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Biomedical and Dental Materials Commons™

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2017

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Biomedical and Dental Materials

The Role Of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8 In Vascular Disease, Desiree Leach Oct 2017

The Role Of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8 In Vascular Disease, Desiree Leach

Theses and Dissertations

In response to injury, mature vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) undergo dedifferentiation, also known as phenotype modulation or switch. This process is characterized by a downregulation or loss of expression of contractile genes and concomitant with an increase in cell proliferation, migration, and extracellular matrix production, thereby leading to vascular lesion formation. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not fully understood. The objective of my study was to determine whether cyclin-dependent kinase 8 (CDK8), a transcription-regulating kinase, plays a mediator role in vascular SMC dedifferentiation and lesion formation. Our results from immunochemical staining and Western blot revealed that CDK8 expression …

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Antimicrobial Hydroxyapatite-Gelatin-Silica Composite Pastes With Tunable Setting Properties, Vuk Uskoković, Shreya Ghosh, Victoria M. Wu Jul 2017

Antimicrobial Hydroxyapatite-Gelatin-Silica Composite Pastes With Tunable Setting Properties, Vuk Uskoković, Shreya Ghosh, Victoria M. Wu

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Bone grafting is one of the commonest surgical procedures, yet all bone substitutes developed so far suffer from specific weaknesses and the search for a bone graft material with ideal physical and biological properties is still ongoing. Calcium phosphate pastes are the most frequently used synthetic bone grafts, yet they (a) often take an impractically long time to set, (b) release the drug content too fast, and (c) do not form pores large enough to accommodate host cells and foster osseointegration. To make up for these deficiencies, we introduced gelatin and silica to pastes composed of 5–15 nm sized hydroxyapatite …

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Chitosan Nanoparticle Modifications For Improved Gene Delivery In An Oral Dna Vaccine Application, Austin Helmink Apr 2017

Chitosan Nanoparticle Modifications For Improved Gene Delivery In An Oral Dna Vaccine Application, Austin Helmink

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Vaccines represent one of the most significant medical innovations of the 20th century, resulting in the eradication or near eradication of a handful of deadly diseases. However, many infectious diseases remain resistant to effective vaccination, largely due to a lack full immune activation by traditional protein-based vaccines. A promising alternative vaccination strategy is the emerging development of DNA vaccines, which rely upon the delivery of exogenous genetic material to host cells encoding for a viral or bacterial antigen in order to induce a robust immune response by closely mimicking live infection. The delivery of genetic material requires a carrier …

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Succination Impairs Protein Folding And Promotes Chop Stability In The Adipocyte During Diabetes, Allison Manuel Jan 2017

Succination Impairs Protein Folding And Promotes Chop Stability In The Adipocyte During Diabetes, Allison Manuel

Theses and Dissertations

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has been diagnosed in ~21 million people in the United States and is closely correlated with obesity, prompting the need for a detailed understanding of adipocyte metabolism in the development of diabetes. The intake of excess nutrients surpasses the energy requirements of the cell and leads to increased mitochondrial stress in the adipocyte. We have shown that this is associated with increased levels of the mitochondrial metabolite fumarate. Fumarate can react with cysteine thiol groups to form the chemical modification S-(2-succino)cysteine (2SC), also termed protein succination. Succination is significantly increased in the adipose tissue of type …

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Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor M1’S Impact On Fear Extinction Learning, Joshua R. Mcelroy Jan 2017

Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptor M1’S Impact On Fear Extinction Learning, Joshua R. Mcelroy

Theses and Dissertations

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that can occur following a traumatic event like combat, assault, or disaster. Individuals with PTSD are unable to extinguish fear memories which can become chronic and disabling. However, it remains unclear why some individuals exposed to a traumatic event develop PTSD while others are resilient. Acetylcholine plays a critical role in fear learning, but its role in fear extinction is less well understood. In this investigation, we used a rat model of fear extinction to determine if individual differences in extinction learning are correlated with markers of cholinergic signaling. Cholinergic markers …

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The Role Of Inflammation In Atherosclerosis, Fatma Saaoud Jan 2017

The Role Of Inflammation In Atherosclerosis, Fatma Saaoud

Theses and Dissertations

Atherosclerosis is both a chronic inflammatory disease and lipid deposition disorder characterized by accumulation of lipids, fibrous tissue, and inflammatory cells in the arterial wall. Thus, investigating the role of inflammation and the immune system in the progression of atherosclerosis may help in the development of novel therapeutics for atherosclerotic disease. Current atherosclerosis therapy is aimed at lipid targets and focused primarily on reducing plasma cholesterol levels. Clinical and experimental data support the critical role of inflammation in atherosclerosis and suggest that reducing inflammation even without affecting lipid levels may reduce the event rate of cardiovascular disease. Yet, no pure …

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Synergism Of Quercetin And Sodium Butyrate For Controlling Growth Of Glioblastoma, Matthew Alan Taylor Jan 2017

Synergism Of Quercetin And Sodium Butyrate For Controlling Growth Of Glioblastoma, Matthew Alan Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), or simply glioblastoma, is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor, with a prevalence of approximately 20,000 new cases per year in the United States and a 3-year survival rate of just 2%. Quercetin (QCT) is a dietary flavonoid that can be found in common foods such as red kidney beans, cilantro, and onions. Despite little evidence showing any benefits through dietary intake of QCT, various studies show its promising anti-cancer results in vitro. In glioblastoma, QCT is able to cause significant amounts of apoptosis through a variety of mechanisms. These include activation of caspase-9 and …

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Garlic Inhibits Inflammation During Dengue Infection, Alex R. Hall Jan 2017

Garlic Inhibits Inflammation During Dengue Infection, Alex R. Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that causes significant human disease and mortality in the tropics and subtropics. There has been a recent global trend of increased epidemic activity, and DENV infection is considered a serious emerging health problem worldwide. A relatively unexplored approach to develop new treatments for dengue virus infection and the prevention of severe disease development is through investigation of natural medicines. Inflammation plays both beneficial and harmful roles during the host response to dengue virus infection. Several studies have proposed that it is the oxidative stress response induced by dengue virus infection that is responsible …

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Functional Role Of The Homeobox Transcription Factor Six1 In Neoplastic Transformation Of Human Keratinocytes, Maria Hosseinipour Jan 2017

Functional Role Of The Homeobox Transcription Factor Six1 In Neoplastic Transformation Of Human Keratinocytes, Maria Hosseinipour

Theses and Dissertations

The homeobox transcription factor SIX1 contributes to both tumor development and progression. Numerous studies have determined that the inappropriate expression of embryonic genes, in particular transcription factors, contributes to carcinogenesis. SIX1 is essential for the development of numerous organs including the auditory and olfactory system as well as the kidney, by promoting proliferation, survival and migration of progenitor cells during embryogenesis. SIX1 has also been shown to increase cancer cell proliferation, survival and invasion. The aberrant expression of SIX1 occurs in numerous adult and pediatric cancers. We have previously determined that our in-vitro model system for HPV16-mediated tumorigenesis shares many …

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Individual Differences In Markers Of Cholinergic Signaling Correlating To Fear And Extinction Learning, Grace C. Jones Jan 2017

Individual Differences In Markers Of Cholinergic Signaling Correlating To Fear And Extinction Learning, Grace C. Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) results when individuals are exposed to a life threatening event, assault, serious injury, or other traumatic incident. Individuals with PTSD are impaired in their ability to extinguish fear memories, resulting in intrusive symptoms that impair their ability to live otherwise healthy lives. It remains unclear why some individuals exposed to traumatic events develop PTSD while others do not. Acetylcholine has been shown to play a critical role in fear learning, but its role in fear extinction is not well understood. This study utilized a rat model of fear learning and extinction to determine if individual differences …

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