by MUSHTAQUE AHMAD, M.S. Washington State University December 2008 Chair: Richard J. Watts Oxidant interaction with subsurface materials is a major factor influencing the effective application of in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) for contaminant destruction. The newest and least explored ISCO oxidant source is persulfate. Persulfate interaction with subsurface minerals was investigated as a bas...

Precisely timed action potentials related to stimuli and behavior have been observed in the cerebral cortex. However, information carried by the precise spike timing has to propagate through many cortical areas, and noise could disrupt millisecond precision during the transmission. Previous studies have demonstrated that only strong stimuli that evoke a large number of spikes with small dispers...

Recent studies link synaptojanin 1 (synj1), the main phosphoinositol (4,5)-biphosphate phosphatase (PI(4,5)P2-degrading enzyme) in the brain and synapses, to Alzheimer disease. Here we report a novel mechanism by which synj1 reversely regulates cellular clearance of amyloid-β (Aβ). Genetic down-regulation of synj1 reduces both extracellular and intracellular Aβ levels in N2a cells stably expres...

Myxobacteria are members of δ-proteobacteria and are typified by large genomes, well-coordinated social behavior, gliding motility, and starvation-induced fruiting body formation. Here, we report the 10.33 Mb whole genome of a starch-degrading myxobacterium Sandaracinus amylolyticus DSM 53668(T) that encodes 8,962 proteins, 56 tRNA, and two rRNA operons. Phylogenetic analysis, in silico DNA-DNA...

Colonic mucus is a key biological hydrogel that protects the gut from infection and physical damage and mediates host-microbe interactions and drug delivery. However, little is known about how its structure is influenced by materials it comes into contact with regularly. For example, the gut abounds in polymers such as dietary fibers or administered therapeutics, yet whether such polymers inter...

Self-exploding microparticles show potential for advanced delivery of certain therapeutics. This study evaluates (1) whether degrading biodegradable dextran hydroxyethyl methacrylate (dex-HEMA) microgels can be coated by a lipid membrane and (2) whether the surrounding membrane can be ruptured by the increasing swelling pressure of the degrading microgel. We found that adsorption of charged lip...

Triptolide, a major bioactive ingredient of a widely used herbal medicine, has been shown to possess multiple pharmacological functions, including potential neuroprotective effects pertinent to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in vitro. However, the therapeutic potential of triptolide for AD in vivo has not been thoroughly evaluated. In the present study, we investigated the impact of peripherally admi...

The filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei produces and secretes profuse quantities of enzymes that act synergistically to degrade cellulase and related biomass components. We partially sequenced over 5100 random T. reesei cDNA clones. Among the sequences whose predicted gene products had significant similarity to known proteins, 12 were identified that encode previously unknown enzymes that lik...

Precisely timed action potentials related to stimuli and behavior have been observed in the cerebral cortex. However, information carried by the precise spike timing has to propagate through many cortical areas, and noise could disrupt millisecond precision during the transmission. Previous studies have demonstrated that only strong stimuli that evoke a large number of spikes with small dispers...

A novel Nostoc commune-polysaccharide (NPS)-degrading enzyme with a molecular mass of 128.5 kDa was purified from Paenibacillus glycanilyticus DS-1. The optimum pH and temperature of the enzyme activity were 5.5 and 35 degrees C, respectively. The enzyme completely degraded NPS to oligosaccharides, ranging from tetra to hexasaccharides and could degrade the xylan weakly whereas xanthan, gellan,...