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Caspase-3 Mediates The Pathogenic Effect Of Yersinia Pestis Yopm In Liver Of C57bl/6 Mice And Contributes To Yopm's Function In Spleen, Zhan Ye, Amanda A. Gorman, Annette M. Uittenbogaard, Tanya Myers-Morales, Alan M. Kaplan, Donald A. Cohen, Susan C. Straley

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

The virulence protein YopM of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis has different dominant effects in liver and spleen. Previous studies focused on spleen, where YopM inhibits accumulation of inflammatory dendritic cells. In the present study we focused on liver, where PMN function may be directly undermined by YopM without changes in inflammatory cell numbers in the initial days of infection, and foci of inflammation are easily identified. Mice were infected with parent and ΔyopM-1 Y. pestis KIM5, and effects of YopM were assessed by immunohistochemistry and determinations of bacterial viable numbers in organs. The bacteria were found …

On Individual, Sex And Age Differentiation Of Indian House Crow (Corvus Splendens) Call: A Preliminary Study In Potohar, Pakistan, Waqas Hameed, Inayat Ullah, Safia Janjua, Fakhar -I- Abbas, Afsar Mian

Journal of Bioresource Management

Considering importance of acoustics studies in population biology, 500 calls of the Indian House Crow (Corvus splendens) were recorded in morning - mid-afternoon hours (January-February, 2009) from 23 sites of urban areas of Potahar (Punjab, Pakistan). Calls were recorded using Sony CFS 1030 S sound records (sampling rate = 48 KHz) and edited using Sound Analysis Pro (Version 1.02). software using FFT method rate 50%, data window 9.27 ms, advanced window 1.36 ms. Through editing of calls, we selected 60 (37 ♂♂, 17 ♀♀, 6 Juvenile ♂♂) good quality spectrograms for detailed analysis. Spectrograms were characterized by rapid frequency modulations …

Evidence For Finely-Regulated Asynchronous Growth Of Toxoplasma Gondii Cysts Based On Data-Driven Model Selection, Adam M. Sullivan, Xiaopeng Zhao, Yasuhiro Suzuki, Eri Ochiai, Stephen Crutcher, Michael A. Gilchrist

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Toxoplasma gondii establishes a chronic infection by forming cysts preferentially in the brain. This chronic infection is one of the most common parasitic infections in humans and can be reactivated to develop life-threatening toxoplasmic encephalitis in immunocompromised patients. Host-pathogen interactions during the chronic infection include growth of the cysts and their removal by both natural rupture and elimination by the immune system. Analyzing these interactions is important for understanding the pathogenesis of this common infection. We developed a differential equation framework of cyst growth and employed Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) to determine the growth and removal functions that best describe …

Effect Of Variable Transmission Rate On The Dynamics Of Hiv In Sub-Saharan Africa, Diego F. Cuadros, Phillip H. Crowley, Ben Augustine, Sarah L. Stewart, Gisela García-Ramos

Biology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: The cause of the high HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa is incompletely understood, with heterosexual penile-vaginal transmission proposed as the main mechanism. Heterosexual HIV transmission has been estimated to have a very low probability; but effects of cofactors that vary in space and time may substantially alter this pattern.

METHODS: To test the effect of individual variation in the HIV infectiousness generated by co-infection, we developed and analyzed a mathematical sexual network model that simulates the behavioral components of a population from Malawi, as well as the dynamics of HIV and the co-infection effect caused by other infectious diseases, …

The Marine Sponge Metabolite Mycothiazole: A Novel Prototype Mitochondrial Complex I Inhibitor., J Brian Morgan, Fakhri Mahdi, Yang Liu, Veena Coothankandaswamy, Mika B. Jekabsons, Tyler A. Johnson, Koneni V. Sashidhara, Phillip Crews, Dale G. Nagle, Yu-Dong Zhou

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

A natural product chemistry-based approach was applied to discover small-molecule inhibitors of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). A Petrosaspongia mycofijiensis marine sponge extract yielded mycothiazole (1), a solid tumor selective compound with no known mechanism for its cell line-dependent cytotoxic activity. Compound 1 inhibited hypoxic HIF-1 signaling in tumor cells (IC(50) 1nM) that correlated with the suppression of hypoxia-stimulated tumor angiogenesis in vitro. However, 1 exhibited pronounced neurotoxicity in vitro. Mechanistic studies revealed that 1 selectively suppresses mitochondrial respiration at complex I (NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase). Unlike rotenone, MPP(+), annonaceous acetogenins, piericidin A, and other complex I inhibitors, mycothiazole is a mixed polyketide/peptide-derived compound …

Differences In Peripheral Noradrenergic Function Among Actively Drinking And Abstinent Alcohol-Dependent Individuals., Ashwin A. Patkar, Charles A. Marsden, Prakash C. Naik, David A. Kendall, Raman Gopalakrishnan, Michael J. Vergare, Stephen P. Weinstein

Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior Faculty Papers

We examined whether excessive alcohol consumption was related to changes in plasma levels of noradrenaline (NA) and whether these changes recover following abstinence. We also explored whether there were differences in NA levels between Type I and Type II alcoholics and controls during active drinking and abstinence. Plasma concentrations of NA were determined in (1) 27 Caucasian men with alcohol dependence who were regularly drinking (active drinkers) within 24 hours of hospitalization, (2) 29 Caucasian alcohol-dependent men who were in remission (abstinent for a minimum of three months), and (3) 28 race- and gender-matched healthy controls. NA concentrations were significantly …