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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
The Linkage Between Hpa Axis Dysregulation And Metabolic Syndrome, Brianna Godlewski
The Linkage Between Hpa Axis Dysregulation And Metabolic Syndrome, Brianna Godlewski
Honors Theses
A diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome (MSX) requires patients to present with three or more of the following symptoms: elevated fasting blood glucose levels, elevated serum triglyceride levels, low serum HDL levels, elevated blood pressure, and truncal obesity. This pathology shares many similarities with Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) but a diagnosis of CS requires hypercortisolemia. This similarity has led our lab and others to hypothesize that MSX may be a Cushingoid-like state caused by hypersensitivity of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), a nuclear hormone receptor that is activated when cortisol binds, and or hyperactivity of the enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11?- HSD) type 1, …
Investigating The Use Of Aptamers In Binding To The Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone Receptor, Ayon Ibrahim
Investigating The Use Of Aptamers In Binding To The Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone Receptor, Ayon Ibrahim
Honors Theses
Oral contraceptive pills use high doses of hormone to suppress the reproductive arm of the endocrine system in women. However, these drugs can have harmful long term side effects such as increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and breast cancer. Therefore, it has become an important public health goal to look for alternative ways of providing contraception. Aptamers, oligonucleotides that bind to specific molecules due to their unique 3-dimensional structure, are one alternative that has yet to be explored. The goal of our research is to develop an RNA aptamer that will bind selectively to the hFSHR. We first incubated …
The Role Of Actin Polymerization In The Development Of The Fetal Vertebrate Heart During S-Looping, Kevan Benn
The Role Of Actin Polymerization In The Development Of The Fetal Vertebrate Heart During S-Looping, Kevan Benn
Honors Theses
Research on fetal cardiac looping is an important because cardiac looping is the first organ to undergo asymmetrical organogenesis. As well, birth defects occur due to errors in the development process, of which congenital heart defects are very common. Most heart defects begin in the looping process that preludes the shape of a mature heart. Therefore, research into heart looping can give light to how these defects develop. The looping process, which occurs between 30 and 56 hours post incubation (stage 10-16 in development), is divided into two processes. The first process, C-looping, is the process where the heart tube, …
Metacaspase Gene Function In The Mushroom Fungus Schizophyllum Commune, Matthew P. Hanley
Metacaspase Gene Function In The Mushroom Fungus Schizophyllum Commune, Matthew P. Hanley
Honors Theses
The overall goal of this project was to investigate the biological role of a putative metacaspase gene present in the mushroom fungus Schizophyllum commune. For this study, we have utilized a strain of S. commune that is unable to integrate DNA via the non-homologous end joining pathway. This forces transforming DNA to integrate homologously, as is required for the purposes of gene knockout. The gene Scp1 encodes a likely member of the metacaspase protein family, which are suspected to have activity similar to caspases, the latter crucial to programmed cell death. A knockout construct containing a non-functional version of Scp1 …
Development Of A Robust Genetic Test For Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (Hypp) In Quarter Horses, Samantha Traver
Development Of A Robust Genetic Test For Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (Hypp) In Quarter Horses, Samantha Traver
Honors Theses
A single nucleotide substitution in a region of the skeletal muscle sodium channel gene (SCN4A) is known to cause an equine genetic disorder known as Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis (HYPP). The clinical effects of this disorder range from little or no symptoms to frequent episodes of muscle tremors, weakness, and/or complete collapse. Oligonucleotide primer pairs were designed for both the wild type and mutant alleles of the SCN4A gene for use in Amplification Refractory Mutation System-PCR (ARMS-PCR). These primers were tested with genomic DNA isolated from whole blood, saliva swabs, and hair of individual horses. It was determined that horse hair …
Effects Of Arginine On The Kinetics Of Bovine Insulin Aggregation Studied By Dynamic Light Scattering, Michael M. Varughese
Effects Of Arginine On The Kinetics Of Bovine Insulin Aggregation Studied By Dynamic Light Scattering, Michael M. Varughese
Honors Theses
In the fields of protein science and medicine, understanding the kinetics of protein aggregation are significant in the research and treatment of certain amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Previous studies have suggested that arginine can increase the solubility of certain proteins, suppress protein aggregation, and assist in the refolding of aggregated proteins; however, the molecular mechanisms by which arginine can influence protein aggregation are still unclear. Bovine insulin was employed as a model system for further understanding the effects of arginine on protein aggregation. Using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), we studied the concentration-dependent and temperature-dependent suppression of aggregation in insulin …