Enrichment of genes associated with squamous differentiation in cancer initiating cells isolated from urothelial cells transformed by the environmental toxicant arsenite.

Arsenic is an environmental toxicant with long-term exposure associated with the development of urothelial carcinomas. Our lab has developed an in-vitro model of urothelial carcinoma by exposing the immortal, but non-tumorigenic bladder cell line, the UROtsa, to arsenite (As). These transformed cells form tumors in immune-compromised mice, which resemble urothelial carcinomas with components of the tumor exhibiting squamous differentiation.

Human renal tubular cells contain CD24/CD133 progenitor cell populations: Implications for tubular regeneration after toxicant induced damage using cadmium as a model.

The proximal tubules of the kidney are target sites of injury by various toxicants. Cadmium (Cd), an environmental nephrotoxicant can cause adverse effects and overt renal damage. To decipher the mechanisms involved in nephrotoxicity, an in vitro model system is required.

Biomarkers of Resilience in Stress Reduction for Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients.

Caregiving for a dementia patient is associated with increased risk of psychological and physical health problems. We investigated whether a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training course for caregivers that closely models the MBSR curriculum originally established by the Center of Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts may improve the psychological resilience of non-professional caregivers of Alzheimer's disease patients. Twenty adult non-professional caregivers of dementia patients participated in an 8-week MBSR training course.

Select small nucleolar RNAs in blood components as novel biomarkers for improved identification of comorbid traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Background: The present study was designed to validate the ability of our recently identified set of small noncoding RNA candidate mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) biomarkers to diagnose mTBI in the presence or absence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comorbidity. Using qPCR, we explored the regulation of the candidate biomarkers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 58 veterans.

Results: We confirmed that 4 small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), ACA48, U35, U55, and U83A, are significantly down-regulated in PBMC from veterans with mTBI and PTSD compared to non-TBI, control subjects with PTSD only.

The viral theory of schizophrenia revisited: abnormal placental gene expression and structural changes with lack of evidence for H1N1 viral presence in placentae of infected mice or brains of exposed offspring.

Researchers have long noted an excess of patients with schizophrenia were born during the months of January and March. This winter birth effect has been hypothesized to result either from various causes such as vitamin D deficiency (McGrath, 1999; McGrath et al., 2010), or from maternal infection during pregnancy.