Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Bordetella Pertussis Whole Cell Immunization, Unlike Acellular Immunization, Mimics Naïve Infection By Driving Hematopoietic Stem And Progenitor Cell Expansion In Mice, Melinda E. Varney, Dylan T. Boehm, Katherine Deroos, Evan S. Nowak, Ting Y. Wong, Emel Sen-Kilic, Shebly D. Bradford, Cody Elkins, Matthew S. Epperly, William T. Witt, Mariette Barbier, F. Heath Damron

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) compartments are altered to direct immune responses to infection. Their roles during immunization are not well-described. To elucidate mechanisms for waning immunity following immunization with acellular vaccines (ACVs) against Bordetella pertussis (Bp), we tested the hypothesis that immunization with Bp ACVs and whole cell vaccines (WCVs) differ in directing the HSPC characteristics and immune cell development patterns that ultimately contribute to the types and quantities of cells produced to fight infection. Our data demonstrate that compared to control and ACV-immunized CD-1 mice, immunization with an efficacious WCV drives expansion of hematopoietic multipotent progenitor cells …

Future Implications Of Using Registered Dietitians In Multidisciplinary Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Treatment, Wendy M. Wolf, Rachel A. Wattick, Pamela J. Murray, Melanie Clemmer, Melissa D. Olfert

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common reproductive endocrine disorder in females with insulin resistance playing a key role in pathogenesis. The objective of this study was to investigate current trends and future implications of multidisciplinary PCOS clinics with inclusion of dietitians. A two-phase, formative investigation on practitioners was conducted through an anonymous survey followed by focus groups. Survey respondents included 261 health care providers from around the world; the majority (59%) representing multidisciplinary teams. Focus group participants included four dietitians, three physicians, a health psychologist and a licensed nutritionist. Primary barriers for future multidisciplinary clinics included: money/resources, insurance …

A Novel Method For Training Mice In Visuo-Tactile 3-D Object Discrimination And Recognition, Xian Hu, Ogaga Urhie, Kevin Chang, Rachel Hostetler, Ariel Agmon

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Perceiving, recognizing and remembering 3-dimensional (3-D) objects encountered in the environment has a very high survival value; unsurprisingly, this ability is shared among many animal species, including humans. The psychological, psychophysical and neural basis for object perception, discrimination, recognition and memory has been extensively studied in humans, monkeys, pigeons and rodents, but is still far from understood. Nearly all 3-D object recognition studies in the rodent used the “novel object recognition” paradigm, which relies on innate rather than learned behavior; however, this procedure has several important limitations. Recently, investigators have begun to recognize the power of behavioral tasks learned through …

Group Ii Innate Lymphoid Cells And Microvascular Dysfunction From Pulmonary Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Exposure, Alaeddin Bashir Abukabda, Carroll Rolland Mcbride, Thomas Paul Batchelor, William Travis Goldsmith, Elizabeth Compton Bowdridge, Krista Lee Garner, Sherri Friend, Timothy Robert Nurkiewicz

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: The cardiovascular effects of pulmonary exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) are poorly understood, and the reproductive consequences are even less understood. Inflammation remains the most frequently explored mechanism of ENM toxicity. However, the key mediators and steps between lung exposure and uterine health remain to be fully defined. The purpose of this study was to determine the uterine inflammatory and vascular effects of pulmonary exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2). We hypothesized that pulmonary nano-TiO2 exposure initiates a Th2 inflammatory response mediated by Group II innate lymphoid cells (ILC2), which may be associated with an impairment in uterine microvascular …

Exposure To Mild Blast Forces Induces Neuropathological Effects, Neurophysiological Deficits And Biochemical Changes, Adan Hernandez, Chunfeng Tan, Florian Plattner, Aric F. Logsdon, Karine Pozo, Mohammad A. Yousuf, Tanvir Singh, Ryan C. Turner, Brandon P. Luke-Wold, Jason D. Huber, Charles L. Rosen, James A. Bibb

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Direct or indirect exposure to an explosion can induce traumatic brain injury (TBI) of various severity levels. Primary TBI from blast exposure is commonly characterized by internal injuries, such as vascular damage, neuronal injury, and contusion, without external injuries. Current animal models of blast-induced TBI (bTBI) have helped to understand the deleterious effects of moderate to severe blast forces. However, the neurological effects of mild blast forces remain poorly characterized. Here, we investigated the effects caused by mild blast forces combining neuropathological, histological, biochemical and neurophysiological analysis. For this purpose, we employed a rodent blast TBI model with blast forces …

Respiratory Muscle Training Positively Affects Vasomotor Response In Young Healthy Women, Angela Valentina Bisconti, Michela Devoto, Massimo Venturelli, Randall Bryner, Mark Olfert, Paul D. Chantler, F. Esposito

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Vasomotor response is related to the capacity of the vessel to maintain vascular tone within a narrow range. Two main control mechanisms are involved: the autonomic control of the sympathetic neural drive (global control) and the endothelial smooth cells capacity to respond to mechanical stress by releasing vasoactive factors (peripheral control). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of respiratory muscle training (RMT) on vasomotor response, assessed by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and heart rate variability, in young healthy females. The hypothesis was that RMT could enhance the balance between sympa- thetic and parasympathetic neural drive and reduce …

Dysregulation Of Daf-16/Foxo3a-Mediated Stress Responses Accelerates T Oxidative Dna Damage Induced Aging, Aditi U. Gurkar, Andria R. Robinson, Yuxiang Cui, Xuesen Li, Shailaja K. Allani, Amanda Webster, Mariya Muravia, Mohammad Fallahi, Herbert Weissbach, Paul D. Robbins, Yinsheng Wang, Eric E. Kelley, Claudette M. St. Croix, Laura J. Niedernhofer, Matthew S. Gill

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

DNA damage is presumed to be one type of stochastic macromolecular damage that contributes to aging, yet little is known about the precise mechanism by which DNA damage drives aging. Here, we attempt to address this gap in knowledge using DNA repair-deficient C. elegans and mice. ERCC1-XPF is a nuclear endonuclease required for genomic stability and loss of ERCC1 in humans and mice accelerates the incidence of age-related pathologies. Like mice, ercc-1 worms are UV sensitive, shorter lived, display premature functional decline and they accumulate spontaneous oxidative DNA lesions (cyclopurines) more rapidly than wild-type worms. We found that ercc-1 worms …

A Tangled Web: Origins Of Reproductive Parasitism, Joseph J. Gillespie, Timothy P. Driscoll, Victoria I. Verhoeve, Mohammed Sayeedur Rahman, Kevin R. Macaluso

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

While typically a flea parasite and opportunistic human pathogen, the presence of Rickettsia felis (strain LSU-Lb) in the non-blood- feeding, parthenogenetically reproducing booklouse, Liposcelis bostrychophila, provides a system to ascertain factors governing not only host transitions but also obligate reproductive parasitism (RP). Analysis of plasmid pLbAR, unique to R. felis str. LSU-Lb, revealed a toxin–antitoxin module with similar features to prophage-encoded toxin–antitoxin modules utilized by parasitic Wolbachia strains to induce another form of RP, cytoplasmic incompatibility, in their arthropod hosts. Curiously, multiple deubiquitinase and nuclease domains of the large (3,841 aa) pLbAR toxin, as well the entire antitoxin, facilitated the …

Metabolic And Transcriptional Modules Independently Diversify Plasma Cell Lifespan And Function, Wing Y. Lam, Arijita Jash, Cong-Hui Yao, Lucas D'Souza, Rachel Wong, Ryan M. Nunley, Gordon P. Meares, Gary J. Patti, Deepta Bhattacharya

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Plasma cell survival and the consequent duration of immunity vary widely with infection or vaccination. Using fluorescent glucose analog uptake, we defined multiple developmentally independent mouse plasma cell populations with varying life- spans. Long-lived plasma cells imported more fluo- rescent glucose analog, expressed higher surface levels of the amino acid transporter CD98, and had more autophagosome mass than did short-lived cells. Low amino acid concentrations triggered re- ductions in both antibody secretion and mitochon- drial respiration, especially by short-lived plasma cells. To explain these observations, we found that glutamine was used for both mitochondrial respira- tion and anaplerotic reactions, yielding …

Could A Common Mechanism Of Protein Degradation Impairment Underlie Many Neurodegenerative Diseases?, David M. Smith

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

At the cellular level, many neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), often considered proteinopathies, are characterized by the accumulation of misfolded and damaged proteins into large insoluble aggregates. Prominent species that accumulate early and play fundamental roles in disease pathogenesis are amyloid β (Aβ) and tau in Alzheimer disease, α-synuclein (α-syn) in Parkinson disease, and polyQ-expanded huntingtin (Htt) in Huntington disease. Although significant efforts have focused on how the cell deals with these protein aggregates, why is it that these misfolded proteins are not degraded normally in the first place? A vast body of literature supports the notion that the cell’s protein degradation …

Quantum Confined Peptide Assemblies With Tunable Visible To Near-Infrared Spectral Range, Kai Tao, Zhen Fan, Leming Sun, Pandeeswar Makam, Zhen Tian, Mark Ruegsegger, Shira Shaham-Niv, Derek Hansford, Ruth Aizen, Zui Pan, Scott Galster, Jianjie Ma, Fan Yuan, Mingsu Si, Songnan Qu, Mingjun Zhang, Ehud Gazit, Junbai Li

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Quantum confined materials have been extensively studied for photoluminescent applica- tions. Due to intrinsic limitations of low biocompatibility and challenging modulation, the utilization of conventional inorganic quantum confined photoluminescent materials in bio- imaging and bio-machine interface faces critical restrictions. Here, we present aromatic cyclo-dipeptides that dimerize into quantum dots, which serve as building blocks to further self-assemble into quantum confined supramolecular structures with diverse morphologies and photoluminescence properties. Especially, the emission can be tuned from the visible region to the near-infrared region (420 nm to 820 nm) by modulating the self-assembly process. Moreover, no obvious cytotoxic effect is observed for …

Experimental Intravascular Hemolysis Induces Hemodynamic And Pathological Pulmonary Hypertension: Association With Accelerated Purine Metabolism, Victor P. Bilan, Frank Schneider, Enrico M. Novelli, Eric E. Kelley, Sruti Shiva, Mark T. Gladwin, Edwin K. Jackson, Stevan P. Tofovic

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is emerging as a serious complication associated with hemolytic disorders, and plexiform lesions (PXL) have been reported in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). We hypothesized that repetitive hemolysis per se induces PH and angioproliferative vasculopathy and evaluated a new mechanism for hemolysis-associated PH (HA-PH) that involves the release of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) from erythrocytes. In healthy rats, repetitive admin- istration of hemolyzed autologous blood (HAB) for 10 days produced reversible pulmonary parenchymal injury and vascular remodeling and PH. Moreover, the combination of a single dose of Sugen-5416 (SU, 200mg/kg) and 10-day …

Fasudil In Combination With Bone Marrow Stromal Cells (Bmscs) Attenuates Alzheimer’S Disease-Related Changes Through The Regulation Of The Peripheral Immune System, Jiezhong Yu, Yuqing Yan, Qingfang Gu, Gajendra Kumar, Hongqiang Yu, Yijin Zhao, Chunyun Liu, Ye Gao, Zhi Chai, Jasleen Chumber, Bao-Guo Xiao, Guang-Xian Zhang, Han-Ting Zhang, Yuqiang Jiang, Cun-Gen Ma

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. Its mechanism is still not clear. Majority of research focused on the central nervous system (CNS) changes, while few studies emphasize on peripheral immune system modulation. Our study aimed to investigate the regulation of the peripheral immune system and its relationship to the severity of the disease after treatment in an AD model of APPswe/PSEN1dE9 transgenic (APP/PS1 Tg) mice. APP/PS1 Tg mice (8 months old) were treated with the ROCK-II inhibitor 1-(5-isoquinolinesulfonyl)- homo-piperazine (Fasudil) (intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections, 25 mg/kg/day), bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs; caudal vein injections, 1 × 106 BMSCs …

Wdr5 Supports Colon Cancer Cells By Promoting Methylation Of H3k4 And Suppressing Dna Damage, Beth K. Neilsen, Binita Chakraborty, Jamie L. Mccall, Danielle E. Frodyma, Richard L. Sleightholm, Kurt W. Fisher, Robert E. Lewis

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: KMT2/MLL proteins are commonly overexpressed or mutated in cancer and have been shown to support cancer maintenance. These proteins are responsible for methylating histone 3 at lysine 4 and promoting transcription and DNA synthesis; however, they are inactive outside of a multi-protein complex that requires WDR5. WDR5 has been implicated in cancer for its role in the COMPASS complex and its interaction with Myc; however, the role of WDR5 in colon cancer has not yet been elucidated.

Methods: WDR5 expression was evaluated using RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. Cell viability and colony forming assays were utilized to evaluate the …

Conformational Switching In The Coiled-Coil Domains Of A Proteasomal Atpase Regulates Substrate Processing, Aaron Snoberger, Evan J. Brettrager, David M. Smith

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Protein degradation in all domains of life requires ATPases that unfold and inject proteins into compartmentalized proteolytic chambers. Proteasomal ATPases in eukaryotes and archaea contain poorly understood N-terminally conserved coiled-coil domains. In this study, we engineer disulfide crosslinks in the coiled-coils of the archaeal proteasomal ATPase (PAN) and report that its three identical coiled-coil domains can adopt three different conforma- tions: (1) in-register and zipped, (2) in-register and partially unzipped, and (3) out-of-register. This conformational heterogeneity conflicts with PAN’s symmetrical OB-coiled-coil crystal structure but resembles the conformational heterogeneity of the 26S proteasomal ATPases’ coiled-coils. Furthermore, we find that one coiled-coil …

Novel Caries Loci In Children And Adults Implicated By Genome-Wide Analysis Of Families, Manika Govil, Nandita Mukhopadhyay, Daniel E. Weeks, Eleanor Feingold, John R. Shaffer, Steven M. Levy, Alexandre R. Vieira, Rebecca L. Slayton, Daniel W. Mcneil, Robert J. Weyant, Richard J. Crout, Mary L. Marazita

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Dental caries is a common chronic disease among children and adults alike, posing a substantial health burden. Caries is affected by multiple genetic and environmental factors, and prior studies have found that a substantial proportion of caries susceptibility is genetically inherited.

Methods: To identify such genetic factors, we conducted a genome-wide linkage scan in 464 extended families with 2616 individuals from Iowa, Pennsylvania and West Virginia for three dental caries phenotypes: (1) PRIM: dichotomized as zero versus one or more affected primary teeth, (2) QTOT1: age-adjusted quantitative caries measure for both primary and permanent dentitions including pre-cavitated lesions, and …

Method Overtness, Forensic Autopsy, And The Evidentiary Suicide Note: A Multilevel National Violent Death Reporting System Analysis, Ian R. H. Rockett, Eric D. Caine, Steven Stack, Hilary S. Connery, Kurt B. Nolte, Christa L. Lilly, Ted R. Miller, Lewis S. Nelson, Sandra L. Putnam, Paul S. Nestadt, Haomiao Jia

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Objective

Higher prevalence of suicide notes could signify more conservatism in accounting and greater proneness to undercounting of suicide by method. We tested two hypotheses: (1) an evidentiary suicide note is more likely to accompany suicides by drug-intoxication and by other poisoning, as less violent and less forensically overt methods, than suicides by firearm and hanging/suffocation; and (2) performance of a forensic autopsy attenuates any observed association between overtness of method and the reported presence of a note.

Methods

This multilevel (individual/county), multivariable analysis employed a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). Representing the 17 states participating in the United States …

Ssaw: A New Sequence Similarity Analysis Method Based On The Stationary Discrete Wavelet Transform, Jie Lin, Donald Adjeroh, Bing-Hua Jiang, Yue Jiang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Alignment-free sequence similarity analysis methods often lead to significant savings in computational time over alignment-based counterparts.

Results: Anewalignment-freesequencesimilarityanalysismethod,calledSSAWisproposed.SSAWstandsfor Sequence Similarity Analysis using the Stationary Discrete Wavelet Transform (SDWT). It extracts k-mers from a sequence, then maps each k-mer to a complex number field. Then, the series of complex numbers formed are transformed into feature vectors using the stationary discrete wavelet transform. After these steps, the original sequence is turned into a feature vector with numeric values, which can then be used for clustering and/or classification.

Conclusions: Usingtwodifferenttypesofapplications,namely,clusteringandclassification,wecomparedSSAW against the the-state-of-the-art alignment free sequence analysis methods. SSAW demonstrates competitive or …

A Common Mechanism Of Proteasome Impairment By Neurodegenerative Disease-Associated Oligomers, Tiffany A. Thibaudeau, Raymond T. Anderson, David M. Smith

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Protein accumulation and aggregation with a concomitant loss of proteostasis often con- tribute to neurodegenerative diseases, and the ubiquitin–proteasome system plays a major role in protein degradation and proteostasis. Here, we show that three different proteins from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease that misfold and oligomerize into a shared three-dimensional structure potently impair the proteasome. This study indicates that the shared conformation allows these oligomers to bind and inhibit the proteasome with low nanomolar affinity, impairing ubiquitin-dependent and ubiquitin-independent proteasome function in brain lysates. Detailed mechanistic analysis demonstrates that these oligomers inhibit the 20S proteasome through allosteric impairment of the …

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Algr Phosphorylation Status Differentially Regulates Pyocyanin And Pyoverdine Production, Alexander S. Little, Yuta Okkotsu, Alexandria A. Reinhart, Heath Damron, Mariette Barbier, Brandon Barrett, Amanda G. Ogledby-Sherrouse, Joanna B. Goldberg, William L. Cody, Michael J. Schurr, Michael L. Vasil

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Pseudomonas aeruginosa employs numerous, complex regulatory ele- ments to control expression of its many virulence systems. The P. aeruginosa AlgZR two-component regulatory system controls the expression of several crucial viru- lence phenotypes. We recently determined, through transcriptomic profiling of a PAO1 ΔalgR mutant strain compared to wild-type PAO1, that algZR and hemCD are cotranscribed and show differential iron-dependent gene expression. Previous ex- pression profiling was performed in strains without algR and revealed that AlgR acts as either an activator or repressor, depending on the gene. Thus, examination of P. aeruginosa gene expression from cells locked into different AlgR phosphorylation states …

A Functional Signature Ontology (Fusion) Screen Detects An Ampk Inhibitor With Selective Toxicity Toward Human Colon Tumor Cells, Binita Das, Beth K. Neilsen, Kurt W. Fisher, Drew Gehring, Youcai Hu, Deanna J. Volle, Hyun Seok Kim, Jamie L. Mccall, David L. Kelly, John B. Macmillian, Michael A. White, Robert E. Lewis

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

AMPK is a serine threonine kinase composed of a heterotrimer of a catalytic, kinase-containing α and regulatory β and γ subunits. Here we show that individual AMPK subunit expression and requirement for survival varies across colon cancer cell lines. While AMPKα1 expression is relatively consistent across colon cancer cell lines, AMPKα1 depletion does not induce cell death. Conversely, AMPKα2 is expressed at variable levels in colon cancer cells. In high expressing SW480 and moderate expressing HCT116 colon cancer cells, siRNA-mediated depletion induces cell death. These data suggest that AMPK kinase inhibition may be a useful component of future therapeutic strategies. …

Three-Dimensional Imaging Of Kndy Neurons In The Mammalian Brain Using Optical Tissue Clearing And Multiple-Label Immunocytochemistry, Aleisha M. Moore, Kathryn A. Lucas, Robert L. Goodman, Lique M. Coolen, Michael N. Lehman

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Kisspeptin/Neurokinin B/Dynorphin (KNDy) neurons of the arcuate nucleus (ARC) play a key role in the regulation of fertility. The ability to detect features of KNDy neurons that are essential for fertility may require three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the complete population. Recently developed protocols for optical tissue clearing permits 3D imaging of neuronal populations in un-sectioned brains. However, these techniques have largely been described in the mouse brain. We report 3D imaging of the KNDy cell population in the whole rat brain and sheep hypothalamus using immunolabelling and modification of a solvent-based clearing protocol, iDISCO. This study expands the use of …

Maternal Engineered Nanomaterial Inhalation During Gestation Alters The Fetal Transcriptome, P.A. Stapleton, Q.A. Hathaway, C.E. Nichols, A.B. Abukabda, M.V. Pinti, D.L. Shepherd, C.R. Mcbride, J. Yi, V.C. Castranova, J.M Hollander, Timothy Robert Nurkiewicz

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: The integration of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) is well-established and widespread in clinical, commercial, and domestic applications. Cardiovascular dysfunctions have been reported in adult populations after exposure to a variety of ENM. As the diversity of these exposures continues to increase, the fetal ramifications of maternal exposures have yet to be determined. We, and others, have explored the consequences of ENM inhalation during gestation and identified many cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes in the F1 generation. The purpose of these studies was to identify genetic alterations in the F1 generation of Sprague-Dawley rats that result from maternal ENM inhalation during gestation. …

Hcn2 Channels In The Ventral Tegmental Area Regulate Behavioral Responses To Chronic Stress, Peng Zhong, Casey R. Vickstrom, Xiaojie Liu, Ying Hu, Laikang Yu, Han-Gang Yu, Qing-Song Liu

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are powerful regulators of depression-related behavior. Dopamine neuron activity is altered in chronic stress-based models of depression, but the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here, we show that mice subject to chronic mild unpredictable stress (CMS) exhibit anxiety- and depressive-like behavior, which was associated with decreased VTA dopamine neuron firing in vivo and ex vivo. Dopamine neuron firing is governed by voltage-gated ion channels, in particular hyperpolarization- activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels. Following CMS, HCN-mediated currents were decreased in nucleus accumbens-projecting VTA dopamine neurons. Furthermore, shRNA-mediated HCN2 knockdown in the VTA was …

Cone Phosphodiesterase-6Γ’ Subunit Augments Cone Pde6 Holoenzyme Assembly And Stability In A Mouse Model Lacking Both Rod And Cone Pde6 Catalytic Subunits, Wen-Tao Deng, Saravanan Kolandaivelu, Astra Dinculescu, Jie Li, Ping Zhu, Vince A. Chiodo, Visvanathan Ramamurthy, William W. Hauswirth

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Rod and cone phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE6) are key effector enzymes of the vertebrate phototransduction pathway. Rod PDE6 consists of two catalytic subunits PDE6α and PDE6β and two identical inhibitory PDE6γ subunits, while cone PDE6 is composed of two identical PDE6α’ catalytic subunits and two identical cone-specific PDE6γ’ inhibitory subunits. Despite their prominent function in regulating cGMP levels and therefore rod and cone light response properties, it is not known how each subunit contributes to the functional differences between rods and cones. In this study, we generated an rd10/cpfl1 mouse model lacking rod PDE6β and cone PDE6α’ subunits. Both rod and …

Sphingomyelin And Gm1 Influence Huntingtin Binding To, Disruption Of, And Aggregation On Lipid Membranes, Maxmore Chaibva, Xiang Gao, Pranav Jain, Warren A. Campbell, Shelli L. Frey, Justin Legleiter

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Huntington disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion beyond a critical threshold of a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract near the N- terminus of the huntingtin (htt) protein. Expanded polyQ promotes the formation of a variety of oligomeric and fibrillar aggregates of htt that accumulate into the hallmark proteina- ceous inclusion bodies associated with HD. htt is also highly associated with numerous cellular and subcellular membranes that contain a variety of lipids. As lipid homeostasis and metabolism abnormalities are observed in HD patients, we investigated how varying both the sphingomyelin (SM) and ganglioside (GM1) contents modifies the interactions …

Acute Effects Of Diets Rich In Almonds And Walnuts On Endothelial Function, Ravindra Bhardwaj, Harvinder Dod, Manjinder S. Sandhu, Rohil Bedi, Sachin Dod, Gregory Konat, H.K. Chopra, Rakesh Sharma, Abnash C. Jain, Navin Nanda

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Objective: Omega-3 fatty acids, especially alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), which are present in nuts may reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, by changing vascular inflammation and improving endothelial dysfunction. The objective of the study was to evaluate the acute effects of two different diets, one containing walnuts and the other almonds on endothelial function.

Methods: Twenty-seven overweight volunteers underwent a randomized 2-period, crossover, controlled intervention study. The subjects were given either walnut or almond diets which varied in monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content. The walnut diet provided 23.1% energy from PUFA and the almond diet provided 7.6% …