Life Sciences Commons^™

Leptin’S Role In The Obesity Epidemic, Alyssa C. Washeleski

Honors College Theses

Weight loss methods have been around for decades, but yet, individuals still can’t lose weight or keep it off. Researchers have pondered if there is more to being incapable of losing body fat than individuals having a lack of willpower. While the environment plays a critical role in weight regulation, genetics may be just as important.

Research has discovered a hormone called leptin that controls energy expenditure and satiety. Leptin plays a part in many physiological roles, including appetite control, sexual function, immunity, insulin sensitivity, and the metabolism of lipid and bone. Studies done with mice and humans have concluded …

The Relationship Between Excessive Folic Acid Intake And Genome Instability In Human Lymphocytes, Khadijah Ibrahim Alnabbat

Wayne State University Dissertations

Since its synthesis in 1945, Folic acid (FA) is widely used as a supplement/additive to our food due to its stability and high bioavailability. FA is proposed to alleviate anemia and reduce neural tube defects (NTD). As a provitamin, FA is activated through a two-step reaction catalyzed by dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) in the folate metabolism pathway. FA activation rate is found to be slow in humans. After the implementation of mandatory food fortification program of grain and grain products with folic acid in the USA in 1998, many concerns have been raised about the unintended deleterious consequence of exposing the …

Nutrition And Health Status Of Hemodialysis Patients In Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tanjina Rahman

Wayne State University Dissertations

Methods to identify patients at risk for End stage renal disease (ESRD) are a high priority in Bangladesh, where kidney transplants/dialysis options are limited and costly. Every year, 35,000 to 40,000 people reach ESRD in Bangladesh, but currently available facilities can hardly accommodate only 9000 to 10,000 new patients with twice weekly dialysis and the remaining 66% have no access to any kind of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the form of dialysis or transplantation. Nutrition is an important factor in maintaining good health of hemodialysis patients. However, data on nutritional status of Bangladeshi dialysis patients is limited and is …

Impact Of Dietary Patterns On Health Outcomes In African American Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients, Dina Angela Tallman

Wayne State University Dissertations

In the United States, African Americans (AA) suffer a disproportionate burden of ESRD, accounting for 35% of all dialysis patients, and are 3.7 times more likely to progress to ESRD than whites. This increase in CKD risk is partially attributed to higher rates of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease. Paradoxically, once on hemodialysis, AA have a survival advantage over whites, likely due to multiple factors including nutritional status, inflammation, psychosocial status, and genetic variation.

Although both the dialysis procedure and pharmacological treatments are effective at reducing the uremic toxin load, HD patients are still encouraged to adhere to strict …