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A New Hypothesis Describing The Pathogenesis Of Oral Mucosal Injury Associated With The Mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (Mtor) Inhibitors, Alessandro Villa

All Publications

It has been 24 years since rapamycin (sirolimus) was approved to mitigate solid organ transplant rejection and 16 years since mTOR (mammalian/mechanistic target of rapamycin) inhibitors reached patients as a cancer therapy. While the clinical benefits of mTOR inhibitors (mTORi) are robust, so too are their toxicities. Among the most common issues is the development of ulcers of the oral mucosa (mTOR-inhibitor associated stomatitis; mIAS). These lesions are distinct from those of other anti-cancer agents, occur with regularity, and impact patient outcomes. mIAS' pathogenesis has been the subject of speculation, and its similar presentation to recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) has …

Draft Genome Sequences Of Lactobacillus Paragasseri Strains Isolated From The Female Urinary Tract, Briana Jackson, Natalie Stegman, Cerena Sedano, Maria Steiling, Catherine Putonti

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Lactobacillus species are often associated with a healthy environment in the female urogenital tract. Here, we present the draft genome assemblies for three L. paragasseri strains isolated from voided urine samples from females with type II diabetes; two of the strains were collected from the same individual 3 months apart.

This Land Is Our Land: Tree Planting And Environmental Construction On The Nebraska Prairie, Megan Sue Launchbaugh

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

In 1895 the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill officially adopting the nickname the “Tree Planter’s State” on account of the founding of Arbor Day, the Timber Culture Act of 1873, and the “millions of trees planted by early settlers as windbreaks, woodlots, and orchards.” Since that time, Arbor Day and the Timber Culture Act have been the subject of countless historical studies, while the subject of settler tree planting remains largely unexplored. This thesis seeks to begin establishing a place for the stories, experiences, and legacy of settler tree planting within the regional narrative by examining the cultural, physical, and …

Interpretable Deep Learning Via Sparse Representation For Protein-Dna Interactions, Shane Kuei-Hsien Chu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

A central theme in modeling in regulatory genomics is to consider what representation is suited for DNA sequences that give the most helpful information. Traditionally, there are k-mers, position-weight-matrices, parametric statistical models like Hidden Markov models, and, more recently, deep neural network. In this work, we introduce sparse representations as a principled framework for problems in regulatory genomics. We show that sparse representation is a framework that allows us to build techniques to answer challenging inferential questions in regulatory genomics. Leveraging sparse representations, we reveal that gapped and long motifs are prevalent in in-vivo datasets like ChIP-Seq, often corresponding to …

Data-Driven Approaches To System Analysis And Control Design, Minh Vu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, we study the integration of data and computational methods in nonlinear system analysis and control design. In the first part of this thesis, we develop a constructive framework for designing a set of candidate functions from data such that desired control-theoretic conditions are satisfied. This new design framework is aimed at offering a general data-driven approach to a number of problems in systems and control, including stability analysis, stabilization, and safety-critical control designs. The second half of the thesis focuses on the specific problem of designing a point-to-point steering, which is often considered in many practical control …

Divergent Self-Assembly Of Block Heterochiral Stereoisomer Arrays, Conor Louis O'Neill

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The autonomous organization of parts into ordered architectures, or biomolecular self-assembly, is an elementary natural process that defines and guides the construction and function of living organisms. This phenomenon has emerged as a potent tool for the creation of novel biomaterials, with peptide-based instances benefitting from intrinsic modularity, ease of de novo design and synthesis, biocompatibility, and chemical versatility. These properties enable methodical modifications that generate suprastructures with a wide variety of morphologies and functionalities, supporting a broad range of biomedical applications. Further, the chiral nature of amino acids permits synthesis of either left- or right-handed peptides; in recent years, …

The Development And Validation Of Novel Imaging Biomarkers For Uterine Contraction, Cervix And Placenta In Pregnancy, Wenjie Wu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Annually, nearly half a million neonates in the United States and 15 million globally are born preterm, defined as prior to 37 completed weeks of gestation. These births present elevated risks of neonatal mortality and long-term neurological deficits. The predominant obstetric precursors of preterm birth (PTB) include spontaneous preterm labor (45%), medically-indicated deliveries (30%), and preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM, 25%). Each precursor is associated with distinct physiological or structural alterations such as uterine contractions, placental dysfunction, or cervical insufficiency. Current methodologies for monitoring uterine contractions, such as intrauterine pressure catheters and electrohysterography, possess limitations in spatial resolution, coverage, …

Improving And Integrating Quantitative Single Cell Spatial Biology For Theranostic Medicine, Peng Lu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Disease states are the result of a complex interplay of many different cell types interacting in close proximity in the context of often heterogeneous tissues. Alpha particles are drawing intense research and clinical interest because of their potent cytotoxic effects and their short path lengths. Analyzing the dose distribution and tissue micro-environment for alpha therapy plays a key role in predicting the efficacy of this targeted radiotherapy. However, to date there have been no direct on-tissue analytical methods for alpha dose distributions and the corresponding tissue microenvironments. Therefore, we have developed a pipeline to overcome this limitation by utilizing quantitative …

The Mechanobiology Of Cell Plasticity, Yuan Hong

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The cell is a sophisticated machine, integrating chemical and physical inputs to decide upon the mechanobiological outputs that the body requires every second, in cardiomyocytes that make heartbeats, in fibroblasts that heal wounds, and in sarcomeres that contract muscles. Malfunction of mechanotransduction or mechanical inputs is implicated in diseases such as fibrosis, cancers, and cardiomyopathies, and a pressing quest is underway to unravel the intricacies of how mechanical force orchestrates the activation of cells. This dissertation explores these fundamental mechanisms of cell activation using integrated mathematical and engineered cell culture models. The work begins with the discovery that the directionality …

Variables Affecting The Extraction Of Antioxidants In Cold And Hot Brew Coffee: A Review, Brian Yust, Frank Wilkinson, Niny Rao

College of Life Sciences Faculty Papers

Coffee beans are a readily available, abundant source of antioxidants used worldwide. With the increasing interest in and consumption of coffee beverages globally, research into the production, preparation, and chemical profile of coffee has also increased in recent years. A wide range of variables such as roasting temperature, coffee grind size, brewing temperature, and brewing duration can have a significant impact on the extractable antioxidant content of coffee products. While there is no single standard method for measuring all of the antioxidants found in coffee, multiple methods which introduce the coffee product to a target molecule or reagent can be …

Embedding Patient Input In Outcome Measures For Long‐Term Disease‐Modifying Parkinson Disease Trials, C Gonzalez‐Robles, Michèle Bartlett, Matthew Burnell, Caroline S. Clarke, Shlomi Haar, Michele T. Hu, Brook Huxford, Ashwani Jha, Michael Lawton, Alastair Noyce, Paola Piccini, Kuhan Pushparatnam, Lynn Rochester, Carroll Siu, Wamelen D Van, Ch Williams‐Gray, Marie Louise Zeissler, Henrik Zetterberg, Camille B. Carroll, Thomas Foltynie, Rimona S. Weil, Anette Schrag

Peninsula Medical School

Background Clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies in PD require valid and responsive primary outcome measures that are relevant to patients. Objectives The objective is to select a patient-centered primary outcome measure for disease-modification trials over three or more years. Methods Experts in Parkinson's disease (PD), statistics, and health economics and patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) representatives reviewed and discussed potential outcome measures. A larger PPIE group provided input on their key considerations for such an endpoint. Feasibility, clinimetric properties, and relevance to patients were assessed and synthesized. Results Although initial considerations favored the Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of …

Re-Visions: Examining Narratives Of Asian American Mental Health, Kenji Aoki

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This paper examines the intersection between Asian American mental health and resilience tropes. While research has acknowledged that Asian Americans have disparate mental health gaps regarding mental health stigma and how Asian American young adults are the only racial group in which suicide is their leading cause of death, there has been limited study that attempts to directly convey Asian American voices beyond broad statistical or cultural generalizations. To supplement ongoing research and Asian American livelihoods, this essay conjectures and attempts to illuminate the histories, mental illness, and health narratives of Asian Americans, the good, the bad, the ugly, the …

Memory, Politics, And Literary Imagination In Viet Thanh Nguyen’S The Refugees, Jian Zhu

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

Despite the official conclusion of the Vietnam War, the struggle for remembrance and recollection endures. Within the pages of The Refugees, Viet Thanh Nguyen offers a transnational lens through which to examine the formation and contestation of collective memories between the United States and Vietnam. Despite its military defeat, the United States appropriated anti-communist ideology during the Cold War era to assimilate the refugee community, leveraging a discourse of “freedom and democracy” as a means to reshape historical narratives. In stark contrast, Vietnam commemorated its revolutionary struggle against imperialism through the establishment of museums, statues, and public cemeteries within …

"Loving You No Matter What You Do": Ai's Dramatic Monologues, 1970s Asian American Feminisms, And Reproductive Justice, Catherine Irwin

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This essay makes visible the 1970s involvement of Asian American and Women of Color feminists in reproductive justice. Grounded in the Asian American feminist praxis of remembering, this essay analyzes how three dramatic monologues by the Asian American mixed-race poet Ai engage with the discourses of reproduce justice set forth by Asian American and Women of Color activists leading up to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Using an Asian American feminist lens, this paper argues that the speakers in Ai’s monologues utilize these discourses circulating about abortion and women’s health care to construct images of the treatment of dispossessed …

Using Multi-Spectral Satellite Data For Mapping Bathymetry Of Bitter Lakes, Suez Canal, Asmaa H. Mohammed, Sarah S. Abdel-Hamid, Hozaifa S. Ibrahim, Esraa E. Abouelmaaty

Blue Economy

The Suez Canal runs through an important water body, the Bitter Lakes which are deepened regularly to suit passing by or parking vessels of different drafts. The bottom topographic is dynamically changing due to sedimentation by ships and water current movements that are usually impacting and requiring those continuing dredging processes performed by the Suez Canal Authority. Basically, studying the bottom dwellers of any lake requires bathymetric data which is very costly. Therefore, bathymetry maps can be derived from passive optical satellite sensors (multispectral). The present study used Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to produce water depth of the Bitter …

Barriers, Motivation, And Interventions For Women With Substance Use Disorders During Pregnancy, Sarah Novinska

Counselor Education Capstones

Pregnant women with a substance use disorder have many barriers to treatment, including stigma, fear of disclosing use, the potential for having their children taken away, gender and race disparities, mental health, public policy, and the lengthy process to get into treatment. Ways to overcome these barriers, including gender-specific treatment, decreasing stigma associated with substance use disorders, increasing trauma informed care, providers assessing their own biases, and changing public policy are discussed. In addition, the importance of learning how to overcome barriers to protect the health of mothers, babies, their families, and communities, along with several interventions including screening and …

Clemson Commencement Program, December 2023, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Cannabidiol Acts As Molecular Switch In Innate Immune Cells To Promote The Biosynthesis Of Inflammation-Resolving Lipid Mediators, Lukas K. Peltner, Lars Gluthmann, Friedemann Börner, Simona Pace, Robert K. Hoffstetter, Christian Kretzer, Rosella Bilancia, Federica Pollastro, Andreas Koeberle, Giovanni Appendino, Antonietta Rossi, Marcia E. Newcomer, Nathaniel C. Gilbert, Oliver Werz, Paul M. Jordan

Faculty Publications

Cannabinoids are phytochemicals from cannabis with anti-inflammatory actions in immune cells. Lipid mediators (LM), produced from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), are potent regulators of the immune response and impact all stages of inflammation. How cannabinoids influence LM biosynthetic networks is unknown. Here, we reveal cannabidiol (CBD) as a potent LM class-switching agent that stimulates the production of specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) but suppresses pro-inflammatory eicosanoid biosynthesis. Detailed metabololipidomics analysis in human monocyte-derived macrophages showed that CBD (i) upregulates exotoxin-stimulated generation of SPMs, (ii) suppresses 5-lipoxygenase (LOX)-mediated leukotriene production, and (iii) strongly induces SPM and 12/15-LOX product formation in resting cells …

Simvastatin In Critically Ill Patients With Covid-19, Thomas E Hills, Elizabeth Lorenzi, Lindsay R Berry, Murali Shyamsundar, Farah Al-Beidh, Djillali Annane, Yaseen Arabi, Diptesh Aryal, Carly Au, Abigail Beane, Zahra Bhimani, Marc Bonten, Charlotte A Bradbury, Frank M Brunkhorst, Aidan Burrell, Meredith Buxton, Carolyn S Calfee, Maurizio Cecconi, Allen C Cheng, Matthew E Cove, Michelle A Detry, Lise J Estcourt, Mark Fitzgerald, Ewan C Goligher, Herman Goossens, Cameron Green, Rashan Haniffa, David A Harrison, Madiha Hashmi, Alisa M Higgins, Christopher Horvat, David T Huang, Nao Ichihara, Deva Jayakumar, Peter S Kruger, François Lamontagne, Lamprini Lampro, Patrick R Lawler, John C Marshall, Alexina J Mason, Anna Mcglothlin, Shay Mcguinness, Zoe K Mcquilten, Bryan J Mcverry, Paul R Mouncey, Srinivas Murthy, Matthew D Neal, Alistair D Nichol, Cecilia M O'Kane, Rachael L Parke, Jane C Parker, Ebenezer Rabindrarajan, Luis F Reyes, Kathryn M Rowan, Hiroki Saito, Marlene Santos, Christina T Saunders, Christopher W Seymour, Manu Shankar-Hari, Pratik Sinha, B Taylor Thompson, Alexis F Turgeon, Anne M Turner, Frank Van De Veerdonk, Sebastian Weis, Ian S Young, Ryan Zarychanski, Roger J Lewis, Colin J Mcarthur, Derek C Angus, Scott M Berry, Lennie P G Derde, Steve A Webb, Anthony C Gordon, Daniel F Mcauley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of simvastatin in critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is unclear.

METHODS: In an ongoing international, multifactorial, adaptive platform, randomized, controlled trial, we evaluated simvastatin (80 mg daily) as compared with no statin (control) in critically ill patients with Covid-19 who were not receiving statins at baseline. The primary outcome was respiratory and cardiovascular organ support-free days, assessed on an ordinal scale combining in-hospital death (assigned a value of -1) and days free of organ support through day 21 in survivors; the analyis used a Bayesian hierarchical ordinal model. The adaptive design included prespecified statistical …

Distinct Gene Expression Signatures Comparing Latent Tuberculosis Infection With Different Routes Of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Vaccination, Richard F Silver, Mei Xia, Chad E Storer, Jessica R Jarvela, Michelle C Moyer, Azra Blazevic, David A Stoeckel, Erin K Rakey, Jan M Tennant, Johannes B Goll, Richard D Head, Daniel F Hoft

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Tuberculosis remains an international health threat partly because of limited protection from pulmonary tuberculosis provided by standard intradermal vaccination with Bacillus of Calmette and Guérin (BCG); this may reflect the inability of intradermal vaccination to optimally induce pulmonary immunity. In contrast, respiratory Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection usually results in the immune-mediated bacillary containment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Here we present RNA-Seq-based assessments of systemic and pulmonary immune cells from LTBI participants and recipients of intradermal and oral BCG. LTBI individuals uniquely display ongoing immune activation and robust CD4 T cell recall responses in blood and lung. Intradermal BCG is associated …

Long Oligodeoxynucleotides: Chemical Synthesis, Isolation Via Catching-By-Polymerization, Verification Via Sequencing, And Gene Expression Demonstration, Yipeng Yin, Reed Arneson, Alexander Apostle, Adikari M.D.N. Eriyagama, Komal Chillar, Emily Burke, Martina Jahfetson, Yinan Yuan, Shiyue Fang

Michigan Tech Publications

Long oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) are segments of DNAs having over one hundred nucleotides (nt). They are typically assembled using enzymatic methods such as PCR and ligation from shorter 20 to 60 nt ODNs produced by automated de novo chemical synthesis. While these methods have made many projects in areas such as synthetic biology and protein engineering possible, they have various drawbacks. For example, they cannot produce genes and genomes with long repeats and have difficulty to produce sequences containing stable secondary structures. Here, we report a direct de novo chemical synthesis of 400 nt ODNs, and their isolation from the complex …

Cabozantinib Plus Atezolizumab In Previously Untreated Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Previously Treated Gastric Cancer And Gastroesophageal Junction Adenocarcinoma: Results From Two Expansion Cohorts Of A Multicentre, Open-Label, Phase 1b Trial (Cosmic-021)., Daneng Li, Yohann Loriot, Adam Burgoyne, James Cleary, Armando Santoro, Daniel Lin, Santiago Ponce Aix, Ignacio Garrido-Laguna, Ramu Sudhagoni, Xiang Guo, Svetlana Andrianova, Scott Paulson

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Cabozantinib is approved for previously treated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (aHCC) and has been investigated in gastric cancer (GC) and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GEJ). Atezolizumab plus bevacizumab is approved for unresectable or metastatic HCC untreated with prior systemic therapy. We evaluated efficacy and safety of cabozantinib plus atezolizumab in aHCC previously untreated with systemic anticancer therapy or previously treated GC/GEJ.

METHODS: COSMIC-021 (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03170960) is an open-label, phase 1b study in solid tumours with a dose-escalation stage followed by tumour-specific expansion cohorts, including aHCC (cohort 14) and GC/GEJ (cohort 15). Eligible patients were aged ≥18 years with measurable locally advanced, …

Exploring Attitudes Toward “Sugar Relationships” Across 87 Countries: A Global Perspective On Exchanges Of Resources For Sex And Companionship, Norbert Meskó, Marta Kowal, András Láng, Ferenc Kocsor, Szabolcs A. Bandi, Adam Putz, Piotr Sorokowski, David A. Frederick, Felipe E. García, Leonardo A. Aguilar, Anna Studzinska, Chee Seng Tan, Biljana Gjoneska, Taciano L. Milfont, Bulut M Topcu, Dmitry Grigoryev, Toivo Aavik, Mahmoud Boussena, Alan D.A. Mattiassi, Reza Afhami, Rizwana Amin, Roberto Baiocco, Hamdaoui Brahim, Ali R. Can, Joao Carneiro, Hakan Çetinkaya, Dimitri Chubinidze, Eliane Deschrijver, Yahya Don, Dmitrii Dubrov, Izzet Duyar, Marija Jovic, Julia A. Kamburidis, Farah Khan, Hareesol Khun-Inkeeree, Maida Koso-Drljevic, David Lacko, Karlijn Massar, Mara Morelli, Jean C. Natividade, Ellen K. Nyhus, Ju Hee Park, Farid Pazhoohi, Ekaterine Pirtskhalava, Koen Ponnet, Pavol Prokop, Dušana Šakan, Singha Tulyakul, Austin H. Wang, Sibele D. Aquino, Derya D. Atamtürk, Nana Burduli, Antonio Chirumbolo, Seda Dural, Edgardo Etchezahar, Moharrampour N Ghahraman, Balazs Aczel, Luca Kozma, Samuel Lins, Efisio Manunta, Tiago Marot, Moises Mebarak, Kirill G. Miroshnik, Katarina Misetic, Marietta Papadatou-Pastou, Bence Bakos, Fatima Zahra Sahli, Sangeeta Singh, Çağlar Solak, Tatiana Volkodav, Anna Wlodarczyk, Grace Akello, Marios Argyrides, Ogeday Çoker, Katarzyna Galasinska, Yepes T Gómez, Aleksander Kobylarek, Miguel Landa-Blanco, Marlon Mayorga, Barış Özener, Ma Criselda T. Pacquing, Marc Eric S. Reyes, Ayşegül Şahin, William Tamayo-Agudelo, Gulmira Topanova, N/A Toplu-Demir

School of Psychology

The current study investigates attitudes toward one form of sex for resources: the so-called sugar relationships, which often involve exchanges of resources for sex and/or companionship. The present study examined associations among attitudes toward sugar relationships and relevant variables (e.g., sex, sociosexuality, gender inequality, parasitic exposure) in 69,924 participants across 87 countries. Two self-report measures of Acceptance of Sugar Relationships (ASR) developed for younger companion providers (ASR-YWMS) and older resource providers (ASR-OMWS) were translated into 37 languages. We tested cross-sex and cross-linguistic construct equivalence, cross-cultural invariance in sex differences, and the importance of the hypothetical predictors of ASR. Both measures …

The Relationship Of Mental Health With Learning Achievement In Adolescent, Muhammad Zulfikri Mukarom, Weslei Daeli

Cities and Urban Development Journal

Background: Mental health is not yet considered important in some countries. The most common mental health disorder in teenagers is depression. This research aims to determine whether there is a relationship between mental health and academic achievement in adolescents. When mental disorders occur, there will be problems with attention and concentration, health problems, difficulty understanding the material and motivation to learn will also decrease, affecting grades or achievement at school.

Aims: This research aims to determine whether there is a relationship between mental health and academic achievement in adolescents.

Methods: The mental health measuring tool uses SRQ-29 (Self reporting Questionnaire …

Importance Of Sanitation For Stored-Product Pest Management, Georgina Bingham, David W. Hagstrum

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Sanitation is essential for the cost-effective pest management of stored-product insects. The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938 led to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tightening regulatory standards, and many local surveys, courses and conferences were organized to prepare the industry for these new regulations. Sanitation removes insects and residual food, which may also provide shelter for insects, with heat treatments and insecticide applications. The number of insects removed by cleaning may be reduced as the number of available hiding places increases. Decreased sanitation negatively affects the efficacy of most other pest management practices, with means of 1.3- …

Deep Learning Models To Predict Finishing Pig Weight Using Point Clouds, Shiva Paudel, Rafael Vieira De Sousa, Sudhendu Raj Sharma, Tami M. Brown-Bandl

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The selection of animals to be marketed is largely completed by their visual assessment, solely relying on the skill level of the animal caretaker. Real-time monitoring of the weight of farm animals would provide important information for not only marketing, but also for the assessment of health and well-being issues. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a method based on 3D Convolutional Neural Network to predict weight from point clouds. Intel Real Sense D435 stereo depth camera placed at 2.7 m height was used to capture the 3D videos of a single finishing pig freely walking …

Deep Learning Models To Predict Finishing Pig Weight Using Point Clouds, Shiva Paudel, Rafael Vieira De Sousa, Sudhendu Raj Sharma, Tami M. Brown-Bandl

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The selection of animals to be marketed is largely completed by their visual assessment, solely relying on the skill level of the animal caretaker. Real-time monitoring of the weight of farm animals would provide important information for not only marketing, but also for the assessment of health and well-being issues. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a method based on 3D Convolutional Neural Network to predict weight from point clouds. Intel Real Sense D435 stereo depth camera placed at 2.7 m height was used to capture the 3D videos of a single finishing pig freely walking …

Crop Dna Extraction With Lab-Made Magnetic Nanoparticles, Haichuan Wang, Xueqi Zhao, Li Tan, Junwei Zhu, David Hyten

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Molecular breeding methods, such as marker-assisted selection and genomic selection, require high-throughput and cost-effective methods for isolating genomic DNA from plants, specifically from crop tissue or seed with high polysaccharides, lipids, and proteins. A quick and inexpensive high-throughput method for isolating genomic DNA from seed and leaf tissue from multiple crops was tested with a DNA isolation method that combines CTAB extraction buffer and lab-made SA-coated magnetic nanoparticles. This method is capable of isolating quality genomic DNA from leaf tissue and seeds in less than 2 hours with fewer steps than a standard CTAB extraction method. The yield of the …

27-Hydroxycholesterol And Dna Damage Repair: Implication In Prostate Cancer, Gloria Cecilia Galvan, Nadine Friedrich, Sanjay Das, James Daniels, Sara Pollan, Shweta Dambal, Ryusuke Suzuki, Sergio Sanders, Sungyong You, Hisashi Tanaka, Yeon-Joo Lee, Wei Yuan, Johann De Bono, Irina Vasilevskaya, Karen Knudsen, Michael Freeman, Stephen Freedland

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

INTRODUCTION: We previously reported that cholesterol homeostasis in prostate cancer (PC) is regulated by 27-hydroxycholesterol (27HC) and that CYP27A1, the enzyme that converts cholesterol to 27HC, is frequently lost in PCs. We observed that restoring the CYP27A1/27HC axis inhibited PC growth. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of 27HC-mediated anti-PC effects.

METHODS: We employed in vitro models and human transcriptomics data to investigate 27HC mechanism of action in PC. LNCaP (AR+) and DU145 (AR-) cells were treated with 27HC or vehicle. Transcriptome profiling was performed using the Affymetrix GeneChip™ microarray system. Differential expression was determined, and gene set enrichment …

Leptin Decreases Gluconeogenesis And Gluconeogenic Substrate Availability In Patients With Lipodystrophy, Emmanuel Quaye, Shaji Chacko, Megan Startzell, Rebecca J Brown

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Context: The effects of leptin, an adipocyte-derived hormone that signals overall energy sufficiency, can only be studied in leptin-deficient conditions. In patients with lipodystrophy, a rare disease and unique model of leptin deficiency, treatment with recombinant leptin (metreleptin) improves glycemia and decreases energy expenditure. We hypothesized that these improvements might be mediated by reduced gluconeogenesis (GNG), an energy-requiring process.

Objective: To determine the effects of metreleptin on GNG and GNG substrates.

Methods: This was a single-arm prospective study of metreleptin administration in 15 patients with lipodystrophy, 9 of whom had data on GNG (NIH, 2013-2018). We analyzed total GNG, insulin-mediated …