Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Public Health Importance Of Preventive Measures For Salmonella Tennessee And Salmonella Typhimurium Strain Lt2 Biofilms, Simen Asefaw, Sadiye Aras, Md Niamul Kabir, Sabrina Wadood, Shahid Chowdhury, Aliyar Cyrus Fouladkhah

Biology Faculty Research

Various serovars of Salmonella had been the subject of research for over 150 years; nonetheless, the bacterium has remained an important pathogen of public health concern to date. The tremendous ability of Salmonella to form biofilms on biotic and abiotic surfaces is an important underlying reason for the prevalence of this opportunistic pathogen in healthcare, manufacturing, and the food chain. The current study illustrates that using very common industrial antimicrobial treatments at the highest concentrations suggested by the manufacturers is only efficacious against planktonic and one-day mature biofilms of the pathogen while exhibiting a lack of efficacy for complete removal …

Association Of Oral Microbiota With Lung Cancer Risk In A Low-Income Population In The Southeastern Usa, Jiajun Shi, Yaohua Yang, Hua Xie, Xiaofei Wang, Jie Wu, Jirong Long, Regina Courtney, Xiao-Ou Shu, Wei Zheng, William J. Blot, Qiuyin Cai

Biology Faculty Research

Purpose

Oral microbiome plays an important role in oral health and systemic diseases, including cancer. We aimed to prospectively investigate the association of oral microbiome with lung cancer risk.

Methods

We analyzed 156 incident lung cancer cases (73 European Americans and 83 African Americans) and 156 individually matched controls nested within the Southern Community Cohort Study. Oral microbiota were assessed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing in pre-diagnostic mouth rinse samples. Paired t test and the permutational multivariate analysis of variance test were used to evaluate lung cancer risk association with alpha diversity or beta diversity, respectively. Conditional logistic regression models …

Pharmacological Properties Of Chromobacterium Violaceum Violacein At The Human Serotonin 2c Receptor, Letimicia S. Fears, Mary E. Curtis, Terrance L. Johnson, Hugh M. Fentress

Biology Faculty Research

The monoamine neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) plays a role in many physiological responses by interacting with various receptor subtypes. The 5-HT_2C receptor subtype is a 7-transmembrane, G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that is involved in neuronal excitability, spatial learning, mood, and appetite. The microorganism Chromobacterium violaceum produces a purple pigment, violacein, which can be extracted and purified. Violacein has antibiotic, antileishmanial, antifungal and antitumoral properties in various cancer cell lines. Violacein is derived from the amino acid tryptophan as is 5-HT and therefore, the two have similar chemical structures. However, no one has reported the activity of violacein at 5-HT receptors. …

Impact Of Precision Medicine On Drug Repositioning And Pricing: A Too Small To Thrive Crisis, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi

Biology Faculty Research

The pricing of targeted medicines continues to be a major area of contention in healthcare economics. This issue is further complicated by redefining the role of molecular testing in precision medicine. Currently, whilst pricing of clinical laboratory diagnostics is cost-based, drug pricing is value-based. The pricing for molecular testing is under pressure to change the traditional business model, for it has a critical subsidiary role in determining the final value of targeted medicines. The market size for drugs is reduced by molecular testing when patients with the same disease are stratified based on their genetics, it is critical to determine …

Molecular Mechanisms Of Obesity-Induced Osteoporosis And Muscle Atrophy, Bipradas Roy, Mary E. Curtis, Letimicia S. Fears, Samuel N. Nahashon, Hugh M. Fentress

Biology Faculty Research

Obesity and osteoporosis are two alarming health disorders prominent among middle and old age populations, and the numbers of those affected by these two disorders are increasing. It is estimated that more than 600 million adults are obese and over 200 million people have osteoporosis worldwide. Interestingly, both of these abnormalities share some common features including a genetic predisposition, and a common origin: bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells. Obesity is characterized by the expression of leptin, adiponectin, interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 10 (IL-10), monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), growth hormone (GH), parathyroid …

Role Of Defensins In The Pathogenesis Of Chronic Lung Allograft Rejection, Venkataswarup Tiriveedhi, Babak Banan, Saini Deepti, Angaswamy Nataraju, Ramsey Hachem, Elbert Trulock, Patterson G. Alexander, Thalachallour Mohanakumar

Biology Faculty Research

Chronic rejection predominantly manifested as bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), still remains a major problem affecting long-term outcomes in human lung transplantation (LTx). Donor specific antibodies (DSA) and infiltration of neutrophils in the graft have been associated with the development of BOS. This study determines the role of defensins, produced by neutrophils, and its interaction with α-1-antitrypsin (AAT) towards induction of airway inflammation and fibrosis which are characteristic hallmarks of BOS. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and serum from LTx recipients, BOS+ (n=28), BOS− (n=26) and normal healthy controls (n=24) were analyzed. Our results show that BOS+ LTx recipients had higher α-defensins (HNP1–3) …