Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Crotalus Snake Venom Preconditioning To Prevent Surgical Brain Injury, Cherine Hee-Sun Kim
Crotalus Snake Venom Preconditioning To Prevent Surgical Brain Injury, Cherine Hee-Sun Kim
Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects
Preventive measures are increasingly relevant to medical practice. Preconditioning, a preemptive therapy that administers mildly harmful stimuli to induce endogenous protective mechanisms before major injury, has been shown to minimize injury in many animal models. Given the elective nature of most neurosurgical procedures, the surgical brain injury (SBI) rodent model provides an ideal platform for preconditioning. Our work shows that preconditioning with Crotalus rattlesnake venom, known for its hemorrhagic and inflammatory effects, mitigates some harmful effects of SBI. We have identified two proteins of interest in Crotalus venom: snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP), an enzyme with hemorrhagic effects, and phospholipase A2 …
Curcumin: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To Pancreatic Cancer Targeting Cell Death And Exosomes, Carlos J. Diaz Osterman
Curcumin: A Multi-Dimensional Approach To Pancreatic Cancer Targeting Cell Death And Exosomes, Carlos J. Diaz Osterman
Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects
Pancreatic cancer is currently one of the most difficult diseases to treat due to difficulty of detection and the aggressive nature of the disease. In addition, pancreatic cancer has the highest mortality rates compared to other cancer types. These mortality rates are attributable in part to increasing resistance to cancer therapy. Cancer therapy resistance is caused by adaptations that favor survival within cancer cells and their environment, termed the tumor microenvironment. Intracellular adaptations include the overexpression of resistance-linked genes, such as the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) family of proteins and overall resistance to cell death. Adaptations in the tumor microenvironment …