Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Differentiation Of Hepatocyte-Like Cells From Monkey Embryonic Stem Cells., Xiaocui Ma, Jian Wu, M Zern

jian duan wu

Embryonic stem cells (ESC) hold great potential for the treatment of liver diseases. Here, we report the differentiation of rhesus macaque ESC along a hepatocyte lineage. The undifferentiated monkey ESC line, ORMES-6, was cultured in an optimal culture condition in an effort to differentiate them into hepatocyte-like cells in vitro. The functional efficacy of the differentiated hepatic cells was evaluated using RT-PCR for the expression of hepatocyte specific genes, and Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry for hepatic proteins such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin and alpha1-antitrypsin (alpha1-AT). Functional assays were performed using the periodic acid schiff (PAS) reaction and ELISA. The …

Fitness And Action Monitoring: Evidence For Improved Cognitive Flexibility In Young Adults, Jason R. Themanson, Matthew B. Pontifex, Charles H. Hillman

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

To improve behavior, one must detect errors and initiate subsequent corrective adaptations. This action monitoring process has been widely studied, but little is known about how one may improve this aspect of cognition. To examine the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and action monitoring, we recorded the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related brain potential believed to index action monitoring, as well as post-error behavioral indices of action monitoring from healthy young adults (18–25 years) who varied in cardiorespiratory fitness. These measures were collected during the execution of flanker tasks emphasizing response accuracy or speed to better assess the specificity of any …

Finding Recurrent Regions Of Copy Number Variation: A Review, Oscar M. Rueda, Ramon Diaz-Uriarte

Ramon Diaz-Uriarte

Copy number alterations (CNA) in genomic DNA are linked to a variety of human diseases. Although many methods have been developed to analyze data from a single subject, disease-critical genes are more likely to be found in regions that are common or recurrent among diseased subjects. Unfortunately, finding recurrent CNA regions remains a challenge. We review existing methods for the identification of recurrent CNA regions. Methods differ in their working definition of ``recurrent region'', the type of input data, the statistical and computational methods used to identify recurrence, and the biological considerations they incorporate (which play a role in the …

Regressing Scalar Outcomes On Image Predictors Via Functional Principal Component Regression, Philip T. Reiss

Philip T. Reiss

No abstract provided.

Survival Unchanged Five Months After Implementing The 2005 Aha Cpr And Ecc Guidelines For Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest., Blair L. Bigham, Kent M. Koprowicz, John Stouffer, Tom P. Aufderheide, Stuart Donn, Judy Powell, Dan Davis, Sarah Nafziger, Brian Suffoletto, Ahamed Idris, Mike Helbock, Laurie J. Morrison

Kent M Koprowicz

Introduction: To improve survival from out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), the American Heart Association released guidelines in 2005. We examined the effect of these guidelines on survival in the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (ROC) Epistry – Cardiac Arrest. We hypothesized that survival would increase after guideline implementation. Methods: 174 EMS agencies from 8 of the 10 ROC sites were surveyed to determine 2005 AHA guideline implementation, or crossover, date. Two sites with 2005 compatible treatment algorithms prior to guideline release were not included. Patients with OHCA secondary to a non cardiac cause, EMS witnessed events, patients <18 years>old, and patients with …

Antibacterial Activity Of Indium Curcumin And Indium Diacetylcurcumin, Keivan Zandi

Keivan Zandi

Studies on curcumin, the principal element of turmeric powder, have demonstrated several biological actions such as antibacterial activity. Evaluation of new analogs or new compounds of curcumin for their antibacterial effect is interesting for researchers. In this in vitro study, we attempted to test the antibacterial activity of indium curcumin (In(CUR)(3)), indium diacetylcurcumin (In(DAC)(3)), and diacetylcurcumin (DAC) in comparison with curcumin. The action of these agents were examined on Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 14990), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Escerichia coli (ATCC 25922). Curcumin was effective against S. aureus and S. epidermidis, whereas In(DAC)(3) showed activity against …

The Effects Of Lactation And Negative Energy Balance On Kisspeptin-Stimulated Luteinizing Hormone And Growth Hormone In Dairy Cows, Brian K. Whitlock, Joseph A. Daniel, Robyn R. Wilborn, Herris S. Maxwell, Barbara P. Steele, James L. Sartin

Brian K Whitlock, PhD, DVM, DACT

Kisspeptin, a neuroendocrine regulator of gonadotropin releasing hormone, is hypothesized to integrate nutrition and hormones critical to metabolism and the regulation of reproduction. Since the negative energy balance of early lactation is associated with reduced fertility via suppression of gonadotropin secretion and enhanced growth hormone (GH) responsiveness, this experiment was designed to determine the effects of stage of lactation and negative energy balance on kisspeptin-10 (Kp-10) stimulated luteinizing hormone (LH) and GH concentrations. Five nonlactating [5.1 ± 0.8 (SEM) years; 577 ± 19 kg body weight (BW)] and five lactating [4.1 ± 0.6 years; 608 ± 11 kg BW] multiparous …

Investigating Bimanual Coordination In Dominant And Non-Dominant Virtual Hands, Gavin Buckingham, David Carey

Gavin Buckingham

A bias in attention towards the dominant hand has been cited as a possible factor in the lateralisation of human bimanual coordination (Peters, 1981). A mirror was placed between the hands of 18 dextral participants performing rhythmic anti-phase movements. This set-up gave the appearance of a reflected virtual hand (moving in time with the un-occluded hand), in the same spatial location as the occluded left or right hand. This asymmetrical conflict between vision and action examined whether the left hand would show higher levels of error when replaced by a virtual right hand than the converse condition. Higher levels of …

Curriculum Vitae, Robert P. Lane

Robert P. Lane

No abstract provided.

Secondary Prevention For Acute Coronary Syndrome In Rural South Australia: Are Drugs Best? What About The Rest?, Tracey Wachtel, Angela Kucia, Jennene Greenhill

Angela Kucia

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current Australian clinical guidelines recommend all patients with ACS receive comprehensive secondary prevention services to address this burden. Optimal patient outcomes rely on the timely and effective implementation of proven therapies and for secondary prevention to be successful, pharmcological interventions must be combined with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor identification and management. The ability to implement clinical guidelines is also reliant on available resources, yet many rural populations in Australia do not have access to structured secondary prevention services, and the level of support available to them …

A Case Of Cutaneous Larva Migrans Acquired From Soiled Toilet Floors In Urban Kuala Lumpur, Noorzurani Robson Associate Prof. Dr., S Othman

Associate Prof. Dr. Noorzurani Robson

Despite being a common skin dermatosis in the tropics, physicians in the tropics may miss the diagnosis of cutaneous larva migrans for other pruritic skin manifestation. This is especially in those who live in urban housing with no history of travel. Cutaneous larva migrans, an intensely pruritic skin pathology is mainly contracted by people with history of beach holiday or contact with moist soft sand which had been contaminated with dog or cat faeces. This article reports a patient who presented with intensely itchy papular spots over the dorsum of his foot after walking barefooted in an urban toilet soiled …

Composite Endpoint Analysis For Assessing Surrogacy With Censored Data, Debashis Ghosh

Debashis Ghosh

Background: There is great interest in the development of surrogate endpoints using new technologies in medical research. The promise of such endpoints is that they would allow for faster completion of clinical trials and would be potentially cost-effective.

Purpose: In determining surrogacy, it is important to distinguish the roles of surrogate from the true endpoint. The latter should be thought of as the gold standard. We discuss a framework in which the utility of a surrogate endpoint is based on whether or not as part of a composite endpoint, it yields treatment effects that associate with that on the true …

Intrinsic Severity As A Determinant Of Antiepileptic Drug Refractoriness, Michael A. Rogawski, Michael R. Johnson

Michael A. Rogawski

For the most part, resistance to medications in epilepsy is independent of the choice of antiepileptic drug. This simple clinical observation constrains the possible biological mechanisms for drug refractory epilepsy by imposing a requirement to explain resistance for a diverse set of chemical structures that act on an even more varied group of molecular targets. To date, research on antiepileptic drug refractoriness has been guided by the “drug transporter overexpression” and the “reduced drug-target sensitivity” hypotheses. These concepts posit that drug refractoriness is a condition separate from the underlying epilepsy. Inadequacies in both hypotheses mandate a fresh approach to the …

Worldwide Variation In The Doubling Time Of Alzheimer's Disease Incidence Rates, Kathryn Ziegler-Graham, Ron Brookmeyer, Elizabeth Johnson, H. Michael Arrighi

Ron Brookmeyer

Background The doubling time is the number of chronological years for the age-specific incidence rate to double in magnitude. Doubling times describe the rate of increase of the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with advancing age. Estimates of doubling times of AD assist in understanding disease etiology and forecasting future disease prevalence. The objective of this study was to investigate regional and gender differences in the doubling of AD age-specific incidence rates.

Methods We identified all studies in the peer review literature that reported age-specific incidence rates for AD. We modeled the logarithm of the incidence rate as a linear …

Simultaneous Confidence Bands For The Coefficient Function In Functional Regression, Philip T. Reiss

Philip T. Reiss

No abstract provided.

What Clinical Observations On The Epidemiology Of Antiepileptic Drug Intractability Tell Us About The Mechanisms Of Pharmacoresistance, Michael Rogawski

Michael A. Rogawski

In the past several years, there have been important advances in the clinical epidemiology of antiepileptic drug resistance, as reviewed by Mohanraj and Brodie. It would appear that by and large, intractability is independent of the choice of antiepileptic drug (AED). Many patients will become seizure free on the first agent tried, irrespective of which one their physician decides to pick. Nonresponders to the first drug are in a different category: it is likely that they will continue to have seizures no matter which medicine or combination of medicines is tried. This simple clinical observation puts important constraints on the …

Inferring Group Differences In Brain Connectivity From Functional Magnetic Resonance Images, Philip T. Reiss

Philip T. Reiss

No abstract provided.

Reliability Of Functional Connectivity Networks: How Can We Assess It?, Philip T. Reiss

Philip T. Reiss

No abstract provided.

Self-Efficacy Effects On Neuroelectric And Behavioral Indices Of Action Monitoring In Older Adults, Jason R. Themanson, Charles H. Hillman, Edward Mcauley, Sarah M. Buck, Shawna E. Doerksen, Katherine S. Morris, Matthew B. Pontifex

Jason R. Themanson, Ph.D

The relationships between self-efficacy (SE), i.e., beliefs in personal capabilities, and behavioral and neuroelectric (i.e., ERN, Pe) indices of action monitoring were investigated in 40 older adults (13 male) during the completion of a flanker paradigm performed under task conditions emphasizing either accuracy or speed. SE relative to task performance during both conditions was assessed prior to each cognitive task. Results indicated that high-SE older adults exhibited larger ERN and Pe amplitudes compared to low-SE older adults under the accuracy instruction condition. Additionally, a moderating effect of SE on the relationship between ERN and post-error response accuracy was revealed in …

On Correcting The Overestimation Of The Permutation Based False Discovery Rate Estimator., Shuo Jiao, Shunpu Zhang

Shuo Jiao

Motivation: Recent attempts to account for multiple testing in the analysis of microarray data have focused on controlling the false discovery rate (FDR), which is defined as the expected percentage of the number of false positive genes among the claimed significant genes. As a consequence, the accuracy of the FDR estimators will

be important for correctly controlling FDR. Xie et al. found that the standard permutation method of estimating FDR is biased and proposed to delete the predicted differentially expressed (DE) genes in the estimation of FDR for one-sample comparison. However, we notice that the formula of the FDR used …

Writing Research Proposal: Literature Review And Database Search, Mamoudou H. Dicko Prof.

Pr. Mamoudou H. DICKO, PhD

Exaggerated Natriuretic Response Of Brattleboro Rats To Extracellular Volume Expansion, Susan C. Opava-Stitzer, Emma Fernandez-Repollet, Carmen Rodriguez-Sargent, Jose L. Cangiano, Manuel Martinez-Maldonado

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

A state of chronic dehydration with reduced plasma volume, decreased blood pressure, and increased plasma renin activity (PRA) has been demonstrated in rats with hereditary hypothalamic diabetes insipidus (DI) rats. In this situation decreased renal perfusion and glomerular filtration rate might result in sodium retention. On the other hand, the DI rat also suffers from mineralocorticoid deficiency which might result in salt wasting. In addition it has recently been shown that in contrast to normal rats, there are no differences between superficial cortical and juxtamedullary nephrons of the DI rat with respect to single nephron filtration rate, glomerular volume, and …

Effect Of Potassium On Plasma Renin Concentration In The Presence And Absence Of Adh (Brattleboro Rat Model), Emma Fernandez-Repollet, Susan C. Opava-Stitzer, Manuel Martinez-Maldonado

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Rats with hereditary hypothalamic diabetes insipidus (so-called DI rats) have elevated plasma renin levels. Although the mechanism responsible for this condition has not be elucidated, it seems reasonable to postulate that the absence of ADH and/or the hypokalemia previously reported in these rats might contribute to the elevation of plasma renin concentration (PRC). Evidence in favor of this hypothesis emerges from studies in which both ADH and potassium have been shown to inhibit renin release. In an attempt to examine the relative roles of ADH and potassium in the regulation of renin secretion, PRC was measured in DI rats maintained …

Effect Of Lithium And Antidiuretic Hormone On Plasma Renin Concentration In Diabetes Insipidus Rats (Brattleboro Rat Model), Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Antidiuretic horomone (ADH) is known to inhibit renin secretion in many species, but the mechanism of this inhibition and its importance in the control of renin secretion are unknown.

Evidence For Baroreceptor Control Of Renin Release, Paul C. Churchill, Richard L. Malvin, Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Arterial plasma renin activity (PRA) was measured using radioimmunoassay techniques in pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs. Acute saline loading (40-60ml 150mm NaCl/kg body weight, or 20ml 300mm NaCl/kg body weight, i.v.) reduced PRA from control level in 7 dogs. Despite continued increases in filtered and excreted masses of Na, subsequent partial aortic clamping increased PRA in proportion to the degree of reduction in renal perfusion pressure. In 6 other dogs aortic clamping super-imposed on total ureteral occlusion led to changes in PRA which were inversely associated with renal perfusion pressure. These results suggest a controlling mechanism for renin secretion sensitive to some hemodynamic …

Urine Concentration And Dilution In The Rat: Contribution Of Papillary Structures During High Rates Of Urine Flow, Manuel Martínez-Maldonado, Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

To examine the contribution of papillary structures to the overall process of urine dilution and concentration at high rates of flow, studies were performed in unilaterally papillectomized kidneys (PX). Comparison of kidney weights in sham-operated and PX rats revealed a significant reduction in total weight of the latter. Papillary length removed was 3045 ± 423 μm. GFR was reduced by 24% and 45% in sham and PX kidneys when compared to their contralateral controls. Under hydropenic conditions, maximal urine concentrating ability (Umax) was comparable in control and sham kidneys but was 59% less in PX kidneys. Fractional sodium excretion during …

Role Of Water Balance In The Enhanced Potassium Excretion And Hypokalaemia Of Rats With Diabetes Insipidus, Emma Fernandez-Repollet, Manuel Martínez-Maldonado, Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

1. The role of water balance in the hypokalaemia of rats with diabetes insipidus (DI rats) was studied. 2. After a 3-day balance study DI rats had a lower muscle potassium content, and plasma [K+], and the urinary excretion of potassium in response to oral KCl loading was reduced when compared to normal rats. The hypokalaemia was found to be associated with elevated concentrations of potassium in renal medulla and papilla when compared to values in normal Long-Evans rats. 3. During a 9-day balance study urinary potassium excretion was higher than that of normal rats on days 1-3, but not …

Pathophysiology Of Clinical Disorders Of Urine Concentration And Dilution, Manuel Martínez-Maldonado, Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

Susan C. Opava-Stitzer

A defect in the ability to concentrate or dilute the urine can be easily recognized by the maximum or minimum urine concentration the patient is able to achieve. Maximum concentrating ability (Umax) is determined by the urine osmolality reached after a fixed period of dehydration and maximal diluting ability (Umin) by the minimum osmolality of the urine after the oral ingestion of a fixed water-load. These indices, however, do not allow an understanding of the pathophysiological alterations leading to the presence of the defect.

Antiepileptic Drugs And Migraine, Michael Rogawski

Michael A. Rogawski

Prepared for the 16th International Headache Research Seminar, “Innovative Drug Development For Headache Disorders,” March 23–25, 2007, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Gene Alterations By Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Agonists In Human Colorectal Cancer Cells, Maria Cekanova, J Yuan, X Li, K B. Kim, Seung J. Baek

Maria Cekanova MS, RNDr, PhD

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) is a nuclear transcription factor that controls the genes involved in metabolism and carcinogenesis. In the present study, we examined the alteration of gene expression in HCT-116 human colorectal cancer cells by PPARgamma agonists: MCC-555 (5 microM), rosiglitazone (5 microM), and 15-deoxy-Delta12,14-prostaglandin J2 (1 microM). The long-oligo microarray data revealed a list of target genes commonly induced (307 genes) and repressed (32 genes) by tested PPARgamma agonists. These genes were analyzed by Onto-Express software and KEGG pathway analysis and revealed that PPARgamma agonists are involved in cell proliferation, focal adhesion, and several signaling pathways. …