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Carbon Nanotube-Induced Pulmonary Granulomatous Disease: 1 and Alveolar Macrophage M1 Activation
(2013-12)
Sarcoidosis, a chronic granulomatous disease of unknown cause, has been linked to several environmental risk factors, among which are some that may favor carbon nanotube formation. Using gene array data, we initially ...
Alveolar macrophages of GM-CSF knockout mice exhibit mixed M1 and M2 phenotypes
(2013)
Background
Activin A is a pleiotrophic regulatory cytokine, the ablation of which is neonatal lethal. Healthy human alveolar macrophages (AMs) constitutively express activin A, but AMs of patients with pulmonary alveolar ...
HIV Screening and Awareness Survey for Pregnant Women in a Remote Area in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China
(2011-11)
Objective:
The number of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in China has increased in recent years. HIV screening for pregnant women was performed in a remote area in Xinjiang, as an effort to promote ...
Effects of robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy on surgical pathology specimens
(2012)
Background
Robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) has greatly changed clinical management of prostate cancer. It is important for pathologists and urologists to compare RALP with conventional open radical ...
VZV in biopsy-positive and -negative giant cell arteritis: Analysis of 100+ temporal arteries
(2016-03)
Objective:
Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection may trigger the inflammatory cascade that characterizes giant cell arteritis (GCA).
Methods:
Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded GCA-positive temporal artery (TA) biopsies ...
An Exploration of Heart Failure Readmission in Eastern North Carolina
(East Carolina University, 2016-07-27)
The purpose of this study is to identify and associate the level of patient activation and presence of comorbidities with early readmission, hospital discharge disposition, length of stay, number of admissions and all-cause ...
Improving Contraception Use in the Postpartum Period
(2016-07)
In the United States (U.S.) there are 6.4 million pregnancies per year, over half of which (51%) are unintended. At the time of hospital discharge many women do not have a postpartum contraception plan which puts them at ...
Activation of GPR4 by Acidosis Increases Endothelial Cell Adhesion through the cAMP/Epac Pathway
(2011)
Endothelium-leukocyte interaction is critical for inflammatory responses. Whereas the tissue microenvironments are often acidic at inflammatory sites, the mechanisms by which cells respond to acidosis are not well understood. ...
Expression of microRNA in Alveolar Macrophages Deficient in PPARy
(East Carolina University, 2014)
The nuclear transcription factor Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) is a negative regulator of macrophage activation and inflammatory mediators. Alveolar macrophages of healthy individuals constitutively express PPARgamma Decreased activity and expression of PPARgamma are observed in the alveolar macrophages from patients suffering from inflammatory conditions such as pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) and sarcoidosis. These finding suggest that PPARf× activity may have an integral role in maintaining lung homeostasis. This study tested the hypothesis that microRNA expression would be dysregulated in murine alveolar macrophages deficient in PPARgamma. microRNA (miR) are small non-coding RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of messenger RNA. Evaluation of microRNA in the murine model of PAP, the GM-CSF-KO mouse, demonstrates the elevation of miR-27a and miR-27b which target PPARgamma. The deficiency of PPARgamma and the lipid transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1 have been shown to contribute to the pathology of PAP. The microRNA miR-33-3p and miR-33-5p, which target these lipid transporters, were also elevated in GM-CSF-KO mice. Pulmonary granulomas comparable to those observed in pulmonary sarcoidosis are induced by instillation of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) in C57Bl/6 mice. These animals have decreased PPARgamma activity and show elevated expression of miR-27a and miR-27b. It was also observed that the expression of the transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1 were decreased in MWCNT instilled mice. Expression of miR-33-3p and miR-33-5p was elevated in MWCNT instilled animals. The expression of microRNA that affects the activity of NF-£eB is also elevated in both murine models. We next investigated the use of PPARgamma agonist rosiglitazone on the expression of microRNA and messenger RNA. The use of rosiglitazone altered the expression of microRNA in both GM-CSF-KO and C57Bl/6+MWCNT mice. Rosiglitazone treatment altered the expression of the lipid transporter ABCA1and ABCG1 in C57Bl/6+MWCNT mice. The elevation of proinflammatory cytokines was also observed. Taken together, these observations support the hypothesis that PPARgamma activity effects the microRNA and gene expression in alveolar macrophages which is critical to overall lung homeostasis. Understanding the relationship between PPARgamma and microRNA in alveolar macrophage biology will provide insight into the regulation of the lung environment and possible therapeutic targets. ...
Modeling of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Volume Changes during CT-Based Image Guided Radiotherapy: Patterns Observed and Clinical Implications
(2013)
Background. To characterize the lung tumor volume response during conventional and hypofractionated radiotherapy (RT) based on diagnostic quality CT images prior to each treatment fraction. Methods. Out of 26 consecutive ...