Diseases Commons^™

Osteopontin And Cadherin 11 Are Novel Mediators And Drug Targets For Chronic Lung Diseases, Daniel J. Schneider

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Chronic lung diseases (CLDs) are a considerable source of morbidity and mortality and are thought to arise from dysregulation of normal wound healing processes. An aggressive, feature of many CLDs is pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and is characterized by excess deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins from myofibroblasts in airways. However, factors regulating myofibroblast biology are incompletely understood. Proteins in the cadherin family contribute epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a suggested source of myofibroblasts. Cadherin 11 (CDH11) contributes to developmental and pathologic processes that parallel those seen in PF and EMT. Utilizing Cdh11 knockout (Cdh11 -/-) mice, the goal of this …

Tamoxifen: Mechanisms Of Resistance, Cyrus Mccoy Adams

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The role of estrogen in breast cancer has been recognized for decades. The selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen was the first targeted therapy for the treatment of breast cancer. It was also the first drug approved by the FDA for the reduction of breast cancer risk. While tamoxifen has extended the lives of countless patients with breast cancer, resistance to tamoxifen remains a significant clinical problem. Work over the last two decades has greatly enhanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which breast cancer cells may become resistant to tamoxifen treatment. Here I review our current understanding of the …

Transcriptional Regulation Of Azole Antifungal Resistance And Tolerance In Candida Glabrata, Kelly E. Caudle

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Azole antifungal resistance has emerged as a significant problem in the management of infections caused by fungi including Candida species. In recent years, Candida glabrata has become the second most common cause of mucosal and invasive fungal infections in humans second to Candida albicans. Not only are systemic C. glabrata infections characterized by high mortality rates, treatment failures to the azole class of antifungals, the most widely used antifungal for treatment of Candida infections, have been reported. Contributing to this problem, C. glabrata exhibits intrinsic reduced susceptibility to the azole antifungals, and the development of high-level azole resistance …

Tetrahydroisoquinoline Neurotoxins In Parkinson Disease, Michael G. Decuypere

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The goal of this dissertation work was to (1) determine the distribution of several tetrahydroisoquinoline (TIQ) derivatives in rodent, normal human and Parkinson disease (PD) brain, (2) quantify the levels of these TIQ derivatives in common food sources in an effort to link specific food intake patterns with the development of PD and (3) examine the neurotoxicity of select TIQ derivatives in human dopaminergic cell culture. The TIQs are a family of monoamine alkaloids that share structural homology with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahyrdropyridine (MPTP), can be formed from dopamine or its oxidized metabolites and may be involved in the pathogenesis of monoaminergic cell …

Evaluating The Impact Of The Guatemalan Nursing Program On Staff, Organizational, And Clinical Outcomes, Sara Williamson Day

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

There is great disparity between the outcome of childhood cancer in developed and developing countries. Nurses, who comprise the largest group of health care professionals globally, are essential to successful treatment. Pediatric oncology education is generally unavailable for nurses in developing countries. This lack of education is likely to contribute to the disparity in survival rates, as undereducated nurses are unable to meet the demands of pediatric cancer care. A second critical problem in developing countries is the workload of the nurse, with a patient nurse ratio reported as high as 30 patients per one nurse.

In 2006, the quality …

The Use Of Preclinical Models To Improve The Treatment Of Retinoblastoma, Katie Marie Nemeth

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Rodent models play an essential role in the development of new chemotherapeutics and dosing regimes. It is often difficult to carryout a clinical study for pediatric cancers due to the small patient population. Retinoblastoma, a pediatric cancer of the eye, is one example of a pediatric cancer that can benefit from preclinical studies. Over the years various retinoblastoma rodent models have been developed used to test various combination of broad-spectrum systemic chemotherapy. It was found form these studies that the combination of topotecan and carboplatin was effective. However both drugs cause myelosuppression and therefore administrating both of these drugs systemically …

Pain Management In Nursing Home Residents With Cancer And Dementia With And Without Hospice Services, Todd Bryant Monroe

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Aims: We sought to identify differences in pain management between two groups; nursing home residents with malignant cancer and dementia with and without hospice services.

Methods: Decedent records from 2003-2009 were assessed for diagnosis of dementia and cause of death as cancer. Ten malignant cancer diagnoses were determined a priori from the CDC 2004 data on the top 10 malignant cancers for all races and genders. Fifty-five decedents from 10 nursing homes were included in the final sample. Four instruments were used: Minimum Data Set (MDS) a standardized assessment tool required of most U.S. nursing homes. A large …

Glycan Shielding Of The Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin Elicits Evasion Of The Adaptive Immune Response And T-Cell-Driven Pathology, Keith C. Wanzeck

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Three separate influenza pandemics have emerged in the human population since 1918, each characterized by viruses that lack N-linked glycosylation sites on the globular head of the hemagglutinin protein. In contrast, recent non-pandemic isolates have acquired such sites. Here we constructed isogenic viruses containing differing numbers of additional N-linked glycosylation sites to assess the impact on the host immune response. These studies show that mice infected with a glycosylated virus remain susceptible to challenge with a non-glycosylated virus, glycosylated viruses elicit an inferior immune response, and in this context T-cell pathology and death may occur. We conclude from these data …

The Relationship Of A Long-Term Exercise Program And Selected Coronary Risk Factors, Maryse Wells

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to investigate body composition and blood pressure as potential risk factors for coronary artery disease after 3 years of participation in a structured exercise program. The sample group was comprised of 21 male participants (66%) and 11 (34%) female participants with a mean age of 55 years who attended the exercise program and completed health and fitness testing annually. Participants did cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility training 5 days a week with an average attendance of 70%. After 3 years, BMI, waist circumference, and percent body fat increased significantly (p < .01); blood pressure levels did not change significantly (p > .05). Low control of diet …

Smooth Muscle Hyperplasia Due To Acta2/Myh11 Mutations: Identification Of Novel Pathology And Pathways Leading To Aneurysms And Diverse Vascular Occlusive Diseases, Christina L. Papke

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Missense mutations in smooth muscle cell (SMC) specific ACTA2 (á-actin) and MYH11 (â-myosin heavy chain) cause diffuse and diverse vascular diseases, including thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections (TAAD) and early onset coronary artery disease and stroke. The mechanism by which these mutations lead to dilatation of some arteries but occlusion of others is unknown. We hypothesized that the mutations act through two distinct mechanisms to cause varied vascular diseases: a loss of function, leading to decreased SMC contraction and aneurysms, and a gain of function, leading to increased SMC proliferation and occlusive disease. To test this hypothesis, ACTA2 mutant SMCs …

A New Tumor Suppressor Gene Candidate Regulated By The Non-Coding Rna Pca3 In Human Prostate Cancer, Alessandro K. Lee

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death and the most common non-skin cancer in men in the USA. Considerable advancements in the practice of medicine have allowed a significant improvement in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease and, in recent years, both incidence and mortality rates have been slightly declining. However, it is still estimated that 1 man in 6 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, and 1 man in 35 will die of the disease.

In order to identify novel strategies and effective therapeutic approaches in the fight against prostate cancer, it …

Eye Movement Measures Of Cognitive Control In Children With To Urette Syndrome, Cameron B. Jeter

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Tourette Syndrome begins in childhood and is characterized by uncontrollable repetitive actions like neck craning or hopping and noises such as sniffing or chirping. Worst in early adolescence, these tics wax and wane in severity and occur in bouts unpredictably, often drawing unwanted attention from bystanders. Making matters worse, over half of children with Tourette Syndrome also suffer from comorbid, or concurrent, disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). These disorders introduce anxious thoughts, impulsivity, inattention, and mood variability that further disrupt children with Tourette Syndrome from focusing and performing well at school and home. …

An Assessment Of Obesity And Hyperphagia In Individuals With Smith-Magenis Syndrome, Carrie A. Crain

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Smith-Magenis syndrome (SMS;OMIM# 182290) is a multiple congenital anomalies and mental retardation syndrome caused by a 3.7- Mb deletion on chromosome 17p11.2 or a mutation in the RAI1 gene. Although the majority of the SMS phenotype has been well described, limited studies are available describing growth patterns in SMS. There is some evidence that individuals with SMS develop obesity. Thus, this study aims to characterize the growth and potential influence of hyperphagia in a cohort of individuals with SMS. A retrospective chart review was conducted of 78 individuals with SMS through Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) at Texas Children¡¯s Hospital …

Performance Of A Metarhizium Anisopliae-Treated Semiochemical-Baited Trap In Reducing Amblyomma Variegatum Populations In The Field, F. Nchu, N. K. Maniania, A. Hassanali, J. N. Eloff

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Experiments were carried out to evaluate the efficacy of Metarhizium anisopliae (Metsch.) Sorok. (Ascomycota: Hypocreales)-treated semiochemical-baited traps for control of Amblyomma variegatum Fabriscius (Acari: Ixodidae) under field conditions. Unfed A. variegatum adults (118) were seeded in each 100-m plot and allowed to acclimatise for 3 days. On the fourth day (Day 4), an emulsifiable formulation of M. anisopliae (consisting of 49.5% sterile distilled water, fungal conidia, 49.5% corn oil and 1% Tween 80) titrated at 109conidiaml-1 was applied in semiochemical-baited traps (900cm2) which were placed at five spots within the plot. The control and fungal treatments were repeated after 14 …

Ten Reasons To Cure Hd, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

The Point Of No Return, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Deaths In Custody In Nevada, 2001-2006, Brian R. Brehman, Terance D. Miethe, Timothy C. Hart

Graduate Research Symposium (2010 - 2017)

A large number of prisoners die each year while under the custody of the state. These deaths include prisoners who are executed under state laws and other deaths in custody from a variety of causes. Nationally, 18,550 individuals died in the custody of a state prison between 2001 and 2006. This state data brief examines deaths in custody in Nevada prisons and jails and compares them to national averages. This report summarizes the prevalence rates for deaths in custody, changes in these custody deaths over time, the cause of these deaths, and compares custody deaths in Clark County jail to …

Impact Of Insurance Status On Migraine Care In The United States, Andrew Wilper, Steffie Woolhandler, David U. Himmelstein, Rachel Nardin

Publications and Research

Objective
To determine whether insurance status is associated with differential outpatient treatment of migraine in the United States.

Methods
We analyzed 11 years of data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (1997–2007), which survey patient visits to doctors’ offices, hospital outpatient departments, and emergency departments (EDs) in the United States. We used logistic regression to determine whether insurance status was associated with the prescription of standard migraine therapy, defined as 1) a triptan or dihydroergotamine and 2) a prophylactic agent.

Results
We identified 6,814 individual patient visits for migraine, representing 68.6 million …

Drug Resistance Pattern In Multidrug Resistance Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients, Nisar Ahmed Rao, Muhammad Irfan, Mir Mir Soomro, Zeeshan Mehfooz

Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care

Objective: To evaluate accuracy of modified Kenneth Jones scoring criteria (MKJSC) as a screening tool to diagnose tuberculous meningitis in children. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Paediatric Medicine, Unit-I, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, from May 2006 to March 2007. Methodology: A total of 100 children admitted through emergency in Paediatric Medicine, Unit-I, were included who were having fever and features suggestive of central nervous system (CNS) infection. Lumbar puncture was done in all patients after written consent. Findings of lumbar puncture were taken as gold standard for the diagnosis of TBM. MKJSC was applied on each …

The Role Of The Ras Superfamily Small G-Proteins In The Proinflammatory Environment Of Rhinovirus-Exposed Monocytic-Lineage Cells, Michael Schreiber

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Rhinoviral infections are a major cause of asthma exacerbations, and though productive rhinovirus infection occurs predominantly in the bronchial epithelial cells of the upper airway, monocytic-lineage cells are implicated in establishing the inflammatory microenvironment observed during rhinoviral asthma exacerbation. It has remained unclear whether small G-protein activation plays a role in establishing this inflammatory microenvironment. The small molecular- weight G-proteins are known to be activated in a variety of cell types upon exposure to a range of viruses. However, it is unclear if small G-protein activation during viral exposure is a byproduct of receptor attachment, is important for viral replication, …

Growing Burden Of Neurological Diseases In Pakistan � Need For A National Health Survey, Mohammad Wasay, Shaukat Ali

Department of Medicine

No abstract provided.

Cerebral Toxoplasmosis In A Patient With Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Rohana Naqi, Muhammad Azeemuddin, Humera Ahsan

Department of Radiology

Cerebral toxoplasmosis commonly affects patients with advanced HIV immunodeficiency. Toxoplasmosis in patients who are immunocompromised can be severe and debilitating in patients with Central Nervous System (CNS) involvement and the condition may be fatal. We report the case of a 40-year-old man who was a known case of HIV and presented with cerebral toxoplasmosis. His Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan showed multiple ring enhancing lesions with extensive surrounding oedema in supratentorial as well as infratentorial region. Lesions were mainly located in the periventricular region as well as at the grey-white matter junction and showed enhancement in the periphery as well …

Band Heterotopia, M. S. Alam, N Naila

Section of Internal Medicine

Band heterotopias are one of the rarest groups of congenital disorder that result in variable degree of structural abnormality of brain parenchyma. Band of heterotopic neurons result from a congenital or acquired deficiency of the neuronal migration. MRI is the examination of choice for demonstrating these abnormalities because of the superb gray vs. white matter differentiation, detail of cortical anatomy and ease of multiplanar imaging. We report a case of band heterotopia that showed a bilateral band of gray matter in deep white matter best demonstrated on T2 Wt. and FLAIR images.

Living Positively: An Inside Look At Hiv Counseling And Testing In Uganda, Lindsay Bergmann

Inquiry Journal 2010

No abstract provided.

Good-Bye, Pre-Existing Conditions!, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Bone Marrow Stromal Cells Use Tgf-Β To Suppress Allergic Responses In A Mouse Model Of Ragweed-Induced Asthma, K. Nemeth, A. Keane-Myers, J. M. Brown, D. D. Metcalfe, J. D. Gorham

Dartmouth Scholarship

Bone marrow stromal cells [BMSCs; also known as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)] effectively suppress inflammatory responses in acute graft-versus-host disease in humans and in a number of disease models in mice. Many of the studies concluded that BMSC- driven immunomodulation is mediated by the suppression of pro- inflammatory Th1 responses while rebalancing the Th1/Th2 ratio toward Th2. In this study, using a ragweed induced mouse asthma model, we studied if BMSCs could be beneficial in an allergic, Th2- dominant environment. When BMSCs were injected i.v. at the time of the antigen challenge, they protected the animals from the majority of …

Optimizing Vaccine Allocation At Different Points In Time During An Epidemic, Laura Matrajt, Ira M. Longini Jr.

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

For current pandemic influenza H1N1, vaccine production started in the early summer, and vaccination started in the fall. In most countries, by the time vaccination started, the second wave of H1N1 was already under way. With limited supplies of vaccine, it might be a good strategy to vaccinate the high-transmission groups earlier in the epidemic, but it might be a better use of resources to protect instead the high-risk groups later on. We develop a deterministic epidemic model with two age-groups (children and adults) and further subdivide each age group in low and high risk. We compare optimal vaccination strategies …

Aiming For Hd Clinical Trials, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Changing Po2licy: The Elements For Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes, Anne Rossier Markus, Meagan Lyon, Sara J. Rosenbaum

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

Childhood asthma is a serious and chronic health issue that affects one in seven U.S. children and their families, compromising their health and quality of life and placing a heavy financial burden on families as well as an enormous strain on the health care system. Treating, managing, and ultimately preventing and reducing the burden of asthma represents a critical test of the ability of the U.S. health system – health insurers, clinical care providers, and public health agencies – to work together. Our investigation found that, as a country, we already know enough to act and improve life for the …

Qrs Duration And Echocardiographic Evidence Of Left Ventricular Dyssynchrony In Patients With Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction, Hafeez Ahmed, Javed Tai, Sohail Abrar Khan, Muniza Yousuf

Department of Medicine

Objective: To determine the association between left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony assessed by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 35% and prolonged ventricular depolarization on electrocardiography.
Study Design: A cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: The Aga Khan University, Karachi, from June to September 2007.
Methodology: All patients with LVEF < 35% were included. Apical 2-D images were obtained in 4 chamber and 2 chamber views. TDI pulse wave Doppler parameters were measured from these 2 color-coded images. Time interval between the onset of QRS complex and the peak systolic velocity per region was derived. Patients with valvular heart disease, mitral annular calcification, atrial fibrillation and paced rhythm were excluded. Fischer’s exact test was used to determine the association between QRS duration and left ventricular dyssynchrony.
Results: A total of 60 patients were included. Twenty one patients had QRS duration of > 120 msec. Out of those 21 patients, a total of 6 patients (28.6%) had evidence of dyssynchrony on TDI. Five patients (23.8%) had dyssynchrony on the basis of basal septal and basal lateral velocity difference …