Search
Now showing items 21-30 of 90
Patient and Practice Perspectives on Strategies for Controlling Blood Pressure, North Carolina, 2010–2012
(2014)
Introduction
Patient and practice perspectives can inform development of team-based approaches to improving blood pressure control in primary care. We used a community-based participatory research approach to assess patient ...
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. ...
The Potential Role of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Image-Guided Radiotherapy
(2014-05)
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive technique to detect metabolites within the normal and tumoral tissues. The ability of MRS to diagnose areas of high metabolic activity linked to tumor cell proliferation ...
A Tri-Modality Image Fusion Method for Target Delineation of Brain Tumors in Radiotherapy
(2014)
Purpose
To develop a tri-modality image fusion method for better target delineation in image-guided radiotherapy for patients with brain tumors.
Methods
A new method of tri-modality image fusion was developed, ...
Course of Depressive Symptoms and Treatment in the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS-2) Study
(2014-05)
Objective
To examine changes in depressive symptoms and treatment in the first three years following bariatric surgery.
Design and Methods
The Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery-2 is an observational ...
Animal Viruses, Bacteria, and Cancer: A Brief Commentary
(2014-02)
Animal viruses and bacteria are ubiquitous in the environment. However, little is known about their mode of transmission and etiologic role in human cancers, especially among high-risk groups (e.g., farmers, veterinarians, ...
Eastern Carolina Asthma Prevention Program (ECAPP): An Environmental Intervention Study Among Rural and Underserved Children with Asthma in Eastern North Carolina
(2014)
OBJECTIVE:
Asthma is the most common chronic childhood condition affecting 6.3 million (US) children aged less than 18 years. Home-based, multi-component, environmental intervention studies among children with asthma have ...
Automatic quantitative analysis of morphology of apoptotic HL-60 cells
(2014-01)
Morphological identification is a widespread procedure to assess the presence of apoptosis by visual inspection of the morphological characteristics or the fluorescence images. The procedure is lengthy and results are ...
Brain stem adenosine receptors modulate centrally mediated hypotensive responses in conscious rats: A review
(2014-12)
Abbreviations: A2A, adenosine subtype A2A receptor; A1, adenosine subtype A1 receptor; ABC, avidin biotin complex; ABD rat, aortic barodenervated rat; α2 AR, alpha 2 adrenergic receptor; αMNE, alpha methyl norepinephrine; ...
THE EFFECTS OF ACIDIC TUMOR MICROENVIRONMENT ON LYMPHOMA CELL RESPONSES TO CHEMOTHERAPEUTICS
(East Carolina University, 2014)
Acidic tumor microenvironment exists in many types of cancer. Altered glycolytic metabolism of tumor cells and deficient blood supply in tissues are major causes for this phenomenon. Lymphoma cells may have different ...