Digestive, Oral, and Skin Physiology Commons^™

Restoring Digestive Health, Kristin M. Corbin, Dnp, Aprn, Fnp-C

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Translational and Clinical Research Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this translational research project was to outline the healthcare problems associated with Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and to explore the effectiveness of a gastrointestinal protocol utilized at Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine. The goal of this protocol is to restore digestive health with probiotics, digestive enzymes, and glutamine.

Background: Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders affect one in every four adults in the United States. These disorders encompass a variety of symptoms including diarrhea, constipation, cramping, abdominal pain, flatulence, reflux, and bloating without an identified physiological cause. There is currently no cure for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders and treatment …

Mechanisms By Which Dietary Ellagic Acid Attenuates Obesity And Obesity-Mediated Metabolic Complications, Inhae Kang

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ellagic acid (EA) is a polyphenol found in various fruits and plants, such as berries, pomegranates, muscadine grapes, nuts and bark of oak tree. EA has been known to exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects in various types of cancer. However, little is known about the effects of EA on obesity. Herein, 1) the lipid-lowering role of EA was identified in primary human adipose stem cells (hASCs) and human hepatoma Huh7 cells; 2) the molecular mechanisms by which EA attenuates adipogenesis by epigenetic modification were identified; 3) the effects of EA on high fat and high sucrose-mediated obesity was …

The Conserved G-Protein Coupled Receptor Fshr-1 Regulates Protective Host Responses To Infection And Oxidative Stress, Elizabeth V. Miller, Leah N. Grandi, Jennifer A. Giannini, Joseph D. Robinson, Jennifer R. Powell

Biology Faculty Publications

The innate immune system’s ability to sense an infection is critical so that it can rapidly respond if pathogenic microorganisms threaten the host, but otherwise maintain a quiescent baseline state to avoid causing damage to the host or to commensal microorganisms. One important mechanism for discriminating between pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria is the recognition of cellular damage caused by a pathogen during the course of infection. InCaenorhabditis elegans, the conserved G-protein coupled receptor FSHR-1 is an important constituent of the innate immune response. FSHR-1 activates the expression of antimicrobial infection response genes in infected worms and delays accumulation …

Characterization And Investigation Of Fungi Inhabiting The Gastrointestinal Tract Of Healthy And Diseased Humans, Mallory J. Suhr

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Gastrointestinal microbiome studies have failed to include fungi in total community analyses. As a result, their diversity and function in the gut is poorly understood. Recent work has begun to uncover the role intestinal fungi play in diet, immune system development, interactions with other microorganisms in the gut, and pathogenesis of diseases. Advances in sequencing technologies allow for the ability to profile the fungal gut microbiome (“mycobiome”) in healthy and diseased states. This thesis explores the mycobiome in 1) healthy humans with a vegetarian diet and 2) pediatric small bowel transplant recipients that develop fungal bloodstream infections.

The gut mycobiome …

Pancreas: Do All Roads Lead To Mitochondria?, Amit Mukherji, Omobola Onikoyi, Vasudeva G. Kamath

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (Middletown) Publications and Research

Over several millions of years of evolution, mitochondria have transformed into specialized organelles. Today, they cannot live outside the cell nor can the host cell live without them, resulting in a symbiotic relationship. Richard Altmann, in 1894, documented them as cell organelles and called them “bioblasts”. Later, the term “mitochondria” itself was coined by Carl Benda in 1898. Ever since these findings, we in the field of medicine have learned a lot about this tiny organelle, but numerous aspects continue to be discovered. In this article, we will review the significance of this organelle in terms of pancreatic dysfunctions.

Mechanisms, Potential Therapies, And The Role Of Tgf-Β In The Formation Of Scars, Isaac Traube

The Science Journal of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences

Scarring is the inevitable outcome of wound healing. This review looks at some of the underlying mechanisms of this complex process with the aim of identifying targets for therapeutic manipulation that could result in reduced scarring or even scarless wound repair. Fetal wounds are shown to heal without scars primarily due to low levels of TGF-β1 and TGF-β2 and high levels of TGF-β3 as compared to adult wounds which heal with scars. Abnormal excessive scarring in keloid and hypertrophic scars are also attributed to TGF-β. Clinical manipulation of TGF-β ratios showed promise as a therapeutic means of controlling scar formation. …

Immortal Mortals, Sterling Giles

Auctus: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Junior Information Systems and Bioinformatics major Michael Kiflezghi focuses his research interests on an organism’s lifespan and gut microbial communities.