Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.973
Ethan Bevan, Jason Rafe Miller
Deep learning models have a wide number of applications including generating realistic-looking images. These models typically require lots of data, but we wanted to explore how much quality is sacrificed by using smaller amounts of data. We built several models and trained them at different dataset sizes, then we assessed the quality of the generated images with the widely used FID measure. As expected, we measured an inverse correlation of -0.7 between image quality and training set size. However, we observed that the small-training-set results had problems not detectable by this experiment. We therefore present an experimental design for a follow-up study that would further explore the lower limits of training set size. These experiments are important for bringing us closer to understanding how much data is needed to train a successful generative model.
{"title":"Facial Image Generation with Limited Training Data","authors":"Ethan Bevan, Jason Rafe Miller","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.973","url":null,"abstract":"Deep learning models have a wide number of applications including generating realistic-looking images. These models typically require lots of data, but we wanted to explore how much quality is sacrificed by using smaller amounts of data. We built several models and trained them at different dataset sizes, then we assessed the quality of the generated images with the widely used FID measure. As expected, we measured an inverse correlation of -0.7 between image quality and training set size. However, we observed that the small-training-set results had problems not detectable by this experiment. We therefore present an experimental design for a follow-up study that would further explore the lower limits of training set size. These experiments are important for bringing us closer to understanding how much data is needed to train a successful generative model.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84312685","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.1000
Chandler Russell, D. Parnell, J. Orell, J. Walters
Heart disease and diabetes are both in the top ten for leading causes of death in the United States with both being linked to obesity. Studying human metabolism can prove difficult due to ethical concerns with human subjects but zebrafish larvae (Danio rerio) are optically transparent. Zebrafish larvae at seven days post fertilization also have fully formed digestive tracts and are actively seeking new food due to exhausting their supply of egg yolk. Free feeding environments are typically the standard when introducing new food to the larvae but lack versatility in their imaging. The Walters lab microfluidic chip can image larvae before, during, and after their introduction to the diet. To prove the two types of feeding environments were compared by using fluorescent digestive markers mixed into high fat diets. The free fed larvae were put into a well filled with diet and allowed to feed for three hours while sat on a orbital shaker inside of a 28 degrees Celsius incubator. After three hours, these larvae were rinsed out and imaged. The microfluidic chip larvae were mounted into the chip and fed the diet while inside and under the same Zeiss Discovery V8 microscope the freely fed larvae were imaged under. Future predictions for this data were that the larvae would consume slightly less diet inside of the microfluidic chip than the larvae in free feed. Results for this are still ongoing but seem to lead towards supporting the hypothesis.
{"title":"Comparing dietary intake of free-feeding to feeding in restrained imaging chamber environments using seven days post fertilization larvae.","authors":"Chandler Russell, D. Parnell, J. Orell, J. Walters","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.1000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.1000","url":null,"abstract":"Heart disease and diabetes are both in the top ten for leading causes of death in the United States with both being linked to obesity. Studying human metabolism can prove difficult due to ethical concerns with human subjects but zebrafish larvae (Danio rerio) are optically transparent. Zebrafish larvae at seven days post fertilization also have fully formed digestive tracts and are actively seeking new food due to exhausting their supply of egg yolk. Free feeding environments are typically the standard when introducing new food to the larvae but lack versatility in their imaging. The Walters lab microfluidic chip can image larvae before, during, and after their introduction to the diet. To prove the two types of feeding environments were compared by using fluorescent digestive markers mixed into high fat diets. The free fed larvae were put into a well filled with diet and allowed to feed for three hours while sat on a orbital shaker inside of a 28 degrees Celsius incubator. After three hours, these larvae were rinsed out and imaged. The microfluidic chip larvae were mounted into the chip and fed the diet while inside and under the same Zeiss Discovery V8 microscope the freely fed larvae were imaged under. Future predictions for this data were that the larvae would consume slightly less diet inside of the microfluidic chip than the larvae in free feed. Results for this are still ongoing but seem to lead towards supporting the hypothesis.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72985555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.982
Daniel Baker
It is well known that stress has a significant impact on public health and more evidence shows that stressors generally are greater in populations of lower socioeconomic status. Cold-induced stress inhibits immune cell activity and has been shown to cause different expressions of cytokine profiles during Chlamydia muridarum genital infection. Dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages(MØ) are immune cells that express beta2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) and with key roles during chlamydia genital infection. This study is aimed to investigate the role of β2-AR by using a β2-AR knockout mouse. Wildtype (WT) and β2-AR knockout(KO) mice were stressed for five minutes daily and infected with C. muridarum intravaginally. Non-stressed infected mice of the groups were used as controls. Bone-marrow-derived DCs and MØ were tested isolated, counted differentiated, and proliferated for cytokine production. The proliferation of DCs and macrophages in the presence/absence of β2-AR agonists and antagonists was tested. Data show that non-stressed mice had a higher production of cytokines than stressed mice. Increased production of TNF-α in LPS-treated DCs and MØ of WT and β2-AR KO was observed. The effect of fenoterol and ICI118,55 antagonist showed no significant difference in cytokine production. The data indicate that β2-AR KO and WT had a similar pattern of cytokine production suggesting that deficiency in β2-AR restores the function of immune cells during genital infection. Experiments are undergoing to fully understand the mechanisms involved in modulating the function of DC and MØ during chlamydia genital infection.
{"title":"Roles of dendritic cells and macrophages during Chlamydia muridarum genital infection in stressed mice","authors":"Daniel Baker","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.982","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.982","url":null,"abstract":"It is well known that stress has a significant impact on public health and more evidence shows that stressors generally are greater in populations of lower socioeconomic status. Cold-induced stress inhibits immune cell activity and has been shown to cause different expressions of cytokine profiles during Chlamydia muridarum genital infection. Dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages(MØ) are immune cells that express beta2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) and with key roles during chlamydia genital infection. This study is aimed to investigate the role of β2-AR by using a β2-AR knockout mouse. Wildtype (WT) and β2-AR knockout(KO) mice were stressed for five minutes daily and infected with C. muridarum intravaginally. Non-stressed infected mice of the groups were used as controls. Bone-marrow-derived DCs and MØ were tested isolated, counted differentiated, and proliferated for cytokine production. The proliferation of DCs and macrophages in the presence/absence of β2-AR agonists and antagonists was tested. Data show that non-stressed mice had a higher production of cytokines than stressed mice. Increased production of TNF-α in LPS-treated DCs and MØ of WT and β2-AR KO was observed. The effect of fenoterol and ICI118,55 antagonist showed no significant difference in cytokine production. The data indicate that β2-AR KO and WT had a similar pattern of cytokine production suggesting that deficiency in β2-AR restores the function of immune cells during genital infection. Experiments are undergoing to fully understand the mechanisms involved in modulating the function of DC and MØ during chlamydia genital infection.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89676654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.967
J. Gibson
Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) has developed resistance to all antibiotics previously and currently recommended for treatment of gonorrhea, underscoring the need for novel antimicrobials against this pathogen. Resazomycins are highly effective antimicrobials against Ng in vitro. However, when these compounds were tested in a mouse model of gonorrhea, only one resazomycin, resorufin pentyl ether (RPE), exhibited any therapeutic effect. One reason for this difference between in vitro and in vivo therapeutic efficacy is increased resistance to resazomycins at low levels of oxygen (2%). We hypothesized this difference in susceptibility was due to altered activity of multi-drug efflux pumps. To test this, we screened a selection of Ngmutants that do not express or overexpress either the MtrCDE or NorM efflux pumps for Rz susceptibility. Overexpression of MtrCDE resulted in increased resistance to Rz at both 2% and ~20% oxygen suggesting resazurin may be a substrate of this efflux pump. Loss of expression of either MtrCDE or NorM had no effect on the increased resistance of Ng to resazurin at low oxygen. We next sought to determine whether the increased susceptibility of Rz at 20% oxygen is due to oxidative stress. To test this, we measured the susceptibility of Ng to Rz in the presence and absence of the antioxidants, cysteine HCl and glutathione, at 20% oxygen. In the presence of cysteine HCl or glutathione, multiple Ng strains had a higher Rz MIC at 20% oxygen. Here, we have shown oxygen concentration affects Ngsusceptibility to Rz due to increased oxidative stress.
{"title":"Hypoxia increases Neisseria gonorrhoeae resistance to resazomycins: Role of Efflux Pumps and Oxidative Stress","authors":"J. Gibson","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.967","url":null,"abstract":"Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ng) has developed resistance to all antibiotics previously and currently recommended for treatment of gonorrhea, underscoring the need for novel antimicrobials against this pathogen. Resazomycins are highly effective antimicrobials against Ng in vitro. However, when these compounds were tested in a mouse model of gonorrhea, only one resazomycin, resorufin pentyl ether (RPE), exhibited any therapeutic effect. One reason for this difference between in vitro and in vivo therapeutic efficacy is increased resistance to resazomycins at low levels of oxygen (2%). We hypothesized this difference in susceptibility was due to altered activity of multi-drug efflux pumps. To test this, we screened a selection of Ngmutants that do not express or overexpress either the MtrCDE or NorM efflux pumps for Rz susceptibility. Overexpression of MtrCDE resulted in increased resistance to Rz at both 2% and ~20% oxygen suggesting resazurin may be a substrate of this efflux pump. Loss of expression of either MtrCDE or NorM had no effect on the increased resistance of Ng to resazurin at low oxygen. We next sought to determine whether the increased susceptibility of Rz at 20% oxygen is due to oxidative stress. To test this, we measured the susceptibility of Ng to Rz in the presence and absence of the antioxidants, cysteine HCl and glutathione, at 20% oxygen. In the presence of cysteine HCl or glutathione, multiple Ng strains had a higher Rz MIC at 20% oxygen. Here, we have shown oxygen concentration affects Ngsusceptibility to Rz due to increased oxidative stress.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82755770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.972
Madelyn K. Logan, S. Cantlay, Joseph Horzempa
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, it is important that the scientific community continues to advance our understanding of antibiotics and grow our medicinal arsenal of treatments. The potential exists for many novel compounds to be discovered from fungal extracts that can save lives, following suit of the one of the earliest characterized antibiotics, penicillin. These fungal-derived compounds can be used as new therapeutics to treat infections that have developed resistance to current antibiotics. A variety of types of fungi can produce secondary metabolites that are useful for medical purposes, so it is worthwhile to screen a wide range of environmental isolates. Dozens of environmental fungi were isolated from West Liberty soil, water, and dust. Seven different species were able to kill or inhibit Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on a Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) plate. Sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene was used to identify three isolated fungi. Ongoing investigations seek to extract and purify their antibiotic secondary metabolites.
{"title":"The Identification of Fungal Isolates Capable of Inhibiting Growth of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus","authors":"Madelyn K. Logan, S. Cantlay, Joseph Horzempa","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.972","url":null,"abstract":"With antibiotic resistance on the rise, it is important that the scientific community continues to advance our understanding of antibiotics and grow our medicinal arsenal of treatments. The potential exists for many novel compounds to be discovered from fungal extracts that can save lives, following suit of the one of the earliest characterized antibiotics, penicillin. These fungal-derived compounds can be used as new therapeutics to treat infections that have developed resistance to current antibiotics. A variety of types of fungi can produce secondary metabolites that are useful for medical purposes, so it is worthwhile to screen a wide range of environmental isolates. Dozens of environmental fungi were isolated from West Liberty soil, water, and dust. Seven different species were able to kill or inhibit Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on a Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) plate. Sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene was used to identify three isolated fungi. Ongoing investigations seek to extract and purify their antibiotic secondary metabolites.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74460949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.1008
Kenan Hatipoglu, Yogendra Panta, Cao Thang Bui, Tamara Floyd-Smith, Joan Neff
The SUCCESS project’s main goal is to recruit, retain, and graduate low-income STEM students at WVU Tech and this abstract contains updates for Year 2. The recruitment activities started in early 2021 and continued during the summer of 2021 to form Cohort 1 and during the summer of 2022 to form Cohort 2. Currently, there are 19 scholars/students in the program. 12 new students (10 Computer Science (CS) and 2 Information Systems (IS) majors) were accepted in Fall 2022 and these 12 students are forming Cohort 2. 6 students were accepted into Electrical Engineering (EE) (4), Computer Engineering (CpE) (1), and CS (1) programs in Fall 2021. 2 EE and 1 CS students entered the program in Spring 2022. Two students (both EEs) stopped out of school for mainly their personal issues. These 7 students are forming Cohort 1. So far, scholars have completed at least one entrepreneurship course, attended career fairs, met with industry mentors, and attended senior design presentation events. Some of the scholars work with faculty on research projects. Students are actively engaging with the IEEE/ACM student branches and some of the scholars took leadership positions in these organizations. The SUCCESS team is regularly collecting and analyzing feedback from scholars to ensure that the necessary improvements are implemented. Every semester, scholars’ feedback is collected through pre-, mid-, and post-surveys. These surveys provide insights into scholars’ course/program performance, career updates, and also the level of persistence toward their program of study and entrepreneurship minor.
This project is funded by NSF DUE S-STEM Program from 2021-2026.
SUCCESS项目的主要目标是在西弗吉尼亚理工大学招募、留住和毕业低收入STEM学生，本摘要包含第二年的更新。招募活动于2021年初开始，并在2021年夏季继续形成第1组，并在2022年夏季形成第2组。目前，该项目共有19名学者/学生。2022年秋季招收了12名新生(10名计算机科学(CS)专业和2名信息系统(IS)专业)，这12名学生组成了第二批。2021年秋季，6名学生被电气工程(EE)(4)、计算机工程(CpE)(1)和计算机科学(1)专业录取。2名EE和1名CS学生于2022年春季进入该项目。两名学生(都是ee)主要因为个人问题而辍学。这7个学生组成了第一组。到目前为止，学者们已经完成了至少一门创业课程，参加了招聘会，会见了行业导师，并参加了高级设计演讲活动。一些学者与教师合作进行研究项目。学生们积极参与IEEE/ACM学生分支机构，一些学者在这些组织中担任领导职务。SUCCESS团队定期收集和分析来自学者的反馈，以确保实施必要的改进。每学期通过课前、中、后调查收集学者反馈。这些调查提供了对学者的课程/项目表现、职业更新以及对他们的学习项目和创业辅修项目的坚持程度的见解。
本项目由NSF DUE S-STEM项目资助，资助期限为2021-2026年。
{"title":"NSF S-STEM Program - Supporting Undergraduate Cohorts of Career-Ready Engineering and Science Scholars (SUCCESS) Project at WVU Tech – Year 2 updates","authors":"Kenan Hatipoglu, Yogendra Panta, Cao Thang Bui, Tamara Floyd-Smith, Joan Neff","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.1008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.1008","url":null,"abstract":"The SUCCESS project’s main goal is to recruit, retain, and graduate low-income STEM students at WVU Tech and this abstract contains updates for Year 2. The recruitment activities started in early 2021 and continued during the summer of 2021 to form Cohort 1 and during the summer of 2022 to form Cohort 2. Currently, there are 19 scholars/students in the program. 12 new students (10 Computer Science (CS) and 2 Information Systems (IS) majors) were accepted in Fall 2022 and these 12 students are forming Cohort 2. 6 students were accepted into Electrical Engineering (EE) (4), Computer Engineering (CpE) (1), and CS (1) programs in Fall 2021. 2 EE and 1 CS students entered the program in Spring 2022. Two students (both EEs) stopped out of school for mainly their personal issues. These 7 students are forming Cohort 1. So far, scholars have completed at least one entrepreneurship course, attended career fairs, met with industry mentors, and attended senior design presentation events. Some of the scholars work with faculty on research projects. Students are actively engaging with the IEEE/ACM student branches and some of the scholars took leadership positions in these organizations. The SUCCESS team is regularly collecting and analyzing feedback from scholars to ensure that the necessary improvements are implemented. Every semester, scholars’ feedback is collected through pre-, mid-, and post-surveys. These surveys provide insights into scholars’ course/program performance, career updates, and also the level of persistence toward their program of study and entrepreneurship minor.
 This project is funded by NSF DUE S-STEM Program from 2021-2026.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135972605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.977
Elio Delatore III, Joseph Horzempa, Zachary T Clark, Megan A Ayala
Francisella tularensis, a highly infectious bacterium, is the causative agent of Tularemia (rabbit fever). Categorized by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as a Category A bioterrorism agent, Francisella tularensis is of the highest level of concern. Previously, we identified that dillapiole, a compound extracted from fennel, dampens F. tularensis virulence gene expression. While having no apparent effect on the viability of F. tularensis, treatment with this compound leads to reduced bacterial viability during in vitro infection of THP-1 monocytes and RAW 264.7 macrophages. In this study, we sought to determine if dillapiole exhibited a therapeutic effect in vivo, and to characterize the toxicity and pharmacology of this compound. In a murine tularemia model, female mice treated with dillapiole trended toward increased survival compared to those treated with the vehicle. However, dillapiole- or vehicle-treated male mice showed increased mortality compared to the females, suggesting gender-specific differences in the murine immune response to F. tularensis. Dillapiole was not toxic to HEK-293 cells in vitro, nor was this compound toxic to primary human hepatocytes when tested up to a concentration of 11 mg/ml (50 mM). Dillapiole was shown to be relatively stable in human, rat, and mouse plasma with a half-life greater than 120 minutes in all cases. However, this compound showed moderately high binding to plasma proteins (86% in human plasma and 75% in mouse plasma). In addition, while dillapiole showed moderate clearance by human and rat liver microsomes, mouse liver microsomes exhibited high clearance. Collectively, these data could explain the minimal efficacy observed in vivo. Therefore, future investigations should involve the rat infection model to determine the potential efficacy of dillapiole as a novel treatment for tularemia.
{"title":"The Efficacy, Toxicity & Pharmacology of Dillapiole: a potential new treatment for Tularemia","authors":"Elio Delatore III, Joseph Horzempa, Zachary T Clark, Megan A Ayala","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.977","url":null,"abstract":"Francisella tularensis, a highly infectious bacterium, is the causative agent of Tularemia (rabbit fever). Categorized by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as a Category A bioterrorism agent, Francisella tularensis is of the highest level of concern. Previously, we identified that dillapiole, a compound extracted from fennel, dampens F. tularensis virulence gene expression. While having no apparent effect on the viability of F. tularensis, treatment with this compound leads to reduced bacterial viability during in vitro infection of THP-1 monocytes and RAW 264.7 macrophages. In this study, we sought to determine if dillapiole exhibited a therapeutic effect in vivo, and to characterize the toxicity and pharmacology of this compound. In a murine tularemia model, female mice treated with dillapiole trended toward increased survival compared to those treated with the vehicle. However, dillapiole- or vehicle-treated male mice showed increased mortality compared to the females, suggesting gender-specific differences in the murine immune response to F. tularensis. Dillapiole was not toxic to HEK-293 cells in vitro, nor was this compound toxic to primary human hepatocytes when tested up to a concentration of 11 mg/ml (50 mM). Dillapiole was shown to be relatively stable in human, rat, and mouse plasma with a half-life greater than 120 minutes in all cases. However, this compound showed moderately high binding to plasma proteins (86% in human plasma and 75% in mouse plasma). In addition, while dillapiole showed moderate clearance by human and rat liver microsomes, mouse liver microsomes exhibited high clearance. Collectively, these data could explain the minimal efficacy observed in vivo. Therefore, future investigations should involve the rat infection model to determine the potential efficacy of dillapiole as a novel treatment for tularemia.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"144 9‐12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72388802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.995
Linsee Mullennex, Kristy Henson
This study examines the longevity of gunshot residue (GSR) for lead-based and lead-free ammunition and verifies that lead-free ammunition is truly lead-free. While a GSR presumptive test is not a definitive answer to whether GSR is explicitly present, it gives law enforcement an idea of whether to consider if more expensive testing is needed. This research will also highlight whether different means of examination for GSR in a forensic setting are necessary due to the evolving variety of lead-free ammunition entering the market. Switching to lead-free ammunition will significantly reduce lead exposure. Lead shows high toxicity for many organisms but continues to be dumped into the environment in large quantities. Lead poisoning can cause side effects such as anemia, infertility, and vitamin D deficiency. Ward’s Gunshot Residue Presumptive Kit and Sherlock Instant Lead Test Kit were used in this research to indicate the presence of lead, barium, and antimony with color change using a specific sequence of chemicals. Ward’s Gunshot Residue Presumptive test was tested during three scenarios in which a firearm was discharged. The Sherlock Instant Lead Test Kit was used to swab all ammunition advertised as lead-free such as the primer, gunshot residue, casing, and bullet. In conclusion, Ward’s Gunshot Residue Presumptive Kit was not sensitive enough to use in real-life scenarios and yielded no results. The Sherlock Instant Lead Test Kit confirmed that lead-free ammunition is truly lead-free, reducing lead exposure when firing a gun and potentially creating issues when examining GSR (lead specifically) in forensics settings.
{"title":"An Examination of Gunshot Residue and Lead Exposure","authors":"Linsee Mullennex, Kristy Henson","doi":"10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.995","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.995","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the longevity of gunshot residue (GSR) for lead-based and lead-free ammunition and verifies that lead-free ammunition is truly lead-free. While a GSR presumptive test is not a definitive answer to whether GSR is explicitly present, it gives law enforcement an idea of whether to consider if more expensive testing is needed. This research will also highlight whether different means of examination for GSR in a forensic setting are necessary due to the evolving variety of lead-free ammunition entering the market. \u0000 Switching to lead-free ammunition will significantly reduce lead exposure. Lead shows high toxicity for many organisms but continues to be dumped into the environment in large quantities. Lead poisoning can cause side effects such as anemia, infertility, and vitamin D deficiency. \u0000 Ward’s Gunshot Residue Presumptive Kit and Sherlock Instant Lead Test Kit were used in this research to indicate the presence of lead, barium, and antimony with color change using a specific sequence of chemicals. Ward’s Gunshot Residue Presumptive test was tested during three scenarios in which a firearm was discharged. The Sherlock Instant Lead Test Kit was used to swab all ammunition advertised as lead-free such as the primer, gunshot residue, casing, and bullet. \u0000 In conclusion, Ward’s Gunshot Residue Presumptive Kit was not sensitive enough to use in real-life scenarios and yielded no results. The Sherlock Instant Lead Test Kit confirmed that lead-free ammunition is truly lead-free, reducing lead exposure when firing a gun and potentially creating issues when examining GSR (lead specifically) in forensics settings.","PeriodicalId":92280,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80028267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.989
Kamden Dulaney, M. Flood
The overall aim of this undergraduate research was to quantify and identify trends within the bacterial environment at a non-acid mining drainage site in Lumberport, West Virginia, United States, due to iron and aluminum contamination. As the environmental impact of metal contaminants in acid mining drainage has been a concern for decades, this project is an excellent attempt to assess whether filtration methods are within local standards, to raise awareness of the potential bacterial hazards due to metal contaminants, and to discover the detrimental effects of mining drainage in general. Through community-level profiling and multi-parameter analysis, the percent functional diversity and percent variation of bacterial populations were quantified, as well as the pH and temperature throughout 8 collection points at different proximities from the direct mining drainage. It was determined that due to the mining drainage, the pH increases, the temperature increases, and the percent functional diversity increases.
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Pub Date : 2023-04-18DOI: 10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.993
J. Smith, Donald Mills
JOHNNA SMITH, Dept of Mathematics, Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV, 25443, and DONALD MILLS, Dept of Computer Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering, Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, WV, 25443. Analysis of basic cryptographic concepts and recent open problems in hash function security. The objectives of this study are to show an understanding of cryptographic concepts as well as highlight recent open problems involving hash function security. The method of study used included reading the first five chapters of Cryptography: Theory and Practice by Stinson and Paterson as well as a recent paper that outlined open problems in hash function security. Then, written reports were delivered on the information learned which included selected proofs and solved examples. The essentials of the opening report introduce the basic elements of cryptography: cryptosystems, cryptographic tools, message integrity, protocols, and security approaches. Chapter 2 of “Cryptography” describes various types of ciphers including Shift, Substitution, Affine, Vigenère, Hill, Permutation, and Stream Ciphers, as well as how to cryptanalyze them. The third report focuses on the One-time Pad, entropy, perfect security, and cryptographic security, specifically unconditional security, as introduced by Claude Shannon in his work on information theory. Throughout the fourth report, block and stream ciphers, including substitution-permutation networks, attacks such as linear and differential cryptanalysis, and modes of operation are discussed. In the fifth report, basic concepts of cryptography, hash function and message authentication are discussed, including iterated hash function, sponge construction, and unconditionally secure MACS. Using the information learned from the previous reports, current problems in hash functions were then researched. In conclusion, open problems in hash function security include collision resistance, preimage resistance, and resistant to length extension attacks. The project was sponsored by the NSF S-STEM Grant (DUE-2130267).
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