Microbiology Commons^™

Incidentally Found Metastatic Prostatic Carcinoma In A Therapeutic Orchiectomy Specimen, Zeeshan Uddin, Muhammad Bilal, Mohammad Ayaz Khan

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Metastatic tumour involving the testis is a rare event. Incidental discovery of metastatic cancer in a therapeutic orchiectomy is even rarer. We report a case of metastatic adenocarcinoma prostate found incidentally in one of the bilateral therapeutic orchiectomy specimens. The patient was a 55-year-old man presenting with back ache and generalized body aches. Clinical examination showed malignant feel of prostate. Bone scan revealed metastatic disease and a serum PSA level of >100 ng/ml. Clinical diagnosis of carcinoma prostate was established and subsequent bilateral orchiectomy for hormonal deprivation was performed. On gross examination of left testis, there was a small 0.7 …

Biogeochemical Response To Vegetation And Hydrologic Change In An Alaskan Boreal Fen Ecosystem, Danielle L. Rupp

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Boreal peatlands store approximately one third of the earth’s terrestrial carbon, locked away in currently waterlogged and frozen conditions. Peatlands of boreal and arctic ecosystems are affected increasingly by shifting hydrology caused by climate change. The consequences of these relatively rapid ecosystem changes on carbon cycling between the landscape and the atmosphere could provide an amplifying feedback to climate warming. Alternatively, the advancement of terrestrial vegetation into once waterlogged soils could uptake carbon as a sink. Previous work suggests that fens will become an increasingly dominant landscape feature in the boreal. However, studies investigating fens, their response to hydrologic and …

Bacterioplankton Biogeography Of The Mississippi River Basin, Jason Taylor Payne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bacterioplankton are important structural and functional components of river networks yet their biogeographical patterns in these systems are largely unknown. Using Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene we characterized variation in bacterioplankton community alpha diversity (within-sample richness of operational taxonomic units OTUs) and beta diversity (between-sample differences in composition) (1) along a 1 300-km downstream reach of the Mississippi River (2) over a range of temporal scales in the Lower Mississippi River (LMR) and (3) along cross-sectional transects repeated monthly for six months across the LMR floodplain. Particle-associated assemblages were richer in bacterial OTUs and more productive than free-living …

The Role Of Cody In Hydrogen Peroxide Tolerance And Biofilm Formation Of Streptococcus Mutans, Kaitlin M. Rioux, Brandaliz Santiago-Narvaez

Honors Program Theses

Streptococcus mutans is the major cariogenic bacterium in the oral cavity. S. mutans causes disease by three main virulence factors: acid production, acid tolerance, and biofilm formation. S. mutans outcompetes various other species in the oral cavity, however it is affected by hydrogen peroxide production by these species. Based on previous findings and this research, hydrogen peroxide is shown to extend the lag phase of S. mutans but does not kill it unless present in extremely high amounts that are generally not produced by commensal species like S. sanguinis and S. gordonii in the oral cavity. CodY is a global …

Assessing The Temporal Dynamics Of The Lower Urinary Tract Microbiota And The Effects Of Lifestyle, Travis Kyle Price

Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections in humans, accounting for $3.5 billion in health care expenditures yearly in the United States alone. Yet, treatments for UTI have seen little innovation over the past decade. As demonstrated in other body sites, such as the vagina and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, acute and infectious diseases often have indirect microbial contributions which serve as intriguing new targets for therapies. The recent discovery of the existence of a resident community of bacteria (i.e., microbiota) in the bladders of both women and men, represents a novel avenue for targeting UTIs. However, …

Long-Term Land Management Practices And Their Effect On Soil Health And Crop Productivity, Thomas Joseph Muratore Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Agricultural intensification reliant on monocrops could change soil health in a way that does not support maximum crop productivity. Twenty-nine-year-old no-till field plots at the University of Kentucky Spindletop research farm showed a significant reduction in corn yields from continuous corn plots compared to those from plots in various types of rotation. The objective of this study was to determine what role soil microbes might play in yield reduction and how management and time effects microbial community structure. Samples were collected from the following treatments: continuous corn (CC), continuous soybean (SS), a 2-year corn/soybean rotation (CCSS), Corn in rotation with …

Improvement Of Dried Distillers’ Grains With Solubles Utilizing Pretreatments And Fungal Fermentation, Burgandy Zschetzsche

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Limited inclusion of distillers’ grains in animal feed is primarily due to low protein and high fiber content. Other elements, such as phytate phosphorus levels in DDGS are still an issue for monogastric animals such as swine, poultry, and fish. Furthermore, unabsorbed phytic acid in manure poses a high risk for environmental pollution, because bacteria can hydrolyze phytic acid into free phosphorus that can result in algal blooms and eutrophication of surface or ground water. The objective of this thesis was to improve the nutritional value of corn dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS). This was done utilizing submerged fungal …

Characterization Of Network Motifs Influencing Mrpc, A Key Coordinator Of Myxococcus Xanthus Multicellular Development, Maeve Mclaughlin

Wayne State University Dissertations

Bacteria were long thought of as simple, unicellular organisms that lived independently of other cells in the environment, but It is now well-known, however, that bacteria are capable of numerous multicellular behaviors and often live in multicellular communities. In bacteria, multicellular behaviors can range from relatively simple cooperation between cells to the formation of specialized microbial tissues. While formation of microbial tissues is relatively simple compared to tissue formation in many higher eukaryotic organisms, many of the same basic principles are conserved in both systems. Identifying and characterizing the basic regulatory mechanisms that control multicellular behaviors in bacteria would provide …

Effects Of 5��-Dihydrotestosterone (Dht) On Mouse Gut Microbiome– A Study Of Sex Differences And Hormonal Effects On Gut Microbiome Composition, Bikesh Shrestha

All Master's Theses

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is a polygenic and multifactorial disease, traditionally attributed to genetic susceptibility and diet. Over the past decade, novel studies have placed a higher significance on the role of gut microbiome in T1D pathogenesis. Furthermore, diabetic mouse models have shown higher incidence of T1D in females compared to males, attributed to the differences in gut microbial community structure. Interestingly, female mouse models elicit male-like protection from T1D when transplanted with the male gut microbiome. In a previous study, we observed that female Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice implanted with slow release 5��-Dihydrotestosterone(DHT) for 90 days showed improved glucose …

The Response Of M0, M1, And M2 Raw246.7 Macrophage Cell Line To Hsv-1 Infection In Vitro, Amani Mohammed Alhazmi

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1) infection occurs through the epithelial cells of the skin or mucous membranes. The beginning of the primary infection is rapid and is characterized by pain in the mouth, salivation, and submandibular lymphadenitis. The infected mucosa produces numerous, small and red lesions known as cold sores, however, many cases are asymptomatic. After the primary infection HSV-1 moves through the nerve to stay in trigeminal ganglia and to cause a recurrent infection from time to time. In the early hours of the HSV-1 infection, the cytokines produced by infected cells are critical in the stimulation of …

The Effects Of Socs1 And Socs3 Peptide Mimetics On Macrophage Phagocytosis Of Malignant Cells, Tahirah M. Madkhali

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Macrophages are essential phagocytic cells involved in both innate and adaptive immune systems and play vital roles in the host defense and inflammation. Macrophages have a remarkably high capacity to clear unnecessary cellular materials in interstitial environment through a process called “phagocytosis”, which is affected by many factors including suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS). SOCSs are a group of intracellular proteins that downregulate the cytokine signals involved in various JAK/STAT pathways through a negative feedback loop. This study focuses on investigating the effects of SOCS1 and SOCS3 on the phagocytic ability of RAW 264.7 macrophages polarized into M2a with IL-4/IL-13 …

Histone Acetylation Increases In Response To Ferulic, Gallic, And Sinapic Acids Acting Synergistically In Vitro To Inhibit Candida Albicans Yeast‐To‐Hyphae Transition, Cristiane R. S. Câmara, Qin-Yin Shi, Matthew Pedersen, Richard Zbasnik, Kenneth Nickerson, Vicki Schlegel

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Novel treatments are needed to prevent candidiasis/candidemia infection due to the emergence of Candida species resistant to current antifungals. Considering the yeast-to‐hyphae switch is a critical factor to Candida albicans virulence, phenols common in plant sources have been reported to demonstrating their ability to prevent dimorphism. Therefore, phenols present in many agricultural waste stress (ferulic (FA) and gallic (GA) acid) were initially screened in isolation for their yeast‐to‐hyphae inhibitory properties at times 3, 6, and 24 hr. Both FA and GA inhibited 50% of hyphae formation inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) but at a concentration of 8.0 ± 0.09 and …

The Microbiomes Of Pancreatic And Duodenum Tissue Overlap And Are Highly Subject Specific But Differ Between Pancreatic Cancer And Non-Cancer Subjects, Erika Del Castillo, Richard Meier, Mei Chung, Devin C. Koestler, Tsute Chen, Bruce J. Paster, Kevin P. Charpentier, Karl T. Kelsey, Jacques Izard, Dominique S. Michaud

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Background: In mice, bacteria from the mouth can translocate to the pancreas and impact pancreatic cancer progression. In humans, oral bacteria associated with periodontal disease have been linked to pancreatic cancer risk. It is not known if DNA bacterial profiles in the pancreas and duodenum are similar within individuals.

Methods: Tissue samples were obtained from 50 subjects with pancreatic cancer or other conditions requiring foregut surgery at the Rhode Island Hospital (RIH), and from thirty-four organs obtained from the National Disease Research Interchange. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on 189 tissue samples (pancreatic duct, duodenum, pancreas), 57 …

A Poxvirus Pseudokinase Represses Viral Dna Replication Via A Pathway Antagonized By Its Paralog Kinase, Annabel T. Olson, Zhigang Wang, Amber B. Rico, Matthew S. Wiebe

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Poxviruses employ sophisticated, but incompletely understood, signaling pathways that engage cellular defense mechanisms and simultaneously ensure viral factors are modulated properly. For example, the vaccinia B1 protein kinase plays a vital role in inactivating the cellular antiviral factor BAF, and likely orchestrates other pathways as well. In this study, we utilized experimental evolution of a B1 deletion virus to perform an unbiased search for suppressor mutations and identify novel pathways involving B1. After several passages of the ΔB1 virus we observed a robust increase in viral titer of the adapted virus. Interestingly, our characterization of the adapted viruses reveals that …

Persistent Viral Reservoirs In Lymphoid Tissues In Siv-Infected Rhesus Macaques Of Chinese-Origin On Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy, Summer Siddiqui, Stefanie Perez, Yong Gao, Lara Doyle-Meyers, Brian T. Foley, Qingsheng Li, Binhua Ling

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Understanding HIV latent reservoirs in tissues is essential for the development of new strategies targeting these sites for eradication. Here, we assessed the size of latent reservoirs and the source of residual viruses in multiple lymphoid tissues of SIV-infected and fully suppressed rhesus macaques of Chinese-origin (cRMs). Eight cRMs were infected with SIVmac251 and treated with tenofovir and emtricitabine daily for 24 weeks initiated 4 weeks post-infection. Four of the eight animals reached sustained full viral suppression with undetectable viremia. The levels of cell-associated SIV DNA varied in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and multiple lymphoid tissues, but with higher …

Relationship Between The Cervical Microbiome, Hiv Status, And Precancerous Lesions, Cameron Klein, Daniela Gonzalez, Kandali Samwel, Crispin Kahesa, Julius Mwaiselage, Nirosh Aluthge, Samodha Fernando, John T. West, Charles Wood, Peter C. Angeletti

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Nearly all cervical cancers are causally associated with human papillomavirus (HPV). The burden of HPV-associated dysplasias in sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by HIV. To investigate the role of the bacterial microbiome in cervical dysplasia, cytobrush samples were collected directly from cervical lesions of 144 Tanzanian women. The V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified and deep sequenced. Alpha diversity metrics (Chao1, PD whole tree, and operational taxonomic unit [OTU] estimates) displayed significantly higher bacterial richness in HIV-positive patients (P = 0.01) than in HIV-negative patients. In HIV-positive patients, there was higher bacterial richness in patients with …

Near-Atomic Structure Of A Giant Virus, Qianglin Fang, Dongjie Zhu, Irina Agarkova, Jagat Adhikari, Thomas Klose, Yue Liu, Zhenguo Chen, Yingyuan Sun, Michael L. Gross, James L. Van Etten, Xinzheng Zhang, Michael G. Rossmann

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Although the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) are one of the largest group of viruses that infect many eukaryotic hosts, the near-atomic resolution structures of these viruses have remained unknown. Here we describe a 3.5 Å resolution icosahedrally averaged capsid structure of Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 (PBCV-1). This structure consists of 5040 copies of the major capsid protein, 60 copies of the penton protein and 1800 minor capsid proteins of which there are 13 different types. The minor capsid proteins form a hexagonal network below the outer capsid shell, stabilizing the capsid by binding neighboring capsomers together. The size …

A Single-Cycle Adenovirus Type 7 Vaccine For Prevention Of Acute Respiratory Disease, Brianna L. Bullard, Brigette N. Corder, Eric A. Weaver

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Adenovirus type 7 (Ad7) infection is associated with acute respiratory disease (ARD), especially in military recruits living in close quarters. Recently, several outbreaks of Ad7 infections have occurred in civilian populations, with some cases leading to death. However, the current Ad7 vaccine is licensed for use only in military recruits because it utilizes an orally delivered wild type virus which is shed in the stool for 28 days after immunization. This poses a safety risk due to the possibility of virus spread to vulnerable populations. To address the need for a safer Ad7 vaccine for use in civilian populations, we …

A Double Humanized Blt-Mice Model Featuring A Stable Human-Like Gut Microbiome And Human Immune System, Lance Daharsh, Jianshui Zhang, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Qingsheng Li

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Humanized mice (hu-mice) that feature a functional human immune system have fundamentally changed the study of human pathogens and disease. They can be used to model diseases that are otherwise difficult or impossible to study in humans or other animal models. The gut microbiome can have a profound impact on human health and disease. However, the murine gut microbiome is very different than the one found in humans. There is a need for improved pre-clinical hu-mice models that have an engrafted human gut microbiome. Therefore, we created double hu-mice that feature both a human immune system and stable human-like gut …

The Vaccinia Virus (Vacv) B1 And Cellular Vrk2 Kinases Promote Vacv Replication Factory Formation Through Phosphorylation-Dependent Inhibition Of Vacv B12, Annabel T. Olson, Zhigang Wang, Annabel Olson, Alexandria C. Linville, Brianna L. Bullard, Eric A. Weaver, Clinton Jones, Matthew S. Wiebe

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Comparative examination of viral and host protein homologs reveals novel mechanisms governing downstream signaling effectors of both cellular and vi- ral origin. The vaccinia virus B1 protein kinase is involved in promoting multiple facets of the virus life cycle and is a homolog of three conserved cellular enzymes called vaccinia virus-related kinases (VRKs). Recent evidence indicates that B1 and VRK2 mediate a com- mon pathway that is largely uncharacterized but appears independent of previous VRK substrates. Interestingly, separate studies described a novel role for B1 in inhibiting vac- cinia virus protein B12, which otherwise impedes an early event in the …