Publications by authors named "C A Aitken"
Article Synopsis
- Translation initiation significantly influences gene expression in eukaryotes, with eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF3) playing a key role in recruiting ribosomes.
- This study examined how eIF3's binding to specific 5'-untranslated regions (5'-UTRs) of mRNAs leads to varying protein outputs, finding that it binds to a specific motif, AMAYAA, in some 5'-UTRs.
- The study demonstrates that mRNAs bound by eIF3 have higher ribosome density and are preferentially translated during stress, highlighting eIF3's role as a novel translational enhancer.
Cancer cachexia, and the related loss of muscle and strength, worsens quality of life and lowers overall survival. Recently, a novel 'pre-atrophy' muscle weakness was identified during early-stage cancer. While mitochondrial stress responses are associated with early-stage pre-atrophy weakness, a causal relationship has not been established.
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- The study looked at how people's bodies respond during three different exercise tests for those who have unexplained breathlessness.
- These tests were the treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPX), the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), and the timed up and go test (TUGT).
- The results showed that the CPX caused the biggest changes in heart rate and breathing, while the 6MWT and TUGT showed smaller responses, but the TUGT still increased physical responses even though it was shorter.
Fluid shear stress (FSS) from blood flow, sensed by the vascular endothelial cells (ECs) that line all blood vessels, regulates vascular development during embryogenesis, controls adult vascular physiology and determines the location of atherosclerotic plaque formation. Although a number of papers have reported a crucial role for cell-cell adhesions or adhesion receptors in these processes, a recent publication has challenged this paradigm, presenting evidence that ECs can very rapidly align in fluid flow as single cells without cell-cell contacts. To address this controversy, four independent laboratories assessed EC alignment in fluid flow across a range of EC cell types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tumor microenvironment (TME) in ovarian cancer (OC) has much greater complexity than previously understood. In response to aggressive pro-angiogenic stimulus, blood vessels form rapidly and are dysfunctional, resulting in poor perfusion, tissue hypoxia, and leakiness, which leads to increased interstitial fluid pressure (IFP). Decreased perfusion and high IFP significantly inhibit the uptake of therapies into the tumor.
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