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Full-Text Articles in Other Medical Sciences

Decoding Implant-Related Sickness: Unraveling The Complexities Of Breast Implant Illness, Madison M. Stewart Apr 2024

Decoding Implant-Related Sickness: Unraveling The Complexities Of Breast Implant Illness, Madison M. Stewart

Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the phenomenon of breast implant illness (BII), examining its potential correlation with individual factors such as obesity and poor lifestyle habits. BII, characterized by nonspecific symptoms, is often self-diagnosed by patients influenced by social media and internet sources, leading to requests for implant removal. Conducting a comprehensive meta-analysis, the study scrutinizes existing literature to evaluate the association between BII, obesity, and lifestyle choices. Employing inclusion criteria, peer-reviewed publications are analyzed through systematic review methodology to offer insights into the interplay between BII and adiposity, exploring inflammatory mechanisms and patient behaviors like exercise and smoking. The research aims …


Macrophages And Associated Inflammation Differentially Impact Obesity, Colorectal Cancer And Obesity-Enhanced Colorectal Cancer, Jackie Bader Jul 2019

Macrophages And Associated Inflammation Differentially Impact Obesity, Colorectal Cancer And Obesity-Enhanced Colorectal Cancer, Jackie Bader

Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is the third-most common malignancy for men or women, with chronic inflammation considered as a primary risk factor. Obesity is also considered a chronic inflammatory disease and is associated with increased CRC incidence. Further, obesity and CRC occur in men and women differently with the highest incidence of either disease found in men, suggesting that female sex hormones may play a protective role in inflammatory diseases. Macrophages can promote inflammation and are a driving force in obesity-associated metabolic dysfunction. Conversely, macrophages also contribute to pro-tumoral responses including, proliferation, angiogenesis and tissue remodeling. This heterogeneity of macrophage behavior …


The Nervous System And Cancers Of The Head And Neck, Christian A. Graves Jan 2018

The Nervous System And Cancers Of The Head And Neck, Christian A. Graves

Theses and Dissertations

The anatomy of the head and neck is closely associated with the nervous system which plays an important role in the prognosis of head and neck cancer (HNC). However, the molecular interactions between these compartments and HNC remain poorly understood. We present a novel big data approach utilizing clinical data, sequencing, and machine learning to identify and validate potential molecular pathways by which the nervous system affects the development and progression of HNC. Our studies demonstrate across multiple datasets that perineural invasion (PNI) frequently occurs in HPV+ HNC. Furthermore, we show novel activating and missense mutations and pathways that may …


Advanced Clearing Methods And Imaging Techniques For Optimized Three- Dimensional Reconstruction Of Dense Tissues, Caleb A. Padgett Jan 2018

Advanced Clearing Methods And Imaging Techniques For Optimized Three- Dimensional Reconstruction Of Dense Tissues, Caleb A. Padgett

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in tissue clearing have allowed biological and biomedical researchers to image entire segments of tissue and generate three-dimensional reconstructions, allowing for a better understanding of the structural and morphological characteristics of large tissues. This study compared three commonly utilized clearing methods and analyzed their effectiveness in increasing imaging depth for three-dimensional reconstruction of large tissue segments. Mouse heart, mouse brain, mouse colon, and embryonic chick tissues were cut into thick sections, cleared and immunolabeled with an antibody specific to each tissue type, and imaged using a confocal microscope. The results of this study concluded that most tissues cleared by …


Effect Of Resveratrol On The Development Of Eczema, Christopher Carlucci Jan 2018

Effect Of Resveratrol On The Development Of Eczema, Christopher Carlucci

Theses and Dissertations

Atopic dermatitis is a type of eczema characterized by chronic inflammation of the skin, affecting millions of people worldwide. Resveratrol, a naturally occurring stilbenoid, is widely believed to exhibit beneficial effects on a host of chronic diseases. Although some previous studies have aimed to evaluate the effects of resveratrol on the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis, this relationship remains ill-defined. We have previously established that mast cell activation, remodeling, and cellular infiltration in the hypodermis all begin prior to the IgE-mediated immune response in an atopic dermatitis mouse model, and that this early pathogenesis is directly related to an increase in …


Environmental Relationships And Predator-Prey Interactions Within The Snapper-Grouper Complex In The Southeastern U.S. Atlantic – Implications For Fisheries Management, Dawn M. Glasgow Jan 2017

Environmental Relationships And Predator-Prey Interactions Within The Snapper-Grouper Complex In The Southeastern U.S. Atlantic – Implications For Fisheries Management, Dawn M. Glasgow

Theses and Dissertations

Stock assessments indicate many valuable fish species are declining, or are considered overfished and/or are undergoing overfishing. Fisheries scientists and managers in the southeastern U.S. typically have utilized a single-species approach, and relied on catch per unit effort data derived from fishery-independent surveys to determine indices of abundance for economically important reef fish. However, catchability for these surveys vary for many reasons including environmental and predator-prey relationships. This research was developed to elucidate environmental influences on reef fish assemblages and distribution of reef-associated marine predators, and examine predator-prey dynamics that may influence relative abundance of large predators based on chevron …


Comparison Of Atypical Bacteriophages That Infect Caulobacter Crescentus, Doreen Nguyen Jan 2017

Comparison Of Atypical Bacteriophages That Infect Caulobacter Crescentus, Doreen Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Several Caulobacter bacterial genomes have been recently sequenced, and all of the genomes contained one or more clusters of genes with phage origins. This observation indicates that bacteriophages contribute to the Caulobacter gene pool, so in order to understand bacteria genomes we will need to understand phage genomes as well. As part of understanding the phage genomes, we want to isolate novel bacteriophages and study their genomics. This study resulted in the isolation of 12 new phages, including four that differ from the well-studied CbKlike phages. Two of these novel phages are Podoviruses with icosahedral heads and small tails, and …


The Effect Of Arsenic On Type 2 Diabetes And Inflammation, Kayla Penta Jan 2016

The Effect Of Arsenic On Type 2 Diabetes And Inflammation, Kayla Penta

Theses and Dissertations

Arsenic, a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, has been shown to cause a number of health effects. At high concentrations the inorganic form is a well-known toxin, but at lower concentrations the effects range from various cancers, to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. At higher concentrations of arsenic (500- 1000μg/L) there have been epidemiological studies conducted demonstrating an increased risk in the development of type 2 diabetes with this exposure. At lower levels of arsenic exposure (<500 μg/L) the epidemiological results are inconclusive. Arsenic is also an immunotoxicant, meaning that it will cause changes in the immune response. The changes in the immune response will vary depending on a number of variables, including amount of arsenic exposure, forms of exposure and route of exposure. We wanted to determine if arsenic could modulate the immune system, and if this change could lead to an increase in susceptibility to type 2 diabetes development. We chose to examine this in C57BL/6 and db/+ mice – two non-susceptible strains. After 8 weeks (4 weeks old to 12 weeks old) of low dose inorganic arsenic exposure (50 μg/kg or 500 μg/kg) we evaluated changes in body composition, glucose tolerance and immune response. We saw that there were differences based on sex, genotype and treatment group present after the 8-week treatment period in body composition, while there were minimal changes in glucose tolerance. Finally, the immune response showed great variability depending on sex, genotype and treatment group. This project has demonstrated that while we are trying to compare differences in in vivo and epidemiological studies to find a link between arsenic and type 2 diabetes, there may be deeper levels of complications based on individual variability to arsenic exposure.


Factors Influencing The Collagen Fiber Angle Distribution In The Mouse Aorta, Shana Roach Watson Jan 2016

Factors Influencing The Collagen Fiber Angle Distribution In The Mouse Aorta, Shana Roach Watson

Theses and Dissertations

The aortic extracellular matrix (ECM) consists of microstructural proteins, collagen and elastin, together with proteoglycans and other components. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes that influence morphological and structural changes in the ECM and can degrade the matrix as it responds to cellular behaviors such as angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation, and migration. Collagen is the most important component among the extracellular proteins because it provides strength and stability to the tissue. Changes in collagen content play a major role in the development of atherosclerosis. These changes can be induced by increased or decreased proteinase activity. Therefore, we studied the collagen …


Differences In Resting-State Functional Connectivity Of Chronic Migraine, With And Without Medication Overuse Headache, And The Effectiveness Of Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block As A Treatment For Repairing Dysfunctional Connectivity., Kaitlin Krebs Jan 2016

Differences In Resting-State Functional Connectivity Of Chronic Migraine, With And Without Medication Overuse Headache, And The Effectiveness Of Sphenopalatine Ganglion Block As A Treatment For Repairing Dysfunctional Connectivity., Kaitlin Krebs

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic Migraine (CM) is a debilitating neurological condition that occurs when the migraine frequency progresses to a chronic state of more than 15 headache days per month. The overuse of analgesic medication (MOH) is one of the most prominent risk factor of this chronification and little is known about why it is a cause. The repetitive inhibition of the Sphenopalatine Ganglion is one promising treatment that is used to treat chronic migraine. The purpose of this study is to determine if a specific pattern of disruption is present for chronic migraine, both with and without medication overuse headache, and if …


Regulation Of Chronic And Acute Inflammatory Disease By Microrna And Microbiota, Pegah Mehrpouya-Bahrami Jan 2016

Regulation Of Chronic And Acute Inflammatory Disease By Microrna And Microbiota, Pegah Mehrpouya-Bahrami

Theses and Dissertations

Inflammation is implicated in cancer development, degenerative diseases, allergies as well as artherosecelorsis. Dysregulated immune responses lead to chronic inflammation and tissue damage. Finding the ways to terminate inflammatory responses when no longer needed, demands further investigation. Herein, we investigated the modulation of acute and chronic inflammatory disease models by inducing antiinflammatory state. Acute inflammatory model was induced with SEB, an enterotoxin produced by a ubiquitous Gram-positive coccus, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), which exerts profound toxic effects on the immune system, which leads to the cytokine storm and adverse immune response. SEB is the main cause of nosocomial infections, acute …


Linking Obesity & Breast Cancer: Role Of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 And High Fat Diet-Induced Inflammation On Mammary Tumorigenesis, Taryn L. Cranford Jan 2016

Linking Obesity & Breast Cancer: Role Of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 And High Fat Diet-Induced Inflammation On Mammary Tumorigenesis, Taryn L. Cranford

Theses and Dissertations

More than two-thirds of the adult population in the United States is classified as overweight or obese. In order to fully comprehend this rapidly increasing dilemma, further understanding of the complex phenomena that are involved with obesity and its many comorbidities is necessary. Chronic inflammation represents a distinctive, recurrent feature of obesity and has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 is a crucial component of the inflammatory process and represents a potential therapeutic treatment target, not only in obesity but also in breast cancer. Using a monocyte chemoattractant protein deficient model, we examined …


The Role Of Epidermal Stem/Progenitor-Like Cells In Hpv-Mediated Pre-Neoplastic Transformation, Yvon L. Woappi Jan 2016

The Role Of Epidermal Stem/Progenitor-Like Cells In Hpv-Mediated Pre-Neoplastic Transformation, Yvon L. Woappi

Theses and Dissertations

The role of epidermal basal stem cells in dysplasia is a matter of great interest in the human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven cancers. To assess the relationship between “stemness” and HPV-mediated transformation, we made use of 3-D suspension culture and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to purify stem/progenitor-like cells from primary normal human keratinocyte (NHKc) cultures. We found that NHKc cells derived from multicellular keratinocyte spheroids were enriched for a basal subpopulation of epidermal stem-like cells, that could be maintained for prolonged time in culture and used to conduct transfection experiments with full-length HPV16 DNA. Thus, by using these stem cell enrichment …


Characterization Of Stard4 And Stard6 Proteins In Human Ovarian Tissue And Human Granulosa Cells And Cloning Of Human Stard4 Transcripts, Aisha Shaaban Jan 2015

Characterization Of Stard4 And Stard6 Proteins In Human Ovarian Tissue And Human Granulosa Cells And Cloning Of Human Stard4 Transcripts, Aisha Shaaban

Theses and Dissertations

Progesterone is essential hormone for pregnancy, which is produced by the human corpus luteum in early pregnancy until the placenta assumes this function. Transport of the cholesterol from the outer to the inner mitochondrial membrane is the rate limiting step for the de novo synthesis of pregnenolone (the precursor to progesterone), a process mediated by STARD1. STARD1 contains a C-terminal lipid binding domain which binds cholesterol and an N-terminal domain targeting STARD1 to the mitochondrial membrane. Unlike STARD1, STARD4 and STARD6 proteins lack a mitochondrial targeting sequence; however, they can bind cholesterol and increase steroidogenesis in model systems. In this …


Effects Of Cpla-2 On The Migration And Proliferation Of Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells And The 2-D Migratory Patterns Of Tropomyosin In Femoral And Abdominal Aorta Tissue, Jaimeson Thomas Powell Jan 2014

Effects Of Cpla-2 On The Migration And Proliferation Of Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells And The 2-D Migratory Patterns Of Tropomyosin In Femoral And Abdominal Aorta Tissue, Jaimeson Thomas Powell

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract 1: Platelet derived growth factor BB (PDGF BB) has an important influence on smooth muscle cell proliferation in restenosis and atherosclerosis. Our understanding of different signal transduction pathways involved in the response of smooth muscle cells to PDGF BB is potentially significant for understanding and manipulating these processes. Prior studies have demonstrated a crucial activation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) in smooth muscle cells to PDGF BB with the production of arachidonic acid and prostaglandin E2. In these studies we investigated the role for another PLA2, calcium-independent PLA2 (iPLA2) in comparison to cPLA2 on smooth muscle cell migration and …


The Role Of Microrna In Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B-Induced Inflammation And Acute Lung Injury, Roshni Rao Jan 2014

The Role Of Microrna In Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B-Induced Inflammation And Acute Lung Injury, Roshni Rao

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a potent activator of the Vβ8+T-cells leading to the proliferation of nearly 30% of the T-cell pool. As a consequence, excessive amounts of cytokine mediators are released leading to extensive tissue damage and sometimes toxic shock and death. Due to the ease with which SEB can be aerosolized anddisseminated, it is considered a biological weapon. In the current study, we investigated the pro-inflammatory effects of SEB in two mouse models of acute inflammatory lung injury. Specifically, while inflammatory cues are known to elicit changes in key transcriptional factors and gene expression, we explored for the …