Life Sciences Commons^™

Grass And Forage Improvement: Temperate Forages, Chris J. Pollock, M. T. Abberton, M. O. Humphreys

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. Plant breeding has contributed significantly to the development of effective grassland production systems.

2. New technologies offer enhanced precision in breeding and access to wider genetic variation.

3. The requirement for more sustainable production systems will require genetic improvements in complex traits where the use of new technology will be vital.

Improving The Quality Of Products From Grassland, Nigel D. Scollan, R. J. Dewhurst, A. P. Moloney, J. J. Murphy

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. Consumers are increasingly aware of the links between diet and health, and place increasing emphasis on nutritional quality as a component of product quality.

2. Meat and milk products are rich sources of nutrients such as omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, which offer health benefits to consumers.

3. Green plants are the primary source of n-3 fatty acids in the food chain.

4. Grassland production systems have the potential to enhance the content of beneficial fatty acids, improve stability (from higher antioxidant content) and alter sensory attributes of meat and milk.

5. Grassland offers …

Lifeguard Performance Skills: A Systematic Review, Paulo Santiago, Filipe Maia, Sandra Santiago, Daniel Duarte, Pedro Teques

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Drowning is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and lifeguards’ action can be regarded as a significant contribution to change that reality. In this regard, the purpose of this systematic review was to identify factors associated with lifeguards’ performance. After extensive research on PsycArticles, PsicBooks, PsycInfo, SportDiscus, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and SportDiscus databases, containing the keywords “lifeguard” AND “performance”, “lifeguard” AND “skills” and “lifeguard” AND “drowning”, we obtained 429 research articles. After eliminating duplicates, excluding those that had no relevance to the study, and screening against set criteria, a total of five articles were fully reviewed. …

Undergraduate Session Iiic Natural Sciences: Presentation 5 - Neisseria Meningitis: Pathophysiology, Immune Defense, And Vaccination, Grace Burgin

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

This research explores how the meningitis bacteria infect the body, the immune system's response, and the development and administration of the vaccine.

Undergraduate Session Iiic Natural Sciences: Presentation 1 - Human Papillomavirus And Vaccination, Jared Reeder

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

An overview of the immune response to human papillomavirus (HPV) and the vaccine to protect against it. Discussion of clinical relevance and consequence of untreated HPV infection.

Undergraduate Session Iiic Natural Sciences: Presentation 2 - The Development And Administration Of The Measles Vaccine, Hannah M. Decriscio

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

This presentation will cover the general information about the measles virus, the development of the vaccine, and administration of the vaccine, including any roadblocks encountered.

Undergraduate Session Iic Natural Sciences: Presentation 1 - A Survey Of Undocumented Species In Cleveland County, North Carolina (Poster), Cullen Fields

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

Cleveland County's species are not as well documented as surrounding counties. This study focused on identifying various species throughout the county to help create a more accurate measure of the species located within its borders.

Undergraduate Session Ic: Natural Sciences Presentation 2 - Hospitalization Of Children Due To Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Megan Fuller

Life of the Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference

This presentation will explain the topic of community-acquired pneumonia occurring in children to the extent of requiring hospitalization. The objective of the presentation is to explore the disease process itself, common pathogens suspected of causing the disease, and effective methods that can be used to determine the suspected pathogen in a given patient.

Rising Demand For Meat And Milk In Developing Countries: Implications For Grasslands-Based Livestock Production, C. L. Delgado

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. Meat and milk consumption in developing countries has grown three times as fast as in developed countries over the past 30 years.

2. By 2020, developing countries will consume 72 million metric tons (mmt) more meat and 152 mmt more milk compared to 2002/3, dwarfing developed-country increases of 9 mmt for meat and 18 mmt for milk.

3. Ruminant livestock will account for 27% of the increase in global meat consumption between 2003 and 2020, up from 23% over the previous two decades.

4. The inflation-adjusted prices of livestock and feed grains are expected to fall only …

Grassland In Ireland And The Uk, Myles Rath, S. Peel

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. Grassland is the dominant land use option in Ireland and the UK, and is characterised by a long growing season.

2. Dynamic, interactive systems of grassland management have been developed which combine high grass dry matter intakes with good sward quality. In the better grassland areas milk yields in excess of 7000 kg/cow are attainable with low levels of concentrate supplementation.

3. In the times to come, measures to protect the environment will constrain stocking rates, and fertiliser and manure use on intensive grassland enterprises.

4. A high proportion of beef and sheep farms participate in voluntary, …

Irvine Prairie Outreach Update, Justin Meissen, Laura Jackson, C. Irvine, B. Pippert, Laura Walter, Anne Phillips, C. Teator

Tallgrass Prairie Publications and Reports

Report on the visitor groups that came to the Irvine Prairie in 2021 as well as other actions done to increase awareness of the prairie.

Disruption Of Claudin-Made Tight Junction Barriers By Clostridium Perfringens Enterotoxin: Insights From Structural Biology, Chinemerem P. Ogbu, Sourav Roy, Alex J. Vecchio

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Claudins are a family of integral membrane proteins that enable epithelial cell/cell interactions by localizing to and driving the formation of tight junctions. Via claudin self-assembly within the membranes of adjoining cells, their extracellular domains interact, forming barriers to the paracellular transport of small molecules and ions. The bacterium Clostridium perfringens causes prevalent gastrointestinal disorders in mammals by employing an enterotoxin (CpE) that targets claudins. CpE binds to claudins at or near tight junctions in the gut and disrupts their barrier function, potentially by disabling their assembly or via cell signaling means—the mechanism(s) remain unclear. CpE ultimately destroys claudin-expressing cells …

Irvine Prairie Science Update, C. Irvine, B. Pippert, Laura Jackson, Laura Walter, Anne Phillips, C. Teator, Justin Meissen

Tallgrass Prairie Publications and Reports

Report to the general public on the status of the restoration and maintenance of a tallgrass prairie in Benton County, Iowa for the year 2021.

Lipid Based Nanoparticles As A Novel Treatment Modality For Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Comprehensive Review On Targeting And Recent Advances, Khaled Mahmoud, Shady Swidan, Mohamed A. El-Nabarawi, Mahmoud H. Teaima

Pharmacy

Liver cancer is considered one of the deadliest diseases with one of the highest disease burdens worldwide. Among the different types of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma is considered to be the most common type. Multiple conventional approaches are being used in treating hepatocellular carcinoma. Focusing on drug treatment, regular agents in conventional forms fail to achieve the intended clinical outcomes. In order to improve the treatment outcomes, utilizing nanoparticles—specifically lipid based nanoparticles—are considered to be one of the most promising approaches being set in motion. Multiple forms of lipid based nanoparticles exist including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, …

Influence Of Fertilizer Rate On Swollen Stem Formation (“Bulbing”) And Vitamin C Content In Different Kohlrabi Cultivars, Mark Iradukunda, Paul E. Read

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group) is a vegetable crop found in the Brassicaceae, and it is rich in antioxidants such as vitamin C. Vitamin C helps in oxidative damage repair and strengthens the immune system, so exploring vitamin C sources may contribute to improving human health. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of different fertilizer rates on kohlrabi yield, in terms of the swollen stem and the vitamin C content, and if those effects are similar in different kohlrabi cultivars. In this greenhouse study, we fertilized four potted kohlrabi cultivars with a common water-soluble greenhouse fertilizer …

A Glass Bead Semi‑Hydroponic System For Intact Maize Root Exudate Analysis And Phenotyping, Martha G. Lopez-Guerrero, Peng Wang, Felicia Phares4, Daniel P. Schachtman, Sophie Alvarez, Karin Van Dijk

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Background: Although there have been numerous studies describing plant growth systems for root exudate collection, a common limitation is that these systems require disruption of the plant root system to facilitate exudate collection. Here, we present a newly designed semi-hydroponic system that uses glass beads as solid support to simulate soil impedance, which combined with drip irrigation, facilitates growth of healthy maize plants, collection and analysis of root exudates, and phenotyping of the roots with minimal growth disturbance or root damage.

Results: This system was used to collect root exudates from seven maize genotypes using water or 1 mM CaCl …

Irvine Prairie Planned Work, C. Irvine, B. Pippert, Laura Jackson, Laura Walter, Anne Phillips, C. Teator, Justin Meissen

Tallgrass Prairie Publications and Reports

Report on the plans for work to be done in 2022 to further the restoration and maintenance of a tallgrass prairie in Benton County, Iowa.

The Optimal Relationship Between Actuator Stiffness And Actuation Timing For A Passive Ankle Exoskeleton: An Opensim Simulation, Cody Anderson, Hafizur Rahman, Sara Myers

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Introduction

The passive ankle exoskeleton developed by Collins et al. (2015) reduced the metabolic cost of walking with an actuation-timing of ~16% of stance [1]; however, other actuation timings have not been extensively investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the optimal relationship between actuator-stiffness and actuation-timing for a passive ankle exoskeleton by using musculoskeletal modeling.

Methods

Kinematics and ground reaction forces were recorded while a healthy-young male walked on overground force-plates, and these data were exported to a musculoskeletal modeling software (OpenSim) for simulation. A passive ankle exoskeleton model was designed and integrated with a default …

Ankle Foot Orthoses Improves Ground Reaction Forces In Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease, Zahra Salamifar, Farah Fallahtafti, Iraklis Pipinos, Jason Johanning, Hafizur Rahman, Mahdi Hassan, Sara Myers

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is caused by atherosclerotic blockage of the arteries in the legs. Globally, over 236 million people suffer from PAD. Intermittent claudication is the most common PAD symptom that includes muscle pain, cramping, and/or aching induced by physical activities and relieved with rest. PAD impacts gait patterns: specifically, rapid ankle plantar flexion after heel contact, which decreases optimal energy transfer. An ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) is an assistive device that improves gait in patients with neurological conditions. AFOs could help patients with PAD to improve walking kinetics. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of …

Design And Development Of Software With A Graphical User Interface To Display And Convert Multiple Microscopic Histology Images, Sayed Ahmadreza Razian, Majid Jadidi, Alexey Kamenskiy

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Histological images are widely used to assess the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Recent advancements in image analysis allow the identification of structural features on histological sections that can help advance medical device development, brain and cancer research, drug discovery, vascular mechanobiology, and many other fields. Histological slide scanners create images in SVS and TIFF formats that were designed to archive image blocks and high-resolution textual information. Because these formats were primarily intended for storage, they are often not compatible with conventional image analysis software and require conversion before they can be used in research. We have developed a user-friendly …

Breaks In Longitudinal Elastic Fibers Of Human Femoropopliteal Arteries, Elham Zamani

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Breaks in Longitudinal Elastic Fibers of Human Femoropopliteal Arteries

Elham Zamani1, Majid Jadidi1

1 Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, NE

Introduction: Elastin is a major protein in the body with half-life >50 years. It is thought that elastic fibers are formed before the postnatal period. In the femoropopliteal artery (FPA), the main artery in the leg, longitudinal elastic fibers are present in External Elastic Lamina (EEL). Our team has studied more than 1000 cadaveric human FPA and has noticed that there are big breaks in their longitudinal elastic fibers in some subjects. Our goal in this work …

Expression Of Atwri1 And Atdgat1 During Soybean Embryo Development Influences Oil And Carbohydrate Metabolism, Cintia Lucía Arias, Truyen Quach, Tu Huynh, Hanh Nguyen, Ademar Moretti, Yu Shi, Ming Guo, Amira Rasoul, Kyujung Van, Leah Mchale, Thomas E. Clemente, Ana Paula Alonso, Chi Zhang

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Soybean oil is one of the most consumed vegetable oils worldwide. Genetic improvement of its concentration in seeds has been historically pursued due to its direct association with its market value. Engineering attempts aiming to increase soybean seed oil presented different degrees of success that varied with the genetic design and the specific variety considered. Understanding the embryo’s responses to the genetic modifications introduced, is a critical step to successful approaches. In this work, the metabolic and transcriptional responses to AtWRI1 and AtDGAT1 expression in soybean seeds were evaluated. AtWRI1 is a master regulator of fatty acid (FA) biosynthesis, and …

Sesamum Indicum Diet Prevents Hyperlipidemia In Experimental Rats, Muinat M. Adeyanju, Idris A. Saheed, Oluwaseun I. Oyelekan, Taiwo A. Dele-Osibanjo, Ayodeji A. Adelegan, Adekunle J. Raimi, Samuel O. Olalekan, Olugbenga S. Alabi, Khadijat M. Alli

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Cardiovascular diseases and metabolic complications caused by hyperlipidemia are the leading cause of death globally. In this study, the hypolipidemic potency of Sesamum indicum (SI) seeds was investigated. Of the thirty-five (35) male rats used in the study, five (5) were randomly selected for baseline measurements and thirty (30) were fed high fat diet (HFD) for four (4) weeks before random assignment into three (3) groups. The experimental group was treated with 50% SI seed, the positive control group was given a hypolipidemic drug, atorvastatin (5 mg/kg/day) while the untreated group served as the negative control. With SI administration, the …

An Industry Life Cycle Assessment (Lca) For Sheep Production In Western Australia, Stephen Wiedemann, Darcia Mcrae, Emma Longworth

Animal production and livestock research reports

The Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has identified the need to understand greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the livestock sector in detail, with a view to developing emission reduction plans for the state. To achieve this, DPIRD commissioned a life cycle assessment (LCA) for the sheep industry in Western Australia (WA) for the financial years (FY) 2005 (July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005) and 2020 (July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020). The analysis of one historic period provided a baseline reference point for the more recent results, and the intent was to develop …

Ingredient Classification Using Food Ontology, Ricky Flores

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

A food label provides some of the most crucial information for a food product. The food label is a key resource for many health-conscious consumers for understanding ingredients. It is also vital for individuals to avoid food allergens or help patients follow dietary recommendations. While the food labels in the United States are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) many labels contain additional information or statements that are not regulated. Moreover, the food label may be complex or contain terminology that the layperson may not understand. Evidence has indicated that consumers often find nutrition labels confusing, especially when …

Many Avenues For Spatial Personality Research: A Response To Comments On Stuber Et Al. (2022), Erica F. Stuber, Ben S. Carlson, Brett R. Jesmer

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

We are grateful for the thought-provoking and forward-looking commentaries (Dingemanse et al. 2022; Mabry 2022; Spiegel and Pinter-Wollman 2022; Vander Wal et al. 2022) in response to our meta-analysis of evidence for consistent among-individual differences in animals’ spatial behaviors (Stuber et al. 2022). A clear consensus is that our demonstration of the prevalence of repeatability across spatial behaviors, and taxa, is only the first step towards identifying the mechanisms and consequences of variation in spatial behavior. Here, we take the opportunity to emphasize key future directions pertaining to uncovering mechanisms, disentangling apparent personality from spatial constraints, and examining additional metrics …

Pufa Ω-3 And Ω-6 Biomarkers And Sleep: A Pooled Analysis Of Cohort Studies On Behalf Of The Fatty Acids And Outcomes Research Consortium (Force), Rachel A Murphy, Nathan Tintle, William S Harris, Maryam Darvishian, Matti Marklund, Jyrki K Virtanen, Sari Hantunen, Vanessa D De Mello, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Jaana Lindström, Matthew A Bolt, Ingeborg A Brouwer, Alexis C Wood, Mackenzie Senn, Susan Redline, Michael Y Tsai, Vilmundur Gudnason, Gudny Eiriksdottir, Eva Lindberg, Aladdin H Shadyab, Buyun Liu, Mercedes Carnethon, Matti Uusitupa, Luc Djousse, Ulf Risérus, Lars Lind, Rob M Van Dam, Woon-Puay Koh, Peilin Shi, David Siscovick, Rozenn N Lemaitre, Dariush Mozaffarian

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: n-3 and n-6 PUFAs have physiologic roles in sleep processes, but little is known regarding circulating n-3 and n-6 PUFA and sleep parameters.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to assess associations between biomarkers of n-3 and n-6 PUFA intake with self-reported sleep duration and difficulty falling sleeping in the Fatty Acids and Outcome Research Consortium.

METHODS: Harmonized, de novo, individual-level analyses were performed and pooled across 12 cohorts. Participants were 35-96 y old and from 5 nations. Circulating measures included α-linolenic acid (ALA), EPA, docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), DHA, EPA + DPA + DHA, linoleic acid, and arachidonic acid. Sleep duration (10 …

Oral Susceptibility To Ivermectin Is Over Fifty Times Greater In A Wild Population Of Anopheles Albimanus Mosquitoes From Belize Than The Stecla Laboratory Reference Strain Of This Mosquito, Staci M. Dreyer, Kelsey J. Morin, Marla Magaña, Marie Pott, Donovan Leiva, Nicole L. Achee, John P. Grieco, Jefferson A. Vaughan

Biology Faculty Publications

Background

The STECLA strain of Anopheles albimanus has been in continuous colony for many years and is the reference strain on which genomic studies for the species are based. Recently, the STECLA strain was demonstrated to be much less susceptible to ivermectin ingested in a blood meal (4-day LC50 of 1468 ng/ml) than all other Anopheles species tested to-date (LC50 values range from 7 to 56 ng/ml). The ability of An. albimanus to survive ingestion of ivermectin at concentrations far beyond that typically found in the blood of ivermectin-treated people or livestock (i.e., 30–70 ng/ml) could invalidate the use of …

Prognostic Impact Of High Baseline Stromal Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes In The Absence Of Pathologic Complete Response In Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Nour Abuhadra, Ryan Sun, Jennifer K Litton, Gaiane M Rauch, Clinton Yam, Jeffrey T Chang, Sahil Seth, Roland Bassett, Bora Lim, Alastair M Thompson, Elizabeth Mittendorf, Beatriz E Adrada, Senthil Damodaran, Jason White, Elizabeth Ravenberg, Rosalind Candelaria, Banu Arun, Naoto T Ueno, Lumarie Santiago, Sadia Saleem, Sausan Abouharb, Rashmi K Murthy, Nuhad Ibrahim, Aysegul A Sahin, Vicente Valero, William Fraser Symmans, Debu Tripathy, Stacy Moulder, Lei Huo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

High stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are associated with an improved pathologic complete response (pCR) and survival in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We hypothesized that high baseline sTILs would have a favorable prognostic impact in TNBC patients without a pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). In this prospective NACT study, pretreatment biopsies from 318 patients with early-stage TNBC were evaluated for sTILs. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was applied to search for the sTIL cutoff best associated with a pCR. With ≥20% sTILs identified as the optimal cutoff, 33% patients had high sTILs (pCR rate 64%) and 67% had low sTILs (pCR rate …

Chromosomal Imbalances Detected Via Rna-Sequencing In 28 Cancers, Zuhal Ozcan, Francis A San Lucas, Justin W Wong, Kyle Chang, Konrad H Stopsack, Jerry Fowler, Yasminka A Jakubek, Paul Scheet

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Motivation: RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) of tumor tissue is typically only used to measure gene expression. Here, we present a statistical approach that leverages existing RNA-seq data to also detect somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs), a pervasive phenomenon in human cancers, without a need to sequence the corresponding DNA.

Results: We present an analysis of 4942 participant samples from 28 cancers in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), demonstrating robust detection of SCNAs from RNA-seq. Using genotype imputation and haplotype information, our RNA-based method had a median sensitivity of 85% to detect SCNAs defined by DNA analysis, at high specificity (∼95%). As an …