Life Sciences Commons^™

Oral Administration Of Injectable Vitamin K1 In Brodifacoum Intoxication, Yen-Jung Chu, Jing-Hua Lin, Dong-Zong Hung

BioMedicine

Brodifacoum is a highly potent and long-acting anticoagulant rodenticide (LAAR). LAAR poisoning possibly leads to long term bleeding problems and needs vitamin K1 treatment for several months. Due to economic concern, tablet preparation of vitamin K1 was not available in most of the countries, including Taiwan. In literature, few reports had pointed out that injectable form of vitamin K could be used orally in patients on anticoagulant therapy with supratherapeutic state. Here, we reported a family with 3 members suffering from brodifacoum poisoning with severe coagulopathy needed to prolong hospitalization for intravenous vitamin K1 therapy, and successfully managed with injectable …

Comparison Between The Analytical Sensitivity And Clinical Performance Of Two Cobas Sars-Cov-2 Tests Based On High-Throughput And Point-Of-Care Systems, Tsai-Hsiu Lin, Ngoc-Niem Bui, Yu-Chang Chang, Li-Yun Hsu, Yang-Di Su, Chieh-Min Chang, Wei-An Hong, Uyen Nguyen Phuong Le, Su-Hua Huang, Cheng-Wen Lin

BioMedicine

Objectives: This study examined analytical sensitivity, specificity, and the clinical performance in detecting SARS-CoV-2 of the Cobas SARS-CoV-2 Test based on the high-throughput Cobas 6800 system and the Cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Flu A/B Test based on the point-of-care cobas Liat system.

Methods: The commercial reagents containing SARS-CoV-2 RNA subgenomes were diluted for assessing the sensitivity of the RT-qPCR assay. 385 nasopharyngeal swab specimens taken from contacts of COVID-19 cases were tested for the SARS-CoV-2 detection with both Cobas SARS-CoV-2 Tests.

Results: In analytical sensitivity assays, the Cobas SARS-CoV-2 & Flu A/B Test on the Liat system had a lower limit …

Crude Extract Of Desmodium Gangeticum Process Anticancer Activity Via Arresting Cell Cycle In G1 And Modulating Cell Cycle-Related Protein Expression In A549 Human Lung Carcinoma Cells, Yuh-Fung Chen, Yi-Hsien Lu, Huei-Yann Tsai

BioMedicine

Background: Desmodium gangeticum (L.)DC., which belongs to the Leguminosae family, has been used in Taiwan and other subtropical countries as an external medicine to remove blood stasis, activate blood circulation, and reduce inflammation. It has been reported to have antioxidant effects and improve inflammatory responses in rats stimulated by pro-inflammatory agents and induced gastric ulcers in experimental animals over the past few decades. This plant has also been used to treat parasitic infections, but there are no reports regarding its effects on lung cancer. Therefore, this study attempted to investigate its water crude extract (in abbreviation DG) on lung …

Serum Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Level In The Severity Prognosis Of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Patients: Systematic Exploration Of Novel Biomarker, Supaporn Khamchun Dr., Chunyanuch Thakaeng Miss, Rattikan Na Lampang Miss

BioMedicine

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that affecting multi-organs injury and failure. The rapid, precision, and specificity prognosis by laboratory investigations could prevent active stage and severity in the disease.

Aims: To systematically explore and investigate the candidate serum protein for development into the novel biomarker for severity prognosis of SLE patients.

Methods: The proteins previously reported in abnormal level in serum/plasma of SLE patients since 2014-2020 were comprehensive collected. Thereafter, these serum proteins that found in other diseases were excluded. The association with molecules related to SLE severity of these candidate proteins were then …

Analysis Of Pap Smear Screening Factors Using Artificial Neural Network (Anns), Elaheh Allahyari, Mitra Moodi, Zoya Tahergorabi

BioMedicine

Introduction: cervical cancer is ranked as the third most prevalent cancer to affect women over the world and a Pap smear seems to be the single most critical intervention to prevent cervical cancer.

Aim: In the present study, the effects of demographic factors (age, education level, job, income level, marriage age, pregnancy, child number, breastfeeding, and menopause), insurance type, disease history (sonography and mammography, breast problem, and cancer) and cancer information on Pap smear screening behavior stage of change were investigated and modeled using an artificial neural network model (ANN).

Materials and Methods: Data were collected from a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional …

Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1-Bound Extracellular Vesicle As Novel Therapy For Osteoarthritis, Bryan Gervais De Liyis, John Nolan, Made Agus Maharjana

BioMedicine

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a joint condition that causes significant impairment of the chondrocyte. The gradual degradation of the cartilage lining of one or more freely moving joints, as well as persistent inflammation, are the causes of osteoarthritis. Current medication focus on alleviating symptoms rather than curing the condition. The aim of this review is to evaluate the potential use of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 extracellular vesicle as novel therapy for osteoarthritis. This review article was completed by searching for the keywords “Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 1”, “Extracellular Vesicle”, and “Osteoarthritis” in various journals in several search engines. Of the …

Targeting Heat Shock 27 Kda Protein Induces Androgen Receptor Degradation, Yaxin Li

ETD Archive

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive brain tumor, with very poor prognosis. Androgen receptor (AR) plays a significant role in the progression of GBM, and anti-androgen agents have the potential to be used for the treatment of GBM. However, AR mutation commonly happens in GBM, which makes the anti-androgen agents less effective. Heat shock 27 kDa protein (HSP27) is a well-documented chaperone protein to stabilize AR. Inhibition of HSP27 results in AR degradation regardless the mutation status of AR, which makes HSP27 a good target to abolish AR in GBM. Identified compound I ((N-(3-((2,5-dimethoxybenzyl)oxy)-4-(methylsulfonamido) phenyl)-4-methoxybenzamide) inhibits GBM cell …

Fabian-Variant: Predicting The Effects Of Dna Variants On Transcription Factor Binding., Robin Steinhaus, Peter N Robinson, Dominik Seelow

Faculty Research 2022

While great advances in predicting the effects of coding variants have been made, the assessment of non-coding variants remains challenging. This is especially problematic for variants within promoter regions which can lead to over-expression of a gene or reduce or even abolish its expression. The binding of transcription factors to the DNA can be predicted using position weight matrices (PWMs). More recently, transcription factor flexible models (TFFMs) have been introduced and shown to be more accurate than PWMs. TFFMs are based on hidden Markov models and can account for complex positional dependencies. Our new web-based application FABIAN-variant uses 1224 TFFMs …

Recurrent Inversion Polymorphisms In Humans Associate With Genetic Instability And Genomic Disorders., David Porubsky, Wolfram Höps, Hufsah Ashraf, Pinghsun Hsieh, Bernardo Rodriguez-Martin, Feyza Yilmaz, Jana Ebler, Pille Hallast, Flavia Angela Maria Maggiolini, William T Harvey, Barbara Henning, Peter A Audano, David S Gordon, Peter Ebert, Patrick Hasenfeld, Eva Benito, Qihui Zhu, Charles Lee, Francesca Antonacci, Matthias Steinrücken, Christine R Beck, Ashley D Sanders, Tobias Marschall, Evan E Eichler, Jan O Korbel

Faculty Research 2022

Unlike copy number variants (CNVs), inversions remain an underexplored genetic variation class. By integrating multiple genomic technologies, we discover 729 inversions in 41 human genomes. Approximately 85% of inversionsretrotransposition; 80% of the larger inversions are balanced and affect twice as many nucleotides as CNVs. Balanced inversions show an excess of common variants, and 72% are flanked by segmental duplications (SDs) or retrotransposons. Since flanking repeats promote non-allelic homologous recombination, we developed complementary approaches to identify recurrent inversion formation. We describe 40 recurrent inversions encompassing 0.6% of the genome, showing inversion rates up to 2.7 × 10

Adaptive Evolution Of Learning And Memory In A Model Lineage, William G. Wright

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Although reductionistic studies of mechanisms of learning in a broad range of model species have advanced our understanding of neural mechanisms, our integrated understanding of mechanisms, behavior, ecology, and evolution of learning remains patchy. A more wholistic research approach in a model lineage of species related to the sea hare, Aplysia californica, has revealed a complete loss of mechanisms of sensitization in one sea-hare genus, Dolabrifera, with concomitant changes in its behavior and ecology. A partial loss of sensitization via different mechanisms in a sister genus, Phyllaplysia, provides further information for our evolving understanding of the evolution of learning …

Water-Wise Landscape Ideas For Existing Landscapes, Shital Poudyal

All Current Publications

This fact sheet outlines five easy ways to convert an existing landscape to a water-wise landscape without substantial renovation for those who do not have the time, resources, or expertise to renovate the existing landscape completely.

Blanding's Turtles From The Western Sandhills Of Nebraska, Ashley Forrester

Biology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

In all states and provinces in which they reside, Blanding’s Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) are listed as a species of conservation concern. In other parts of their range, Blanding’s Turtle populations have experienced declines and are threatened by habitat fragmentation and degradation of wetlands. Nebraska is the only state that considers the species to be secure. The largest known population of Blanding’s Turtles was recorded in the Sandhills of Nebraska. The Sandhills represent both the largest sand dune complex in the northern hemisphere and the largest intact temperate grassland ecosystem remaining in the world. These features likely attribute to the success …

The Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus: Watchdog Of Whole-Body Glucose Homeostasis, Longlong Tu, Makoto Fukuda, Qingchun Tong, Yong Xu

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The brain, particularly the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), has been long known for its involvement in glucose sensing and whole-body glucose homeostasis. However, it is still not fully understood how the brain detects and responds to the changes in the circulating glucose levels, as well as brain-body coordinated control of glucose homeostasis. In this review, we address the growing evidence implicating the brain in glucose homeostasis, especially in the contexts of hypoglycemia and diabetes. In addition to neurons, we emphasize the potential roles played by non-neuronal cells, as well as extracellular matrix in the hypothalamus in whole-body glucose homeostasis. Further, …

Food Insecurity And Health-Related Concerns Among Elementary Schoolteachers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mallika Mathur, Christine M Markham, Shreela V Sharma

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: US school systems underwent major upheaval, including closures, implementation of virtual and/or hybrid learning, and stringent infection mitigation protocols, during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to examine the association between food insecurity and perceived health, perceived stress, and social determinants of health concerns among elementary schoolteachers serving predominantly low-income children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: Brighter Bites, a nonprofit organization that weekly distributes fresh fruits and vegetables and nutrition education materials to more than 300 schools serving racial and ethnic minority populations with low income, conducts annual surveys of participating teachers to help determine subsequent …

Microbial Sociality In Biofilms, Swetha Kasetty

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Biofilms are communities of microorganisms attached to surfaces through various self-secreted matrix materials. Biofilms are dynamic communities with extensive interactions between their residents. Microorganisms compete, cooperate, and communicate with each other in biofilms. These ecological interactions determine the emergence or loss of strains/species and are critical in the formation and proliferation of biofilms. Furthermore, most natural biofilms are formed by multiple microbial species and strains and these interactions within the biofilm dramatically influence community composition and structure over time. Microbial interactions also influence clinically relevant outcomes such as antibiotic resistance and host virulence. In this thesis we explore the potential …

Low Site-Specific Genomic Variability Is Consistent With The History(S) Of Fragmentation Of The Riparian Biota Of The Arid Southwest, Manuela Londoño-Gaviria

Biology ETDs

Persistently low population sizes, when coupled with reduced interpopulation connectivity, can impede the long-term viability of species in fragmented landscapes. Riparian-associated species in the arid American Southwest now face a series of threats due to fragmented populations and changing environmental conditions. During the last century, riparian habitats have deteriorated due to the synergistic effects of livestock grazing, increasing incidence of fire, and other anthropogenic impacts potentially have made local populations smaller, less demographically stable, and susceptible to the negative impacts of genetic drift and stochastic events. We evaluated genomic variation within and across geographic areas (i.e., mountain ranges and river …

Modeling The Impact Of Climate Change On Cervid Chronic Wasting Disease In Semi-Arid South Texas, Md Rafiul Islam, Ummugul Bulut, Teresa Patricia Feria-Arroyo, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby

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

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a spongiform encephalopathy disease caused by the transmission of infectious prion agents. CWD is a fatal disease that affects wild and farmed cervids in North America with few cases reported overseas. Social interaction of cervids, feeding practices by wildlife keepers and climate effects on the environmental carrying capacity all can affect CWD transmission in deer. Wildlife deer game hunting is economically important to the semi-arid South Texas region and is affected by climate change. In this paper, we model and investigate the effect of climate change on the spread of CWD using typical climate scenarios. …

Extending The Garden Season, Taun Beddes, Michael Caron, Sheriden M. Hansen, Jaydee Gunnell

All Current Publications

Many homeowners have the dream of growing fresh vegetables year-round. Unfortunately, in colder climates, this is only possible using a complete greenhouse with supplemental heating/cooling and lights. Greenhouses can be excessively expensive to maintain and heat, making them impractical for most homeowners. This is not only due to cold winter temperatures but shorter day lengths and lower available light that must be offset artificially. There are practical, less expensive ways to obtain self-grown produce earlier and later in the growing season, though, by using season-extending techniques. These include using equipment such as cold frames, high tunnels, low tunnels, floating row …

Influence Of Resistance Training Exercise Order On Acute Thyroid Hormone Responses, José Maria Pereira Da Silva, Gabriel Costa E Silva, Rodrigo Rodrigues Da Conceição, Roberto Laureano-Melo, Gisele Giannocco, Monica Akemi Sato, Cláudio Melibeu Bentes, Roberto Fares Simão

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(2): 760-770, 2022. The present study aimed to compare the exercise order of an acute bout of resistance exercise (RT) on acute thyroid hormonal responses. Eight (n = 8) healthy men were randomly separated into two experimental groups: A) the order from multi- to single-joint exercises (MJ-SJ) and B) the order from single- to multijoint exercises (SJ-MJ). For all exercises in both orders, the subjects were submitted to 3 sets of 10 repetitions, with rest intervals of 2 minutes between sets and 3 minutes between exercises. Blood samples were collected at rest and 0, …

Climate Resilient Potato Systems For The 21st Century And Beyond, Brett A. Lynn

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

Climate change’s effects will dramatically reshape food systems and food security in the twenty-first century and beyond. Given potato’s susceptibility to heat and drought, climate change is poised to disproportionately affect potato production. Globally, potato is the fourth most important crop and yields a higher caloric density than any other commercial crop. Thus, disruptions to potato production bear serious implications for global food security.

In the United States, considerable potato production occurs in the arid West, which already faces water scarcity. This scarcity is anticipated to increase in many areas due to climate change. In addition to scarcity, growers will …

Association Mapping Across A Multitude Of Traits Collected In Diverse Environments In Maize, Ravi V. Mural, Guangchao Sun, Marcin Grzybowski, Michael C. Tross, Hongyu Jin, Christine Smith, Linsey Newton, Carson M. Andorf, Margaret R. Woodhouse, Addie M. Thompson, Brandi Sigmon, James C. Schnable

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Classical genetic studies have identified many cases of pleiotropy where mutations in individual genes alter many different phenotypes. Quantitative genetic studies of natural genetic variants frequently examine one or a few traits, limiting their potential to identify pleiotropic effects of natural genetic variants. Widely adopted community association panels have been employed by plant genetics communities to study the genetic basis of naturally occurring phenotypic variation in a wide range of traits. High-density genetic marker data—18M markers—from 2 partially overlapping maize association panels comprising 1,014 unique genotypes grown in field trials across at least 7 US states and scored for 162 …

A Simple Standard For Sharing Ontological Mappings (Sssom)., Nicolas Matentzoglu, James P Balhoff, Susan M. Bello, Chris Bizon, Matthew Brush, Tiffany J Callahan, Christopher G Chute, William D Duncan, Chris T Evelo, Davera Gabriel, John Graybeal, Alasdair Gray, Benjamin M Gyori, Melissa Haendel, Henriette Harmse, Nomi L Harris, Ian Harrow, Harshad B Hegde, Amelia L Hoyt, Charles T Hoyt, Dazhi Jiao, Ernesto Jiménez-Ruiz, Simon Jupp, Hyeongsik Kim, Sebastian Koehler, Thomas Liener, Qinqin Long, James Malone, James A Mclaughlin, Julie A Mcmurry, Sierra Moxon, Monica C Munoz-Torres, David Osumi-Sutherland, James A Overton, Bjoern Peters, Tim Putman, Núria Queralt-Rosinach, Kent Shefchek, Harold Solbrig, Anne Thessen, Tania Tudorache, Nicole Vasilevsky, Alex H Wagner, Christopher J Mungall

Faculty Research 2022

Despite progress in the development of standards for describing and exchanging scientific information, the lack of easy-to-use standards for mapping between different representations of the same or similar objects in different databases poses a major impediment to data integration and interoperability. Mappings often lack the metadata needed to be correctly interpreted and applied. For example, are two terms equivalent or merely related? Are they narrow or broad matches? Or are they associated in some other way? Such relationships between the mapped terms are often not documented, which leads to incorrect assumptions and makes them hard to use in scenarios that …

Musmorph, A Database Of Standardized Mouse Morphology Data For Morphometric Meta-Analyses., Jay Devine, Marta Vidal-García, Wei Liu, Amanda Neves, Lucas D Lo Vercio, Rebecca M Green, Heather A Richbourg, Marta Marchini, Colton M Unger, Audrey C Nickle, Bethany Radford, Nathan M Young, Paula N Gonzalez, Robert E Schuler, Alejandro Bugacov, Campbell Rolian, Christopher J Percival, Trevor Williams, Lee Niswander, Anne L Calof, Arthur D Lander, Axel Visel, Frank R Jirik, James M Cheverud, Ophir D Klein, Ramon Y Birnbaum, Amy E Merrill, Rebecca R Ackermann, Daniel Graf, Myriam Hemberger, Wendy Dean, Nils D Forkert, Stephen A Murray, Henrik Westerberg, Ralph S Marcucio, Benedikt Hallgrímsson

Faculty Research 2022

Complex morphological traits are the product of many genes with transient or lasting developmental effects that interact in anatomical context. Mouse models are a key resource for disentangling such effects, because they offer myriad tools for manipulating the genome in a controlled environment. Unfortunately, phenotypic data are often obtained using laboratory-specific protocols, resulting in self-contained datasets that are difficult to relate to one another for larger scale analyses. To enable meta-analyses of morphological variation, particularly in the craniofacial complex and brain, we created MusMorph, a database of standardized mouse morphology data spanning numerous genotypes and developmental stages, including E10.5, E11.5, …

Feral Horses And Bison At Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota, United States) Exhibit Shifts In Behaviors During Drone Flights, Javier Lenzi, Christopher J. Felege, Robert Newman, Blake Mccann, Susan N. Ellis-Felege

Biology Faculty Publications

Drone use has been rapidly increasing in protected areas in North America, and potential impacts on terrestrial megafauna have been largely unstudied. We evaluated behavioral responses to drones on two terrestrial charismatic species, feral horse (Equus caballus) and bison (Bison bison), at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota, United States) in 2018. Using a Trimble UX5 fixed-wing drone, we performed two flights at 120 m above ground level (AGL), one for each species, and recorded video footage of their behaviors prior to, during, and after the flight. Video footage was analyzed in periods of 10 s intervals, and the occurrence …

Low-Salt Diet Reduces Anti-Ctla4 Mediated Systemic Immune-Related Adverse Events While Retaining Therapeutic Efficacy Against Breast Cancer, Durga Khandekar, Debolanle O. Dahunsi, Isaac V. Manzanera Esteve, Sonya Reid, Jeffrey C. Rathmell, Jens M. Titze, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi

Biology Faculty Research

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy has revolutionized the breast cancer treatment landscape. However, ICI-induced systemic inflammatory immune-related adverse events (irAE) remain a major clinical challenge. Previous studies in our laboratory and others have demonstrated that a high-salt (HS) diet induces inflammatory activation of CD4+T cells leading to anti-tumor responses. In our current communication, we analyzed the impact of dietary salt modification on therapeutic and systemic outcomes in breast-tumor-bearing mice following anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4) monoclonal antibody (mAb) based ICI therapy. As HS diet and anti-CTLA4 mAb both exert pro-inflammatory activation of CD4+T cells, we hypothesized that a combination of …

The Mitogenome Relationships And Phylogeography Of Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica), Gianluca Lombardo, Nicola Rambaldi Migliore, Giulia Colombo, Marco Rosario Capodiferro, Giulio Formenti, Manuela Caprioli, Elisabetta Moroni, Leonardo Caporali, Hovirag Lancioni, Simona Secomandi, Cristina Cereda, Valerio Carelli, Lauren Gillespie, Yang Liu, Yosef Kiat, Alfonso Marzal, Cosme López-Calderón, Javier Balbontín, Timothy Mousseau, Piotr Matyjasiak, Anders Pape Møller, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) poses a number of fascinating scientific questions, including the taxonomic status of postulated subspecies. Here, we obtained and assessed the sequence variation of 411 complete mitogenomes, mainly from the European H. r. rustica, but other subspecies as well. In almost every case, we observed subspecies-specific haplogroups, which we employed together with estimated radiation times to postulate a model for the geographical and temporal worldwide spread of the species. The female barn swallow carrying the Hirundo rustica ancestral mitogenome left Africa (or its vicinity) around 280 thousand years ago (kya), and her descendants …

Complying With Cecl – Applying The Scale Method To Nebraska Community Banks, Jeffrey Stokes, Jared Stauffer

Cornhusker Economics

Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) is a new expected credit loss accounting standard that was first introduced by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) in 2016. This new method is meant to replace the current Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL) standard. CECL requires the estimation of expected losses over the life of a loan, while ALLL is based on historic, or incurred, losses. This change largely affects banks, but other financial institutions that hold or trade securities can also be subject to the rule. Although CECL was introduced in 2016, the implementation of the rule has had a …

Virucidal N95 Respirator Face Masks Via Ultrathin Surface-Grafted Quaternary Ammonium Polymer Coatings, Mirco Sorci, Tanner D. Fink, Vaishali Sharma, Sneha Singh, Ruiwen Chen, Brigitte L. Arduini, Katharine Dovidenko, Caryn L. Heldt, Edmund F. Palermo, R Helen Zha

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

N95 respirator face masks serve as effective physical barriers against airborne virus transmission, especially in a hospital setting. However, conventional filtration materials, such as nonwoven polypropylene fibers, have no inherent virucidal activity, and thus, the risk of surface contamination increases with wear time. The ability of face masks to protect against infection can be likely improved by incorporating components that deactivate viruses on contact. We present a facile method for covalently attaching antiviral quaternary ammonium polymers to the fiber surfaces of nonwoven polypropylene fabrics that are commonly used as filtration materials in N95 respirators via ultraviolet (UV)-initiated grafting of biocidal …

Characterizing The Sublethal Effects Of Smartstax Pro Dietary Exposure On Life History Traits Of The Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera Leconte, Jordan D. Reinders, Emily E. Reinders, Emily Robinson, William J. Moar, Paula A. Price, Graham P. Head, Lance Meinke

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, is an economically important pest of field corn (Zea mays L.) across the United States (U.S.) Corn Belt. Repeated use of transgenic hybrids expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins has selected for field-evolved resistance to all current rootworm-active Bt proteins. The newest product available for WCR management is SmartStax® PRO, a rootworm-active pyramid containing Cry3Bb1, Cry34/35Ab1 [now reclassified as Gpp34Ab1/Tpp35Ab1] and a new mode of action, DvSnf7 dsRNA. Understanding the fitness of adult WCR after dietary exposure to SmartStax® PRO will identify potential impacts on WCR population dynamics and inform efforts …

Monitoring Avian Populations With Acoustic Indices In The Central Platte River Valley, Bethany Lynn Ostrom

Biology Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

Acoustic indices are mathematical summaries of sound waves. Several researchers have tried to find relationships between them and vocal animal communities to use them as a passive monitoring method, as human-derived surveys are expensive, time-consuming, and suffer from observer bias. However, supplanting manual surveys with acoustic indices is a daunting task, considering effective indices for biological monitoring would need to differentiate biologically relevant sounds from the broader soundscape, including from human-derived (anthrophony) and earth-derived (geophony) sound. We collected avian community data and calculated six commonly used acoustic indices from acoustic recordings in the largest remaining intact lowland tallgrass prairie in …