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Natural Autoantibodies: Origin, Function And Utility For Diagnosis Of Disease, Abhirup Sarkar
Natural Autoantibodies: Origin, Function And Utility For Diagnosis Of Disease, Abhirup Sarkar
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations
Autoantibodies (aAbs) by the simplest definitions have been described as antibodies against self-antigens and were exclusively associated with autoimmune diseases. Eventually, studies demonstrated that they are abundant in the blood of all human sera, regardless of age, gender, or the presence or absence of disease, and were thus named as ‘natural autoantibodies’. The underlying reason for their ubiquity has remained elusive, but we have hypothesized that they are responsible for clearing blood-borne cell and tissue debris generated under conditions of health and disease. To test this, we chose to use two widely different disease model systems, namely neurodegenerative diseases and …
Characterization Of Bacterial Pathogens Involved In Aerobic Vaginitis: Prevalence, Strain Characterization And Sequelae, Leslie A. Lafferty
Characterization Of Bacterial Pathogens Involved In Aerobic Vaginitis: Prevalence, Strain Characterization And Sequelae, Leslie A. Lafferty
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations
Aerobic vaginitis (AV) is a more recently defined infection that involves aerobic pathogenic bacteria that replace the normal flora of the vaginal tract. It is commonly mistaken for other vaginal infections, such as bacterial vaginosis (BV), because they share many common symptoms. AV leads to complications during pregnancy, such as premature delivery and amnion infection, and is diagnosed by indications that range from vaginal discharge to inflammation. Because this infection is difficult to diagnose differentially from other vaginal infections, it is important to determine what pathogens are involved in AV so that we may have the ability to detect them. …