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Commonwealth Times 2010-02-01

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Ink (2010-02)

Ink, 2008-

The student-run features magazine covering the fashion, art, music and culture worlds at VCU and in Richmond. Published annually in print and updated regularly online.

Commonwealth Times 2010-01-28

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Commonwealth Times 2010-01-25

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Regulation Of Telomerase Expression In Stem Cell Reprogramming, Patrick Sachs

Theses and Dissertations

A great need exists for an abundant, easily accessible source of patient-specific cells that will function for use in regenerative medicine. One promising source is the adult stem cell derived from adipose tissue (ASCs). Isolated from waste lipoaspiration, these cells could serve as a readily available source for the regeneration of damaged tissues. To further define the biology of ASCs, we have isolated multiple cell strains from different adipose tissue sources, indicating wide-spread distribution in the body. We find that a widely used set of cell surface markers fail to distinguish ASCs from normal fibroblasts. However, our ASC isolations are …

Commonwealth Times 2010-01-21

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

Hope And Worry Among Mothers Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder Or Down Syndrome, Paula Ogston

Theses and Dissertations

The present study used quantitative and qualitative methodology to examine mothers’ hope and worry. Participants were recruited via autism and Down syndrome organizations. Two hundred fifty-nine mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders (n = 199) and Down syndrome (n = 60) responded to the online questionnaire. Most mothers were white (n = 230); eighty-seven percent were married and their average age was 39.06 years. Findings support previous research suggesting that hope is a protective factor against psychological distress: mothers with higher hope reported lower dispositional worry. Mothers were asked to describe what they worried about when they woke up …

The Effect Of Implicit Stereotypes On The Physical Performance In Older Adults, Gabriele R. Moriello

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how stereotypes affect physical performance in older adults. A multigroup pretest post test design was utilized to determine whether implicit activation of positive or negative stereotypes has an effect on physical performance. Ninety six community dwelling older adults 65 years of age or older were included in the sample. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: exposure to positive stereotypes of aging, exposure to negative stereotypes of aging, or a control condition. In order to simulate how older adults are exposed to stereotypes in real world settings, participants were primed …

Schizophrenia Gene Networks And Pathways And Their Applications For Novel Candidate Gene Selection, Jingchun Sun, Peilin Jia, Ayman H. Fanous, Edwin Van Den Oord, Xiangning Chen, Brien P. Riley, Richard L. Amdur, Kenneth S. Kendler, Zhongming Zhao

Psychiatry Publications

Background

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a heritable, complex mental disorder. We have seen limited success in finding causal genes for schizophrenia from numerous conventional studies. Protein interaction network and pathway-based analysis may provide us an alternative and effective approach to investigating the molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We selected a list of schizophrenia candidate genes (SZGenes) using a multi-dimensional evidence-based approach. The global network properties of proteins encoded by these SZGenes were explored in the context of the human protein interactome while local network properties were investigated by comparing SZ-specific and cancer-specific networks that were extracted from the human interactome. …

Metabolic Oscillations In Pancreatic Islets Depend On The Intracellular Ca2+ Level But Not Ca2+ Oscillations, Matthew J. Merrins, Bernard Fendler, Min Zhang, Arthur Sherman, Richard Bertram, Leslie S. Satin

Pharmacology and Toxicology Publications

Abstract

Plasma insulin is pulsatile and reflects oscillatory insulin secretion from pancreatic islets. Although both islet Ca²⁺ and metabolism oscillate, there is disagreement over their interrelationship, and whether they can be dissociated. In some models of islet oscillations, Ca²⁺ must oscillate for metabolic oscillations to occur, whereas in others metabolic oscillations can occur without Ca²⁺ oscillations. We used NAD(P)H fluorescence to assay oscillatory metabolism in mouse islets stimulated by 11.1 mM glucose. After abolishing Ca²⁺ oscillations with 200 μM diazoxide, we observed that oscillations in NAD(P)H persisted in 34% of islets (n = 101). …

A Transposon In Comt Generates Mrna Variants And Causes Widespread Expression And Behavioral Differences Among Mice, Zhengsheng Li, Megan K. Mulligan, Xusheng Wang, Michael F. Miles, Lu Lu, Robert W. Williams

Pharmacology and Toxicology Publications

Background

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a key enzyme responsible for the degradation of dopamine and norepinephrine. COMT activity influences cognitive and emotional states in humans and aggression and drug responses in mice. This study identifies the key sequence variant that leads to differences in Comt mRNA and protein levels among mice, and that modulates synaptic function and pharmacological and behavioral traits.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We examined Comt expression in multiple tissues in over 100 diverse strains and several genetic crosses. Differences in expression map back to Comt and are generated by a 230 nt insertion of a B2 short interspersed element (B2 …

Does Left Atrial Volume Affect Exercise Capacity Of Heart Transplant Recipients?, Mohammad Abdul-Waheed, Mian Yousuf, Stephanie J. Kelly, Ross Arena, Jun Ying, Tehmina Naz, Stephanie H. Dunlap, Yukitaka Shizukuda

Physical Therapy Publications

Background

Heart transplant (HT) recipients demonstrate limited exercise capacity compared to normal patients, very likely for multiple reasons. In this study we hypothesized that left atrial volume (LAV), which is known to predict exercise capacity in patients with various cardiac pathologies including heart failure and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is associated with limited exercise capacity of HT recipients.

Methods

We analyzed 50 patients [age 57 ±2 (SEM), 12 females] who had a post-HT echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPX) within 9 weeks time at clinic follow up. The change in LAV (ΔLAV) was also computed as the difference in LAV from the …

A Statistical Method For Excluding Non-Variable Cpg Sites In High-Throughput Dna Methylation Profiling, Hailong Meng, Andrew R. Joyce, Daniel E. Adkins, Yankai Jia, Guoya Li, Tapas K. Sengupta, Barbara K. Zedler, E, Lenn Murrelle, Edwin Jcg Van Den Oord

Biomarker Research and Personalized Medicine Publications

Background

High-throughput DNA methylation arrays are likely to accelerate the pace of methylation biomarker discovery for a wide variety of diseases. A potential problem with a standard set of probes measuring the methylation status of CpG sites across the whole genome is that many sites may not show inter-individual methylation variation among the biosamples for the disease outcome being studied. Inclusion of these so-called "non-variable sites" will increase the risk of false discoveries and reduce statistical power to detect biologically relevant methylation markers.

Results

We propose a method to estimate the proportion of non-variable CpG sites and eliminate those sites …

Ethnicity And Health Disparities In Alcohol Research, Karen G. Chartier, Raul Caetano

Social Work Publications

Recent advances in alcohol research continue to build our understanding of alcohol consumption and related consequences for U.S. ethnic minority groups. National surveys show variations across ethnicities in drinking, alcohol use disorders, alcohol problems, and treatment use. Higher rates of high-risk drinking among ethnic minorities are reported for Native Americans and Hispanics, although within-ethnic group differences (e.g., gender, age-group, and other subpopulations) also are evident for ethnicities. Whites and Native Americans have a greater risk for alcohol use disorders relative to other ethnic groups. However, once alcohol dependence occurs, Blacks and Hispanics experience higher rates than Whites of recurrent or …

Als Spinal Neurons Show Varied And Reduced Mtdna Gene Copy Numbers And Increased Mtdna Gene Deletions, Paula M. Keeney, James P. Bennett

Neurology Publications

Background Spinal cord neurons of ALS patients demonstrate reduced cytochrome oxidase histochemical activity, and ALS spinal cord tissues have increased mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) point mutations and depleted mtDNA levels. It is presently unknown whether mtDNA abnormalities are present in single human ALS neurons.

Results Using laser capture microdissection (LCM) we isolated several hundred individual anterior spinal neurons from unfixed, frozen sections of 10 ALS and 7 age-matched CTL cervical spinal cords. DNA from each individual neuron was analyzed with multiplex qPCR for ND2, CO3, and ND4, three mitochondrial DNA genes encoding respiratory proteins. Scatterplots of individual spinal neuron results showed …

Chemotherapy In Conjoint Aging-Tumor Systems: Some Simple Models For Addressing Coupled Aging-Cancer Dynamics, Mitra S. Feizabadi, Tarynn M. Witten

Study of Biological Complexity Publications

Background

In this paper we consider two approaches to examining the complex dynamics of conjoint aging-cancer cellular systems undergoing chemotherapeutic intervention. In particular, we focus on the effect of cells growing conjointly in a culture plate as a precursor to considering the larger multi-dimensional models of such systems. Tumor cell growth is considered from both the logistic and the Gompertzian case, while normal cell growth of fibroblasts (WI-38 human diploid fibroblasts) is considered as logistic only.

Results

We demonstrate, in a simple approach, how the interdependency of different cell types in a tumor, together with specifications of for treatment, can …

Pooled Protein Immunization For Identification Of Cell Surface Antigens In Streptococcus Sanguinis, Xiuchun Ge, Todd Kitten, Cindy L. Munro, Daniel H. Conrad, Ping Xu

Philips Institute for Oral Health Research Publications

Background

Available bacterial genomes provide opportunities for screening vaccines by reverse vaccinology. Efficient identification of surface antigens is required to reduce time and animal cost in this technology. We developed an approach to identify surface antigens rapidly inStreptococcus sanguinis, a common infective endocarditis causative species.

Methods and Findings

We applied bioinformatics for antigen prediction and pooled antigens for immunization. Forty-seven surface-exposed proteins including 28 lipoproteins and 19 cell wall-anchored proteins were chosen based on computer algorithms and comparative genomic analyses. Eight proteins among these candidates and 2 other proteins were pooled together to immunize rabbits. The antiserum reacted …

Virginia Commonwealth University Commencement Program [2010], Virginia Commonwealth University

VCU Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Transcriptomic Analysis Of The Venom Gland Of The Red-Headed Krait (Bungarus Flaviceps) Using Expressed Sequence Tags, Ang Swee Siang, Robin Doley, Freek J. Vonk, R. Manjunatha Kini

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Background

The Red-headed krait (Bungarus flaviceps, Squamata: Serpentes: Elapidae) is a medically important venomous snake that inhabits South-East Asia. Although the venoms of most species of the snake genus Bungarus have been well characterized, a detailed compositional analysis of B. flaviceps is currently lacking.

Results

Here, we have sequenced 845 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the venom gland of a B. flaviceps. Of the transcripts, 74.8% were putative toxins; 20.6% were cellular; and 4.6% were unknown. The main venom protein families identified were three-finger toxins (3FTxs), Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors (including chain B of β-bungarotoxin), phospholipase A …

Increased Interleukin-6 Activity Associated With Painful Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy In Women After Breast Cancer Treatment, Angela R. Starkweather

School of Nursing Publications

Accumulating evidence suggests that neural-immune interactions are involved in the development of painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, particularly through the increased release of proinflammatory cytokines. The purpose of this study was used to evaluate levels of interleukin [IL]-6 and IL-6 receptors in women with breast cancer after the conclusion of chemotherapy who either had painful symptoms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN group, ) or did not experience CIPN symptoms (Comparison group, ). CIPN participants had significantly higher levels of IL-6 and soluble IL-6R (sIL-6R) compared to women without CIPN symptoms ( for both). In addition, soluble gp130, which blocks the IL-6/sIL-6R …

Immunomodulatory Strategies Prevent The Development Of Autoimmune Emphysema, Masayuki Hanaoka, Mark R. Nicolls, Andrew P. Fontenot, Donatas Kraskauskas, Douglas G. Mack, Adelheid Kratzer, Jonas Salys, Vita Kraskauskiene, Nana Burns, Norbert F. Voelkel, Laimute Taraseviciene-Stewart

Internal Medicine Publications

Background

The presence of anti-endothelial cell antibodies and pathogenic T cells may reflect an autoimmune component in the pathogenesis of emphysema. Whether immune modulatory strategies can protect against the development of emphysema is not known.

Methods

Sprague Dawley rats were immunized with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to induce autoimmune emphysema and treated with intrathymic HUVEC-injection and pristane. Measurements of alveolar airspace enlargement, cytokine levels, immuno histochemical, western blot analysis, and T cell repertoire of the lung tissue were performed.

Results

The immunomodulatory strategies protected lungs against cell death as demonstrated by reduced numbers of TUNEL and active caspase-3 …

Rifaximin Treatment In Hepatic Encephalopathy, Nathan M. Bass, Kevin D. Mullen, Arun J. Sanyal, Fred Poordad, Guy Neff, Carroll B. Leevy, Samuel Sigal, Muhammad Y. Sheikh, Kimberly Beavers, Todd Frederick, Lewis Teperman, Donald Hillebrand, Shirley Huang, Kunal Merchant, Audrey Shaw, Enoch Bortey, William P. Forbes

Internal Medicine Publications

Background

Hepatic encephalopathy is a chronically debilitating complication of hepatic cirrhosis. The efficacy of rifaximin, a minimally absorbed antibiotic, is well documented in the treatment of acute hepatic encephalopathy, but its efficacy for prevention of the disease has not been established.

Methods

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we randomly assigned 299 patients who were in remission from recurrent hepatic encephalopathy resulting from chronic liver disease to receive either rifaximin, at a dose of 550 mg twice daily (140 patients), or placebo (159 patients) for 6 months. The primary efficacy end point was the time to the first breakthrough episode …

Pioglitazone, Vitamin E, Or Placebo For Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis, Arun J. Sanyal, Naga Chalasani, Kris V. Kowdley, Arthur Mccollough, Anna Mae Diehl, Nathan M. Bass, Brent A. Neuschwander-Tetri, Joel E. Lavine, James Tonascia, Aynur Unalp, Mark Van Natta, Jeanne Clark, Elizabeth M. Brunt, David E. Kleiner, Jay H. Hoofnagle, Patricia R. Robuck

Internal Medicine Publications

Background

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis is a common liver disease that can progress to cirrhosis. Currently, there is no established treatment for this disease.

Methods

We randomly assigned 247 adults with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and without diabetes to receive pioglitazone at a dose of 30 mg daily (80 subjects), vitamin E at a dose of 800 IU daily (84 subjects), or placebo (83 subjects), for 96 weeks. The primary outcome was an improvement in histologic features of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, as assessed with the use of a composite of standardized scores for steatosis, lobular inflammation, hepatocellular ballooning, and fibrosis. Given the two planned primary …

Nuclear Expression Of Klf6 Tumor Suppressor Factor Is Highly Associated With Overexpression Of Erbb2 Oncoprotein In Ductal Breast Carcinomas, Ricardo C. Gehrau, Diego S. D'Astolfo, Catherine I. Dumur, Jose L. Bocco, Nicolas P. Koritschoner

Pathology Publications

Background

Krüppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) is an evolutionarily conserved and ubiquitously expressed protein that belongs to the mammalian Sp1/KLF family of transcriptional regulators. Though KLF6 is a transcription factor and harbors a nuclear localization signal it is not systematically located in the nucleus but it was detected in the cytoplasm of several tissues and cell lines. Hence, it is still not fully settled whether the tumor suppressor function of KLF6 is directly associated with its ability to regulate target genes.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In this study we analyzed KLF6 expression and sub-cellular distribution by immunohistochemistry in several normal and tumor tissues …

On Becoming Invisible, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

Age or impairment tends to render us less likely to be noticed. We can readjust how we see those becoming invisible.

Filling The Gap, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

There is need for multiple initiatives focusing on the pipeline from professional undergraduate education through the continuing education of current practitioners, in order to make some dent in the looming shortfall of geriatric health care providers. It is particularly gratifying to announce that Virginia has been awarded federal funding of a Geriatric Education Center (VGEC). The overall goal of the VGEC is to improve the training of health professionals in geriatrics.

The Blank Tablet Of Aging, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

The 16th annual conference of the Virginia Coalition for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (VCPEA) will include the basics of geriatric crisis assessment, depression and suicide among older adults; alcohol and medication misuse; older prisoners; training faith and community-based leaders to respond to domestic violence in later life; and brain injury in later life as a precipitant or a consequence of mistreatment. The Area Planning and Services Committee (APSC) conference will recognize the values, opportunities, and challenges associated with growing older with lifelong disabilities. These two conferences symbolize how we as a people can celebrate the good and confront the …

Aging As An Option, Edward F. Ansello

Director's Editorials from Age in Action

Sometimes people treat aging as if it were an option or a discretionary exercise. Aging is neither a fad nor an option but a bedrock reality that should be constantly under consideration, especially by those charged with protecting the common good. We need to remember that we should not treat aging and aging-related research, training, and services as an option.

Aging And The Behavioral Problems Of Brain Injury, Paul F. Aravich, Marylin Copeland

Case Studies from Age in Action

Educational Objectives

1. List the various classes of brain injury.

2. Identify cognitive and emotional problems as among the most common and disabling complications of brain injury.

3. Assess challenges to successful aging with a brain injury.

4. Examine the consequences of inadequate systems of care for the challenging behaviors produced by brain injury.

Senior Meal Programs: Feeding A Crowd With Local Foods, Gordon Walker, Elyse Thierry

Case Studies from Age in Action

Educational Objectives

1. Examine reasons for an institutional meal program to consider incorporating local food.

2. Identify potential community partners who might assist in moving such a program forward and the mutual benefits.

3. Describe the possible changes that an institution’s local food program can foster in the community at large.