Chemicals and Drugs Commons^™

Developing Burrowing As A Non-Evoked Readout Assessment For Novel Analgesic Drug Efficacy, Kayla Lindros, Denise Giuvelis, Ed Bilsky

Neuroscience Student Research Posters

Traditional drug development efforts to diminish the problem of chronic pain rely heavily on pain-evoked assays that can yield false positives, leading to confounding assessments of novel drugs. To avoid this, we are looking at burrowing as a novel readout assessment of analgesic efficacy. Preliminary data shows that induction of post-surgical pain reduces this innate behavior by about 35%. In attempt to increase this number, we tested a variety of additional parameters. Blue pads, placed at the bottom of each chamber in order to reduce the sound made when gravel is displaced, increased baseline amounts roughly 40%. Conversely, neither sex …

Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia, Lisa Nieder

Nurse Anesthesia MSNA Student Capstones

Opioids are a fundamental part in the treatment of pain especially within the perioperative setting. While opioids are routinely administered by nurse anesthetists for the treatment of pain, they can be associated with several undesirable side effects including opioid- induced hyperalgesia (OIH). OIH is a complex phenomenon that has a significant impact on the successful treatment of pain in a surgical setting. While there have been many advances in recent years into the topic of OIH, the mechanisms are complex and remain incompletely understood. OIH is believed to occur from changes in both the peripheral and central nervous systems that …

Buprenorphine And The Anesthesia Considerations: A Literature Review, Elizabeth E. Stern

Nurse Anesthesia MSNA Student Capstones

Buprenorphine is a unique pharmaceutical in the management of chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD). Buprenorphine is a semisynthetic partial opioid agonist at the mu opioid receptor and an antagonist of the kappa opioid. Buprenorphine Maintenance Therapy (BMT) is utilized for the long-term treatment of patients with OUD. The attraction to this methadone alternative is increased safety profile, more convenient patient access to the drug, as well as increase of ease for the provider. The particular formula used in the US, Suboxone, has properties to discourage intravenous injection to prevent abuse and prevent negative secondary effects of intravascular injections …

Loss Of Prolyl Carboxypeptidase In Two-Kidney, One-Clip Goldblatt Hypertensive Mice, Nadja Grobe, Orly Leiva, Mariana Morris, Khalid M. Elased

Pharmacology and Toxicology Faculty Publications

It is well documented that angiotensin (Ang) II contributes to kidney disease progression. The protease prolyl carboxypeptidase (PRCP) is highly expressed in the kidney and may be renoprotective by degrading Ang II to Ang-(1-7). The aim of the study was to investigate whether renal PRCP protein expression and activity are altered in two-kidney, one-clip (2K1C) Goldblatt hypertensive mice. Left renal artery was constricted by using 0.12 mm silver clips. Blood pressure was measured using telemetry over the eleven weeks of study period and revealed an immediate increase in 2K1C animals during the first week of clip placement which was followed …

2014 Brings New Drugs, Rodney Richmond

Faculty Research ​and Publications

No abstract provided.

Pneumonia: Not Getting Vaccinated May Take Your Breath Away, Rodney Richmond

Faculty Research ​and Publications

No abstract provided.

Targeting Cell Cycle Proteins In Breast Cancer Cells With Sirna By Using Lipid-Substituted Polyethylenimines, Manoj Parmar, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Parvin Mahdipoor, Cezary Kucharski, Robert Maranchuk, Judith C. Hugh, Hasan Uludag

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The cell cycle proteins are key regulators of cell cycle progression whose de-regulation is one of the causes of breast cancer. RNA interference (RNAi) is an endogenous mechanism to regulate gene expression and it could serve as the basis of regulating aberrant proteins including cell cycle proteins. Since the delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a main barrier for implementation of RNAi therapy, we explored the potential of a non-viral delivery system, 2.0 kDa polyethylenimines substituted with linoleic acid and caprylic acid, for this purpose. Using a library of siRNAs against cell cycle proteins, we identified cell division cycle …

Anthracycline-Related Cardiotoxicity In Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia And Down Syndrome: A Literature Review, Erik Hefti, Javier G. Blanco

Harrisburg University Faculty Works

Pediatric patients with Down syndrome (DS) are at an increased risk of developing certain cancers. Specifically, patients with DS have a reported 10–20-fold increased risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Anthracycline-based treatment regimens achieve good results in patients with DS and AML. It has been proposed that DS status constitutes a risk factor for the cardiotoxicity associated with the use of anthracyclines in the pediatric setting. However, published evidence pointing toward an increased risk of cardiotoxicity in patients with DS is relatively scarce and conflictive. This concise review compiles literature relating to the incidence of anthracycline-related cardiotoxicity in pediatric …

The Coca Plant And Bolivian Identity, Matthew G. Russo

International ResearchScape Journal

ABSTRACT

The political battle rages between the U.S. government, the U.N. and the Bolivian President, Evo Morales, about his efforts to protect, legalize and preserve the symbol of the Andean indigenous identity: the coca plant. The human rights of indigenous populations are being violated by culturally insensitive governments in compliance with U.S. and U.N. law. The questions posed are: Is coca cocaine? What are the economic benefits of the production of coca and who benefits? What is the relationship between coca and Bolivian identity? What would be the impact in the global community if coca is eradicated permanently?

Effects Of (R)-(-)-5-Methyl-1-Nicotinoyl-2-Pyrazoline On Glutamate Transporter 1 And Cysteine/Glutamate Exchanger As Well As Ethanol Drinking Behavior In Male, Alcohol-Preferring Rats, Munaf Aal-Aaboda, Hasan Alhaddad, Francis Osowik, Surya M. Nauli, Youssef Sari

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Alcohol consumption is largely associated with alterations in the extracellular glutamate concentrations in several brain reward regions. We recently showed that glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) is downregulated following chronic exposure to ethanol for 5 weeks in alcohol-preferring (P) rats and that upregulation of the GLT-1 levels in nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex results, in part, in attenuating ethanol consumption. Cystine glutamate antiporter (xCT) is also downregulated after chronic ethanol exposure in P rats, and its upregulation could be valuable in attenuating ethanol drinking. This study examines the effect of a synthetic compound, (R)-(−)-5-methyl-1-nicotinoyl-2-pyrazoline (MS-153), on ethanol drinking and expressions of …

Biological Reasons For The Neurotoxic Effects Of Mdma (‘Ecstasy’) On The Developing Fetus, Leah Schneeweiss

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is an illicit, recreational drug known by many individuals as ‘Ecstasy.’ MDMA has gained popularity over the past decade and has become a drug of choice at dance parties and clubs because of the stimulating and hallucinogenic effects that it has on the central nervous system. Scientists have determined that MDMA causes neurotoxic damage to adults by harming the serotonergic system in the adult brain. Researchers discovered that embryos exposed to MDMA while in utero also suffer neurotoxic deficits, although not due to impairments in the embryos’ serotonergic systems. These deficits arise because of the cortisol increase …

Stability Of Lidocaine Tested By Forced Degradation And Its Interactions With Serum Albumin, Lindsay Nichols

STAR Program Research Presentations

A concern for future long-term manned space expeditions is the ability to treat illnesses with appropriate pharmaceuticals. However, pharmaceuticals degrade faster in space than on Earth presumably due to an abundance of space radiation. The stability of Lidocaine was investigated because it is a common pain reliever currently used on the International Space Station. One of the most common proteins in blood is serum albumin, which acts as a carrier to distribute drugs throughout the body. It is important to know how well the drug binds to serum albumin so that the rate of distribution of Lidocaine-bound protein in blood …

Detection Of Catecholamines Produced In Planktonic P. Aeruginosa And S. Aureus Treated With Adult Bovine Serum, Jorge A. Serrano, Anil Serrano, Shaleni Singh, Jaime Fuentes, Robert Crawford Dr., Rivkah Isseroff, Thomas Peavy

STAR Program Research Presentations

Bacterial biofilms play a critical role in inducing and sustaining chronic wounds that are serious health threats. Bacterial biofilms can also be found on medical prosthetics and implants that sustain infections in patients and cause life threatening situations. Bacteria self-produce these sticky extracellular substances termed a biofilm which help them to adhere to each other forming a community of microorganisms. One of the major issues is that biofilms have antimicrobial characteristics and provide protection from the immune system; biofilms are found in over 80% of human bacterial infections. Formation of a bacterial biofilm occurs when an individual (planktonic) bacterial cell …

Cancer Stem Cells In The Screening Of Anticancer Drugs For Central Nervous System Tumors, Sarah Elizabeth Daron-Mathis

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

There is a growing need (in the medical field) to design personalized therapy for cancer patients. Decades of cancer research have found no silver bullet that can cure all or even most patients. This study evaluated four patients affected by central nervous system (CNS) tumors (Ependymoma and Glioblastoma), and found that tumors with the same histology had unique responses to treatment. Each sample presented different levels of heterogeneity in expressed biomarkers and responded to drugs at varying levels.

Oncologists conventionally treat cancer patients with drugs tested in large clinical trials. However, often patients do not experience positive outcomes following treatments …

The Evolving Role Of Dendritic Spines And Memory: Interaction(S) With Estradiol, M. Frankfurt, V. Luine

Journal Articles

This article is part of a Special Issue "Estradiol and Cognition". Memory processing is presumed to depend on synaptic plasticity, which appears to have a role in mediating the acquisition, consolidation, and retention of memory. We have studied the relationship between estrogen, recognition memory, and dendritic spine density in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex, areas critical for memory, across the lifespan in female rodents. The present paper reviews the literature on dendritic spine plasticity in mediating both short and long term memory, as well as the decreased memory that occurs with aging and Alzheimer's disease. It also addresses the …

A-803467, A Tetrodotoxin-Resistant Sodium Channel Blocker, Modulates Abcg2-Mediated Mdr In Vitro And In Vivo, Nagaraju Anreddy, Atish Patel, Yun-Kai Zhang, Yi-Jun Wang, Suneet Shukla, Rishil J. Kathawala, Priyank Kumar

Touro College of Pharmacy (New York) Publications and Research

ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 2 (ABCG2) is a member of the ABC transporter superfamily proteins, which has been implicated in the development of multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer, apart from its physiological role to remove toxic substances out of the cells. The diverse range of substrates of ABCG2 includes many antineoplastic agents such as topotecan, doxorubicin and mitoxantrone. ABCG2 expression has been reported to be significantly increased in some solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, correlated to poor clinical outcomes. In addition, ABCG2 expression is a distinguishing feature of cancer stem cells, whereby this membrane transporter facilitates resistance to the …

Use Of Donepezil In Alzheimer's Disease: Suggested Practice Guidelines, Tamara Berg

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Posters

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the cause of 60-80% of dementia (2014 Alzheimer’s disease, 2014). AD is estimated to affect over 5 million people over age 65 in the US (2014 Alzheimer’s disease, 2014). With the onset of baby boomers reaching the age of 65 and increased longevity it is estimated that 16 million persons will have Alzheimer’s by 2050. Eighty two percent of persons with AD are over age 85. In 2014 AD is the 6th leading cause of death and the highest cost disease in the US. (2014 Alzheimer’s disease, 2014)

The predicted increase in prevalence and incidence of …

Tolerability Of Induction Chemotherapy Dosing Practices In Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients, Kaylene M. Peric, David J. Reeves

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

For patients with high body surface areas (BSA), differing chemotherapy dosing strategies have been utilized in attempts to reduce toxicity. In a retrospective evaluation, we compared the effects of chemotherapy dosing in acute myeloid leukemia patients with high BSA (>2 m²) who received capped doses (n = 12) to those who received uncapped doses (n = 24), and to patients with BSA ≤ 2 m² (n = 42). There were no statistically significant differences among groups (BSA ≤ 2 m², BSA > 2 m² capped, and BSA > 2 m² uncapped) …

Levetiracetam-Induced Pancytopenia., Talal Alzahrani, Dana Kay, Saeed A. Alqahtani, Yamane Makke, Linda Lesky, Mohamad Z. Koubeissi

Neurology Faculty Publications

Pancytopenia is a rare side effect of levetiracetam (LEV) that is associated with severe morbidity that requires hospitalization. Here, we report a patient with a right temporoparietal tumor who underwent a temporal craniotomy with resection of the mass and was started on LEV for seizure prophylaxis per the neurosurgery local protocol. The patient developed LEV-induced pancytopenia, which was successfully managed by discontinuation of this medication. Our report aims to increase awareness of this rare cause of pancytopenia among clinicians.

The Metabolism Of Alcohol: Risk And Protective Factors, Sydney E. Levan, Amy Adkins, Danielle Dick, Karen G. Chartier

UROP Posters

Purpose: Abstract for poster submission to VCU Poster Symposium for

Undergraduate Research and Creativity

Title: The Metabolism of Alcohol: Risk and Protective Factors

Background: In 2002, it was reported by the National Institutes of Health that

60.3% of college aged students (18-22) drank alcohol in the past month of being

asked, as compared to 51.9% of those not in college. They also found that 20% of

college students met the criteria for at least one alcohol use disorder (AUDs)1.

Many genes have been linked to an increased risk for AUDs and how individuals

with various ethnic backgrounds respond to alcohol. …

Use Of Oxytocin As A Preventative Treatment For Ptsd, Laurel V. Kovalchick

UROP Posters

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder triggered by experiencing a traumatic event. PTSD causes recurrent flashbacks of traumatic memories that lead to over-consolidation. Memory over-consolidation prevents extinction of emotional and physiological responses to the memory. Because individuals can respond differently to stress and frightening experiences, no measures are currently practiced to prevent PTSD. By studying the changes in the brain during PTSD and after stress, it can be hypothesized that treatments that regulated HPA axis activity may prevent PTSD symptoms if applied soon after stress. Risk of developing PTSD is associated with abnormal cortisol and norepinephrine levels …

Sex Differences In The Kinetic Profiles Of D- And L- Methylphenidate In The Brains Of Adult Rats, J. Bentley, F. Snyder, Stacy D. Brown, R. W. Brown, Brooks B. Pond

ETSU Faculty Works

OBJECTIVE: Methylphenidate is commonly used in the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and narcolepsy. Methylphenidate is administered as a racemic mixture of the d- and l- threo enantiomers; however, the d-enantiomer is primarily responsible for the pharmacologic activity. Previous studies of the behavioral effects of methylphenidate have highlighted sex differences in the responsiveness to the drug, namely an increased sensitivity of females to its stimulatory effects. These differences may be due to differences in the uptake, distribution, and elimination of methylphenidate from male and female brains. Therefore, we compared the pharmacokinetics of d- and l- threo methylphenidate in the …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of Substituted Coumarin Derivatives As Inhibitors Of Monoamine Oxidase B, Ian A. Kieffer

Chemistry Theses

Monoamine oxidase B (MAO B) is of clinical importance due to its perceived role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, making inhibitors of MAO B popular candidates for drug design. A series of coumarin derivatives have been prepared and assayed, revealing that the synthesized inhibitors act through a competitive mode of inhibition. In addition, these inhibitors are potent with Ki values in the nanomolar range. Overall, substitution at the 3- position of the coumarin was found to be important to inhibitor potency and further study of 3-aryl coumarin substitution computationally led to the prediction of 3-(3-aminophenyl)-6-hydroxycoumarin as a lead compound …

Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus Induces Ho-1 During De Novo Infection Of Endothelial Cells Via Viral Mirna-Dependent And -Independent Mechanisms, Sara Botto, Jennifer Totonchy, Jean K. Gustin, Ashlee V. Moses

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Kaposi sarcoma (KS) herpesvirus (KSHV) infection of endothelial cells (EC) is associated with strong induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a stress-inducible host gene that encodes the rate-limiting enzyme responsible for heme catabolism. KS is an angioproliferative tumor characterized by the proliferation of KSHV-infected spindle cells, and HO-1 is highly expressed in such cells. HO-1 converts the pro-oxidant, proinflammatory heme molecule into metabolites with antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and proliferative activities. Previously published work has shown that KSHV-infected EC in vitro proliferate in response to free heme in a HO-1-dependent manner, thus implicating virus-enhanced HO-1 activity in KS tumorigenesis. The present study investigated …

Transfer Rna Comes Of Age, Michael Ibba

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

"The year the journal RNA was founded was slated by some in scientific publishing to be the year that one particular type of RNA's run in the spotlight would end. In 1995 I had recently started as a post-doc with Dieter Söll at Yale when he came into the lab to solemnly inform us all that an editor at a certain (S)cience journal had just told him “we won't be publishing any more tRNA papers.” For a post-doc who had migrated across the Atlantic for the sole purpose of furthering his career by working on tRNA this was not great …

Possible Effects Of Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields On Proteins, Stephen J. Beebe

Bioelectrics Publications

No abstract provided.

Elucidation Of A Novel Pathway In Staphylococcus Aureus: The Essential Site-Specific Processing Of Ribosomal Protein L27, Erin A. Wall

Theses and Dissertations

Ribosomal protein L27 is a component of the eubacterial large ribosomal subunit that has been shown to play a critical role in substrate stabilization during protein synthesis. This function is mediated by the L27 N-terminus, which protrudes into the peptidyl transferase center where it interacts with both A-site and P-site tRNAs as well as with 23S rRNA. We observed that L27 in S. aureus and other Firmicutes is encoded with a short N-terminal extension that is not present in most Gram-negative organisms, and is absent from mature ribosomes. The extension contains a conserved cleavage motif; nine N-terminal amino acids are …

Development Of Non-Traditional Platinum Anticancer Agents: Trans-Platinum Planar Amine Compounds And Polynuclear Platinum Compounds, Daniel E. Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Development of Non-Traditional Platinum Anticancer Agents: trans-Platinum Planar Amine Compounds and Polynuclear Platinum Compounds

By Daniel E. Lee, Ph.D.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015

Major Director: Nicholas P Farrell, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Chemistry

Platinum anticancer compounds with cis geometry, similar to cisplatin, have been explored to circumvent the cisplatin resistance; however, they were not considered broadly active in cisplatin cells due to exhibiting similar or same cell death mechanism as cisplatin. Platinum compounds with trans geometry were less studied …

Characterization Of A Novel Protease In Staphylococcus Aureus, Adam L. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

A newly discovered cysteine protease, Prp, has been shown to perform an essential, site-specific cleavage of ribosomal protein L27 in Staphylococcus aureus. In Firmicutes and related bacteria, ribosomal protein L27 is encoded with a conserved N-terminal extension that must be removed to expose residues critical for ribosome function. Uncleavable and pre-cleaved variants were unable to complement an L27 deletion in S. aureus, indicating that this N-terminal processing event is essential and likely plays an important regulatory role. The gene encoding the responsible protease (prp) has been shown to be essential, and is found in all organisms …

Descriptive Study Of Prescriptions For Opioids From A Suburban Academic Emergency Department Before New York's I-Stop Act., Lyncean Ung, Ronald Dvorkin, Steven Sattler, David P. Yens

The School of Health Sciences Publications and Research

Introduction: Controlled prescription opioid use is perceived as a national problem attributed to all specialties. Our objective was to provide a descriptive analysis of prescriptions written for controlled opioids from a database of emergency department (ED) visits prior to the enactment of the I-STOP law, which requires New York prescribers to consult the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) prior to prescribing Schedule II, III, and IV controlled substances for prescriptions of greater than five days duration.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective medical record review of patients 21 years of age and older, who presented to the ED between July …