Antagonistic Interactions Between Aquatic Turtles and Territorial Sunfish

When sunfish (Lepomis spp.) breed, parents defend nest sites and are highly aggressive and territorial against conspecifics and other fish and invertebrate species. However, little is known of their possible effects on sympatric turtle species. In this study I examined the relationship between the musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus), painted turtle (Chrysemys picta), pumpkinseed sunfish (.Lepomis gibbosus), and bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) within Lake Wapalanne, Sandyston, New Jersey. My hypotheses were: presence of musk and painted turtle individuals would diminish within the sunfish nest habitats during the breeding period and would revert back to normal numbers of captures post-sunfish breeding; musk and painted turtles would stay farther away from sunfish nests during the sunfish breeding season; turtles would actively avoid the sunfish nests due to possible negative physical interactions and, if the turtles did enter the nests, the sunfish would defend the nests differently towards each species of turtle due to dissimilar behaviors of musk and painted turtles. To test these hypotheses, I first compared the habitat selection for the sunfish breeding grounds and for the turtles, the relationship between turtle and sunfish nest densities, and the distance of musk and painted turtles to the sunfish nests before, during, and after the sunfish breeding season. All sunfish nests and turtle capture locations were recorded using GPS, and locations were used to make distribution maps and to measure distances of turtles from sunfish nests. Second, I introduced musk and painted turtles into sunfish nest areas and recorded turtle and fish behaviors. My first hypothesis was not supported; there was no significant relationship between turtle densities and sunfish nest densities. Also, painted and musk turtles did not have a higher probability of staying farther away from bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish nests during the sunfish breeding period. These results could be due to painted and musk turtle breeding behaviors, musk turtle site fidelity, or niche partitioning and passive behavior between the turtles and sunfish. My second hypothesis was also not supported; both turtle species did not avoid the pumpkinseed nests and both turtle species entered a pumpkinseed nest regardless of external variables. However, pumpkinseed sunfish acted differently toward musk and painted turtles once the turtles entered the sunfish nest. The pumpkinseed sunfish had a higher probability of physically encountering and attacking musk than painted turtles. However, no variables could be found to explain these findings and instead it is hypothesized pumpkinseed sunfish could be defending against any predator that spends a long period of time in the nest or attacks a peripheral nest

Not Quite The Ingenue: The Development Of The Middle-aged Female Character In Musical Theatre

Not Quite the Ingenue: The Development of the Middle-Aged Female Character in Musical Theatre is an exploration of the influences which have defined the function of middle-aged female characters within the musical theatre genre. This author was cast in the role of Arlene MacNalley, a forty-three year old woman, in the University of Central Florida\u27s fall 2006 production of the musical Baby. Preparation for performance of this thesis role required identification of the traits and factors which would be vital for a realistic and relevant portrayal of Arlene. This document provides the reader with a working definition of middle age. It also furnishes a sampling of types, or stereotypes, of middle age female characters in musicals. The major thrust of the document emphasizes researching and understanding the importance of key socio-economic events\u27 influence on the creation, direction, or depiction of middle-aged female characters. Three distinct characters are used to develop this theory, Aunt Eller in Oklahoma!, Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! and Arlene MacNalley in Baby. Further analysis within the thesis details essential differences between the original version of Arlene and the updated 2006 version of Arlene portrayed in the University of Central Florida\u27s production of Baby. Conclusions drawn from the research, performance and writing processes indicate an increasing significance for the middle age female character as the genre of musical theatre continues to develop

The CRIT framework for identifying cross patterns in systems biology and application to chemogenomics

Biological data is often tabular but finding statistically valid connections between entities in a sequence of tables can be problematic - for example, connecting particular entities in a drug property table to gene properties in a second table, using a third table associating genes with drugs. Here we present an approach (CRIT) to find connections such as these and show how it can be applied in a variety of genomic contexts including chemogenomics data

Genetic Diversity of CD14 Promoter Gene Polymorphism (rs2569190) is Associated With Regulation of Malaria Parasitemia and Susceptibility to Plasmodium falciparum Infection.

CD14 is a multifunctional receptor expressed on many cell types and has been shown to mediate immune response resulting in the activation of an inflammatory cascade, with polymorphism of its promoter (rs2569190) found to be associated with susceptibility to several diseases. In malaria infection, the CD14 gene demonstrated a pathogenic profile in regulating experimental cerebral malaria, with reports of elevated levels of soluble CD14 in serum of patients but no definitive conclusion. We present a detailed analysis of genetic diversity of CD14 promoter gene (snp −159 C/T; rs2519190) polymorphism between a malaria-infected group and uninfected controls and its association with clinical parameters of disease. Genomic DNA samples obtained from 106 Plasmodium falciparum malaria–infected patients and 277 uninfected controls were elucidated with a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay. Our results show a significant diversity (P=3.32E−06) in the genotypic frequency (3.8% versus 22.4%) of the rs2569190 mutant variant between the malaria-infected group and controls, respectively. The mutant allele had the lowest frequency among the malaria-infected group demonstrating its necessity for infection. Mean parasitemia (parasites/μL of blood) was significantly regulated based on CD14 polymorphic profile (19 855 versus 37 041 versus 49 396 for homozygote mutants, heterozygotes, and homozygote wild type, respectively). Interestingly, we found no association between CD14 genetic variants with fever, age of patients, or anemia. How this affects disease severity between subregional and continental groups deserves further clarification, including extending these studies in a larger group and among severe and asymptomatic patients with malaria

RSEQtools: a modular framework to analyze RNA-Seq data using compact, anonymized data summaries

Summary: The advent of next-generation sequencing for functional genomics has given rise to quantities of sequence information that are often so large that they are difficult to handle. Moreover, sequence reads from a specific individual can contain sufficient information to potentially identify and genetically characterize that person, raising privacy concerns. In order to address these issues, we have developed the Mapped Read Format (MRF), a compact data summary format for both short and long read alignments that enables the anonymization of confidential sequence information, while allowing one to still carry out many functional genomics studies. We have developed a suite of tools (RSEQtools) that use this format for the analysis of RNA-Seq experiments. These tools consist of a set of modules that perform common tasks such as calculating gene expression values, generating signal tracks of mapped reads and segmenting that signal into actively transcribed regions. Moreover, the tools can readily be used to build customizable RNA-Seq workflows. In addition to the anonymization afforded by MRF, this format also facilitates the decoupling of the alignment of reads from downstream analyses

Metabolic control analysis is helpful for informed genetic manipulation of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) to increase seed oil content

Top–down control analysis (TDCA) is a useful tool for quantifying constraints on metabolic pathways that might be overcome by biotechnological approaches. Previous studies on lipid accumulation in oilseed rape have suggested that diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), which catalyses the final step in seed oil biosynthesis, might be an effective target for enhancing seed oil content. Here, increased seed oil content, increased DGAT activity, and reduced substrate:product ratio are demonstrated, as well as reduced flux control by complex lipid assembly, as determined by TDCA in Brassica napus (canola) lines which overexpress the gene encoding type-1 DGAT. Lines overexpressing DGAT1 also exhibited considerably enhanced seed oil content under drought conditions. These results support the use of TDCA in guiding the rational selection of molecular targets for oilseed modification. The most effective lines had a seed oil increase of 14%. Moreover, overexpression of DGAT1 under drought conditions reduced this environmental penalty on seed oil content

Motivation-focused thinking: Buffering against stress-related physical symptoms and depressive symptomology

Developmental transitions are experienced throughout the life course and necessitate adapting to consequential and unpredictable changes that can undermine health. Our six-month study (n = 239) explored whether selective secondary control striving (motivation-focused thinking) protects against the elevated levels of stress and depressive symptoms increasingly common to young adults navigating the challenging school-to-university transition. Path analyses supplemented with tests of moderated mediation revealed that, for young adults who face challenging obstacles to goal attainment, selective sec-ondary control indirectly reduced long-term stress-related physical and depres-sive symptoms through selective primary control and previously unexamined measures of discrete emotions. Results advance the existing literature by demonstrating that (a) selective secondary control has health benefits for vul-nerable young adults and (b) these benefits are largely a consequence of the process variables proposed in Heckhausen et al.’s (2010) theory

Diverse Roles and Interactions of the SWI/SNF Chromatin Remodeling Complex Revealed Using Global Approaches

A systems understanding of nuclear organization and events is critical for determining how cells divide, differentiate, and respond to stimuli and for identifying the causes of diseases. Chromatin remodeling complexes such as SWI/SNF have been implicated in a wide variety of cellular processes including gene expression, nuclear organization, centromere function, and chromosomal stability, and mutations in SWI/SNF components have been linked to several types of cancer. To better understand the biological processes in which chromatin remodeling proteins participate, we globally mapped binding regions for several components of the SWI/SNF complex throughout the human genome using ChIP-Seq. SWI/SNF components were found to lie near regulatory elements integral to transcription (e.g. 5′ ends, RNA Polymerases II and III, and enhancers) as well as regions critical for chromosome organization (e.g. CTCF, lamins, and DNA replication origins). Interestingly we also find that certain configurations of SWI/SNF subunits are associated with transcripts that have higher levels of expression, whereas other configurations of SWI/SNF factors are associated with transcripts that have lower levels of expression. To further elucidate the association of SWI/SNF subunits with each other as well as with other nuclear proteins, we also analyzed SWI/SNF immunoprecipitated complexes by mass spectrometry. Individual SWI/SNF factors are associated with their own family members, as well as with cellular constituents such as nuclear matrix proteins, key transcription factors, and centromere components, implying a ubiquitous role in gene regulation and nuclear function. We find an overrepresentation of both SWI/SNF-associated regions and proteins in cell cycle and chromosome organization. Taken together the results from our ChIP and immunoprecipitation experiments suggest that SWI/SNF facilitates gene regulation and genome function more broadly and through a greater diversity of interactions than previously appreciated