The Cooper Library Book Stack Art Installation Project

A compilation of the projects, concepts, and locations

Diet among Siberian Yup'iks of Alaska and the implications for cardiovascular disease

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1996I investigated dietary factors associated with cardiovascular disease and their relation to blood lipids among Siberian Yup'iks. This study was prompted by reports of increasing mortality from cardiovascular disease in Alaska Natives and the need to know to what extent their unique diet may influence cardiovascular disease. Information on dietary intakes was collected in 1992 using two recall methods, from over one-half of the Siberian Yup'ik Eskimos (n = 65) $\geq$40 years-of-age in Gambell, Alaska, as part of a comprehensive screening for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Based on analysis of 29 nutrients, mean daily intakes of monounsaturated fats and antioxidants--vitamin E, selenium, and vitamin C (among men)--exceeded US recommendations. Mean intake of n-3 fatty acids (7.0 g/d) exceeded the level associated with favorable physiologic responses (>3 g/d) and was comparable to that of Greenlandic Eskimos (8.6 g/d). Although fat intake was high (44% of total energy for men, 42% for women), saturated (11%) and polyunsaturated fats (8%) were not different $(P>$ 0.05), but energy from monounsaturated fat was greater (18% vs. 13%, $P50$\alpha$-tocopherol and n-6 fatty acids (r = 0.888). When multiple regression was applied among all participants,$\alpha$-tocopherol and fresh bird were associated with reduced LDL-HDL ratio; body-mass index, pizza and syrup were positively associated. Adding obesity to this equation increased the percent of variation explained (42% to 59%). Dietary advice includes maintaining desirable weight, consuming a diet moderate in fat, rich in monounsaturated fats and low in saturated fats, and foods rich in n-3 fatty acids--e.g. Native foods--and vitamin E

The Relative Effectiveness of Parental Positive Reinforcement and Punishment in Reducing Oppositional Behavior in Children and in Increasing the Frequency of Parent-Child Interaction

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of the reinforcement and punishment techniques in the natural environment, and the effect of their use upon the social interaction between parent and child. It was hypothesized that punishment would be more effective than reward in controlling oppositional behavior, but that reinforcement would be more effective in increasing child-initiated interaction with the parents

Distinct Functional Roles of beta-Tubulin Isotypes inMicrotubule Arrays of Tetrahymena thermophila, aModel Single-Celled Organism

Background The multi-tubulin hypothesis proposes that each tubulin isotype performs a unique role, or subset of roles, in the universe of microtubule function(s). To test this hypothesis, we are investigating the functions of the recently discovered, noncanonical β-like tubulins (BLTs) of the ciliate, Tetrahymena thermophila. Tetrahymena forms 17 distinct microtubular structures whose assembly had been thought to be based on single α- and β-isotypes. However, completion of the macronuclear genome sequence of Tetrahymena demonstrated that this ciliate possessed a β-tubulin multigene family: two synonymous genes (BTU1 and BTU2) encode the canonical β-tubulin, BTU2, and six genes (BLT1-6) yield five divergent β-tubulin isotypes. In this report, we examine the structural features and functions of two of the BLTs (BLT1 and BLT4) and compare them to those of BTU2. Methodology/Principal Findings With respect to BTU2, BLT1 and BLT4 had multiple sequence substitutions in their GTP-binding sites, in their interaction surfaces, and in their microtubule-targeting motifs, which together suggest that they have specialized functions. To assess the roles of these tubulins in vivo, we transformed Tetrahymena with expression vectors that direct the synthesis of GFP-tagged versions of the isotypes. We show that GFP-BLT1 and GFP-BLT4 were not detectable in somatic cilia and basal bodies, whereas GFP-BTU2 strongly labeled these structures. During cell division, GFP-BLT1 and GFP-BLT4, but not GFP-BTU2, were incorporated into the microtubule arrays of the macronucleus and into the mitotic apparatus of the micronucleus. GFP-BLT1 also participated in formation of the microtubules of the meiotic apparatus of the micronucleus during conjugation. Partitioning of the isotypes between nuclear and ciliary microtubules was confirmed biochemically. Conclusion/Significance We conclude that Tetrahymena uses a family of distinct β-tubulin isotypes to construct subsets of functionally different microtubules, a result that provides strong support for the multi-tubulin hypothesis

Sub-Antarctic and High Antarctic Notothenioid Fishes: Ecology and Adaptational Biology Revealed by the ICEFISH 2004 Cruise of RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer

The goal of the ICEFISH 2004 cruise, which was conducted on board RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and traversed the transitional zones linking the South Atlantic to the Southern Ocean, was to compare the evolution, ecology, adaptational biology, community structure, and population dynamics of Antarctic notothenioid fishes relative to the cool/temperate notothenioids of the sub-Antarctic. To place this work in a comprehensive ecological context, cruise participants surveyed the benthos and geology of the biogeographic provinces and island shelves on either side of the Antarctic Polar Front (or Antarctic Convergence). Genome-enabled comparison of the responses of cold-living and temperate notothenioids to heat stress confirmed the sensitivity of the former to a warming Southern Ocean. Successful implementation of the international and interdisciplinary ICEFISH research cruise provides a model for future exploration of the sub-Antarctic sectors of the Indian and Pacific Oceans

Assisted protein folding at low temperature: evolutionaryadaptation of the Antarctic fish chaperonin CCT and its clientproteins

Eukaryotic ectotherms of the Southern Ocean face energetic challenges to protein folding assisted by the cytosolic chaperonin CCT. We hypothesize that CCT and its client proteins (CPs) have co-evolved molecular adaptations that facilitate CCT–CP interaction and the ATP-driven folding cycle at low temperature. To test this hypothesis, we compared the functional and structural properties of CCT–CP systems from testis tissues of an Antarctic fish, Gobionotothen gibberifrons (Lo¨nnberg) (habitat/body T=-1.9 to +2˚C), and of the cow (body T=37˚C). We examined the temperature dependence of the binding of denatured CPs (bactin, b-tubulin) by fish and bovine CCTs, both in homologous and heterologous combinations and at temperatures between 24˚C and 20˚C, in a buffer conducive to binding of the denatured CP to the open conformation of CCT. In homologous combination, the percentage of G. gibberifrons CCT bound to CP declined linearly with increasing temperature, whereas the converse was true for bovine CCT. Binding of CCT to heterologous CPs was low, irrespective of temperature. When reactions were supplemented with ATP, G. gibberifrons CCT catalyzed the folding and release of actin at 2˚C. The ATPase activity of apo-CCT from G. gibberifrons at 4˚C was, 2.5-fold greater than that of apo-bovine CCT, whereas equivalent activities were observed at 20˚C. Based on these results, we conclude that the catalytic folding cycle of CCT from Antarctic fishes is partially compensated at their habitat temperature, probably by means of enhanced CP-binding affinity and increased flexibility of the CCT subunits

Adaptation of Proteins to the Cold in Antarctic Fish: A Role for Methionine?

The evolution of antifreeze glycoproteins has enabled notothenioid fish to flourish in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean. Whereas successful at the biodiversity level to life in the cold, paradoxically at the cellular level these stenothermal animals have problems producing, folding, and degrading proteins at their ambient temperatures of -1.86 °C. In this first multi-species transcriptome comparison of the amino acid composition of notothenioid proteins with temperate teleost proteins, we show that, unlike psychrophilic bacteria, Antarctic fish provide little evidence for the mass alteration of protein amino acid composition to enhance protein folding and reduce protein denaturation in the cold. The exception was the significant overrepresentation of positions where leucine in temperate fish proteins was replaced by methionine in the notothenioid orthologues. We hypothesize that these extra methionines have been preferentially assimilated into the genome to act as redox sensors in the highly oxygenated waters of the Southern Ocean. This redox hypothesis is supported by analyses of notothenioids showing enrichment of genes associated with responses to environmental stress, particularly reactive oxygen species. So overall, although notothenioid fish show cold-associated problems with protein homeostasis, they may have modified only a selected number of biochemical pathways to work efficiently below 0 °C. Even a slight warming of the Southern Ocean might disrupt the critical functions of this handful of key pathways with considerable impacts for the functioning of this ecosystem in the future