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Minocycline Treatment And The Necessity To Develop A Novel Outcome Measure For Children With Angelman Syndrome, Joseph Christopher Grieco

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic disorder affecting 1/10,000 to 1/20,000 births. This disorder arises through the genetic disruption of the maternal UBE3A allele, which when coupled with epigenetic silencing of the paternal allele UBE3A allele, gives rise to an absence of UBE3A protein in the central nervous system. Clinical manifestations of the syndrome vary in severity and include poor motor function, deficits in language and severe intellectual impairments. Previous research in the Angelman syndrome mouse model revealed abnormalities in dendritic spine density and morphology of hippocampal pyramidal cells. As seen in humans with AS, mice show abnormal behavioral …

Effects Of Nicotine Withdrawal On Motivation, Reward Sensitivity And Reward-Learning, Jason A. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research on addictive behavior has traditionally emphasized the role that primary reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse plays in the development and maintenance of dependence. However, contemporary behavioral economic theory and animal models of nicotine dependence suggest the need for greater attention to the impact that response to alternative rewards may have on smoking behavior. The present study sought to investigate the impact of nicotine withdrawal on self-report, behavioral and neural indices of motivation, immediate response to rewards and the capacity to learn and modify behavior in response to positive and negative feedback. Heavy smokers (n = 48) completed two …

Marine Population Connectivity: Range Boundaries And Climate Change, Rhiannon Leigh Rognstad

Theses and Dissertations

Population connectivity, particularly in open systems, is an important metric for understanding population-level processes on both ecological and evolutionary timescales. In coastal marine systems, adults are typically sedentary and dispersal occurs primarily during a larval stage when individuals are transported in ocean currents. Because coastal marine populations exist as networks of interconnected subpopulations, variation in the magnitude and extent of population connectivity can have profound effects on population dynamics and species distribution limits. Connectivity is a complex process, affected by a multitude of factors, including adult inputs and physical dispersal, which operate at multiple scales and may interact. This dissertation …

Mcp-1 In Colorectal Cancer: Benefits Of Exercise, Jamie Lee Mcclellan

Theses and Dissertations

The etiology of colon cancer is a complex phenomenon that involves both genetic and environmental factors. However, only about 20% have a familial basis with the largest fraction being attributed to environmental causes that can lead to chronic inflammation. Tumors associated macrophages drive the pro-inflammatory response in the tumor micro-environment and are associated with poor prognosis in certain cancers. Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) is thought to be the most important chemokine for recruitment of macrophages to the tumor microenvironment. In chapter 1, we examined the timing and magnitude of the intestinal inflammatory cytokine response in relation to tumorigenesis in …

A Randomized Noninferiority Trial Of Condensed Protocols For Genetic Risk Disclosure Of Alzheimer's Disease, Peter J. Whitehouse, Melissa Barber Butson

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction Conventional multisession genetic counseling is currently recommended when disclosing apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype for the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in cognitively normal individuals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety of brief disclosure protocols for disclosing APOE genotype for the risk of AD. Methods A randomized, multicenter noninferiority trial was conducted at four sites. Participants were asymptomatic adults having a first-degree relative with AD. A standard disclosure protocol by genetic counselors (SP-GC) was compared with condensed protocols, with disclosures by genetic counselors (CP-GC) and by physicians (CP-MD). Preplanned co-primary outcomes were anxiety and depression scales …

Sensory Abnormalities In Focal Hand Dystonia And Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation, Angelo Quartarone, Vincenzo Rizzo, Carmen Terranova, Demetrio Milardi, Daniele Bruschetta, Maria Felice Ghilardi, Paolo Girlanda

Publications and Research

It has been proposed that synchronous and convergent afferent input arising from repetitive motor tasks may play an important role in driving the maladaptive cortical plasticity seen in focal hand dystonia (FHD).This hypothesis receives support from several sources. First, it has been reported that in subjects with FHD, paired associative stimulation produces an abnormal increase in corticospinal excitability, which was not confined to stimulated muscles. These findings provide support for the role of excessive plasticity in FHD. Second, the genetic contribution to the dystonias is increasingly recognized indicating that repetitive, stereotyped afferent inputs may lead to late-onset dystonia, such as …

Suppression Of Invasion And Metastasis Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Lines By Pharmacological Or Genetic Inhibition Of Slug Activity., Giovanna Ferrari-Amorotti, Claudia Chiodoni, Fei Shen, Sara Cattelani, Angela Rachele Soliera, Gloria Manzotti, Giulia Grisendi, Massimo Dominici, Francesco Rivasi, Mario Paolo Colombo, Alessandro Fatatis, Bruno Calabretta

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Most triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) exhibit gene expression patterns associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a feature that correlates with a propensity for metastatic spread. Overexpression of the EMT regulator Slug is detected in basal and mesenchymal-type TNBCs and is associated with reduced E-cadherin expression and aggressive disease. The effects of Slug depend, in part, on the interaction of its N-terminal SNAG repressor domain with the chromatin-modifying protein lysine demethylase 1 (LSD1); thus, we investigated whether tranylcypromine [also known as trans-2-phenylcyclopropylamine hydrochloride (PCPA) or Parnate], an inhibitor of LSD1 that blocks its interaction with Slug, suppresses the migration, invasion, and metastatic …

Postural Sway And Brain Hemispheric Power Spectral Density Under Different Attentional Focus Conditions, Sharon Jalene

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences, if any, in the root mean square error (RMSE) of postural sway and hemispheric power spectral density (PSD) in the alpha and beta bands (8-12Hz and 12-25Hz) during different conditions of attentional focus (i.e., internal focus (IF), and external focus (EF) and a control condition (C)). Previous studies have shown that the adoption of IF and EF significantly alter motor performance and that EF promotes automaticity (Wulf, 2013). Sports performance and balance studies utilizing EEG spectral analyses report increased alpha oscillations during expert performance and stable balance and increased beta …

Modulation Of T Lymphocytes By Tumor-Released Survivin, Jessica Marie Jutzy

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The tumor microenvironment is an area of intense interaction between normal and malignant cells. Factors and cell types within this environment can play a crucial role in the progression or regression of the tumor. Of primary interest are tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes, which have been shown to have a key role in modifying the dynamics of the tumor microenvironment to promote or prevent tumor growth. While there is much in vitro and in vivo evidence for a modification of the tumor infiltrating T cell population toward a pro-tumor environment, what induces these changes within the tumor microenvironment has remained elusive. Our …

Pupillometry: A Non-Invasive Technique For Pain Assessment In Paediatric Patients., Mark A. Connelly, Jacob T. Brown, Gregory L. Kearns, Rawni A. Anderson, Shawn D. St Peter, Kathleen A. Neville

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVE: Pupillometry has been used to assess pain intensity and response to analgesic medications in adults. The aim of this observational study was to explore proof of concept for the use of this technique in paediatric patients. Changes in pupil parameters before and after opioid exposure also were evaluated.

DESIGN AND SETTING: This was a single-centre, prospective study conducted at an academic paediatric medical centre.

PATIENTS: Children 9-17 years of age undergoing elective surgical correction of pectus excavatum were enrolled into a protocol approved by the human ethical committee (institutional review board).

INTERVENTIONS: Pupil size and reactivity were measured using …

Hemispheric Asymmetry In The Perception Of Musical Pitch Structure, Matthew Adam Rosenthal

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Both the left and right hemispheres contribute to the perception of pitch structure

in music. Music researchers have attempted to explain the observed asymmetries in the perception of musical pitch structure by characterizing the dominant processing style of each hemisphere. However, no existing characterizations have been able to account for all of the empirical findings. To better explain existing empirical findings, this dissertation characterizes the left hemisphere as dominant in temporal pitch processing (i.e. with respect to the sequential ordering of pitches) and the right hemisphere as dominant in non-temporal pitch processing (i.e. without respect to the sequential ordering of …

Ectopic Cushing Syndrome And Pancreatic Cancer: A Case Report, Mira Mitry Md, Nicole M. Agostino Do, Stacey Smith Md, Facp, Vasudev G. Magaji Md, Ms

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Licorice Consumption Causing Hypokalemia And Lethal Dysrhythmias, Gina Grosscup

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

This report describes a case in which approximately a two-month exposure of licorice root tea consumption containing glycyrrhizic acid (GA) produced generalized weakness, secondary hypertension, hyporeflexia and hypokalemia, leading to a reentry dysrhythmia of ventricular fibrillation. Although licorice root has been used for medicinal purposes dating back centuries the potential toxic side effects can be life threatening without early recognition. Most licorice candies in the western world contain artificial flavoring but the use of actual licorice root containing GA is common in many Middle-Eastern, Far Eastern and European countries. The purpose of this report is two-fold, first to describe the …

Dynamics Of Alpha Control: Preparatory Suppression Of Posterior Alpha Oscillations By Frontal Modulators Revealed With Combined Eeg And Event-Related Optical Signal, Kyle E. Mathewson, Diane M. Beck, Tony Ro, Edward L. Maclin, Kathy A. Low, Monica Fabiani, Gabriele Gratton

Publications and Research

We investigated the dynamics of brain processes facilitating conscious experience of external stimuli. Previously, we proposed that alpha (8–12 Hz) oscillations, which fluctuate with both sustained and directed attention, represent a pulsed inhibition of ongoing sensory brain activity. Here we tested the prediction that inhibitory alpha oscillations in visual cortex are modulated by top–down signals from frontoparietal attention networks. We measured modulations in phase-coherent alpha oscillations from superficial frontal, parietal, and occipital cortices using the event-related optical signal (EROS), a measure of neuronal activity affording high spatiotemporal resolution, along with concurrently recorded EEG, while participants performed a visual target detection …

The Significance Of Dynamical Architecture For Adaptive Responses To Mechanical Loads During Rhythmic Behavior, Kendrick M. M. Shaw, David N. Lyttle, Jeffrey P. Gill, Miranda J. Cullins, Jeffrey M. Mcmanus, Hui Lu, Peter J. Thomas, Hillel J. Chiel

Faculty Scholarship

Many behaviors require reliably generating sequences of motor activity while adapting the activity to incoming sensory information. This process has often been conceptually explained as either fully dependent on sensory input (a chain reflex) or fully independent of sensory input (an idealized central pattern generator, or CPG), although the consensus of the field is that most neural pattern generators lie somewhere between these two extremes. Many mathematical models of neural pattern generators use limit cycles to generate the sequence of behaviors, but other models, such as a heteroclinic channel (an attracting chain of saddle points), have been suggested. To explore …

Role Of Astrocyte Network In Edema After Juvenile Traumatic Brain Injury, Andrew Minoru Fukuda

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Juvenile traumatic brain injury (jTBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in young children and adolescents. Despite its lasting detrimental effects on the developing brain, no pharmacological treatment exists. One of the pathological hallmarks of jTBI is edema. Astrocytes play a key role in the edema process, and have been hypothesized that numerous astrocyte networks allow communication and propagation of edema and secondary injury spread. Two key astrocyte proteins are hypothesized to have a central role in the edema process: Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) and Connexin 43 (Cx43). AQP4 is expressed extensively in astrocyte endfeet, which surrounds the blood …

Vaccination With A Genetically Modified Brugia Malayi Cysteine Protease Inhibitor-2 Reduces Adult Parasite Numbers And Affects The Fertility Of Female Worms Following A Subcutaneous Challenge Of Mongolian Gerbils (Meriones Unguiculatus) With B. Malayi Infective Larvae., Sridhar Arumugam, Junfei Wei, Danielle Ward, David Abraham, Sara Lustigman, Bin Zhan, Thomas R. Klei

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Vaccination of Mongolian gerbils with Brugia malayi cysteine protease inhibitor-2 in which the amino acid Asn66 was mutated to Lys66 (Bm-CPI-2M) resulted in reduced parasite numbers of 48.6% and 48.0% at 42 and 90 days p.i. with B. malayi L3s. Fertility of female worms was also affected at 90 days p.i. In vitro killing of L3s observed in the presence of gerbil peritoneal exudate cells and anti-Bm-CPI-2M sera suggests antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity as a putative protective mechanism. These observations suggest that Bm-CPI-2M is a promising prophylactic and anti-fecundity vaccine candidate.

Modeling Of The Dorsal Gradient Across Species Reveals Interaction Between Embryo Morphology And Toll Signaling Pathway During Evolution, Priscilla Ambrosi, Juan Sebastian Chahda, Hannah R. Koslen, Hillel J. Chiel, Claudia Mieko Mizutani

Faculty Scholarship

Morphogenetic gradients are essential to allocate cell fates in embryos of varying sizes within and across closely related species. We previously showed that the maternal NF-κB/Dorsal (Dl) gradient has acquired different shapes in Drosophila species, which result in unequally scaled germ layers along the dorso-ventral axis and the repositioning of the neuroectodermal borders. Here we combined experimentation and mathematical modeling to investigate which factors might have contributed to the fast evolutionary changes of this gradient. To this end, we modified a previously developed model that employs differential equations of the main biochemical interactions of the Toll (Tl) signaling pathway, which …

Bdnf Maintains Adult Taste Innervation And Is Required For Taste Nerve Regeneration After Injury., Lingbin Meng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) is required for the gustatory neuron survival,target innervation, and taste bud maintenance during development. However, whether BDNF has any function in the adult gustatory system in normal conditions or after nerve injury is unclear. To address these issues, I inducibly removed BDNF in all cells expressing BDNF in adult mice. In the experimental animals, Bdnf expression decreased to 5% of control mice in the lingual epithelium and geniculate ganglion (p< 0.01) at both two weeks and ten weeks after tamoxifen administration. I found no effect on taste bud morphology at four weeks following Bdnf gene deletion. However, ten weeks following Bdnf gene deletion, P2X3-positive and TUJ1-positive gustatory innervation to individual taste buds was reduced by nearly half (each with p < 0.01) and both taste bud volume and taste cell number decreased 30% (each with p< 0.01). These experiments demonstrate that BDNF is required for maintenance of normal levels of taste innervation and normal taste bud morphology in adulthood. In addition, taste cells expressing PLCß2 (phospholipase C ß2), a marker for taste cells that respond to sweet, bitter and umami, did not decrease after Bdnf gene deletion in the adult. Thus, the missing taste cells are of another type. This indicates that taste cell loss is not uniform across the various taste cell types, even if nearly all taste cell types receive the P2X3 and TUJ1 innervation. Since BDNF is required for initial innervation of the taste system and supports taste bud innervation and size in adulthood, it could also be required for nerve reinnervation after injury. To determine if Bdnf is still expressed following nerve section, the chorda tympani nerve (taste nerve) was sectioned and Bdnf level was detected with Real Time RT-PCR. Bdnf continued to be expressed at normal levels from two days to two months post-surgery in both geniculate ganglion and tongue epithelium. Therefore, BDNF could be involved with chorda tympani regeneration. To determine if this was the case, the Bdnf gene was deleted in adult inducible transgenic mice (under the control of a Ubiquitin promoter) two weeks before chorda tympani nerve section. Taste bud number was reduced by half in all genotypes at two weeks post-surgery (p < 0.01). For the remaining taste buds, gustatory innervation was nearly gone with only a little innervation from the trigeminal nerve remaining in the taste bud (p < 0.01). Taste bud volume (p < 0.01) and taste cell number (p< 0.01) were reduced by half for both control and experimental genotypes. Eight weeks post-surgery, taste bud number recovered in mice without Bdnf gene deletion, but did not recover in mice following Bdnf gene deletion (p < 0.01). Gustatory nerve innervation returned in 70% of the taste buds in control mice (p< 0.01). For those reinnervated taste buds, both taste bud volume and taste cell number increased to normal levels. However, in mice lacking the Bdnf gene, gustatory fibers only reinnervated 7.8% of the taste buds (p < 0.01); for most uninnervated taste buds, both taste bud volume and taste cell number remained small. These experiments demonstrate that BDNF is crucial for promoting regeneration of gustatory nerve fibers in adulthood. Following gustatory nerve section, considerable adult plasticity has been observed on the contralateral side including enlarged taste buds with more cells (Guagliardo and Hill, 2007). To determine if this anatomical change was associated with alter Bdnf expression. I examined Bdnf level in the geniculate ganglion and tongue epithelium on the contralateral side following chorda tympani nerve section. Results showed Bdnf expression increased two fold at two weeks post-surgery in geniculate ganglion on the contralateral side (p < 0.05), indicating BDNF may involve with the observed plastic changes. To determine if the increase in taste bud size was associated with increased innervation and/or regulated by BDNF, the Bdnf gene was then deleted in inducible knockout mice before nerve surgery, and taste bud size and amount of innervation were measured on the contralateral side. The results showed taste bud volume, taste cell number and a marker for nerve fibers all increased on the contralateral side in mice without Bdnf gene deletion at eight weeks post-surgery. This indicates that larger taste buds could be supported by increased TUJ1 positive fibers from trigeminal nerve. In addition, in mice lacking Bdnf, taste bud volume, taste cell number and innervation did not increase on the contralateral side after surgery, which indicates that Bdnf may contribute to larger taste buds on the contralateral side following nerve section by supporting increased innervation to the larger taste buds.

Gate Monte Carlo Simulations In A Cloud Computing Environment, Blake Austin Rowedder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The GEANT4-based GATE is a unique and powerful Monte Carlo (MC) platform, which provides a single code library allowing the simulation of specific medical physics applications, e.g. PET, SPECT, CT, radiotherapy, and hadron therapy. However, this rigorous yet flexible platform is used only sparingly in the clinic due to its lengthy calculation time. By accessing the powerful computational resources of a cloud computing environment, GATE's runtime can be significantly reduced to clinically feasible levels without the sizable investment of a local high performance cluster. This study investigated a reliable and efficient execution of GATE MC simulations using a commercial cloud …

Vaccines To Combat River Blindness: Expression, Selection And Formulation Of Vaccines Against Infection With Onchocerca Volvulus In A Mouse Model., Jessica A. Hess, Bin Zhan, Sandra Bonne-Annee, Jessica M. Deckman, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Peter J. Hotez, Thomas R R. Klei, Sara Lustigman, David Abraham

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Human onchocerciasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by Onchocerca volvulus and an important cause of blindness and chronic disability in the developing world. Although mass drug administration of ivermectin has had a profound effect on control of the disease, additional tools are critically needed including the need for a vaccine against onchocerciasis. The objectives of the present study were to: (i) select antigens with known vaccine pedigrees as components of a vaccine; (ii) produce the selected vaccine antigens under controlled conditions, using two expression systems and in one laboratory and (iii) evaluate their vaccine efficacy using a single immunisation …

The Effect Of Acute Lps-Induced Immune Activation And Brain Insulin Signaling Disruption In A Diabetic Model Of Alzheimer's Disease, Andrew Scott Murtishaw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder marked by progressive cognitive impairments and pathological hallmarks that include amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and neuronal loss. Several well-known mutations exist that lead to early-onset familial AD (fAD). However, these cases only account for a small percentage of total AD cases. The vast majority of AD cases are sporadic in origin (sAD) and are less clearly influenced by a single mutation but rather some combination of genetic and environmental risk.

The etiology of sAD remains unclear but numerous risk factors have been identified that increase the chance of developing AD. Among these risk …

Alternating Current And Infrared Produce An Onset-Free Reversible Nerve Block, Emilie H. Lothet, Kevin L. Kilgore, Niloy Bhadra, Narendra Bhadra, Tina Vrabec, Yves T. Wang, Michael W. Jenkins, Hillel J. Chiel

Faculty Scholarship

Nerve block can eliminate spasms and chronic pain. Kilohertz frequency alternating current (KHFAC) produces a safe and reversible nerve block. However, KHFAC-induced nerve block is associated with an undesirable onset response. Optical inhibition using infrared (IR) laser light can produce nerve block without an onset response, but heats nerves. Combining KHFAC with IR inhibition [alternating current and infrared (ACIR)] produces a rapidly reversible nerve block without an onset response. ACIR can be used to rapidly and reversibly provide onset-free nerve block in the unmyelinated nerves of the marine mollusk Aplysia californica and may have significant advantages over either modality alone. …

Lineage-Specific Interface Proteins Match Up The Cell Cycle And Differentiation In Embryo Stem Cells, Angela Re, Christopher T. Workman, Levi Waldron, Alessandro Quattrone, Søren Brunak

Publications and Research

The shortage of molecular information on cell cycle changes along embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation prompts an in silico approach, which may provide a novel way to identify candidate genes or mechanisms acting in coordinating the two programs. We analyzed germ layer specific gene expression changes during the cell cycle and ESC differentiation by combining four human cell cycle transcriptome profiles with thirteen in vitro human ESC differentiation studies. To detect cross-talk mechanisms we then integrated the transcriptome data that displayed differential regulation with protein interaction data. A new class of non-transcriptionally regulated genes was identified, encoding proteins which interact …

Application Of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Based Metabolomics To Study The Central Metabolism Of Staphylococci, Bo Zhang

Department of Chemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Metabolomics studies the collection of small molecules (metabolites) involved in enzymatically catalyzed reactions, cell signaling and cellular structure. Perturbations in metabolite concentrations have been used to reflect the activity of corresponding enzymes or proteins. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a well-known approach for the structure determination of biological macromolecules. Alternatively, NMR has recently been established as a valuable tool of metabolomics, in which NMR spectral signals correlate small molecules with cellular activities. This has been accomplished through the chemometric analysis of high-throughput one dimensional ¹H spectra (metabolic fingerprinting) and quantitative metabolite identification based on two dimensional ¹H, …

Intrinsic Innate Immunity Fails To Control Herpes Simplex Virus And Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Replication In Sensory Neurons And Fibroblasts, Pamela C. Rosato, David A. Leib

Dartmouth Scholarship

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) establishes lifelong latent infections in the sensory neurons of the trigeminal ganglia (TG), wherein it retains the capacity to reactivate. The interferon (IFN)-driven antiviral response is critical for the control of HSV-1 acute replication. We therefore sought to further investigate this response in TG neurons cultured from adult mice deficient in a variety of IFN signaling components. Parallel experiments were also performed in fibroblasts isolated concurrently. We showed that HSV-1 replication was comparable in wild-type (WT) and IFN signaling-deficient neurons and fibroblasts. Unexpectedly, a similar pattern was observed for the IFN-sensitive vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). …

Characterizing The Response Of Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae Species To The Application Of A Phage Cocktail, Steven Liu

Symposium

Project Summary: The application of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections is known as phage therapy, which takes advantage of bacteriophage’s natural ability to infect and lyse bacterial hosts. Phages have been shaped by billions of years of evolution to be highly specialized deliverers of bactericidal agents to the cytoplasm of their target bacteria. Ever since discovery of bacteriophages in 1915, phage therapy was recognized as a potentially powerful tool for eliminating bacterial infections. The effectiveness of phage therapy can be increased by creating a mixture of multiple phages to target a wider variety of bacterial strains. Furthermore, phage therapy has …

The 24th Annual Research Conference Abstract Booklet, Nikki Lynn Rogers

University of Gondar Research Conferences

Staff members, postgraduate and senior undergraduate students of the University, invited guests and speakers participated in the conference. The annual conference of the University is meant to share experiences in research activities among juniors and seniors, staff and students, and invited guests. It is also meant to motivate students and young faculty to engage in research and also to initiate and strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations. The findings of the studies and the resulting recommendations are expected to be used in solving the diverse societal problems we have been facing.

Research activities at the University of Gondar are primarily aimed at solving …

Development And Application Of Novel Conformation-Specific Monoclonal Antibodies For Parkinson’S Disease Pathology., Nour Khaled Majbour

Accounting Dissertations

An abundance of genetic, biochemical and histopathological evidence suggests that the formartion of α-synuclein (α-syn) protein deposits is an important, and likely seminal, step in the development of several important neurodegenerative diseases, the so-called synucleinopathies, including Parkinson’s Disease (PD), intensive research, to date, the only accepted diagnosis for PD is based on clinical criteria. α-syn conversion from soluble monomers into oligomers or fibrils represents a crucial step in synucleinopathies pathogenesis; however, the exact mechanism underlying the cellular aggregation has not been fully elucidated. A growing body of evidence suggests that α-syn soluble oligomers, rather than mature fibrils, are the neurotoxic …

Extracellular Traps Are Associated With Human And Mouse Neutrophil And Macrophage Mediated Killing Of Larval Strongyloides Stercoralis., Sandra Bonne-Annee, Laura A. Kerepesi, Jessica A. Hess, Jordan Wesolowski, Fabienne Paumet, James B. Lok, Thomas J. Nolan, David Abraham

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Neutrophils are multifaceted cells that are often the immune system's first line of defense. Human and murine cells release extracellular DNA traps (ETs) in response to several pathogens and diseases. Neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation is crucial to trapping and killing extracellular pathogens. Aside from neutrophils, macrophages and eosinophils also release ETs. We hypothesized that ETs serve as a mechanism of ensnaring the large and highly motile helminth parasite Strongyloides stercoralis thereby providing a static target for the immune response. We demonstrated that S. stercoralis larvae trigger the release of ETs by human neutrophils and macrophages. Analysis of NETs revealed …