, Xiwei Chen, Amy M Goss, John B Cleek, W Timothy Garvey, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Epidemiologic observations suggest increased potato consumption correlates with weight gain, adiposity, and diabetes risk, whereas nut consumption is associated with weight control and metabolic health. Randomized controlled trial (RCT) data indicate humans respond to changes in energy intake in single dietary components and compensate for extra energy consumed.

Objectives: We completed an RCT testing whether increased daily potato consumption influences energy balance [specifically, fat mass (FM)] compared with calorie-matched almond consumption.

Methods: A 30-d RCT of 180 adults prescribed calorie-matched (300 kcal/d, n = 60 participants/group) than consumed 1 of the following: 1) almonds (almond group), 2) French fries …

Malinc1 An Immune-Related Long Non-Coding Rna Associated With Early-Stage Breast Cancer Progression, María Laura Fabre, Romina Canzoneri, Agustina Gurruchaga, Jaeho Lee, Pradeep Tatineni, Ezequiel Lacunza, Martín Carlos Abba

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Simple Summary

Here we characterize the phenotypic and molecular effects of MALINC1, a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that we found significantly upregulated in premalignant ductal carcinoma in-situ lesions. We provide evidence that MALINC1 behaves as an oncogenic and immune-related lncRNA involved with early-stage breast cancer progression, showing prognostic and predictive value to immunotherapy in invasive breast carcinomas.

Abstract

Long non-coding RNAs are increasingly being recognized as cancer biomarkers in various malignancies, acting as either tumor suppressors or oncogenes. The long non-coding MALINC1 intergenic RNA was identified as significantly upregulated in breast ductal carcinoma in situ. The aim of this …

Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness Without Exercise Testing Or Physical Activity Status In Healthy Adults: Regression Model Development And Validation, Robert Sloan, Marco Visentini-Scarzanella, Susumu Sawada, Xuemei Sui M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background: Low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality. Most health care settings use some type of electronic health record (EHR) system. However, many EHRs do not have CRF or physical activity data collected, thereby limiting the types of investigations and analyses that can be done.

Objective: This study aims to develop a nonexercise equation to estimate and classify CRF (in metabolic equivalent tasks) using variables commonly available in EHRs.

Methods: Participants were 42,676 healthy adults (female participants: n=9146, 21.4%) from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study examined from 1974 to 2005. The nonexercise estimated CRF was …

Effects Of A 4-Week Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Intervention On Psychological And Performance Variables In Student-Athletes: A Pilot Study, Samantha R. Weber, Zachary K. Winkelmann, Eva V. Monsma, Shawn M. Arent, Toni Torres-Mcgehee

Journal of Sports Medicine and Allied Health Sciences: Official Journal of the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association

PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a 4-week biofeedback intervention on coherence, psychological, and performance variables in collegiate student-athletes. METHODS: Thirteen student-athletes were randomly assigned to the intervention (one weekly biofeedback session for 4-weeks) or control group (no sessions). Data were collected at pre and post-intervention using weekly averaged coherence scores, psychological measures for depression, arousal, stress, resiliency, and performance outcome measures. RESULTS: A 3 (Time) x 4 (Week average) repeated measures ANOVA was independently conducted to examine differences between time and weekly coherence average for coherence scores. No significant differences were found for “at rest”, pre, or post-practice coherence …

The Effects Of Vitamin D Supplementation On Athletic Performance And Injury Prevention, Amani Adeeb Abushamma

Journal of Sports Medicine and Allied Health Sciences: Official Journal of the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association

Vitamin D supplementation has numerous effects on athletic performance and plays a significant role in preventing an athlete’s risk of getting injuries. Vitamin D has an impact on numerous physiological functions such as: bone health, muscle function, inflammatory response, and immune function. An athlete’s bone and muscle health are essential for maximum performance and career success. A bone fracture due to vitamin D deficiency can delay an athlete’s training and ultimately inhibit obtaining a collegiate scholarship and/or contract. A cross sectional study found that more than half of athletic trainers did not view 25-hydroxyvitamin D(25[OH]) testing and vitamin D supplementation …

An Infrapatellar Fat Pad Tear In A High School Football Player: A Case Report, Brian D. Seiler

Journal of Sports Medicine and Allied Health Sciences: Official Journal of the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association

Objective: To present a clinical case exploring the occurrence and management of a tear to the infrapatellar fat pad IFP of a high school football player. Background: Acute tears to the IFP are rare. Typically, the IFP becomes impinged (i.e., Hoffa’s disease) through a fall, direct knee trauma, or surgical complications, and requires conservative treatment. Treatment: A 15-year-old high school football player reported to the athletic training clinical complaining of right knee discomfort and the inability to fully flex the knee. The patient stated that during a field goal attempt he missed the ball and hyperextended his right knee. Hoffa’s …

Characterization And Comparison Of Convergence Among Cephalotus Follicularis Pitcher Plant-Associated Communities With Those Of Nepenthes And Sarracenia Found Worldwide, Leonora S. Bittleston, Elizabeth L. Benson, Jessica R. Bernardin, Naomi E. Pierce

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Albany pitcher plant, Cephalotus follicularis, has evolved cup-shaped leaves and a carnivorous habit completely independently from other lineages of pitcher plants. It is the only species in the family Cephalotaceae and is restricted to a small region of Western Australia. Here, we used metabarcoding to characterize the bacterial and eukaryotic communities living in C. follicularis pitchers at two different sites. Bacterial and eukaryotic communities were correlated in both richness and composition; however, the factors associated with richness were not the same across bacteria and eukaryotes, with bacterial richness differing with fluid color, and eukaryotic richness differing with the …

Beyond The Baroreflex: A New Measure Of Autonomic Regulation Based On The Time-Frequency Assessment Of Variability, Phase Coherence And Couplings, Philip T. Clemson, Jeffrey B. Hoag, William H. Cooke, Dwain L. Eckberg, Aneta Stefanovska

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

For decades the role of autonomic regulation and the baroreflex in the generation of the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) - modulation of heart rate by the frequency of breathing - has been under dispute. We hypothesized that by using autonomic blockers we can reveal which oscillations and their interactions are suppressed, elucidating their involvement in RSA as well as in cardiovascular regulation more generally. R-R intervals, end tidal CO2, finger arterial pressure, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) were measured simultaneously in 7 subjects during saline, atropine and propranolol infusion. The measurements were repeated during spontaneous and fixed-frequency breathing, and …

Climate Change And The Global Nutrient Overload: The Microbial Response Of Extreme Waterbodies To Environmental Change, Samuel P. Bratsman

Theses and Dissertations

One of the defining characteristics of our current epoch—the Anthropocene—is modification of nutrient cycles. At regional to global scales, humans have fundamentally reshaped the availability of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. These changes are particularly apparent in freshwater ecosystems, which receive surface and groundwater inputs of nutrients from agriculture, fossil fuel use, and wastewater. In this thesis, I investigated how the addition of nutrients affects microbial community and biogeochemistry in two extreme environments: the hypereutrophic shallow Utah Lake and nutrient-limited Arctic permafrost streams. In my first chapter, I used bioassay and dilution bioassay experiments to identify what factors control harmful algal …

Relationships Among Aa-Genome Chenopodium Diploids And A Whole-Genome Assembly Of The North American Species, C. Watsonii, Lauren Amillicent Young

Theses and Dissertations

Chenopodium quinoa Willd., an ancient Andean pseudocereal almost exclusively consumed in South America, jumped onto the global stage when Western cultures noted quinoa's advantageous nutritional profile. Quinoa seed's high protein content, nutritionally balanced amino acid profile, low glycemic index, and high fiber, vitamin, and mineral content, make it a highly sought-after 'superfood'. Pitseed goosefoot (C. berlandieri Moq.), a closely related North American species sharing quinoa's genome composition (AABB), grows across the North American continent, inhabiting diverse environments including the saline coastal soils of the Gulf of Texas and the drought-prone regions of the Southwest. Quinoa and pitseed goosefoot, along with …

Mobile Health Applications For Postpartum Depression Management: A Theory-Informed Analysis Of Change-Use-Engagement (Cue) Criteria In The Digital Environment, Amy Franklin, Sahiti Myneni

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Postpartum Depression (PPD) is the most common childbirth complication, with approximately 15% of postpartum women experiencing depression symptoms. Mobile applications have potential to expand delivery of mental health interventions. However, our understanding of how these tools engage women with PPD and facilitate positive behavioral changes is limited. In our paper, we analyze 15 commercial PPD applications to understand their role as facilitators of change, engagement, and sustained use. Applications reviewed contained an average of four theory-based behavioral change techniques, and highest patient engagement level reached was to empower patients through patient-generated data. Heuristic violations were identified in areas including user …

Unpacking Misinfodemic During A Global Health Crisis: A Qualitative Inquiry Of Psychosocial Characteristics In Social Media Interactions

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The pervasiveness of health information in social media has led to a modern misinformation crisis, also known as a misinfodemic. Misinfodemics have upended public health activities as clearly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study is to characterize social media content and information sources using theory-driven health behavior and psychology constructs to better understand the motifs of misinformation and their role in the dissemination of health (mis)information in Twitter posts. We analyzed 1,400 randomly selected tweets related to COVID-19 to ascertain four important variables, what is the tweet about (content), how is it structured (linguistic features), who …

Latent Linguistic Motifs In Social Media Postings Resisting Covid-19 Misinformation

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Social media has become a predominant source of information for many health care consumers. However, false and misleading information is a pervasive problem in this context. Specifically, health-related misinformation has become a significant public health challenge, impeding the effectiveness of public health awareness campaigns and resulting in suboptimal responsiveness to the communication of legitimate risk-related information. Little is known about the mechanisms driving the seeding and spreading of such information. In this paper, we specifically examine COVID-19 tweets which attempt to correct misinformation. We employ a mixed-methods approach comprising qualitative coding, deep learning classification, and computerized text analysis to understand …

Virtual Expeditions Facilitated By Open Source Solutions Broaden Student Participation In Natural History Research, Richelle L. Tanner, Talia Y. Moore

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

From its genesis in the Victorian era as an activity for the elite to today's emphasis on “Big Data” and continuous monitoring, natural history has a prominent role in scientific discoveries for many fields. However, participation in field expeditions is limited by funding, space, accessibility, and safety constraints. Others have detailed the active exclusion of minoritized groups from field expeditions and harm/discrimination faced by the few who do participate, but we provide one solution to broaden opportunities for participation in natural history: Virtual Expeditions. Virtual Expeditions are broadly defined as open source, web-facilitated research activities designed to analyze bulk-collected digital …

Phosphorylation And Stabilization Of Pd-L1 By Ck2 Suppresses Dendritic Cell Function, Xixi Zhao, Yongkun Wei, Yu-Yi Chu, Yintao Li, Jung-Mao Hsu, Chunxiao Liu, Wei-Chao Chang, Riyao Yang, Li-Chuan Chan, Jingkun Qu, Shuqun Zhang, Haoqiang Ying, Dihua Yu, Mien-Chie Hung

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

UNLABELLED: Targeting immune checkpoints such as programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) has transformed cancer treatment, with durable clinical responses across a wide range of tumor types. However, a high percentage of patients fail to respond to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatment. A greater understanding of PD-L1 regulation is critical to improving the clinical response rate of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade. Here, we demonstrate that PD-L1 is phosphorylated and stabilized by casein kinase 2 (CK2) in cancer and dendritic cells (DC). Phosphorylation of PD-L1 at Thr285 and Thr290 by CK2 disrupted PD-L1 binding with speckle-type POZ protein, an adaptor …

Midlands Voices: We Need To Do More To Support Expecting Mothers During And After Pregnancy, Sara A. Myers

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva On The Tongue, Amy Backal, Amanda Harrop, David J. Goldhamer Dr.

University Scholar Projects

FOP is a rare genetic disorder in which skeletal muscle and associated connective tissue progressively turn to bone through a process called heterotopic ossification (HO). The extra skeletal bone growth is cumulative, eventually trapping patients in a second skeleton that eventually leads to death by asphyxiation. The FOP mutation is autosomal dominant that can be inherited or acquired sporadically. Unfortunately, FOP is currently incurable with no therapeutic options to inhibit bone growth or reduce existing bone nodules. My project intends to further our understanding of the cellular mechanisms of the disease within the tongue muscle. A population of cells known …

The Effect Of Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva On The Tongue, Amy Backal, Amanda Harrop, David J. Goldhamer Dr.

Honors Scholar Theses

FOP is a rare genetic disorder in which skeletal muscle and associated connective tissue progressively turn to bone through a process called heterotopic ossification (HO). The extra skeletal bone growth is cumulative, eventually trapping patients in a second skeleton that eventually leads to death by asphyxiation. The FOP mutation is autosomal dominant that can be inherited or acquired sporadically. Unfortunately, FOP is currently incurable with no therapeutic options to inhibit bone growth or reduce existing bone nodules. My project intends to further our understanding of the cellular mechanisms of the disease within the tongue muscle. A population of cells known …

Fertilizer Waste Mistreatment Facilities: Investigating The Barrier That Keep Waste In And Attention Out At Central Florida's Phosphogypsum Stacks., Harsha Devaraj

Masters Theses

This project investigates the physical and narrative barriers constructed by the phosphate mining and processing industry to dissuade public engagement with its phosphogypsum sites in Central Florida, USA. The barriers around PG utilize decades of misinformation, racial geographies, and misrepresentations of scale, origin, and risk to create powerful narratives about how we should imagine and relate to these materials. These barriers hinder sustained public attention to their sites, enabling extractive industries to expand while avoiding oversight and responsibility. Attention to how these barriers around phosphogypsum are constructed allows us to recognize these strategies at work in how we see and …

Fitness Effects Of Somatic Mutations Accumulating During Vegetative Growth, Mitchell Cruzan, Matthew A. Streisfeld, Jaime A. Schwoch

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The unique life form of plants promotes the accumulation of somatic mutations that can be passed to offspring in the next generation, because the same meristem cells responsible for vegetative growth also generate gametes for sexual reproduction. However, little is known about the consequences of somatic mutation accumulation for offspring fitness. We evaluate the fitness effects of somatic mutations in Mimulus guttatus by comparing progeny from self-pollinations made within the same flower (autogamy) to progeny from self-pollinations made between stems on the same plant (geitonogamy). The effects of somatic mutations are evident from this comparison, as autogamy leads to homozygosity …

The Effects Of Floral Attributes And Conspecifics On Bumble Bee Forager Memory, Lucas Lauter, Tiffany Dinh

Undergraduate Research Symposium

What do bees remember about flowers? These memories are important for both bees and flowers. The bees have better foraging success and gain more nectar and pollen from flowers when they remember the most rewarding flower types. More memorable flowers will be visited more frequently, resulting in more successful pollination for the plant. At the same time, bees can also learn about flowers from other bees and may remember this information differently. We are training and testing three floral cues and a single social cue to see how the different types of cues affect their learning and memory of rewarding …

Competition Between Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) And Native Bees: An Investigation In Urban Community Gardens In St. Louis, Missouri, Owen Ireton

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The European honey bee (Apis mellifera), is considered one of the worlds more important pollinator species and is often the focal species for bee conservation. However, lesser known native bees are equally, if not more valuable for pollination services. Native bees are better pollinators for native crop plants, but often must compete with honeybees for floral resources. There has been an increase in support for including honeybee hives in private and public spaces, but recent studies suggest that interactions between resident native bees and introduced honeybees can have long lasting and detrimental effects on population persistence. These interactions have been …

Analysis Of Soxs In S. Typhimurium By Transposon Mutagenesis, Joel Hanns, Brenda Pratte, Lon Chubiz Phd, Lauren Daugherty

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The mar-sox-rob regulon has been implicated in transcriptional regulation of several stress responses, such efflux of antibiotics, enzymes that break down reactive oxygen species, repression of biofilm formation, or repression of motility through downregulation of flagellar expression. This system is conserved among enteric bacteria and has been studied in species, such as E. coli and S. typhimurium. Some of these mechanisms can be costly and slow cell growth while increasing the probability of survival through tolerance of toxic environments. SoxS works in coordination with SoxR to respond to redox stress encountered by the cell. Interestingly, the overexpression of SoxS …

Resolving The Repression Pathway Of Virulence Gene Hila In Salmonella, Alexandra King, Lon Chubiz Phd, Brenda Pratte, Lauren Daugherty

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Salmonella is a relatively abundant, virulent species of bacteria that is most known for spreading gastrointestinal diseases through food. These illnesses result in approximately 1.35 million infections, including over 25,000 hospitalizations each year, in the U.S. alone (CDC.gov). As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly urgent public health problem, the importance of developing alternative treatment methods is only becoming more crucial. One of the genes responsible for this virulence is known as hilA. HilA is the main transcriptional regulator of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-1 gene (UniProt). SPI-1 plays an important role in the invasion of Salmonella into epithelial cells. The proteins encoded …

The Interaction Of Sulfate And Perchlorate And Its Implications On Bacterial Survival On Mars, Jack M. Richardson, Dylan Clark, Karly Kenny

2022 Symposium

Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus are all known spacecraft contaminants. This makes their viability to arrive and survive on Mars feasible, however, this could prove to be a great risk to the Martian environment. In order to test this possibility, all three species were grown within brines containing differing salts and salt concentrations. These salts and their corresponding concentrations are based on known data regarding Martian soil. Growth was measured over a course of 20 hours in solutions containing MgSO₄ at concentrations of 4.6% and 9.2%, Mg(ClO₄)₂ at concentrations of 0.6% and …

Parasitism Of Corn Earworm, Helicoverpa Zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), By Tachinid Flies In Cultivated Hemp, Armando Falcon-Brindis, John O. Stireman Iii, Zenaida J. Viloria, Raul T. Villanueva

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In a survey on hemp grown in western Kentucky we found an average of 27.8 CEW larvae per plant. We recorded 45% parasitism of CEW in these fields by two species of tachinid flies, Winthemia rufopicta and Lespesia aletiae. Most parasitized larvae were third to sixth instars at the time of collection. We found up to 22 tachinid eggs per host larva, 89% of which typically bore between 1 and 5 eggs on the thorax. 45.9% of CEW bearing eggs died. The number of tachinid eggs per host was unrelated to host body mass, but both the number of tachinid …