Publications by authors named "Archana Varma"

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic and debilitating condition for which clinicians sometimes turn to anticonvulsants as a treatment for symptoms. This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCT) that have assessed the efficacy of topiramate as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy, compared to placebo, for the treatment of PTSD in adults. Prescribers may be reluctant to turn to topiramate, given the commonly reported side effects of impaired cognition, sedation, fatigue, and headache.

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Cholesterol has been shown to promote cell proliferation/migration in many cells; however the mechanism(s) have not yet been fully identified. Here we demonstrate that cholesterol increases Ca(2+) entry via the TRPM7 channel, which promoted proliferation of prostate cells by inducing the activation of the AKT and/or the ERK pathway. Additionally, cholesterol mediated Ca(2+) entry induced calpain activity that showed a decrease in E-cadherin expression, which together could lead to migration of prostate cancer cells.

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TRPM7 is a novel magnesium-nucleotide-regulated metal current (MagNuM) channel that is regulated by serum Mg(2+) concentrations. Changes in Mg(2+) concentration have been shown to alter cell proliferation in various cells; however, the mechanism and the ion channel(s) involved have not yet been identified. Here we demonstrate that TRPM7 is expressed in control and prostate cancer cells.

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Noting that the topic of sacrifice has remained largely unaddressed in psychoanalytic literature, the authors offer a discussion of it. Their elucidation of sacrifice opens with the definition and etymology of the word and moves on to the place of sacrifice in various religious traditions. They then summarize Freud's views on the topic and suggest that the subsequent analytic contributions have gone in three directions: the first extends and modifies Freud's proposal of triadic-hostile origins of sacrifice, the second locates such origins in dyadic and loving relations, and the third seeks to synthesize the foregoing trends.

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In Escherichia coli, the cytoplasmic proteins MreB and FtsZ play crucial roles in ensuring that new muropeptide subunits are inserted into the cell wall in a spatially correct way during elongation and division. In particular, to retain a constant diameter and overall shape, new material must be inserted into the wall uniformly around the cell's perimeter. Current thinking is that MreB accomplishes this feat through intermediary proteins that tether peptidoglycan synthases to the outer face of the inner membrane.

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In Escherichia coli, division site placement is regulated by the dynamic behavior of the MinCDE proteins, which oscillate from pole to pole and confine septation to the centers of normal rod-shaped cells. Some current mathematical models explain these oscillations by considering interactions among the Min proteins without recourse to additional localization signals. So far, such models have been applied only to regularly shaped bacteria, but here we test these models further by employing aberrantly shaped E.

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Certain penicillin binding protein mutants of Escherichia coli grow with spirillum-like morphologies when the FtsZ protein is inhibited, suggesting that FtsZ might govern aspects of cell wall growth other than those strictly associated with septation. While investigating the mechanism of spiral cell formation, we discovered conditions for visualizing this second function of FtsZ. Normally, inhibiting the cytoskeleton protein MreB forces E.

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The mechanisms by which bacteria adopt and maintain individual shapes remain enigmatic. Outstanding questions include why cells are a certain size, length, and width; why they are uniform or irregular; and why some branch while others do not. Previously, we showed that Escherichia coli mutants lacking multiple penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) display extensive morphological diversity.

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CLA4, encoding a protein kinase of the PAK type, and CDC11, encoding a septin, were isolated in a screen for synthetic lethality with CHS3, which encodes the chitin synthase III catalytic moiety. Although Ste20p shares some essential function with Cla4p, it did not show synthetic lethality with Chs3p. cla4 and cdc11 mutants exhibited similar morphological and septin localization defects, including aberrant and ectopic septa.

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Saccharomyces cerevisiae chs2 mutants are unable to synthesize primary septum chitin, and myo1 mutants cannot construct a functional contractile ring. The morphology of the two mutants, as observed by electron microscopy, is very similar. In both cases, neither an invagination of the plasma membrane, which normally results from contraction of the actomyosin ring, nor generation of a chitin disc, the primary septum, is observed.

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